Bologna GTG in November
 

With November around the corner, seems like it is time to raise this since a few people are coming to town at the same time (Low Country, Isabel, and not sure who else).

What are the dates in common? Seems like mid-month is when more people were going to be here (dina, I think you are here the 8th-11th?)

Kathy

Kathy...

We (mom & I) will be arriving the evening of Nov.12th and will leave the morning of Nov. 20th.

Right now I have plans for the evenings of Nov. 12, 13 & 17 but otherwise my evenings are open. I do have several day trips planned so if a day time GTG is planned, we'd be more limited in our available days.

Looking forward to connecting...this will be fun! :-)

Day time is tough for me with work.....the evenings of the 15th and 16th are not good---17th and 18th aren't great but, given your plans, let's see who else can join in and I will be flexible (it's Jazz Festival week and I'd like to get to a few things).

The 14th is wonderful if that could work.

Loking forward to it too!

The 14th would be great for us! :-)

Hi

I would love to do a GTG. Unfortunately I don't arrive until the 15th. So my three evenings are 15, 16 and 17. I arrive on the 15th but should be there by 5 pm or so (only coming from London) so that evening or the next two would work for me. I'm free all those evenings but it's not looking like all three of us are free at the same time.

Kathy - did you get to Parma or Modena yet? Love to hear what you thought about them, I'm still trying to decide what day trips to do.

Isabel and Low Country,

Would love to make it work for you too, Isabel. LC can't do the 17th. I could do the 15th between 5-near 7pm and could do the 16th around the same time (am seeing Sonny Rollins later that evening).

What do you think?

PS Was going to go to Parma last Saturday but ended up staying here. Will go soon, likely before seeing you. Not going to Modena yet since I am doing the "Italian Days" tour in Modena when a friend visits and have a number of other towns I want to visit also. You're doing Ravenna, right? A must.

We could do the evening of the 15th...we have the "Italian Days" tour that day and are scheduled to be back in Bologna around 4:30pm, so would say we would be available sometime after 5pm or 5:30pm (just in case we are delayed returning to the city).

For the 16th I've planned a day trip to Ravenna and would most likely be back in Bologna around 6pm or 6:30pm, so would say we would be available after that time.

I am envious! I love Bologna!!

Hi

This is tough. Our schedules are all just a tiny bit off, but so close. The 16th is best for me, I'll probably do a day trip that day but could be back by 5 or even earlier. The 15th is the day I arrive so "probably" could make 5:30 but it will be close. I fly into Milan from London, arriving at 2:15 (Linante). I'm planning to get the 3:15 train from Milano to Bologna, arriving at 4:20. If it all works then I could just drop my bags at the hotel and meet somewhere by 5 or certainly 5:30. But if plane, airport bus, or train are late... I'm also totally free for the 17th. I leave for Rome on the 18th, probably late afternoon.

I'm still trying to decide on a day trip to Ravenna - LC, are you doing it by train? On your own or do you have a tour or something?

Sad I'll miss you all by a week, but hope you have a great time!

isabel...

I agree with you, this schedule coordination is tough! Yes, I'm doing my Ravenna day trip by train on our own.

Complications but we'll figure a way to make it work! I definitely cannot make the evening of the 15th BUT, if lunch times work for you any of the days in common, I will do that....let's try that approach? Maybe the 17th at lunch period or 5ish-7 ish on the 17th? Either of those work?

Isabel--I did Ravenna by train from Bologna with family, very easy but then a walk from the train into town---you may want to google map from the train station to somewhere you are going, then have that when you arrive. There are also some large area maps showing major sites but sometimes the initial arrival at the train can be a little overwhelming....

Hi - The 17th is one of my two full days so I was planning on a day trip, but would definitely come back by 5 to see you guys if that works for Low Country also. The 18th was the day I was planning on probably staying in Bologna since I have to leave on a late afternoon train to Rome, so lunch on the 18th would be great too.

Still trying to decide on day trips. I'm trying to decide between Modena, Ferrara, Parma and Ravena. I'm sure Ravena and it's mosaics are wonderful but Ravena is a longer train trip, with less frequent trains, obviously not that bad but the others seem so easy with such frequent trains that you wouldn't even have to plan it really. It looks like you can combine Modena and Parma very easily, still working on if that would work with Ferrara and Ravena. I know I should take my time and really enjoy fewer places than try to cram it all in, but once I start researching someplace I really want to go there.

I hate to be the one with scheduling issues...but I've got a cooking class scheduled on the 17th, and it's a split day, we meet in the morning for 2 hours to go to the market and then we meet at the instructor's apartment at 4:30pm to cook and then have dinner there until about 10:30pm so the evening of the 17th is definitely out for me (& mom).

The 18th I have a day trip to Modena planned and I've got a lunch reservation there at Hosteria Guisti, so wouldn't be back to Bologna on the 18th until about 4 in the afternoon.

I don't want to put a kink in the planning, so please kathy & isabel, if you can get a date that works for the 2 of you, go ahead and GTG.

kathy...the 14th still works for me, if you'd like to GTG with me (& mom) we'd love to do that, but I completely understand if you don't want to schedule multiple GTGs in one week.

What a complicated group we have turned out to be!

LowCountry, after all this correspondence how could I not want to meet??!! Sure. let's do either lunch on Sunday the 14th or apertivo time, whichever is best for you both.

Isabel, best would be coffee or drink around 5:30 on Wednesday the 17th so let me know if that works....have plans later that evening.

Kathy...

Love the idea of apertivo on Sunday the 14th. Would 7pm-ish work for you? Or would you prefer 6pm-ish? Either time or anywhere in between on the 14th works for us. Since this is our first time in Bologna, would you pick the place to meet? Will a Sunday evening be difficult to find an open place? Would love a wine bar/enoteca, or whatever you suggest! :-) We are staying very near Piazza Maggiore (via Oberdan area)

Kathy - coffee or a drink around 5:30 on the 17th would work for me.

Low Country - I might actually do Ravenna as a day trip on the 16th also. Maybe we could have our GTG on the train. As I said I'm still so torn about which day trips to do but I seem to be hearing that to pick Ferrara over Ravenna would be a mistake so now I'm leaning towards Ravenna. I just saw your post on the "favorite squares" thread and noticed you mentioned Krakow. That is way high on my list for next year so I'd love to hear your thoughts.

If either of you want to email more specifics about trying to get together my email is: ann dot forcier at gmail dot com

Isabel...

A train GTG could be a a Fodors first?? ;-)

I don't have my train schedule right in front of me now, but on the 16th I was planning to catch a 9am-ish train from Bologna to Ravenna, I believe the next one after that wasn't until close to 10:30am. And I'm planning on taking a 4:30-ish train for the return to Bologna.

Hi - I just went on the trentalia site and there is a direct train at 9:06 that gets to Ravenna at 10:25. The next one requires a change, and the one after that is quite a bit later. So I would think we would want that 9:06 train. Now we just have to figure out how to find each other. I have only been in the Bologna train station once a few years ago so can't think of an obvious place to meet. I suppose by the ticket window. Any ideas how we should go about this?

Hi isabel...

Yes, the 9:06 train was the one I was planning to take. I've never been to the Bologna train station, but we could set a time prior to the departure time and meet by the ticket window. I've noted your email address and we can sort out the particulars via email. My email address is fitms (at) hargray (dot) com