Friday, September 18, 2009
All I do is walk and eat.
Yesterday was another early morning as the whole IES crew met at Piazza Gramsci to walk to the train station on our way to Bologna. We arrived around noon and checked into "Hotel Paradise" before being let loose to wander the city. I tried my first piadini (basically a panini on flatbread) and, in an effort to avoid the beautiful but unbelievably expensive clothing stores, I soon found myself perusing an antique market filled with everything from "Mina" records, to army uniforms, to Mussolini propaganda pamphlets.
Around 2, we met back at the "paradise" hotel (apparently paradise is a place where you find chocolates, balloons, words of wisdom, and bedtime stories everywhere you turn) for our walking tour of the city. One of the more "touristy" things I've done since my arrival, it was very interesting. We watched a public debate in the main piazza (Maggiore), walked around the oldest university in Europe, sat in a beautifully decorated room that was once used for the public dissection of human bodies for surgical study, and saw the controversial fresco of Mohammad's naked body being eaten by Satan in the Basilica of San Petronio.
We had a few hours to ourselves before dinner, so a small group of us headed to the Basilica of San Domenico where we saw some lesser-known sculptures by Michelangelo (among thousands of other beautiful pieces of art). Afterwards we wandered for a bit and eventually found the small Oratorio di Santa Cecilia known for it's beautiful frescos. A kind old Italian man realized we were Americans and gave us a written explanation of the story of the patron saint of music who was boiled and beheaded but managed to survive long enough to give her possesions to the poor before dying. Afterwards he attempted to start a conversation (in Italian) about politics. I've found that Italians are surprisingly interested in American politics.
Dinner, though not as spectacular as Tuesday night's, was good (and more importantly, free!) and included the famous bolognese sauce. Afterwards, we found our way a street full of college students and bars. The University of Bologna has 80,000 students which means there are college kids everywhere, making the nightlife a bit more exciting than that of Siena. The night was a lot of fun even though we couldn't find anywhere to dance (not like that stopped me...)
This morning, after a large and delicious breakfast, we walked to the bus that took us to the La Vecchia Scuola Bolognese for a cooking class (I wasn't kidding about the whole "all I do is walk and eat" thing...) Though we didn't actually make the dough or the filling, we did watch as the chef rolled out the pasta dough into an almost transparent sheet. We then got to cut, fill, and fold meat and cheese tortellini and a variety of pastas. Afterwards, we ate our creations and (over)filled ourseleves on all sorts of carbohydrates.
It was a long train ride and walk back to my apartment in Siena, but it's good to relax and eat something that isn't bread based. They don't eat bolonga in Bologna, they eat pasta.
All I do is walk and eat.
Yesterday was another early morning as the whole IES crew met at Piazza Gramsci to walk to the train station on our way to Bologna. We arrived around noon and checked into "Hotel Paradise" before being let loose to wander the city. I tried my first piadini (basically a panini on flatbread) and, in an effort to avoid the beautiful but unbelievably expensive clothing stores, I soon found myself perusing an antique market filled with everything from "Mina" records, to army uniforms, to Mussolini propaganda pamphlets.
Around 2, we met back at the "paradise" hotel (apparently paradise is a place where you find chocolates, balloons, words of wisdom, and bedtime stories everywhere you turn) for our walking tour of the city. One of the more "touristy" things I've done since my arrival, it was very interesting. We watched a public debate in the main piazza (Maggiore), walked around the oldest university in Europe, sat in a beautifully decorated room that was once used for the public dissection of human bodies for surgical study, and saw the controversial fresco of Mohammad's naked body being eaten by Satan in the Basilica of San Petronio.
We had a few hours to ourselves before dinner, so a small group of us headed to the Basilica of San Domenico where we saw some lesser-known sculptures by Michelangelo (among thousands of other beautiful pieces of art). Afterwards we wandered for a bit and eventually found the small Oratorio di Santa Cecilia known for it's beautiful frescos. A kind old Italian man realized we were Americans and gave us a written explanation of the story of the patron saint of music who was boiled and beheaded but managed to survive long enough to give her possesions to the poor before dying. Afterwards he attempted to start a conversation (in Italian) about politics. I've found that Italians are surprisingly interested in American politics.
Dinner, though not as spectacular as Tuesday night's, was good (and more importantly, free!) and included the famous bolognese sauce. Afterwards, we found our way a street full of college students and bars. The University of Bologna has 80,000 students which means there are college kids everywhere, making the nightlife a bit more exciting than that of Siena. The night was a lot of fun even though we couldn't find anywhere to dance (not like that stopped me...)
This morning, after a large and delicious breakfast, we walked to the bus that took us to the La Vecchia Scuola Bolognese for a cooking class (I wasn't kidding about the whole "all I do is walk and eat" thing...) Though we didn't actually make the dough or the filling, we did watch as the chef rolled out the pasta dough into an almost transparent sheet. We then got to cut, fill, and fold meat and cheese tortellini and a variety of pastas. Afterwards, we ate our creations and (over)filled ourseleves on all sorts of carbohydrates.
It was a long train ride and walk back to my apartment in Siena, but it's good to relax and eat something that isn't bread based. They don't eat bolonga in Bologna, they eat pasta.
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