Ed and Annette's Excellent European Adventure: The team splits to conquer Italy

Up and out to breakfast as a team but Bill and Beth are headed to Venice, Rome and Florence before connecting back up with us in one week. I think we trained them well enough they should be OK on their own. :)

We have one more day in Bologna before we head off to Tuscany. It is a little cool and misty rain this morning as we headed out to walk the town. We got to the Library building as it started to rain so we went inside to find the Roman ruins in the basement. It is amazing to see water and sewer systems that functioned so long ago...those Romans were smart.

Back out in the elements we ventured out to see places we had not ventured. As we were walking we found a barber shop and I got a very nice haircut for 10 Euro! Feeling lighter and ready to go, with a latte macchiato (beginning to really like those) in my veins we explored some more and the sun came out for a while so we sat and soaked in some much needed rays for a little bit while we people watched.

We headed out for dinner at 6 pm and was surprised that the restaurants don't open until 7 pm. It is beyond my understanding that the Italians leave their work (close up shop) at 12:30 go home to eat and rest to re-open about 3:30-4:00 pm until 7, then they have dinner around 8 or 9. What a crazy concept to us American folk. While we were waiting for the place to open we found a little gem in Bologna, a canal that flows between buildings just like Venice and was almost as pretty. We also discovered a shop where the man makes hand carved violins; we watched him work for a bit and learned it takes him about a month (160 hours) to complete one.

The restaurant was a very Italian decorated family-owned place where the wife sat us and served us. The atmosphere was top notch and the food was fine. After dinner we headed out to get a gelato at a place that was recommended to us but we didn't read the street correctly (too many similar Italian names) and came across a group of police officers and vehicles set up for something. Walking a little further in a piazza we saw a large crowd of young people having a peaceful protest about something but a sudden rain shower dampened the whole idea and they all scattered.

Finally figuring out where the gelato place was, we got one of the best I've ever had; very rich and creamy. Now tummies full we headed back to the hotel but those darn road (and rain) messed us up and we walked about twice as far as we needed to. Oh well we definitely can use the exercise...there is too much good food available!