N.B. I just noticed I misspelled tiramisu in several of the past posts (horrors) so please reload the pages to update your cache. I’ve corrected typos also.
Again sad to leave this beautiful city of Bologna. My 8 nights here flew by. I found all my favorite corners of the City, my favorite breakfast place (Roxy), my favorite nightcap place (Bar V.E.). I didn’t even see everything I planned to. Being sick for 2 days did slow me down but it was nice to stay in one place. For my long stay the hotel gave me a water bottle, mug (I was already contemplating stealing it), shoe bag, Amaro (couldn’t take). It was sad to sit at Roxy Cafe for the last time this morning. Found a lot of unexpected gems like the Indian restaurant “India”, the pop up street markets, the streets that become no-car paseos on the weekends, and the huuuge stationary/art supply store Cartamarket, really wish I could have gone back there. This was exactly what I wanted to get out of slow travel. Bologna is very charming, in a very strategic touring location, and I highly recommend it.
My taxi driver has a lot to say about the other drivers this morning. The huge truck parked at the corner said blithely, “pase,” and he’s left us just inches to spare for the left turn. “Mamma mia!” says she and “Brava!” says I. (I overheard several Mamma Mia’s this week and I smiled every time). We continue to dodge pedestrians, bikes, and an incompetent parallel parker. She lets out a string of Italiano. I say even in Los Angeles the drivers are crazy. After we establish I don’t actually speak Italian (because I’ve been saying Si everytime she says something disparaging about others, cuz it’s damn freaking obvious), I repeat the statement but in sign language. She understands “Los Angeles”. “Drivers (steering wheel) also crazy (loops around the ears)”. She understands perfectly. She says something as we pull in. Ok she’s angling for a better drop off spot. This is like talking with the Tabaccheria guy. Somehow he managed to communicate and I managed to understand that he doesn’t sell boxes; that I have to pack and tape the boxes myself; that he has to look up a special Italian tax id for me based on my passport; and that I should email his printer both the shipping label and the customs invoice. And that he’s gonna help this customer before he comes back to me. (He took about 25 customers while he was helping me). He really needs a procedure written out. How can I be the first one doing this? I had to stand outside to get signal for all internet actions. Twice for 2 boxes. When we were done we both looked at each other with a huge sense of relief and smiles that it was all over. I can see the pkgs moving in my AfterShip app. Wish I had that for the case of wine, the packing and shipping happened after I left so I have no tracking whatsoever. Alora! Which I think means Well! Or Oh my! It’s the “calme” Italiano version of oh shit. Italians put a high premium on remaining calme. Meaning I’m not gonna get all worked up about Your Shite.
A lot of language translation is figuring out what is the most likely thing they are saying based on context and body language. And then testing that assumption. Duolingo doesn’t teach you that…
At Bologna Centrale I open up Trenitalia app to find there’s a train leaving in 4 min. Plenty of time !! Sit across from an Asian couple going to Milan. They seemed glad to see a friendly face. I can’t tell their country from their language. They would have been interesting to communicate with if I’d had a longer trip.
Good thing I have a few nicer things to wear, Modena is a very, very well heeled town. I even changed to my status watch. I asked the concierge about a taxi tomorrow to my destination, she understood exactly where I was going.
Spent the afternoon sketching the Duomo but not before lunch, by god. The Fork actually has a res for me for Latteria 21, very highly rated. Was it ever. They even serve an amuse bouche, a tiny meatball. My favorite, the beefy beef Tartare with delicious sour cream? sauce. Couldn’t finish the cacio e pepe. Delicious dry Rose Lambrusco. Both Bologna and Modena have better high end food than Florence and Rome.
Which is why I later settled for cheap ass 2e pizza for dinner in order to get a primo seat for watching the sun set over the back of the Duomo.
That was session 2 this was session 1:
Extremely quiet in town this afternoon. Enjoying the silence.
Almost forgot – nightcap, Freschiascate, methode champagnois. I got all the bar snacks to myself. Again feast your eyes on the color of this complex Italian champagne.
