Blumen Hotel Bologna

... thankfully this ended well! I arrived, unloaded, got signed in and found a supermarket! Bought some veggies and fruit to ward off scurvey and, what I thought was milk but later turned out to be some creamy gross stuff that I had to throw in the garbage with Flair!

The next morning is my tree day, I woke up feeling rather gross with a foggy head and a nose that was running away from me. I decided to take ...

... power of the ruthless Este dynasty who built the fortress to protect themselves from their own citizens.

Ferrara's Cathedral, built in 1135, is a gem of Romanic and Gothic architecture featuring a 3 tier facade with boney arches.

The Church of Sant'Antonio in Polesine contains beautiful frescoes from the 13th and 14th centuries.

The Palazzo del Diamanty (palace of Diamonds) was close to the castle and we leaned on it and check it off our list.

Short train ride from Florence after a hair raising trip trying to return the rental car in confusing, congested and traffic restrictied Florence (don't rent a car downtown go to the airport). Bologna is an university town (even Johns Hopkin has a campus). Very historical town with a great plaza area like most towns and a great antique market.

... miles from a little town north of Bologna to Ferrara. Luckily they have bike friendly trains here, because that's how we got home.

That night, we met Gherardo, a friend of my former professor's, who used to live in DC, so spoke very good English, for dinner. He took us to a "typical" Bologna restaurant, I ate amazing bolognese, and we peppered Gherardo with questions about Italy, Italians ...

Sadly a boot camp site, mozzies everywhere day and night, so we left early. Stu managed a trip to Marranello to the Ferrari museum...so he was a happy bunny, as they were testing on the track whilst he was there. he also had to get an Audi tyre change whilst there which was alot slower than the Ferrari boys would expect.

Over and out from Bologna!

... I also needed ice trays and had a heck of a time trying to convince the lady I stopped for help that I wasn't delusional but just in need of ice trays. She directed me to a disposable system where you pour water into thin plastic sheets that form cubes then freeze it and peel the plastic away when you done. Oh these tricky Italians. I dropped off my latest batch of groceries, soaked my white football gear in bleach so it might get sort of white and then threw ...

... learned. so camp fusina not all bad despite the fact that the internet was actually located in a old bus and took our money but didnt work. Plus the would not refund us. and the fact that we had to change rooms because the electricity wouldnt work in our cabin. Not to mention the best part the atm ate Tonys bank card so we had to cancel the account and are in the process of getting another card sent to us. Like the title says murphys law is definetly in ...

... in Italy as compared to the U.S. He has very good analytical skills and his knowledge of pharmacology is impressive. I am learning so much about hypertension, congestive heart failure, non-insulin dependent diabetes, hypothyroidism, etc. This experience is going to make me a much better doctor. Bologna is unrecognizable. In the 1970's the rhythm of life was a pleasure; slow and somehow soft and sensual. Men wore 3 piece suits; women wore elaborate outfits of the latest ...

... how long it takes to walk from my front door to the train station. If I am off by a minute I just sit down and plan to catch the next one. So, it was almost refreshing when I crossed the border into Italy and arrived 45 minutes late in Milan. Then I ran to make my connection to Bologna with 10 other people on my train. The train was meant to have left 15 minutes earlier, and they told us they waited for our train to arrive before they left ...

... in Moscow’s Red Square in anticipation of a public anti-government demonstration and coming face-to-face with Hitler’s last surviving bodyguard at the site of his Berlin bunker, to name but three. But never, ever would I have imagined that I’d get to tour the manufacturing plant for Ferrari.

After leaving the factory we went to the nearby Galleria Ferrari, the museum open to members of the public. Name any generation of Formula One ...