Wednesday was our last full day in Bologna - as I realized this, I regretted not booking in for a few more days; there is so much to see in the centro storico. To get the most out of our time, we decided to ride one of the City Red Bus Tours in order to view as much as we could (and to take note of places we might want to visit on a future trip). The tour took about an hour to complete its circuit. I tried to snap some pictures from our very good seats - upper level, right in front - however, as it was a bright and sunny day, there was a lot of reflection on the glass windows, so my photos didn't come out as well as I would have liked:
Bologna
Porta Maggiore a/k/a Porta Mazzini
The ruins of Castello di Galliera
FYI: unlike in FL, we can say gay in Italy. Particularly in Bologna, from what I read.
Painted porticoes
We'd next planned to visit the Museo Civico Archeologico (Paolo was especially looking forward to it), but when we arrived, we were told that only two of the exhibits were open - the rest of the museum was closed due to some ongoing renovations. As they were still charging the full admission price for very limited access, we opted not to visit (it will be something to look forward to next time, I guess).
On the other hand, had we gone there, we might not have discovered the Archiginnasio. This building was originally the central site of the University of Bologna; it now houses a library, the former anatomical theatre (reconstructed after having been bombed in WWII), and Stabat Mater Hall.
Some of the 6000+ coats of arms of former university students
The anatomical professors' chair
Anatomical theatre
Center ceiling detail
Stabat Mater Room
Virgin and Child fresco dating from the 1500s
Look closely and you'll see a book titled Invertebrata of Massachusetts
Some more of the 6000+ coats of arms of former students of the university
After our visit to the Archiginnasio, we walked back the the Santo Stefano area for lunch. It was very warm and pleasant in the sun, so we chose to sit outside for a very leisurely meal/people-watching session at 051 Santo Stefano:
I had the lasagne alla Bolognese - nothing at all like any lasagne I've ever eaten in the US; I need to try making this!!
In fact, we had a rather large lunch, such that we didn't bother making any dinner plans for later. Needing to walk this off, we headed over to another church we wanted to see (we'd passed it on our bus tour) - Chiesa del Santissimo Salvatore (Church of the Holy Savior). On our way, I stopped to take several pictures:
Bologna hosts a jazz festival; this tribute to Benny Goodman was installed in the street last year according to this article
Art installation entitled Big Wide Eye (in English - perhaps because the artist was born in New Zealand...?)
I liked all the heads on this building
The white plaque states (more or less, according to Google Translate) that Guglielmo Marconi was born here. He was the first to transmit words "without the aid of cables and wires, from one hemisphere to the other" for the benefit of humanity "and the glory of his homeland"
We didn't stay at Santissimo Salvatore very long as there was an ongoing Eucharistic adoration, and although there were signs saying visitors were welcome, we didn't wish to disturb the devout. I did take a few pictures from the back of the church before leaving:
I have absolutely no idea what the connection is between this church and Our Lady of Quinche represented by the statue on this side altar. There was a sign in Italian describing the original statue in Ecuador, but it didn't say anything specifically about why they have a replica here in Bologna.
Looking up at the main dome
Having been a pretty full day, and still having pretty full bellies, we returned to our room to rest and digest; though we did venture out later for drinks and dessert.
And thus ended our (too) brief sojourn in Bologna. The next morning, after another excellent breakfast at our B&B, we checked out and made our way down the street to the taxi stand for a ride to Bologna Centrale to catch our train home - which was not only once again late, but my Trenitalia app said our train would be arriving at Bin 4, when it actually arrived at Bin 6 ("bin" being short for binario, that is, "track" or "platform"). I'm not sure why we had issues with late trains on this trip; until now we really haven't experienced huge delays - but now we better understand why people complain so much about the trains in Italy.
As we were waiting for our delayed train, my phone rang. It was a gentleman from Hertz (the company from which we rented our vehicle) asking, in hesitant English, if we knew our car was parked at Termoli train station, because the police wanted to tow it! At least, I think that is what he was trying to say. WTF? I replied to the effect that of course we knew it was parked there, because we parked it there. I explained that we did pay the full amount allowed on the parking meter, and that we were literally about to get on a train bound for Termoli and would be back later in the afternoon. I begged him to call the police back and explain that we were on our way, and to ask them to please not tow our car - which he kindly agreed to do. At least, I think he did; I'm not entirely sure he understood me, actually.
Practically the whole ride back to Termoli, I was catastrophizing this in my head, imagining various scenarios of us trying to explain to the police that we did in fact pay for parking although it's possible we didn't pay enough because we are stupid Americans who didn't understand the meter machine; trying to figure out how to get our car back; possibly being stuck overnight in Termoli, etc. Paolo, on the other hand, being a more reasonable sort of person, was fairly calm and not terribly concerned.
When we arrived back to Termoli, there was our car, exactly where we'd left it - and not so much as a ticket for a parking violation. Of course, that doesn't mean we won't get a ticket in the mail six months from now, because Italy - but thankfully all my worry was for nothing after all.
Now that I've finally written out this record of our trip, I'll explain why it took so long to do so. On the Tuesday, I somehow managed to hurt my left wrist and hand - one of those situations where you somehow just "move wrong," although you're not quite sure exactly what you did, and something cracks/slides/clicks/pops out of place, and bam, you have pain. I'm a righty, but didn't realize just how much I use my non-dominant hand until I couldn't. Anyway - I've been resting it as much as possible and taking an anti-inflammatory, and I am about 99% better now. But that's why I've been writing in fits and starts.
Coming up this week: Paolo has to go back to the questura; we both have appointments to get haircuts.