Motel Marco Polo Bologna

... scattered precrisely at the edge of the lawn.
I realize I am humming, and I look about hoping I am not caught.
An Older woman stops her bike at the mouth of a path facing the fountain, she pulls ******* her ciggerate before continuing on her journey.
This is my last week of really being a toursit. Jumping around from place to place, town to town. Not really staying anywhere long enough to experience ...

... from rocking out of tight situations.

Ferrara Highlights
9200 meters of city walls commissioned by Duke Ercole d'Este and built between 1493 and 1505 with walking paths on top.

Castello Estense de Ferrara--a defensive structure from the early middle ages that dominates the old city surrounded by moat. The Castello Estense was menacing from the outside and lavishly decorated on the inside. You could feel the history and understand the ...

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.

... city, smaller and OK for them.

Anyway, we took bus 13 into the old town. It is a 10 min bus ride. We strolled, they are preparing for out door movie that we will go to tonight.

Had gorgeous antipastos for lunch. Then, grocery shopping and Alex had to nap. Poor kid, the luggage yesterday and the 4 trains wiped him out. I am going to ship stuff home, because it was too ******* the kids yesterday. Even with our conservative packing, there ...

... my only choice. After having to wait a few minutes for them to get enough change from the back, we kept walking and found a bench to eat. Bologna is much much bigger than Bolzano. Half a million people more. The city feels more urban, more crowded. Downtown was nice, we walked passed numerous shops and then made it to the large square where a massive church stood. On the church stands maybe eighty yards tall, but only the lower forty are finished. The upper ...

... Maggiore was quite stunning, especially since it was such a beautiful day. Brian and I found ourselves a nice place to sit and just soaked up the sun for awhile. One side of the square is consumed by the enormous Basilica di San Petronio...supposedly the 5th largest church in the world (I haven't tried to verify that). It is huge and shockingly unfinished. It was built in the late 14th century, but the Bolognese ran out of money ...

... danger of living in Johannesburg (sp?) They said that during the Iraqi war, the US had lost 3,500 soldiers and during that same period there had been 35,000 people killed in Johannesburg! They said that one couldn't go out to walk or meet friends, as in other countries, as someone would probably shoot them. Most stayed in their homes and apartments. On our walk we stopped for a gelato, as if I was hungry after all the eating! I had white ...

... when the lunch bell rang and all the assembly workers piled out for the cafeteria, allowing us to wander up and down the production line and the inspection area for finished vehicles without risk of getting in their way.

Since leaving Australia for Europe over two years ago I’ve managed to see some things I would never have dreamed possible; the Northern Lights above the Arctic Circle in Norway (on two separate trips), thousands of troops ...

... a must). Loosing an entire blog entry when our computer froze. The store clerk referred to us as speaking Italian more then once. We thought he was joking but after being around the shop for awhile, it was clear we spoke as much Italian as the rest of the customers. Shilo said it was the first time she understood most conversations going on around us in Italian. We figured this was because everyone, including us, only knows the same five phrases ...

June 10, 2002

Back on the bus! This time to Italy!! We went to Pisa (and had pizza for lunch!) We saw the tower, of course, and the church. Got to shop in the souvenir shops and sit for awhile in the sun. Very peaceful day. I can tell I'm getting tired, because the travel journal entries are shorter and shorter!




We were in ...