Bologna and the Beach
Trip Start
Apr 26, 2008
1
4
28
Trip End
Ongoing
Bologna,
Emilia-Romagna,
Italy
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Mariagrazia and Manuela
. We did this yesterday, and waited two hours before opening (in a queue of about 60 people) until a woman came out just after it had opened and told everyone that they weren't doing resident permits that day. Lucky I had Manuela there or I wouldn't have understood what she had said! Anyway after much swearing we are going to return again tomorrow (we have been told that Wednesday is the correct day) so wish me luck - apparently it's normal for people to wait for months before they get a residents permit Like Manuela's friend Ana who is from Croatia and has to reapply every year for a residence permit. Gianluca and Manuela said when they came to Australia it took five minutes for their visas to be processed. So despite what we think about the public service in Australia - it really is very efficient compared with many other countries.Last weekend I went to Bologna by train with Manuela. It takes about an hour and a half to get there by train and we had a nice chat and I got to see the countryside which is beautifully green and looks very healthy compared to Australia. The train ride was very comfortable, the train was clean (and double story!) and it ran smoothly over the tracks so that I could hardly tell that we were moving. When we arrived I met Manuela's friend Mariagrazia with a traditional kiss on each cheek and then we went to Gianluca and Manuela's friend's (Nicola) restaurant (he shares ownership of it with about 5 other people)
In front of San Petronio
. In Italy for a traditional lunch they have antipasti, followed by Prima (the 1st dish), Secondo (the 2nd), fruit, and then dolce (dessert) with an espresso coffee of course! Throughout the meal they also provide plenty of bread, wine and water. So for the prima we had tortellini (a Bologna specialty), for the secondo we had tuna steaks cooked in two different ways, and for the dolce we had almond gelato with an espresso coffee. We also shared a bottle of white wine which was really nice, not too acidic but not too sweet. After lunch we waddled out to wander around Bologna. We visited a church called San Petronio which looked pretty ordinary compared with some of the others I've already seen to tell the truth! Then we went and had another espresso coffee and had a look at the Torri degli Asinelli e Garisenda (two of the few remaining colossal towers that were begun in the 12th century). We were going to climb up inside the taller one but it had closed for the day. Like the leaning tower of Pisa both of these towers also lean at an angle which is quite disconcerting! There was an antique market on that day so we walked through that and we also saw the "Fontana di Nettuno" Neptune's Fountain I think it's translated to. It was built in 1566 and features many beautiful (and quite graphic) bronze statues. Off Neptune's Piazza is the Bologna public library and we went in to have a look. The library is built over some ancient Roman ruins and half the floor is that thick glass stuff so that you can look underneath
Neptune's Fountain
. In Italy, because they keep finding old buildings etc when they're excavating, they often just build over the top of something, but preserve it by building over it. Really quite clever.The next day I went to the Rimini beach with Gianluca, Manuela and their friends Ana and her boyfriend Antonio, and Mariagrazia and her boyfriend who is also called Antonio. It was a really hot day and I wanted to go for a swim but none of them wanted to (only the tourists swim at the beach in autumn). I will go there again soon for a swim. I still can't get over how warm the Adriatic Sea is! Incredible! It's like a warm bath - the complete opposite of the Antarctically cold sea in Melbourne.
Since I've now been in Italy for two weeks I thought I'd share with you some of my observations to finish off. In Italy (in general) they start work at about 9am, work 'til 1pm then come home for lunch. They return to work at 3pm and finish at about 7pm. They don't eat dinner until about 8.30 - 9pm and it is always a light meal (because lunch is the main meal here). They drink espresso coffee all the time and it is very cheap here (about $1 Australian) - often four times a day - the only time they drink coffee with milk is in the morning. If you try to order a caffe latte or a cappuccino after about 11am they will give you a look as if you were from Mars. It is usual for Italians to drink coffee and eat a pastry or a snack (like a slice of pizza) standing up at bar rather than sitting in a cafe for half an hour or so. They buy all their drinking water because it doesn't taste very nice from the tap. Because this is so common, you can buy 6 packs of 2 litre bottles for about 3 euros. When you go to a restaurant you always have the choice between natural/flat mineral water, and sparkling mineral water and it's the same with the six packs at the supermarket
Building
. The supermarkets here tend to be much smaller than in Australia (more like an IGA) and only stock Italian food - you will not find ingredients for things like Indian curries, Mexican tacos, Chinese stir fries etc. You have to go to some effort to find these ingredients. The shops here tend to only specialise in one type of product rather than being one-stop shops which is great because they stock more quality products rather than cheap crappy production line stuff. The cost of living here is about the same as in Australia, however the Italians tend to earn about half what we earn in Australia for the same type of work. So for them the cost of living is quite high. This is largely due to the change from Lira to the Euro when the cost of products and services doubled and the wages stayed the same. Often the women don't tend to work, or to only work part-time - and this includes younger women in their 20s and 30s. They often stay home and manage the household, though the men do help out round the house. Despite this, women are very independent here and don't put up with being treated as inferior. There are also nuns everywhere, I've never seen so many in my life. At first I was a bit intimidated but now I've realised they are just normal people that are going about their daily activities. I don't know why I thought they would be much different to anyone else but hey travel is all about revising and letting go of untrue preconceptions. So I'm sure I'll think of more observations but for now they are the most striking for me! 
