The adventures begin.

(all pictures are at the end. Sorry. Too difficult to match them up while on a small device)

Day 1 from Toronto to Bologna

We don’t know exactly how or why it worked, but we got our boarding passes at the kiosk, (no waiting) bypassed all the people standing in line to check their baggage, put ours directly on the belt, walked towards the gate, took the door that said Nexus, zipped through security with no worries about liquids or shoes, and were at our gate, Starbucks in hand, no more than 10 min after being dropped off! (Thanks Mary Ann and Reg for dropping us off) And Lou even got to keep his passport this time! What a great country!!

No problems on the flight. We were on an air Canada flight from Toronto to Frankfurt. (Wine a plenty if you wanted).  Time wise it was a 3 movie flight! We had a short lay over and were off to Bologna on air Lufthansa, another good flight. Arriving in bologna, out first challenge was buying a bus ticket in a kiosk then knowing which stop to get off at. This is how it feels to be illiterate!Success! We found the Hotel Atlantic with no problem. Since it was too early to check in we left our luggage and went for a walk and an espresso. At check in time we took about an hour snooze since we’d been awake about 24 hrs. by then. We then walked for almost 10 miles just looking at the sights of bologna, with its miles of portico, 19^th century buildings, beautiful squares, cafés and shops.   After a dinner of homemade pastas, pizza, and wine, we slept for 12 hrs. straight and only woke up then because there was a Men’s chorus walking down the street singing!

Day 2 Bologna

Today we visited heart of the city in the morning. We explored ancient Bonanza and Salaborsa, which is an early 19^th century building. It has a glass floor which shows the archeological excavation of the original city. We climbed about 500 steps to the top of one of Le due Torri. (the 2 towers) they were built in the late 12^th century when there were at least 100 towers along the towns skylines. Today only 20 have survived war, fire and lightning.   It reminded me of The Top of the Rock in NYC. Sort of! Just  a few centuries off. Both offer beautiful views of their respective cities except the top of the rock costs a fortune and this cost only L3, and had no elevator but a spiral staircase of narrow wooden steps that in some spots were less than half the length of your foot and barely wide enough for one person, yet there were people going in each direction. Lots of “Scusa, grazie. Prego.” No way those steps meet codes in the US!

After a short rest, more walking through streets with little shops, cafés and beautiful buildings. This is how we always pictured Italy! Lots of history, bruschetta, wine, cheese, olives, pizza, gelato, motorcycles, bicycles, and lots and lots of people! Life is good!