Bologna, Italy – August 10

Lamentation of Christ

Should I even bother with a weather report? Hot, humid, moist, dripping, soggy, glisteny, damp, clammy, soaking, wet…does this paint a picture? I’ve checked back on a few things in past year’s blogs and guess what? Unless we are in the UK…all of those adjectives apply, and even then they actually apply...for a different reason. Thank God for great hotel AC and showers!

random frescos

Well, finally I can say I slept soundly and solidly last night…for the first time since leaving Calgary I think I got a solid sleep. Not having something to wake up for and hotel room black-out curtains didn’t hurt. Our goal for the day was to make it to hotel included breakfast before 11! Mission accomplished…by about 10:30. Included breakfast is really the way to go. Chris isn’t the biggest breakfast eater, so if not included, I get some fruit, nuts and maybe yogurt for the room, but this is so much more civilized. The fare is

prayer garden

typically the same in many countries we've visited in Europe with a cultural twist…sausages in Germany, croissants in France, mortadella in Italy…and a nice little Italian lady bringing me a cappuccino!

So, speaking of mortadella, I tried it…and I’m not sold. I don’t want to say it’s pretty much baloney, but…

Today was the day of churches. We decided to visit a bunch of them. I had to make sure to have knees and shoulders covered – it’s not really knees, but it really is shoulders – no

altar

sleeveless, and not too much leg can be exposed. I played it safe with a below the knees dress with short sleeves - light and billowy enough so I wasn't any hotter if that is even possible. They don’t come out and say it of course, but this is pretty much only a rule for women, or is it for men not to look at too much flesh?? There is a picture of a man on their signs prohibiting too much flesh, but really only pertains to women – shocker!

We ended up visiting about 5 churches, all of them beautiful, quiet and not crowded. One had a sculpture of the Lamentation of Christ. This 15^th century sculpture is made up of 7 life-sized terra-cotta figures. This was the only thing we had to pay to see today, there were donation boxes of course, but no requirement.

Bologna's towers, one leans

One of the churches had old, half destroye

bruschetta

d frescos seemingly everywhere ...very cool.

taglitelle

Lunch was the next event. This was more typical Bologna food. I had tagliatelle ragù and Chris had lasagne. Both were delicious, the lasange was very similar to yesterday’s. We also shared a bruschetta – it was just OK. Our guide yesterday told us that bread in Bologna is famously bad…they don’t use salt. Maybe he was right…the bread used for bruschetta wasn’t great. We washed this all down with a bottle of Pignoletto, this time the frizzante version. Yesterday we tried the still Pignoletto, today the bubbly. Both were good…Chris preferred the still, I liked both. It’s dry and slightly less bubbly than prosecco.

We were about to head to for groceries and a nap when an after lunch beer struck us as a

bubbly!

good idea. 2 beers and the typically accompanying bowl of chips for 10€ - and no sitting

contemplating life

fee. This sitting fee called ‘coperto’ is basically a fee to sit or a cover charge. We have been typically paying 2€ each.

Next we actually did get some supplies and back for a cool off session. I found some chips (again these were meh), and 2 small cans of frizzante wine – both good. Our room has a fridge, but seems to turn off when we are not in the room. We have now realized that there is a main power switch for the entire room – live and learn!

lunch view

In the evening we decided to take on the MONUMENTAL task of climbing to the top of the San Luca church. There are 666 porticos leading up to a church at the top of a hill. Along the way there are frescos of the Stations of the Cross and other religious sculptures. It is a task. By the time we got to the top we were drenched – I know I say this a lot (mostly

beer and people watching

because it’s true) but tonight it was really true…even Chris was drenched and that rarely happens. The climb consisted of inclines and steps. In the end the fit bit said

snacks

we climbed 68 floors and walked 27 000 steps – some of those steps were from during the day, but only a handful of the floors were. At the top was a restaurant where we had cheep house wine 2.5€ a glass (usually we’ve seen 4 for a

it's only beginning

glass), a pizza and a salad – not the best food we’ve eaten, but OK.

Once we were sufficiently rested we headed

Chris and the porticos

back down, and to bed. Today was by far the furthest we’ve ever walked on vacation and certainly hands-down the most

heading down

we’ve climbed – a great but EXHAUSTING day.

WOW!!