Bologna and Ravenna

Currently in Earphones: "Klendathu Drop" by Basil Poledouris

Been busy, as you can imagine, here's what's happened so far.

I've had time to explore a good amount of the centro, or downtown, area of Bologna. Virtually all the sidewalks are covered with stone vaults and columns, there's statuary everywhere, and all of the streets are cobble-stoned and look extremely European. It's basically a straight shot from the northern borough where Deepti lives to the centro, namely the Piazza Maggiore and surrounding churches and other places of interest. The western portion of the piazza features a large fountain crowned with Neptune and is aptly named the Piazza Nettuno. Just across from that is the Biblioteca Sala Borsa, built atop an old Roman forum, and the center of the library has a glass floor so one can see the ruins in all their glory.

To the south of the Piazza is the Basilica of San Petronio, which would have been as big if not bigger than the main attraction in Rome, if the Pope hadn't had a "I see what you did, there" moment and halted construction. The two things that caught my eye were a huge fresco depicting Hell, which was interesting in that it showed Muhamed getting an eternal neck-crick from a demon. Evidently this was enough to justify some tightening of security in case any muslims took offence. I just thought it was kinda funny, in both that it seemed a kinda lame punishment and in that it was even labeled (a banner saying "MACHOMET" under him) . The other point of interest for me was the rather absurd amount of reliquaries they had. In addition to a very flashy nave filled with some really good ones (which were too far away to be identified), there was some overflow in a side room as well. Because in America you just don't see containers filled with saint's fingerbones, vertebra, and other assorted pieces, it was a rather novel experience for me. Given how reliquaries are usually about as trustworthy as pieces of the true cross are (and I having read Baudolino), I merely regarded them as curiosities, but interesting curiosities nonetheless.

Down the via to the east are the famous Two Towers of Bologna, the Torre de Asinelli and the Torre de Garisenda. Deepti informed me that the local superstition among the students of the Alma Mater Studiorum is that one shouldn't go up the Torre de Asinelli (the taller of the two) while still a student, or it would bring bad luck. I'll head up there when I have 3 euro in spare change for the fee. They don't let you in to the Torre de Garisenda, or the "what you have done in Pisa by accident we will do in Bologna by DESIGN."

The last building we visited was the Archiginnasio, which featured over 6000 coats of arms adorning the walls, along with the room in which Rossini composed his "Stabat Mater" and a really, really cool lecture hall that was used for anatomy. This teatro anotomico also featured some really neat skinless statues, along with carved representations of the Astrological figures along the ceiling, with a hanging carving of Apollo in the center of it.

We've had more adventures in the centro since the day we spent all day there, but I need to get on to the next day, which was only a few hours in Ravenna. We went to the stazione centrale (the Bolognese version of Grand Central) and caught an eastbound train whose final destination was Rimini, but which stopped in Ravenna, which is where I wanted to visit.

This was a classic example of me not doing my research, as I only had a vague idea of why I wanted to go. I knew that Ravenna was the capital after the fall of the Western Roman empire (and that Belisarius captured it from de Camp's Lest Darkness Fall), but I didn't really know of any places I wanted to go in Ravenna. Deepti likewise had little knowledge of the city, so she ended up buying a map and I a nicely bound guidebook and we started off.

We first visited the Duomo, which was a little smaller than San Petronio, but better lit and filled with lighter colors (not to mention more gilded in general). There were some spectacularly decorated naves (ok, the second picture looks like I lied about the lighting, but I have some pictures I'll be bringing back as proof) as well as some neat statuary featuring a headless emperor in porphyry (reminding me sharply of the Tetrarchs, which I also hope to see when we go to Venice).

We then saw that La Tomba di Dante was somewhere not to be missed, but we got there after closing and could only marvel at the outside of it. After that we wandered over to the Piazza del'Popolo, and finally found where everyone in Ravenna goes to have fun on a Saturday evening. Until then the streets that we traversed had seemed awefully empty, given the day of the week it was. But as soon as we hit the Piazza the crowd materialized, and all of the sudden it became a happening place.

There were a few places mentioned in the guidebook that looked like fun, but the day had ended and we needed to catch a train back to Bologna. I'm planning on taking a solo trip back to Ravenna tomorrow (yikes!) to revisit the tomb of Dante and take a look at the Mausoleum of Theodoric and St. Vitale. Luckily Deepti is putting together a little phrase book so I can order food (and not starve), and that I might finally get some vocabulary stuck in my brain that isn't "si, no, per piachere, grazie" and "prego."

Phew! That about covers the big events over the last few days. I definitely have more to tell, but I'll get back to that later. Our future trips will be Modena/Venice on Friday and Ivrea on Saturday, then hopefully Florence sometime before I come back.


Enough, More Later.
- James

Day 2: Cowering

Currently in Earphones: Nothing, Deepti's Italian iTunes settings were hijacking my iPod.

So after sleeping for an ungodly amount of time, Deepti took me to the Supermercato so that I might actually have some food. I can see why folk gush about the cuisine here, based upon what I saw, at least. All sorts of fresh meats, including Rabbit, tons of fresh bread, and something I've never set eyes on before, fresh pasta. Wonderful pasta of all sorts, looking like they just came from from the kitchen, sealed and stuck in refrigerated racks right next to the meats. I went with some "safer" fare (using the old college cuisine sense), bread, apples, Italy's version of instant soup and pasta dishes, chips (olive oil flavored!), and some yummy, yummy nutella.

Deepti's been good about getting some Italian vocabulary into me, though so far a lot of it has been of the "into the deep end" variety. Luckily, she responds well to my quailing looks, and to her credit, it hasn't been terribly difficult. Lets just say that I was never so relieved to see the price display on a cash register before.

Since I was still getting over jet lag, spoke only english, and was feeling quite a bit like Leonard Shelby when it came to reading a map, I decided to hole up in Deepti's apartment and equalize while she was in class. But though I'd decided not to say hi to Italy today, Italy decided to come in and say hi to me instead. Partway through the day a young man came in to fix some broken glass on Deepti's door. Having not met any of her apartment mates, I immediately went and introduced myself on instinct, though I quickly found out he was only there for the repair. He seemed to understand that I was at least the boyfriend of someone, but conversation was limited. It was only after he left that I found I could have dredged up enough Spanish to hold a basic conversation (if he indeed spoke it), but I at least made a saving throw of a "grazie!" as he was on his way out, and was rewarded with a grinning "prego!"

I'm still getting over jet lag, and found that I was quite ready for a long nap around 3pm, local time. When I did get up (and Deepti had returned), I had a really good combination of (apparently) veal ravioli and some tomato sauce that had diced olives in it. It almost seemed comical that something that tasted so good was thrown together the same way we'd boil pasta and add sauce back in the states. I guess I can see why folks get so worked up over the local cuisine here, and I can't wait to sample more of it.


Enough, More Later.
- James

Arrived in Italy (and 200th post!)

Currently in Earphones: "There is a Time" by Solas


Hop, thump, skid, and bumped my way into Italy over the past few days. Highlights were realizing that each leg of my flights was on a different airline, and that if I wanted to check in online, I had to do it through each company's website independently. Which would have gone off without a hitch, had the lady who checked in my bag at SFO (at the United terminal) hadn't been insistent that my printed boarding pass for my second leg on Lufthansa "wasn't valid." Never mind that it said on the pass "You are checked in, use this bar-code as your boarding pass." So I didn't get the desired "wheels-up" effect of having all my worries fall away as soon as we left the tarmac until I reached Frankfurt, and the nice lady at the gate confirmed that yes, I had a valid boarding pass.

The 10 hour hop from SFO to Frankfurt wasn't too bad, though losing 8 hours was mighty annoying. Trying to get some sleep because your plane pre-empted what you normally think of sunset by such a wide margin didn't really work all that well for me. I dozed as much as I was able, but didn't actually get sleep. Just how long the flight was was driven home to me when I realized that they were showing not 2, not 3, but 4 movies back-to-back, and THEN at least an hour of TV programming. Food was a little better than the usual toned down meals they've been serving since the airlines have been in decline. Luckily no-one was sitting next to me, so I could stretch out more than usual. Other than that, the first leg was relatively uneventful.

The second leg, from Frankfurt to Bologna was notible for two reasons. The first, they gave us some crunchy chocolate as a snack, which I've never had on any airline before (well, barring the first time I was on Lufthansa). Secondly, I had a bit of a thrill when the stewardess first asked me if I wanted food/drink in German. It was diminished a bit when I found that she asked nearly everyone in German first (except for those reading Italian newspapers), but all the same, I felt the better for not being so obviously an american tourist.

And for those who want to know, the Bologna airport is kinda like a scaled down version of our own Oakland Airport. I didn't see any terminals that had planes come right up to them (we had a rolling staircase and a bus to take us in), but it wasn't just a "control tower and a wind-sock" affair either.

I spent most of my time stumbling through the streets of Bologna with Deepti in order to get back to her apartment (well, stumbling on my part), and I slept for a few hours at a time throughout the late afternoon. I feel a bit more refreshed this morning, and will be heading out shortly to acquire some groceries so that I don't starve when Deepti has class. Oh, and a toothbrush, which I managed to forget.


Enough, More Later.
- James