Binging in Bologna – Three Generations Eat Their Way Through Emilia Romagna

One correction - apartment was E800 for 8 nights (not E700). Just found the receipt!

Sally, great start, can't wait to read more. The apartment is beautiful.

Me, too, Sally!!

Looking forward to all the details--I've been thinking about a Bologna visit again . . .

Bookmarking--have to see how you survived witht he toddler and inlaws!

Looking forward to more.

We made Bologna a base for a few days. Can't wait to return vicariously!

it must have been a subconcious desire to holiday with your in-laws that made you book that three-bedroomed apartment - lol!

definitely looking forward to more.

Thanks for the comments. The preamble continues...

“When do they change the sheets and who brings you breakfast?”

I began to get a bit nervous as I have not traveled with anyone in ages except my husband and a couple of trips with my mother. I wasn't used to traveling with other people, much less my in-laws. Okay, I got really nervous and wondered why I opened my big mouth in the first place. My friends were politely supportive. I looked on the forum for posts about group traveling and, frankly, was not comforted by the horror stories and declarations about how one would "never again" travel with family or friends. The deed was done, however, so we focused on making the trip a success. We did find some good tips on here and set out to apply them – e.g., be very clear about your plans, discuss any issues up front, build in some time away from each other, set expectations. My husband and I were very clear with the in-laws that traveling with a young child is not relaxing and that we were unlikely to be able to have long meals or sleep late or spend a lot of time in museums. Also, the idea of renting an apartment was completely foreign to my MIL. She asked me who would make her bed and how she would get breakfast!! Perhaps we overdid it as my in-laws quickly decided to stay in a hotel.

We were a little disappointed by this as part of the fun would be spending time together since we don't see them that much. We wondered how much we would see them if we did not stay together since we figured we would be on slightly different schedules (given DD's sleep habits). In hindsight the hotel was a good decision. A great decision. We saw each other plenty and it gave us each our own space. It also let my in-laws enjoy the indulgences of a hotel which they enjoy. I think we all relaxed a little once it was settled that we would not be staying together!

Having two cell phones (one for me and DH and one for in-laws) was absolutely indispensable since we were not staying together. We used the phones for many quick calls to plan to meet up, say we were late, etc. No one ever felt like they were waiting for the other or didn't know what was going on. We just used our US T-Mobile phones that work in Europe. Buying an Italian SIM card would probably have been cheaper but we wanted something as easy as possible to use since my in-laws are not very high tech (they have heard of the internet but not seen it) and we didn't want to waste time dealing with getting the SIM card. We have yet to get our bill so I don't know the cost but we have done the same on the last two trips and the bill wasn't too bad.

One other thing that turned out to be a good idea was that put together a general itinerary (i.e., which days we would go where and then lists of things we wanted to do in Bologna) and discussed with his parents. This was flexible but it avoided spending an hour every morning figuring out what we would do. We ended up sticking to it, with a few adjustments.

Also, with two trips with a young child under our belt I finally realized that it is a mathematical impossibility to travel with a child who sleeps 10+ hours a night in a country where people dine late AND to get up and out early for sightseeing plus go out for dinner. Something needs to give. We expected that DD wouldn't sit through a lunch out and a dinner so we expected to eat a lot of dinners in the apartment. Fortunately, DD surprised us by becoming a great dinner companion and night owl so we went with it. We stayed out late, she napped in her stroller usually around 5pm and (except for the days we were taking the train) we let her sleep in. Not running out the door in the morning to preschool and work is a luxury so we didn't mind the late start.

Next up - packing and the dreaded flight.

Good start - looking forward to more. Considering visiting Bologna in 2010.

OOOHHH! Thanks for the referral to that apartment in Bologna!! DH and I are going there for a week in Sept. 2010 and I just sent off an inquiry about availability!! I can hardly wait for your description of what it is really like.

Charnees - the apartment is very nice. Did you have any specific questions?

Well, I guess I wonder if it really is 5 mins. walk from the central piazza (I forget the name right now) and if it really is as well-equipped as they claim. We have stayed in some places where there wasn't even any salt and pepper or sugar or dish soap when we arrived.

And does it have comfortable furniture to sit on when you are tired from sight-seeing and want to rest without lying in bed? And how is the lighting at night if you want to read before sleeping?

We are in our 70's so our criteria for comfort may be a little more strict than yours. But we have weathered many an apt. in Italy that look much worse.

Charnees - it is definitely not a 5 minute walk from the Piazza Maggiore. It is more like 15 minutes. We did this every day for 10 days and took a variety of routes. There are restaurants and shops nearby (5-10 minutes) and there are buses (although we never figure out how to use them) but it is a good 15 min walk to Piazza Maggiore.

The apartment is very well equipped. The best I've seen. We didn't buy a single thing other than non-staple food. There was plenty of toilet paper, paper towels, garbage bags, soap, laundry soap, sponges, etc. Also plenty of towels, blankets, pillows and sheets. It seems like owners always skimp on the towels so I really appreciated this. There were even nice terry bathrobes and slippers.

The kitchen was fantastic. There was every cooking gadget I could think of and some I had never seen. It was like staying in someone's apartment who was away for the weekend (in a good way). There was coffee, sugar, spices, olive oil, risotto, tons of pots and pans and knives. It is really a very nice kitchen. We ended up lounging around in there more than in the living room.

I thought the apartment was comfortable. There is plenty of room to spread out, especially if it is just you and your husband. The living room sofa is pretty comfortable. It is a bit low. The third bedroom is really an office that has a comfortable daybed to sit on. Our daughter liked watching her movies on there. That room is a little dark as it does not have a window. The kitchen is great and comfortable as I mentioned. The master bedroom is very nice. The bed is really comfortable. More so then in other apartments I've stayed at. It has two bedside reading lamps on each side and the bedroom also opens to a little outdoor space so we left the wooden shutters open (and glass door closed) for some more sunlight.

My only complaint is that since we were walking to meet my in-laws at their hotel every day, I wouldn't have minded being closer. But if you are doing things in different places throughout the city and eating at restaurants in different areas, it should be fine. It is only a few minutes walk to a taxi stand. We ended up taking taxis to the train station since we were always late and we always found cabs waiting there, even early on Sunday morning.

I'm happy to answer any more questions.

Trip Prep and Packing – The Nitty Gritty

I should say that for two months preceding the trip I brushed up on my Italian and meticulously planned our itinerary. But, for the most part, I just read a lot about what to eat in Bologna and obsessed about what to pack. Books we liked for restaurants are the Fred Plotkin's Italy for the Gourmet Traveler (http://tinyurl.com/yfswks8) and Osterie & Locande d'Italia: A Guide to Traditional Places to Eat and Stay in Italy (http://tinyurl.com/ygqmtbr). I found some restaurant suggestions on this forum, Chowhound and in some old magazine articles. There aren't really that many guidebooks specific to Bologna but we found the Cadogan guide to Bologna and Emilia-Romagna, to be very good, including the restaurant section (http://tinyurl.com/yfqx54h).

Graziella, the woman who owns the apartment we rented, was very easy to work with. She speaks English and is responsive on email. Best of all (for us, but probably not for her; keep reading), she lives above the apartment. A few days before we left I emailed Graziella to confirm our arrival time. I realized that I never changed the apartment reservation to match our plane reservations so we would arrive the day before the apartment was booked and by then it was not free for the additional night. We had noticed a hotel on the same street as the apartment when we were researching the apartment and decided to stay there for the first night.

I won't bore you with the details of what my husband and I packed for ourselves (although I will make another plug for bringing two cell phones if you are traveling with another person with whom you will not spend every waking moment. One phone is nice for calling home but useless for reaching your travel companion). In terms of what to bring for a three year old, the short answer is, you don't need much. Packing for DD this time was a pleasure compared to all the gear we had to bring when she was younger. We brought:
- a stroller (Maclaren umbrella stroller with rain cover)
- CARES harness for the plane (wow, so much better than the carseat!)
- DVD player and some DVDs – good for the plane and for relaxing at home at the end of the day
- coloring books, markers, few books, etch a sketch type thing (and held in reserve for the plane ride was the big guns, playdoh)
- portable potty seat for the apartment (http://tinyurl.com/yg97cvo)
- toilet seat cover things for public places (http://tinyurl.com/yjrl5cf ) - very useful
- small medicine kit – motrin, bacitracin, bandaids, nosedrops, benadryl
- stuffed animal, blankie
- small thermos for plane and out during the day and a few disposable forks/spoons
- some “emergency” food – raisins and oatmeal packages

That is pretty much it.

And We're Off!

My husband and I both got very busy with work right before the trip. Our daughter was also starting preschool and we had other things going on at the same time. We anticipated this would be very busy so, for once, we were smart, and got everything and organized well ahead of time. We were all packed well before it was time to head to the airport and even had a chance to relax and make sure we brought everything. I will never make fun of people who pack in advance again! This was great. We checked in online and didn't have to wait at the airport. Off to a good start. The flight was uneventful which was a huge relief because our last few flights with DD have been hellish at best. DD was very interested in the airport and airplanes and sat and played with her new etch a sketch toy and markers for several hours. We put on her PJs and slippers and she watched some DVDs on the DVD player we brought and she fell asleep. I am also now a convert to the DVD player. Especially since kids will watch the same 3 cartons, without volume, ad nauseum. We had also talked to DD about the airport and got her a Curious George book about going on a plane so she was pretty excited about the plane ride.

When we arrived in Bologna I wondered how we would find our in-laws who were arriving from NY. When we landed, I looked out the window and there they were walking down the steps off their plane. It was a funny feeling to look out the window in Italy, in a jet-lagged haze and see your relatives! We got our bags and headed to our hotels. The in-laws stayed at the Grand Hotel Baglioni. Although it is a legendary hotel, it had some recent mixed reviews on Trip Advisor so we were sure how it would be. It turned out to be a great hotel. It is very centrally located and their room was big and very elegant. We found a better price on www.hotels.com then on the hotel's website. Perhaps the bad reviews were from people paying the rack rates?

For the first night we stayed at the Palazzo Trevi hotel which was lovely (http://www.palazzotrevi.it/). The people were incredibly nice, letting us check in very early, and had put a third bed into the room for DD. They even had put a guard on the extra bed for DD, without my asking, because I had given her age. The hotel is intelligently modernized but keeping its traditional style. And it was only about 10 doors down from our apartment. We all tried to take a nap but only my husband fell asleep so DD and I took a walk. We just walked around the block (which took about 45 minutes!). The general location is good. It is about a 15 minute walk to the Piazza Maggiore and in a residential neighborhood with good restaurants and right down the block from a nice cafe and salumerie. I did find that it felt a little far when we were constantly meeting the in-laws at their hotel and wouldn't have minded being a bit closer to them.

We woke up DH when we got back to the hotel room and headed out to meet grandma and grandpa. We were meeting at their hotel so we headed in that direction. We first stopped at that nice cafe I had scoped out earlier. We had some coffees and pastries. It was here that we discovered the magic weapon to a successful trip with DD - the lollipop. DD had never had a lollipop before (I must have been worried she'd choke) and all the tabacchi and cafes have big colorful displays of “chuppas” (the brand of lollipops) out front. We let her have one and she was hooked. Thereafter, whenever we wanted to DD to get back in her stroller, we'd bribe her with a lollipop and they never seemed to break their spell.

We took what appeared to be most direct, although not particularly scenic route, to the hotel. We ended up at the edge of the Piazza Maggiore at the start of Via Independenzia. We had our first look at Piazza Maggiore and, wow, it is impressive. It is a very large square with beautiful medieval buildings on all four sides. We were not sure what to expect in Bologna since it seems to be so off the regular tourist track. We figured that maybe it was one of those cities with one beautiful area and that this would be it. I'll break the suspense and tell you that was not the case at all. There were beautiful buildings and squares throughout the city. We were pretty late so didn't linger for two long in the square and headed toward the hotel. We couldn't seem to find the hotel, even though we had the address, which we thought strange since we understood the Grand Hotel Baglioni to be THE hotel in Bologna. After walking up and down the same block three times we saw the small entry way – actually the hotel is really up a flight of steps so it doesn't look like much from the street.

The lobby is quite elegant and I appreciated the doorman helping DH with the stroller up all those steps. We went up to look at in-laws room and were impressed. They had a spacious corner room with a big venetian glass chandelier and big bed with a silk headboard. We all headed out and walked around Piazza Maggiore a bit. DD had fallen asleep in her stroller so we took turns looking the huge Basilica San Petronio on the square. It looked there would be some good shopping in Bologna too – I spotted the usual chains but also some nice smaller stores. It was a beautiful day and despite not sleeping on the plane I felt fine. It was about 6pm by then so we started thinking about dinner. We were interested in going to Serghei which we found in the Slow Foods book. We headed toward the restaurant and realized that they probably didn't open until later. So to kill some time we went into a bar nearby. It was a real Italian bar, not a sit down place, but we were tired and didn't feel like walking. Looking back, I imagine that we were probably a strange sight – the five of us ranging from 2 to 79 standing around drinking cocktails and beer. Several waiters from different restaurants (in uniform) came in for a quick coffee. We started talking to the woman who worked there. Like lots of people we ment, she was very sweet and handed DD a “doggie bag” full of potato chips when we left. My father-in-law couldn't believe how inexpensive our bill was. He said drinks for the four of us were less than the one drink my MIL had had at the hotel bar! Clearly he was going to get an education from us in non-luxury travel.

Serghei (http://tinyurl.com/ydwf3zz) was just opening as we got there and the owner told us that if we were out by 9, he'd have a table for us. We were all pretty tired so that was fine. We settled in and my husband ordered the a bottle of Sangiovese (a reserve) which was delicious. I forgot to write down the name. I had the tortellini di zucca (pumpkin tortellini) which was awesome. DH had agnolotti which he said was good. In-laws had pasta too. I asked for a small portion for DD but they didn't have that so we ordered her a plate of tagliatelli a ragu (which we told her was spaghetti and meatballs). Most places did give small/half orders for kids but when they didn't, DH and I made sure nothing went to waste. DH, my mother-in-law and I all had stuffed zucchini for a second course which was wonderful. It had a lovely sweet and meaty taste. I think my FIL had some kind of meat. We noticed that the restaurant seemed to be mostly Americans or English for the “first seating”. DD behaved wonderfully. We were thrilled and didn't push our luck with dessert. Serghei was one of my favorite restaurants of the trip and wished we had a chance to go back there. Said good night to my in-laws and headed back to the hotel.

Keep it going! I'm loving the details.

Loving your report!

Well, we are very disppointed that your apartment in Bologna is not available when we can go. It rally looks like the best one available. Now I have to start searching again!

Thanks for this report, though.

Still looking forward to MORE!

“Yes, I promise we will leave shortly” - How Not to Make a Favorable Impression at a Hotel

It was dark when I woke up so I figured that it was the middle of the night but it was actually after noon. I woke DD and DH (missed our free breakfast, oops) and we fumbled around to pack since we were supposed to be out of the room at 11. DH and I do not function well without coffee so this was a bit of a challenge. When we were all up, repacked, and had assured the very kind hotel staff that we were in fact leaving, we headed out to meet up with DH's parents. We couldn't exactly make a discrete exit as we were having trouble reaching the owner of our rental apartment by phone so we had to ask the hotel if we could leave our luggage for a few hours. Unfortunately, our luggage took up the entire (small) lobby area. They graciously agreed.

We called DH's parents who also woke up late too but were already out sightseeing. We agreed to meet at a cafe in Piazza Maggiore. We grabbed coffees and pastries at the bar near the hotel and apartment again and met up a cafe in Piazza Maggiore. We sat for a bit (there is nothing like having a glass of wine within an hour of waking up) and we began to feel a bit sheepish at having slept away half the day. We decided to get in some sightseeing on this beautiful day but first needed to check into our apartment. We still couldn't reach Graziella by phone so we just rang the buzzer on her door and, fortunately, she was there and let us in. The apartment was lovely. I described it above in response to a question but happy to answer any further questions. It was great to rent an apartment where you do not have to buy anything. We got our bags back from the hotel, dropped them off and headed back out to do some sightseeing.

We picked up the in-laws and went to Santo Stefano which is a beautiful church (really four churches connected to one another) from the 11th century in a lovely square. I was glad we had a good guidebook (Cadogan) for this trip because very few signs or brochures were in English. DD ran around the square outside a bit and then fell asleep in her stroller as we headed to the Palazzo dell'Archiginnasio. I waited in the courtyard with DD who was still sleeping and enjoyed looking at all the family crests of the past students decorating the ceilings and walls while DH and my FIL went inside. I find that I have a tendency to rush when I'm sightseeing so I do enjoy those times when I am forced (mostly because DD is sleeping in the stroller and I'm waiting for DH) to look closely at something. This was one of those times and I was able to really appreciate the building, the details and just the experience of being there. When the men came down, I went up to look at the Teatro Anatomico and had fun imagining being a medical student in the 1400s. The statues of the skinned humans were a bit creepy.

Next we made our first trip to Tamburini. We picked up some fresh pasta (funghi porcini gnocchi, tortellini and those pumpkin raviolis we ate at Serghei), culatella, cheese and salami for the next night. After 10 years of living with my DH I still cannot buy the appropriate amount of food for us. We easily had enough food for about 8 people and ate most of it. I enjoyed looking at the food shops in that area and we bought some chocolate and cookies as that always makes a good pre-dinner snack.

With DD waking up from a long nap now, we figured we'd be safe to go out for dinner. We thought we'd try Serghei again but it was closed (Saturday night). We also tried Mariposa nearby, but they didn't have a table. As we were walking around we passed the Hotel Paradise which I remembered being mentioned on this forum mostly for the landmark sex shop next door, which we saw as well. It is pretty funny examining a window display of crotchless pants with your father-in-law and preschool daughter.

My MIL had noticed a restaurant right by her hotel, Diana, that she thought looked good so we decided to give it a try. We had originally passed on it because it looked a little too fancy for us with DD. But it was open and they had a table for us so we decided to try it to avoid wandering around aimlessly. I had my first tortellini in brodo served out a giant tureen. Diana was big on serving everything with a flourish – soup out of a big tureen, meats carved on a carving tray. I liked the tortellini in brodo although this was not the best version I'd had on the trip. I ordered DD another plate of tagliatelli and ragu. She ate it again. This time she wanted cheese on it so I put some cheese on her plate and then she just wanted to eat cheese. She must have eaten 2 cups of Parmesan cheese by the end of the meal. Fresh Parmesan in Bologna at age 3. What a life! Guess she'll never go back to the Kraft cans. I just had a mixed salad as a second course but everyone else ordered from the meat trolley so I'm not exactly sure what they got. One was definitely a roast pork which was very good. DH had some sort of rolled meat that he said was delicious. DD behaved well through until the end of the meal. My MIL really loved Diana – partly for the food but I think she also liked that it was a little more formal than the other places we went but mostly I think she liked that it was one block from her hotel. She ended up eating there two more times. I thought Diana was a good compromise with my in-laws but my husband and I usually like smaller, more casual places. We left before dessert and on the way back to the apartment spotted a Grom gelateria. I was curious to try it as I'd heard they opened in New York. It was quite good. I had one with fig and something else. Back at the apartment DD and DH passed out but I had trouble sleeping which was not great as we were getting up early to take the train to Ravenna the next morning.

Sally, your trip sounds great so far.

HI Sally,

Thanks for writing your report. I am enjoying it. I just picked up some FF tix to Italy and plan on 4-5 nights Bologna. I came to Fodors to do a bit of reading, and here you are in the middle of a report! i will be with you the whole way

Lovely report! Looking forward to the next chapter.

still enjoying your account of your travels, Sally.

Do i detect a degree of tension between you and yoru MIL?

Had to laugh about your Kraft comment. The amount of food was incredible from the meat trolleys. Grilled or boiled? Were those the choices? Each had different sauces available.

Sally this is superb! Didi you know that Diana is one of Mario Batali's favorite Bologna restaurants? We also thought it looked a bit fancy and passed it by on our brief Bologna sojourn a few years back. Glad to hear you enjoyed. Eagerly awaiting more..

The apartment looks like quite a find!

Thanks for the messages.
Happy Cheesehead - you will have a great time. Go hungry!

Annhig - stay tuned (no, just kidding, everything was fine)

TDudette- I think most were boiled and some roasted. Sounds (and frankly looked) not particularly appealing but husband and in-laws really liked them. You didn't pick your preparation, all the cooked meats were just wheeled around and you picked what you wanted to eat. Of course if our Italian were better, we may have learned that there were more options. We were relegated to pointing.

EK -that is great about Mario Batali. I am going to call my MIL and tell her. She'll be so excited. I actually used your report while we were away so thanks. The apartment was great too.

Hoping to write more tonight if DD ever goes to bed.

Sorry for the delays - we are all recovering from some sort of cold/flu. Glad we made it through the trip healthy.

Mosaics and More Mosaics

Ravenna was wonderful. I was looking forward to going but it really exceeded my expectations.

We managed, somehow, to all get on a train that left at 9am. Once I realized it would take too long to walk to the train station, I was wondering where we'd get a cab on Sunday morning but fortunately we found a taxi stand right near the apartment and there were taxis there at that time and every other time we needed one. We had no problem buying the train tickets using the machines (even though our credit cards do not have the smart chips in them). It was an easy train ride - DD had never been on the train – only the subway – and she was fine. She read her books and colored her coloring book). We met two American women on the train who told us that there going to mosaic school for the week. What a fun idea for a trip!

When we arrived in Ravenna, we took a cab from the train station to the central information center. We had been a bit nervous that all the churches would be closed on Sunday following mass and were happy to hear that everything was open except San Vitale which would let our for mass, and be open to tourists, in about an hour around 11.30. I didn't see this before we left, but a good website is: http://www.turismo.ra.it/. The information center had some good maps but you cannot buy tickets for any of the sites there.

Since we didn't know how long our band of five would last, we decided to hit our must-sees first. That was a good plan for us in general, although we didn't always follow it. San Vitale was first on the list so we walked over there. While we were waiting for mass to end, we visited the Mausoleo di Galla Placidia for our first taste of the mosaics. We first bought a combined ticket that seemed to cover most, or all, of what we saw, and then walked back to the Mausoleo. It was very interesting, quite small and solemn, and a good introduction to the mosaics we'd be seeing all day. Outside the building was a very cool installation from the exhibit of contemporary mosaics which was ongoing at the time. I loved the haystack that was outside San Vitale – photo of it on top left of link – http://www.ravennamosaico.it. If we had another day in Ravenna I definitely would have tried to see a few more of the contemporary works.

Mass was over at San Vitale and we headed inside. It was truly spectacular. The mosaics were amazing, even without binoculars, but it was fun to see the detail as well so I'd recommend bringing a pair. I was glad we had our Cadogan guide as it gives a good description of the history for Ravenna. Learning a little bit about the city and history made a huge difference in appreciating what we were seeing. DH and FIL went into the Museo Nazionale. I ran around outside with DD who was ready to burn off some steam and my MIL sat with us. DH and FIL somehow got lost in the museum and had to call us to find them outside at another exit. FIL's summary was that the museum “had a bunch of junk thrown together”so I didn't mind having missed it.

We were all hungry by now and headed toward the Piazza del Popolo for lunch. There were only a few cafes but MIL was fading so we just picked one that looked okay. We weren't expecting anything special foodwise, we just liked being able to sit outside in the lovely square. The food turned out to be pretty good. My MIL got her usual, a gin and tonic to start and then lasagna. Quite a combination! She was truly an expert on both by the end of the trip. She raved about her lasagna. I didn't write down what I ate but I remember it being fine. DD had pasta with arrabiata sauce. I regretted ordering it for her (too spicy) but the service was so slow I didn't want to change and, surprisingly, she ate it. I guess a hungry kid will eat anything. I really enjoyed our lunch as the Piazza was lovely and not too crowded. Eating a long lunch outside in beautiful weather in Italy ranks pretty high on my list of favorite things to do! DD's grandparents couldn't resist getting her a huge ice cream (so, naturally, we all had to get gelatos as well). DD passed out in a sticky mess of tomato sauce and ice cream as soon as she finished eating and we all headed to the Battistero Neoniano.

I really liked the Battistero Neoniano. I developed a fondness for baptisteries on this trip. In Ravenna, Parma and Florence, I found the baptisteries to be more pleasing than the accompanying churches. While the art in the churches can be beautiful, in my admittedly non-expert opinion, they often seem disjointed and intimidating as a whole. Probably because they were built over such long periods of time and funded by different patrons, and, well, they are supposed to be intimidating. But I did prefer the baptisteries, this one included. There is an interesting story about this building and Carl Jung on the Ravenna tourist website I included above.

Our next stop was Basilica di Sant'Apollinare Nuovo. On our way we passed a group of Italian tourists. DD was wearing a pair of pants that were too short on her (bad mother!). One of the women we passed tapped me on the shoulder and started telling me how DD was cold and then started yanking down her pants. The woman then started explaining how it was so cold out (it must have been in the 60s) and that she was a “nonna” and “couldn't help herself”. In thinking back on that, it is funny how the whole experience seemed charming at the time but had that happened here, I would have been annoyed at this bossy, intrusive woman poking at my kid. Ah the rosy lenses of vacation!

We got a little lost walking to Sant' Apollinare and ended up walking by Dante's tomb which I could swear we also walked by a few days later in Florence. Sant' Apollinaire seemed huge in contrast to our last stop and reminded of Santa Maria in Trastevere in Rome. My MIL was very tired by this point so we decided we'd split up and meet back at the train station for a 5pm train back to Bologna. DH and I raced over to Battistero degli Ariani. More beautiful mosaics and neat to see how the building had sunk about 8 feet since it was built. We would have liked to have gone out on the bus to the Mausoleum of Theodoric but we didn't have time. Overall, I would have liked to have spent more time in Ravenna. If you are planning a trip, Ravenna could easily fill two full days and just seemed like a nice place to relax and hang out in general.

After stopping in the supermarket we found on the way for some snacks for the train ride, we found my in-laws “talking” in the train station to an Italian man who speaks no English. We were all very tired on the train ride home, except DD who had woken up not long before from a two hour nap and who chattered the entire way home. Back in Bologna, we quickly cooked up the pasta we had bought from Tamburini the night before and went to sleep. No problem sleeping that night.

Love it, thanks for the great information. Giacomo wants to go to Bologna next trip and I will save your report for planning.

I too am contmeplating a trip to Emilia Romagna as part of a larger trip to Italy and wonder if a week in Bologna would be the right amount time to see the Bologna plus the towns of Parma, Modena and Ravenna.