Florence, the city of breath-taking art & Bologna, the city of good food and filth

Last weekend, Mara, Annie, and I left for Florence after class on Friday. We had booked a hostel close to the train station which turned out to be adorable. We had a large room with three beds and its own bathroom - not bad for only 35 euro a night! After dropping our stuff off, we went straight to the Florence leather market. I anticipated a lot of vendors and shopping, but I could not believe how large the market was! It stretched down 4 different streets and vendors lined the sides, selling leather, jewelry, t-shirts, ceramics, and trinkets. When you shop there, you have to haggle, and it helps if you can speak Italian. One guy told me that they have two prices - the "American" one and the one for everybody else - I'm sure you can guess which is higher. I ended up buying a few small gifts, a pink leather bound journal, and a black leather purse. I got a great deal on the purse because I talked to guy at length in Italian about studying in Siena. He gave me a "student discount" which essentially means he knocked the price down from unreasonable to reasonable. After we had all reached our spending limit for the day, we met up with Annie's friend Clay for dinner. He took us to a great restaurant close to the market, and I had some fantastic pasta. Next, we went to his favorite gelato spot in the city, which was also fantastic (they had raspberry which is SO hard to find here!)

The next day, we headed for the Uffizi gallery, Florence's most famous art museum. We had to wait in a Cedar Point style line to get in, but it was definitely worth it. While in the Uffizi, we saw work by Boticelli, Raphael, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and so many other great artists. My favorites were Botitcelli's Primavera and La Nascita di Venere (in English - Spring and The Birth of Venus). Both were larger than life! It helped that Annie and I had both written papers on Botticelli for a class this year.

Saturday afternoon, we left Florence for Bologna. We arrived there in the early evening, and got settled into our bed and breakfast. The area we were staying in seemed cute - all of the sidewalks were covered and there was a huge fountain in the center of a nearby piazza. One of our biggest reasons for going to Bologna was the food - Bologna is the home of tagliatelle al ragu (also called pasta bolognese) which is essentially spaghetti in a tomato and meat sauce unlike anything available in the USA. Walking to the restaurant, we immediately started to notice that Bologna did not quite live up to our initial expectations - it was filthy! Trash was scattered everywhere, and everything looked so dirty. The food at the restaurant was incredible though! It was easily one of the best meals that I've had here :-) I topped of my tagliatelle al ragu with some chocolate mousse.

On Sunday, we headed to the center of Bologna for church at the main cathedral. The church wasn't particularly pretty from the outside but the inside was gorgeous! The largest sundial in Italy is inlaid in the floor there. Mass in Bologna wasn't a good as in Siena - they didn't give us anything but the readings in Italian, so we had no idea how to say the Our Father or Creed or anything. I did, however, completely understand the gospel - which was about Jesus feeding the crowd of people with loaves and fish. That was a personal triumph :-) Our next stop was another great restaurant - this time I got the Bolognese version of lasagna. Annie, Mara, and I also split a spread of meats, cheeses, and bruschetta. At the restaurant, we opted to sit inside where there was air conditioning. Apparently, Italians tend to use the words "air conditioning" fairly loosely - the restaurant felt hotter than the outside with the expection of a light breeze coming from a box fan. It left a lot to be desired.

In Bologna, we also went to the Museo Civico Medioevale which was the medieval museum. Admission was free, which was a first for Italy, and the exhibits were really interesting. My favorite objects were the armor, weapons, song books, and jewelry. We spent a good three hours there and then decided to check out the university in Bologna, which is the oldest in Europe. After walking to where the university appeared to be on my map, the three us were very confused. All we could see were buildings covered in graffiti and fliers. There was not a sign for the university anywhere. We decided to walk down the street and explore further. Then, I realized that next to the door of one of the buildings was a small plaque that said "Universita' di Bologna, Relazioni internationali" - the gross building covered in graffiti was their International Relations building! Looking around, we figured out a couple of other buildings, all of which were as disgusting as the first. I couldn't believe how trashed the university looked - I was expecting something on the level of Harvard or Yale. After all, it's the oldest university in Europe! Apparently, campus upkeep isn't a priority in Bologna.

Before leaving Bologna, we had some time to kill, so we stopped in a local park to sit and relax. The park was circular and there was a small path that went around the circumference. There was this dorky looking Italian guy on a bicycle, riding around the path. Every time he passed our bench, he tried to do a different trick, but they were absolutely horrible. We cracked up whenever he rode by and Annie recorded a video of his "stunts."

Overall, Bologna was 1. dirty, 2. delicious, 3. full of strange people. It was definitely a departure from the cities we had already seen, so I'm glad I went. Next time though, I think I'll stay long enough for a dinner and then head somewhere else!

Here are some pics of the weekend!

A cool sign by the theater and university in Bologna that says "The real land of barbarians is not that which has never known art, but that which is full of masterpieces and doesn't know to appreciate or conserve them."

Annie and I doing what we do best - eat gelato!

Cool painting at the museum in Bologna

Chocolate mousse

YUM!