Visting Emma in Bologna!

Once again, I planned a trip last minute! I have a good feeling that this won’t be the last time it happens, either! Haha! Unfortunately, again, I wasn’t able to conquer the train system….soon though, I’m determined I will get it down!

Emma has assured me that it is not necessary to buy train tickets in advance and you can buy them literally 2 minutes before you get on the train and be fine…I found out that this is true…sort of…

In order to get to the train station from my apartment I have to take a 5 minute tram ride to the bus stop and then take a 15 minute bus ride to the train station...I am learning that living in the city is WAY different that good ol’ De Pere, but I am slowly getting used to it, and doing a pretty good job (I think, anyway!)

This Thursday, however, the bus was running a little late and I ended up waiting at the bus stop for about 15 minutes. I was a little worried that I would miss my train, but not too worried because I knew that the trains leave about every 20 minutes. I made it to the train station at about 12:15, the train left at 12: 25…. I bought my ticket and things were going smoothly, I just had to find my train. Well, I didn’t know how to read my ticket (again, I’m thinking I need to work on my Italian) so I was frantically trying to figure out what train was mine and what car I was in, etc. I called Emma (who is fluent in Italian) as I was power walking (actually it was a slow jog!) through the train station and she helped me read my ticket and figure out which train I was.

I found my train, but realized that I was in the last possibly box car…I had 4 minutes until the train left! It was a mad dash! I hopped on the 6th car and before I was all the way back to 11th, the train was moving! I found my seat and was literally sweating from my close encounter of missing my train!

After my little run through the train I arrived in Bologna and Emma picked me up at the train station. We relaxed for the afternoon and then went over to her friends’ house where we had some wine and they played guitar and sang! It was so much fun! Later, we met up with a few other people and went to a traditional Bolognese restaurant where Emma ordered me a traditional dish. It was basically just noodles and meat sauce, but they call it something different…it was DELICIOUS! It could have easily become my favorite meal in Italy so far! While I was in Bologna I learned that it is the “food capital of Italy” ☺ After dinner we went out dancing! We had such a blast! On our way home we stopped at this little bakery that was already open because it was making goods for the next day! (It was like 330 am! Ahah) so we got FRESH CROSSIANTS filled with nutella ☺ they were SO amazing-warm right out of the oven! ☺ We stretched before bed so we wouldn’t be sore on Friday…that should give you an idea of how much we danced! Ahah

Friday we slept very late, which was ok because it rained the whole day ☹ the friends I had met the night before, Pedro and Carolyn were performing at a little restaurant so we had plans to go see them at night! Before we went to watch them perform we went to a pub and got an apertivo (you buy a drink for around 6 euro and then it is an all you can eat buffet) the food was, once again, delicious! When we got to the other restaurant to watch Pedro and Carolyn perform we got another apertivo…we were full, but it was worth it ☺ they did such a great job signing! I’m going to try to upload a video of them singing a song they wrote together! It’s in Portuguese and English!

(That little dot on the top of the hill is San Luca!)

Saturday we got up fairly early and decided to walk around Bologna. We climbed to the top of this tower right by Emma’s apartment…I’ve decided that if I climb a tower a weekend I will for sure get in a good enough amount of exercise! Ahah! Once we were at the top, Emma pointed out San Luca to me. It is a church about 4 miles away from where she lived! It looked so beautiful in the hills of Bologna, so we decided to be adventurous and try to make it there to se the sunset!

It was quite a haul but we made it! Just in time for the sun to set too! We were sweating by the time we made it to the top of the hill, but it was so worth it! It was one of the most beautiful views of the countryside I have seen so far! The top of the Duomo in Florence and the tower in Bologna were great, but they showed the city and tops of houses…this view was all hills! It was fantastic! After our 8-mile walk we went out to dinner at a little pizza place in town! I had THE BEST PIZZA I HAVE EVER HAD! It had mozzarella and Gorgonzola cheese, tomato and asparagus! It was SO good! I think I’ll try to attempt making it sometime! It is crazy what these Italians think to put on the top of their pizzas! Ahah we were very tired from our long day of climbing stairs and hills so we called it an early night.

Sunday I was headed back to Rome! I went to the train station to buy my ticket, just like last time, but much to my surprise the second-class tickets were SOLD OUT! The next train didn’t leave for another 2 hours (because Bologna is a much smaller train station, trains don’t leave as frequently) and I wouldn’t get home until 10:30pm! Much to my dismay, I had to buy a 69 euro FIRST CLASS ticket back to Rome! I was not very thrilled!!! The only difference was a Dixie cup of Coke, some cookies and a chocolate…. never again will you catch me on the first class train….

Overall, the trip was very relaxing and it was great to see another part of Italy! I have learned thought that I should probably kick my Italian speaking into gear and arrive at the train station a little ahead of time! Someday I’ll learn ☺