Italy, part XXVI - Bologna, part II: Le due torri, Santo Stefano, more San Petronio Basilica and Piazza Maggiore

I've just had a pint of Orchard Thieves, and polished off two beers, and am feeling a bit light headed and not wholly in a good way. I'm listening to Jay Chou's old songs, the ones I used to listen to in high school and middle school, and it's a strange feeling. I'm not wholly happy nor sad.

I was actually in Bologna for less than half a day, it was more of a stopover than anything to break up my journey to the former Yugoslavia. Half an hour to Bologna from Florence by high speed rail, then 2 hours I think it was? via flixbus to Venice, and then the slightly longer slog from Venice to Ljubljana, also via flixbus, that took 4 hours ish.

The flixbus ended up being more than an hour late and I was really annoyed as it ate into my time in Venice and kind of ruined my experience there as I had to madly rush through it all and honestly thought I'd miss the bloody bus. If that trip had been on this one instead of my November one I can guarantee that I would have missed it. As it was, I managed to catch my bus and arrive in Slovenia as planned, against all odds. I had the most devastatingly bad luck during my latest sojourn in Europe continent (or maybe it just feels that way because negativity bias plus proximity, but irregardless), and I don't intend to repeat that experience ever again. I know part of it is my fault, but I also heartily blame a certain person, who shall not be named because I already have enough of his vibes in my life as it is and I don't need more of them. Sick and tired of him already.

Anyway, back to Bologna, and now it's pictures galore.

A barber's shop in the bus station

Italy, part XXV - Bologna, part I: Cioccoshow, San Petronio Basilica and Piazza Maggiore

Piazza Maggiore

When I arrived in Bologna, I stepped out of the plushy railway station and immediately decided that I needed to hide in a coffee shop, any coffee shop, to get my bearings and use the free WiFi. Most of all it was bitingly cold and I needed a coffee pick me up before taking on the rest of the city.

I got my coffee fix (the barista was this incredibly attractive Asian woman and I think I fell in love a little bit), and then began the thirty-odd minute walk towards the city centre. It was really chilly just the way I liked it, and got progressively less chilly as I walked briskly, sometimes stopping to take photos.

There's not really a lot to say about Bologna. It was a pretty city, but I'm not sure I would spend my time coming here again. It was very compact and was surprisingly full of immigrants - surprising because it was a small-ish city, not the sort of place where you would expect people from other countries to come and make their living. You would expect Rome or Naples for that, one of the big metropolitan cities. I'd looked at accommodation in Bologna whilst planning and had tentatively considered spending a night, but the prices were unnecessarily astronomical so I'd put paid to that notion, and was glad that I had.

Walking around the city centre took me about an hour and a half. Someone tried to sell me weed - do I look like the sort of person who smokes weed, really - and then I walked back to the train/bus station because I had another flixbus to catch to Venice, and I didn't want to be late for that. As I walked, I decided I was peckish, so stopped to buy a nice large pizza on the way back, which only cost 2 euros. Ay caramba for the things that matter!

That dirty pile on the ground was snow, and it was my first snow of the trip so I was excited and took pictures

As I do, I arrived at the bus station about an hour early, so I stopped to look at the covered market next to the station, which turned out to be a chocolate festival. I'm not a monster, so I like chocolate, and I got myself what was probably the best mug of hot chocolate I've ever had in an entire lifetime of chocolate - it was actually, molten hot chocolatey goodness in a cup. It's what I imagine Willy Wonka's chocolate river to taste like. Of course no one does food - any sort of food - like the Italians do. Apparently in Italy, a chocolate festival means enjoying the "food of the gods" in endless variations.

For posterity's sake, the bus station

More to come.