bologna

On the third day of our trip, we took a train from Rome to Bologna.

I love trains, but then again- who doesn't?

Our first stop was the Piazza Maggiore. More scaffolding, dammit. The entire facade of San Petronio was covered. 

But we still saw the Fontana del Nettuno. 

Then we went to the Archiginnasio di Bologna, which I believe used to be a university and is now a library. 

There's also an anatomical theater.

And then we needed more ice cream. 

So we went to the Sorbeteria Castiglione.

I got crema di ricotta e uovo e fichi caramellati al miele e suorza di limone 

AND

dolce cremino de pinoli & noci caramellate

I don't know what Daniel got because I was occupied with my own flavors.

It may be the best ice cream I've ever had. YUM.

Post-gelato, we did some more wandering. It was nice not to have a fixed agenda.

Santo Stefano, or Sette Chiese.

Towards the end of the afternoon, I decided I wanted to climb the Asinelli tower. Daniel decided he did not. Perhaps wise, given the size of our lunch. Anyway, I climbed all 9 million tiny wooden steps and was rewarded with a view. A very nice view. 

Of course then I had to descend the 9 million tiny wooden steps, which was much worse than going up them because at every moment I was afraid that I was going to slip and fly down the stairs to my death. But I made it.

And after that, Daniel was feeling refreshed after his rest at the base of the tower so we decided to walk back to our hotel on the outskirts of town. Or rather, he walked and I limped and complained about my quaking legs. 

But I perked up quickly once I remembered that we'd made dinner reservations at the Drogheria della Rosa.

Though both of us were starting to feel the effects of a few days of eating multiple course meals and drinking liters of wine with both lunch and dinner, we were in Bologna. Clearly not a time to exercise restraint.

After being ushered to our seats , we were given glasses of prosecco and a plate of salumi. There was no menu- the owner of the restaurant came over to explain what was available that evening. I settled upon the tortelli di stracchino e squacquerone con fiori di zucca while Daniel chose the triangoli di patate al timo to begin. For our main courses, I had the sformato di verdure con crema di parmigiano and he had the filetto all'aceto balsamico di modena. And of course, wine wine wine.

After dessert, the owner, Emanuele, came over and asked us if we would like to try some grappa? He and Daniel got into a discussion about wine and by the time the waitress showed up with the grappa, Emanuele waved her away and told her to come back with a bottle of wine from his hometown. Which we then proceded to drink to the dregs.

We spent 4 1/2 hours at dinner.

Afterwards, we took the bus back to our hotel around 1am, tired and happy. We had the next morning in Bologna, but would be picking up a rental car after lunch to drive to the Lago di Garda for the final leg of our trip.