A Place To Read A Book And Write A Letter: Bologna

This weekend, five of us, four architecture students and one crazy person, took a train three hours (3 hrs) north to Bologna. Bologna is known as the fat city, and is purported to have wonderful food. I wouldn't know, because my group was turned away from three restaurants for want of reservation. No room at this inn. Try the stables.

The city itself is a marvel of pedestrianism, and I'm pretty sure that's not a word, but the city is a marvel of pedestrianism just the same. It has over forty kilometers (40 km) of porticos, which is something the architecture students said to make me feel stupid. But I know their game. Porticos are just a fancy word for covered sidewalks. It was at this point that I rebuttaled with pedestrianism. But, yes, forty kilometers of covered sidewalks lining assorted boutiques, which are quite expensive, FYI. I came away with only a three (3) euro tie, to add to my ever growing collection of men's wear (it is really fun to dress up, no?).

These sidewalks all converge in a main piazza, crowned with what was supposed to be a magnificent church. This church took three hundred years to arrive in an unfinished state; the Church in Rome put a stop to construction when they learned the Bolognese church's plans had it rivaling St. Paul's size. It's kind of funny, the logic people use.

Bologna is also home to the fourth tallest tower in Europe, which I don't think is that big of a deal. If the world was the Olympics, this building wouldn't even medal. It claims to have five hundred steps (500). I count four hundred and eighty seven (487). Twice (2x).

We finished our day chasing buses around in a most aggravating fashion. I made the mistake of picking a hostel that was outside the city center. In my defense, Bologna had only one hostel, that was actually two separate hostels, but I digress. The point is, headquartering a few kilometers (2, 3, 4, etc. km) outside the walls was a bad idea, for several reasons. One, we had to make a series of well timed buses to complete the objective. Change buses to phone booths and you have the plot to Die Hard 3: With A Vengeance. Change buses to jumps and you have the choreography to all the fight sequences in Ong Bak: Thai Warrior. So that night was pretty much an action movie where we failed to fulfill our dramatic need. We ended up taking a taxi, driven by a man who was simultaneously watching the italian version of the O.C. The guy doing Sandy Cohen was amazing.

The other reason the hostel was a bad idea: it was where they filmed the movie Hostel. The four hostels I stayed in previously had been smash hits, and had restored my faith in student traveling. In this hostel, I locked my door and plugged my ears. I think there was some sort of backpacker pagan ritual performance in the halls. The next morning, all the blood had been cleaned from the floor, but there were chicken feathers everywhere. We left as soon as checkout began.