Ciao Readers!

As you may recall, I spent this past Spring in Bologna studying Italian and traveling to Florence via train to apartment-hunt.  While there I met a lovely couple from New York, pictured below (the husband was in my Italian class).  Not only do I have them to thank for looking out for me while I was in Bologna, but for turning me on to blogging with their own blog (here).   They had the good fortune of being able to travel back to Bologna recently (after a stay in France) and Steve and I went to Bologna to meet up with them (and eat, of course!).

Now, for those of you who thought the pictures of food in my “A day by the Sea” post looked good – truth be told the seafood, pictured below, from Michelemma leaves that lunch in the dust.  This was a restaurant I had eaten at with one of my Italian teachers and it is fantastic!   I had the appetizer of various raw/pickled seafood as well as the rissotto (photos below, though I had already eaten some of the appetizer!).  Steve devoured his salmon pasta before I had the sense to take a photo.  I also missed the opportunity to photograph his whole branzino before the waiter expertly de-boned it for him (pictured covered with tomatoes).  All in all, it was a lovely lunch with wonderful company and delicious food.

After lunch I was STUFFED.  But….everyone insisted that our day was not complete until we took a trip to our mutual favorite gelateria – La Sorbetteria!  (yes, of course I was not going to pass up gelato, I just thought I’d wait a few hours as our return train didn’t leave until 9:00 p.m.).  Below is a photo of my gelato – chocolate and “dolce di ‘mu'” (dolche de leche).

I also accomplished 2 more things while in Bologna (not that visiting, eating and drinking are “accomplishments”).  First, I have been trying to let my hair grow out.  But, as those of you who have known me for a while know, I usually give up every time I try (how is it I can change my home, my country, my language – EVERYTHING – except my hairstyle?!?).  So, when we walked by a cool-looking hair salon I thought “what the heck” and got my hair cut.  (Luckily, this was not a repeat of my experience in Barcelona a few years back where I ended up with a complete army-style buzz-cut, and I now look like me again.)  It also dawned on me that pharmacists can prescribe medicine and instead of having to wait until Monday to see a doctor about one of my eyes (which had been red for days), we popped into a pharmacy, the pharmacist asked me a few questions, prescribed some antibiotic drops, and voila – the next day it looked much better!  I finally found something easier and cheaper in Italy – dealing with minor ailments!

We ended the trip with a stroll around town to see Bologna’s (more “modern”) version of a Neptune statue as well as to admire the shops on the foodie street (pictured below).  After a quick 37 minute train ride we were back…into the throngs of tourists in Florence…