Hotel Internazionale Bologna

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 ...

... all that he will be back next year, after recovering from his terrible accident. 3 drivers... 3 cars... This will be an interesting 2010 campaign.

The FXX and retired F1 car works are as equally amazing as anything else. 26 of the 30 FXX's were in store waiting for the next private owner campaign. Including number 30, the last one built especially for Michael.

Another building holds the retired F1 ...

... there was a free breakfast buffet which we took full advantage of. We didnt really do much in the actual city of Bologna. We more or less used it as a base to get to other places for day trips, returning to the city to eat and sleep. The food was great; we had our first pizza in Italy and it was tasty.... its fun knowing that things like pizza are only going to get better when we get closer to its point of origin (Napoli)

... and some funny thing that looks like an olive but tastes like an apple. Finally we could shower and wash our clothes. Nico, Cristina and Nico's mother cooked for us a delicious Italian pasta and we drank amazing wine, Grappa and olive and walnuts liquor!!!! Although all conversations where in Italian the atmosphere was so good and we could communicate really well (mix of Italian,Spanish and Portuguese).

The next day ...

After flying from Lisbon to Madrid airport, spending a sleepless night there, and an early morning flight to Bologna we were pretty tired when we finally arrived! We had booked into a cheap hotel, but got an email just before we left Lisbon saying that they had overbooked and we had been moved to a 4 star hotel for the same price – WOOHOO! We had the address but had no idea where it was, so we asked at the tourist info desk and jumped on the shuttle to the city ...

... Matterhorn. That was pretty fun too as we passed the sheep and our driver ate some type of weed the whole time...the Matterhorn always takes my breath away and I never get enough of that gorgious site of a mountain!! We bought walking sticks and had our names engraved by a man who has hand made wooden objects for 60 years....

Anyway, will write tomorrow!!

Hope you are all having a great summer,

Love and smiles, Marisa

... Reggie and players who were "difference makers" in the IFL. He said a lot of big time conference players have come out to Italy and just been good. But none really have been able to do things like Reggie, who scored 51 touchdowns last season in 13 games. He said because everything at the major college level is so structured, well organized, and players well supported by coaching staffs and good players around them that they aren't able to make the transition ...

... as today. After leaving Santo Stefano, we wandered around from piazza to piazza, taking in a few other lovely churches along the way. On our way back to the apartment for lunch we happened by the Museo Medievale. All of the churches and museums in Bologna were free; so, we thought we would check it out. It was a pretty small museum, but it was pretty interesting, especially their displays of medieval weaponry. The other two ...

We left Amsterdam this afternoon on a KLM Cityhopper (commuter airline) for Bologna Italy. This flight had some really good, but different, food. They had Salmon and Tilapia with fish eggs (because I can not spell the real name - nor can I figure out this key board) and carrot-anise sauce, as well as pinapple ginger dessert with vanilla sauce. This is really ...

This day is the holiday of the city Bologna, since San Petronio is not only the name of the main cathedral, but also the city patron. So in the early afternoon the statue of San Petronio in the city centre was blessed and in the evening there was a ...