Jamikins and Bikerscott are off again! Off to Bologna, Le Marche & Lucca!
Jun 30th, 2013, 04:48 PM
#41
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Scott,
I'm sure that I've said it before, but I'll say again - I really enjoy your writing and sense of humor.
Thanks for letting us tag along on your trip.
Verona is on our list of to-go places. Sounds like a good day trip like you guys decided to make it. You didn't say much about the Roman Arena or Theatre. Are they worth checking out?
Glad that you're feeling better.
Robbie
I'm sure that I've said it before, but I'll say again - I really enjoy your writing and sense of humor.
Thanks for letting us tag along on your trip.
Verona is on our list of to-go places. Sounds like a good day trip like you guys decided to make it. You didn't say much about the Roman Arena or Theatre. Are they worth checking out?
Glad that you're feeling better.
Robbie
Jun 30th, 2013, 05:52 PM
#43
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Oh, thanks for the good report and the great photos. We are going to Verona in September. Your food pictures are too gorgeous.
Jamie, I have final edit on all photos taken of me by my husband. ;-)
Jamie, I have final edit on all photos taken of me by my husband. ;-)
Jun 30th, 2013, 09:11 PM
#44
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chucktown dobbs,
I'll toss in my opinion that the Roman arena and theater are among the highlights of Verona, as its beautiful classic castle, and two of its churches, the Duomo and San Xeno. In fact, I would say the somewhat dubious Romeo & Juliet sites are not worth seeing, and are likely to leave you with the impression that Verona is a very touristy place, when in reality, it is a very pleasant mix of wealthy modern business city and medieval/Roman treasure.
I don't know if you will also be visiting from Bologna, but the contrast of Verona's beautiful pink granite and Bologna's deep red is very nice to experience. Wine in Verona is much better than in Bologna, so if you are only there for a day, pick up a bottle or two to take back with you.
I'll toss in my opinion that the Roman arena and theater are among the highlights of Verona, as its beautiful classic castle, and two of its churches, the Duomo and San Xeno. In fact, I would say the somewhat dubious Romeo & Juliet sites are not worth seeing, and are likely to leave you with the impression that Verona is a very touristy place, when in reality, it is a very pleasant mix of wealthy modern business city and medieval/Roman treasure.
I don't know if you will also be visiting from Bologna, but the contrast of Verona's beautiful pink granite and Bologna's deep red is very nice to experience. Wine in Verona is much better than in Bologna, so if you are only there for a day, pick up a bottle or two to take back with you.
Jun 30th, 2013, 09:52 PM
#45
>>>The Bologna train station is confusing. There are actually three of them in the same building (Centrale, Est, and Ouest), although there is very little to explain this.<<<
Bologna has been remodeling to add additional train lines.
>>>seems that there are three levels underground that we weren’t aware of.<<<
Should be four, but all of them might not be operational yet.
You can see the layout here:
http://www.fsitaliane.it/cms-file/al...bologna_AV.pdf
Bologna has been remodeling to add additional train lines.
>>>seems that there are three levels underground that we weren’t aware of.<<<
Should be four, but all of them might not be operational yet.
You can see the layout here:
http://www.fsitaliane.it/cms-file/al...bologna_AV.pdf
Jun 30th, 2013, 09:54 PM
#46
The Bologna expansion info is only in Italian on Trenitalia.
http://www.fsitaliane.it/fsi/Il-Grup...one-AV-Bologna
http://www.fsitaliane.it/fsi/Il-Grup...one-AV-Bologna
Jun 30th, 2013, 10:45 PM
#47
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Stevewith - thank you so much for the restaurant tips, I have copied them into my file! Love outdoor dining!
Kybourban - you are absolutely right - there is construction everywhere at the station. It is going to be a fabulous station and absolutely huge, but some further signage at this point would be helpful!
I am almost (but not quite) ashamed to say that we didnt go into the Roman arena or theatre. We have been inside Roman arenas a few times - Nimes, and several times in Rome and we decided to give it a skip and relax with our bevvies overlooking the arena where we had great people watching. As for the theatre - we did walk over to it and it looked amazing, but lunch was calling and as big foodies we had to prioritize
They look amazing though, so I would highly recommend a visit.
Verona was extremely pleasant, just a lovely town, I would highly recommend a visit!
Today we are off to Parma to hopefully sample some amazing cheese and ham!
Kybourban - you are absolutely right - there is construction everywhere at the station. It is going to be a fabulous station and absolutely huge, but some further signage at this point would be helpful!
I am almost (but not quite) ashamed to say that we didnt go into the Roman arena or theatre. We have been inside Roman arenas a few times - Nimes, and several times in Rome and we decided to give it a skip and relax with our bevvies overlooking the arena where we had great people watching. As for the theatre - we did walk over to it and it looked amazing, but lunch was calling and as big foodies we had to prioritize
They look amazing though, so I would highly recommend a visit. Verona was extremely pleasant, just a lovely town, I would highly recommend a visit!
Today we are off to Parma to hopefully sample some amazing cheese and ham!
Jul 1st, 2013, 02:45 AM
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I am exasperated to hear that the area in front of Verona station is still a mess - we wasted quite a lot of time trying to find our way into town on foot.
Your trip report makes wonderful evocative reading - but you didn't tell us the name/street of your lunch place near Bologna station!
Your trip report makes wonderful evocative reading - but you didn't tell us the name/street of your lunch place near Bologna station!
Jul 1st, 2013, 03:55 PM
#53
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Wonderful as always. We were in Bologna the week school let out for Easter holidays. The station and bus stop in from of our hotel were "zoos" right before Easter weekend.
Too bad about the Americans. It's always cringe-making when my countrymen act like a$$es.
Hope you are feeling better.
Too bad about the Americans. It's always cringe-making when my countrymen act like a$$es.
Hope you are feeling better.
Jul 1st, 2013, 10:44 PM
#54
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We had a great time in Parma yesterday, very nice town with very friendly people. The weather has been outstanding - so much so that it has us wiped out at the end of the day! Scott crashed last night, so yesterday's report will have to wait until tonight hahaha! In fact he is still sleeping as I type this!
I'll include my pics from yesterday: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pug_gir...7634436336826/
Today we are off to Modena for lunch and a balsamic vinegar tour, cant wait!
The train station is indeed still a construction zone, but looks like they are just finishing up. It is going to be huge and very modern! Oh and the place for lunch neat the station was Trattoria di Via Serra and was excellent - highly recommend it!
Have a great day everyone!
I'll include my pics from yesterday: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pug_gir...7634436336826/
Today we are off to Modena for lunch and a balsamic vinegar tour, cant wait!
The train station is indeed still a construction zone, but looks like they are just finishing up. It is going to be huge and very modern! Oh and the place for lunch neat the station was Trattoria di Via Serra and was excellent - highly recommend it!
Have a great day everyone!
Jul 2nd, 2013, 12:54 PM
#56
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Day Three – Parma and Wine
Jamie decided that another early day was in the cards, however as we went to bed with clear heads last night it wasn’t such a problem this morning. We opened the curtains and yet another day with brilliant blue skies, not a cloud to be seen. Agostino doesn’t seem to believe that we only want one pastry and one coffee in the morning – he wants us to have at least 3 cups of cappuccino before we head out for the day.
Our plan for the day was to work our saunter down to the train station for a trip to Parma for the day. According to the sign at the train station, it was 31˚C at 10:00 when we got there and looked like it was going to get hotter. After the confusion yesterday, we were ready for the platform and found our train with no issues.
The ride to Parma took about an hour. Fortunately we worked out fairly quickly how to open the windows in the carriage as the air conditioning was broken, but other than being a bit warm it was a nice trip through the countryside, and I even managed to stay awake.
We were faced with our old dilemma upon reaching Parma – we knew where we had to be for lunch, but had no idea how to get to the city centre from the train station. Jamie has developed a theory that in all cities, they build the train station so that the main entrance faces directly into the centre of town. I think this is a stupid idea, but haven’t yet been able to prove her wrong on this trip (her father has a similar belief that the first bus he sees in London is always the one that will take him exactly where he wants to go in London, regardless of where that might be – this almost never works yet his belief is unshakable).
So we found the city centre after a bit of misadventure (who builds a church with towers that high and NOT have it be the main church in the city?) and didn’t immediately like the look of it. It could have been the somewhat circuitous route we took through some of the less salubrious parts of town, or it could have been the heat, but my first impression wasn’t great.
After getting our bearings in the city centre (and a map at the tourist info centre) we walked to the cathedral in the centre of town. It had gotten hotter, and I think the temperature in the piazza in front of the cathedral was approaching that of the surface of the sun (interesting fact I learned recently – solar flares are actually hotter than the surface of the sun, but scientists aren’t sure why). We went inside because we felt we should, and it’s normally cooler inside churches than outside. It was beautiful, but not being particularly religious didn’t inspire either of us (although it was nice to get out of the sun for 10 minutes).
After all this exertion, we felt that a refreshing pre-lunch beverage was in order, and so found a little café next to the baptisry for a Campari soda and prosecco. We nursed our drinks until it was time to go for lunch, entertaining ourselves listening to a very odd conversation going on at the table beside us – an older British gentleman and a younger Italian woman. From the somewhat random nature of the topics of conversation, the age difference, and the very obvious language gap, we assumed that he must have been an English tutor doing a session on conversational English. Later that day we saw them walking past hand-in-hand, which if it was a student-teacher relationship is creepy, and if it was something more is even more creepy given the huge age difference.
Lunch was at a little restaurant just around the corner from the cathedral called La Forchetta. It looked tasty, and I decided to throw caution to the wind and order an appetizer, a primi, and a secondi. They were all delicious, especially my primi of ravioli stuffed with mashed potato and sprinkled with bacon – essentially an Italian version of a perogi. We were also forced to have two bottles of excellent wine with lunch – we were so long eating it seemed only natural. I can’t recommend this little gem of a restaurant enough – best lunch I’ve had so far on this trip (even though it’s only day three).
We stumbled out of the restaurant and started back towards the train station, getting briefly distracted on the main street for another few glasses of wine to finish off the afternoon while we waited for the afternoon train (there were probably earlier ones we could have taken, but we felt that would be rushing things). When we finally did get to the train, I passed out and snored loudly from what Jamie tells me.
We arrived back in Bologna and started walking back up the road to the main square. We thought that it would be too early for dinner (and we were still stuffed to the gills from lunch) so found a wine bar at the bottom of Via Clavature (our favourite Bar Il Calise being closed) for a few beers and proseccos before walking around the corner to Tamburini for what turned out to be a huge plate of various meats and cheeses along with a few more bottles of wine – we weren’t feeling a lot of pain by this point.
On the way back to the B&B, we found that they were doing a screening of one of Charlie Chaplin’s old films from 1914 in the main square – they’ve got a massive screen set up and a few hundred chairs – I think it’s a festival of film going on. We found a pair of free chairs and watched until Jamie got bored. I don’t remember much of the walk back to the hotel, but we must’ve made it. I passed out while Jamie did her photo editing. Not the most elegant endings to a very pleasant day.
Jamie decided that another early day was in the cards, however as we went to bed with clear heads last night it wasn’t such a problem this morning. We opened the curtains and yet another day with brilliant blue skies, not a cloud to be seen. Agostino doesn’t seem to believe that we only want one pastry and one coffee in the morning – he wants us to have at least 3 cups of cappuccino before we head out for the day.
Our plan for the day was to work our saunter down to the train station for a trip to Parma for the day. According to the sign at the train station, it was 31˚C at 10:00 when we got there and looked like it was going to get hotter. After the confusion yesterday, we were ready for the platform and found our train with no issues.
The ride to Parma took about an hour. Fortunately we worked out fairly quickly how to open the windows in the carriage as the air conditioning was broken, but other than being a bit warm it was a nice trip through the countryside, and I even managed to stay awake.
We were faced with our old dilemma upon reaching Parma – we knew where we had to be for lunch, but had no idea how to get to the city centre from the train station. Jamie has developed a theory that in all cities, they build the train station so that the main entrance faces directly into the centre of town. I think this is a stupid idea, but haven’t yet been able to prove her wrong on this trip (her father has a similar belief that the first bus he sees in London is always the one that will take him exactly where he wants to go in London, regardless of where that might be – this almost never works yet his belief is unshakable).
So we found the city centre after a bit of misadventure (who builds a church with towers that high and NOT have it be the main church in the city?) and didn’t immediately like the look of it. It could have been the somewhat circuitous route we took through some of the less salubrious parts of town, or it could have been the heat, but my first impression wasn’t great.
After getting our bearings in the city centre (and a map at the tourist info centre) we walked to the cathedral in the centre of town. It had gotten hotter, and I think the temperature in the piazza in front of the cathedral was approaching that of the surface of the sun (interesting fact I learned recently – solar flares are actually hotter than the surface of the sun, but scientists aren’t sure why). We went inside because we felt we should, and it’s normally cooler inside churches than outside. It was beautiful, but not being particularly religious didn’t inspire either of us (although it was nice to get out of the sun for 10 minutes).
After all this exertion, we felt that a refreshing pre-lunch beverage was in order, and so found a little café next to the baptisry for a Campari soda and prosecco. We nursed our drinks until it was time to go for lunch, entertaining ourselves listening to a very odd conversation going on at the table beside us – an older British gentleman and a younger Italian woman. From the somewhat random nature of the topics of conversation, the age difference, and the very obvious language gap, we assumed that he must have been an English tutor doing a session on conversational English. Later that day we saw them walking past hand-in-hand, which if it was a student-teacher relationship is creepy, and if it was something more is even more creepy given the huge age difference.
Lunch was at a little restaurant just around the corner from the cathedral called La Forchetta. It looked tasty, and I decided to throw caution to the wind and order an appetizer, a primi, and a secondi. They were all delicious, especially my primi of ravioli stuffed with mashed potato and sprinkled with bacon – essentially an Italian version of a perogi. We were also forced to have two bottles of excellent wine with lunch – we were so long eating it seemed only natural. I can’t recommend this little gem of a restaurant enough – best lunch I’ve had so far on this trip (even though it’s only day three).
We stumbled out of the restaurant and started back towards the train station, getting briefly distracted on the main street for another few glasses of wine to finish off the afternoon while we waited for the afternoon train (there were probably earlier ones we could have taken, but we felt that would be rushing things). When we finally did get to the train, I passed out and snored loudly from what Jamie tells me.
We arrived back in Bologna and started walking back up the road to the main square. We thought that it would be too early for dinner (and we were still stuffed to the gills from lunch) so found a wine bar at the bottom of Via Clavature (our favourite Bar Il Calise being closed) for a few beers and proseccos before walking around the corner to Tamburini for what turned out to be a huge plate of various meats and cheeses along with a few more bottles of wine – we weren’t feeling a lot of pain by this point.
On the way back to the B&B, we found that they were doing a screening of one of Charlie Chaplin’s old films from 1914 in the main square – they’ve got a massive screen set up and a few hundred chairs – I think it’s a festival of film going on. We found a pair of free chairs and watched until Jamie got bored. I don’t remember much of the walk back to the hotel, but we must’ve made it. I passed out while Jamie did her photo editing. Not the most elegant endings to a very pleasant day.
Jul 2nd, 2013, 01:52 PM
#57
Agostino doesn’t seem to believe that we only want one pastry and one coffee in the morning – he wants us to have at least 3 cups of cappuccino before we head out for the day. >>
in Rome with our italian class in February, I was somewhat surprised to see our teacher drinking both espresso and cappuccino with her breakfast. I then observed the italians in the breakfast room more closely, and lots of them were doing variations on the same thing. so your waiter's desire for you to drink more coffee would not be out of order, i think.
keeping on the drinks theme, i see that you like campari, and prosecco which reminded me that the bar where we had supper tonight offers a cocktail of Campari, a squeeze of orange juice, and prosecco. worth thinking about!
in Rome with our italian class in February, I was somewhat surprised to see our teacher drinking both espresso and cappuccino with her breakfast. I then observed the italians in the breakfast room more closely, and lots of them were doing variations on the same thing. so your waiter's desire for you to drink more coffee would not be out of order, i think.
keeping on the drinks theme, i see that you like campari, and prosecco which reminded me that the bar where we had supper tonight offers a cocktail of Campari, a squeeze of orange juice, and prosecco. worth thinking about!
Jul 2nd, 2013, 02:51 PM
#58
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Hi,
It might help you to remember the spelling of your favorite bar in Bologna if you think of the word "chalice." The name of the bar is Il Calice, not "Calise".
Not to be too nosy but, do you ever think of taking a map and guidebook *before* you go on a long day trip by train? It might spare you long lost walks in the blazing midday sun. You might also might not miss some things -- like the Bapistery next door to the duomo, made of pink stone from Verona, whose foundations and layout reach back to the pagan era and has an exceptionally dramatic ceiling. Most interestingly, it was built along ancient astronomical precepts -- somewhat like Stonhenge -- to orient it to the equinoxes. It is a UNESCO heritage site for astronomy.
http://www2.astronomicalheritage.net...&idsubentity=1
I don't know if the 10 minutes you spent getting out of the sun in Duomo included walking to a spot inside where you could look up into cupola, but while Correggio's masterpiece of illusionist painting of the ascending virgin may not have inspired you, it did in fact inspire an entire movement of baroque painting throughout Europe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assumpt...gin_(Correggio)
May I make a small and well-intended suggestion? If you go into Eataly -- which is not far from the bar Il Calice -- you will find the space is shared with a bookstore. On the second floor, you will find scads of guidebooks in English for all parts of Italy, including Le Marche and Lucca. They have maps and can tell you the historic importance of what you are looking at, since you seem to be willing to get up early, go out in the heat and spend time and money looking at these things. You've actually picked places to travel where the local wine is in reality not particularly good but the history is tremendous, and just the slightest background in it might end up really meaning a lot to you.
It might help you to remember the spelling of your favorite bar in Bologna if you think of the word "chalice." The name of the bar is Il Calice, not "Calise".
Not to be too nosy but, do you ever think of taking a map and guidebook *before* you go on a long day trip by train? It might spare you long lost walks in the blazing midday sun. You might also might not miss some things -- like the Bapistery next door to the duomo, made of pink stone from Verona, whose foundations and layout reach back to the pagan era and has an exceptionally dramatic ceiling. Most interestingly, it was built along ancient astronomical precepts -- somewhat like Stonhenge -- to orient it to the equinoxes. It is a UNESCO heritage site for astronomy.
http://www2.astronomicalheritage.net...&idsubentity=1
I don't know if the 10 minutes you spent getting out of the sun in Duomo included walking to a spot inside where you could look up into cupola, but while Correggio's masterpiece of illusionist painting of the ascending virgin may not have inspired you, it did in fact inspire an entire movement of baroque painting throughout Europe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assumpt...gin_(Correggio)
May I make a small and well-intended suggestion? If you go into Eataly -- which is not far from the bar Il Calice -- you will find the space is shared with a bookstore. On the second floor, you will find scads of guidebooks in English for all parts of Italy, including Le Marche and Lucca. They have maps and can tell you the historic importance of what you are looking at, since you seem to be willing to get up early, go out in the heat and spend time and money looking at these things. You've actually picked places to travel where the local wine is in reality not particularly good but the history is tremendous, and just the slightest background in it might end up really meaning a lot to you.
Jul 2nd, 2013, 07:07 PM
#59
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We have guide books with us...we weren't able to see those things as all museums were closed on the Monday and the baptistery was as well. To be honest we don't travel for art...if its there and it's open we will go see it, but we like to wander, have long lunches and chose to visit these towns not for the art but for the food they are famous for mostly. We love to sit and have a drink in lovely piazzas with nice views and enjoy the architecture. And photography.
Weirdly, the guidebook I have doesn't have maps but I didn't notice that till we were here but we don't mind wandering around. Not everyone's style of travel but there you have it. It works for us
Weirdly, the guidebook I have doesn't have maps but I didn't notice that till we were here but we don't mind wandering around. Not everyone's style of travel but there you have it. It works for us
Jul 2nd, 2013, 07:17 PM
#60
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Oh we did see the lovely cupola in the duomo though...gorgeous!!! So we aren't completely uncultured 
the name of the other church escapes me right now but the entire inside is covered in gorgeous paintings...just lovely! The perspective and details never fail to amaze me...
the name of the other church escapes me right now but the entire inside is covered in gorgeous paintings...just lovely! The perspective and details never fail to amaze me...
