Holiday Inn Bologna San Lazzaro

The book, the cursed book known as Lonely Planet advised as follows: cycling has become a popular tourist activity in Bologna. Rent a bike from this or that place, and ride Ferrara, following these road signs. Okay, Mandi and I thought. We're fit, we're active, we can do this. We rented bikes and with fantasies of idyllic rolling hillsides, endless vineyards, and fields full of wildflowers set off on ...

Left the waterways of Venice early, as we had a very important date with the Ferrari family.
Such as BMW has a Welt ("world" in German).. Ferrari has itself a Universe all to its own... tucked behind the old gates is a world of Rosso. The factory is quiet, clean and the sight of all those beautiful engine parts that will become a Ferrari motor is breathtaking.

The road car production is amazing. The working ...

... never tried it..) and a jaccuzi tub in the bathroom AND there were two sinks - one was really low to the ground so we didnt use it :). We put our stuff away and went down to the desk to find out where was good to eat. I sheepishly asked what the deal was with our room and the lady just smiled and said there is no suppliment, they were overbooked. This place was probably 200 Euro a night and we were paying less than 40 ...

... are packed with tourists... We visited funny art exhibitions that where part of the biennale and had lots of fun trying to understand it. In the evening we joined Nico and Cristina for a yoga class! What a day!

The next day we left Venice direction Padua. We decided to cycle more south, direction Livorno or Rome (where we can take a ferry to Barcelona). On the way we will visit our friend Andrea, that we met in the ...

... been told the wrong bus number!! The lady gave us a bus map and new directions and off we went. Found what we thought was the right bus, but after a while I realized it was going the WRONG WAY.. AAGGHHH!! So off we jumped, crossed the road and tried again – surely this one would take us there. We basically crossed from one side of the city to the other, and got off where the tourist info lady had told us to. We were in the middle of NO WHERE. Like the outer ...

... but the place had so many other things going for it. Once again Lyndsey and I were the tourist minority, navigating our way through a city that felt authentically and naturally Italian. Everywhere people were going about their daily business and routines, from the office workers sunning themselves on the steps to the Duomo to the Carabinieri endlessly circling the piazza in their squad car, admiring the girls and presumably hoping to find a drive-through Geletaria ...

... threw them off and I put my head down and slipped through a couple arm tackles then all of the sudden was in the clear. Mario was running back to pick one of the guys chasing me, but he was running directly at me, and I didn't know which way to go. I ended up breaking outside of him and running for 15 more yards before getting spun down. The whole thing was fairly comical. After our last touchdown to Mario, Tisma told us to fake the PAT again and go ...

... to look for some sign from the driver...finally after a long way that guy motions to me and says....next stop and presses the button for me...then points across a field and says ostello! thank you Lord for kind people vs. those that cant be bothered!!!!! so get to the hostel....was about to take a dorm then saw the prices for a single were only about 5 euros more so i said i will take a single for 2 nights. now i was happy and excited that i would get to try the ...

... So we check in and get through security and sit down at a cafe next to our gate. I reached in to get my wallet so I could buy something to snack on...my heart dropped. My wallet wasn't in my purse! It must have fallen out in the scramble of getting out of the taxi! I managed to hold it together and ran back to the security station and tell him the issue...but they spoke broken English and didn't know the number for any taxi service in Bologna. So now tears are ...

... to a river because the nearest river floods a lot. So, instead, there are canals that bring the water to the city. Most are underground, but you cans see parts of some of them. There was hardly any water in the one we saw, but supposedly the day before there had been. We all thanked the tour guide and then split up to get lunch before catching the train. I didn't want to make my stomach unhappy, so I just had toast and jam ...