shave ice & gelato

Now to catch up on what I have not yet posted...

One of the highlights of my visit to Italy every year is time spent with my friends in Italy. Unfortunately, it did not work out to meet up with Francesco & Irene this year, but I did get to spend another wonderful weekend with Katia & Guido in Coccaglio. They recently married and are living in a wonderful little apartment nearby Katia's parents' house.

Saturday, June 16th
After finishing up my last minute packing, I grabbed a quick coffee and then headed to the Ca' Doro vaporetto stop. I was a little nervous about how packed the vaporetto would be as there were many others also waiting with their bags to head to the train station. The vaporetto was pretty full, but at least we were not packed in like sardines. I have heard of having to pay extra when taking luggage onboard. So far (knock on wood), I have never had to pay.

I took a Eurostar train to Brescia where Katia met me. We headed back to her apartment and had lunch.

Here is a view of a monastery above Coccaglio:

After lunch, we went to Guido's shop to see if he could fix my suitcase. I was hoping that he could get it to go all the way up and down but at the very least, I needed for it to close or the airline, which by the way damaged my handle, would not let me check the bag and it was too big to carry on. Guido took the handle apart. It was pretty interesting seeing the inside of a luggage handle. Even with a little oil, it was not going to budge. He finally found the problem. There was a huge dent in the metal halfway down one of the handles. My bag must have been dropped from pretty high up and had to have landed on something hard for it to dent like that. Guido was able to get the handle to close but we could not make it go up any higher.

One of the highlights of my visit to Venice was my tour of the Clock Tower or Torre dell'Orologio. In order to take this tour, you must make a reservation in advance. Three English tours are offered each day. The cost is 12 euros. There are a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 12 people per visit. I had some difficulty with my credit card making my reservation and was fortunate to have Katia to help me with this.

Sunday, June 10th
My tour was not scheduled until Wednesday. I was pretty excited about this tour and headed to see the clock tower early Sunday morning, the day after I arrived in Venice to take a few pictures. I was lucky to get a few shots before the crowds arrived. Here is one of my favorite pictures:

Wednesday, June 13th
Wednesday morning finally arrived, the day of my Clock Tower tour!! I took a traghetto over to the the Rialto Market area to search out a bar that I read about for some coffee. I was not able to fine it but instead found a great little bar on the corner of Ramo de la Donzela. The only sign I could find was "Wine Bar", which was written on one of those little slates along with a list of drinks and things to eat outside the bar. After having a great coffee and a delicious pastry, I spent a little bit of time at the Rialto Market. I love looking at all the interesting fish and the delicious produce.

I then headed over to the Museo Correr. I arrived about 20 minutes before my tour. I gave my email reservation number to the man at the ticket office and was told that my ticket for the tour would also allow me to visit the Museo Correr. He suggested that I visit for a while and return just before 10am. My plan was to visit this museum in more depth later in the day but since I had a little time before my tour was to start, I entered the museum and spent a little time in a few of the rooms. I will talk more about the museum in a later post as I did return and spend quite a bit of time enjoying the many rooms and items on display.

Wednesday, June 13th
After finishing my Clock Tower tour, now that I understood all about the different ways the time was displayed, I wanted to watch the time change and the bell rung by the Mori. I took another little video of the time changing and bell ringing but again, I need to figure out how to do the youtube thing before posting the video.

In addition to the time that is displayed with the numbers on the two wheels (see previous post), there are two more clock faces. The clock face on the front of the tower under the Virgin Mary displays the time of day, the Zodiac sign, and the current phase of the moon:

The clock face on the back of the tower, which you can see when taking the street to Piazza San Marco (St. Mark's Square) I believe only displays the time:

It was a little after 11 am. I realized there was only a tiny line to get into the Basilica di San Marco (Saint Mark's Basilica). I hadn't planned to go into the Basilica as I had been before, but I couldn't resist with such a short line!

My first stop inside was to go up top where the horses are located to get yet another view of the Clock Tower as well as the rest of Piazza San Marco. It was pretty packed but I managed to find a few spots which were not so crowded. For those that don't know, the horses up on the balcony are replicas. The original horses are located inside and with no photos allowed.

Wednesday, June 13th
The island of San Giorgio Maggiore has always fascinated me.

I have taken many pictures of this island from afar but I have never actually visited this island. After a wonderful lunch, I headed back to take a vaporetto to finally go into the church that dominates the island and to go to the top of the clock tower.

The vaporetto was a little tricky to find as there were either two or three docks close together (am having difficulty recalling the exact number now) and I was not sure which one would take me to San Giorgio Maggiore. I went to the wrong dock, but was redirected. I still was not sure if I was at the correct dock (which is why I am thinking there must have been three docks) but then saw the route on the board and knew I was in the correct place. The vaporetto for this route did not run as regularly as the others. Fortunately for me the next vaporetto was set to arrive in about 10 minutes. The boat was not too crowded. This allowed me to take some good close up shots of the island.

Thursday, June 14th
I awoke Thursday morning to a cloudy day. It was tough to figure out if the clouds meant rain. I brought my raincoat with me just in case.

After having my morning coffee, I went in search once again for Peter Pan, the mask store I had been searching for. I took the vaporetto over the San Stae stop and tried to retrace my steps from last year when I stayed near that stop.

Just after getting off the vaporetto, the skies opened up and the rain came pouring down. I was glad I decided to carry my raincoat with me. Even with my raincoat on, I was drenched. I saw a few older ladies stopped under archways waiting for the rain to stop. To me, it looked like it would be raining all day. I walked as close as I could to the edge of the road to try to escape some of the rain. After about 20 minutes, the rain stopped.

Friday, June 15th
Friday was my last full day in Venice. It was an overcast day which reflected my mood as I was not yet ready to leave Venice. My first stop of the day was to a little pasticceria shop on Strada Nova in Cannaregio for my morning coffee and a pastry. I ordered one of those delightful pastries from Naples called a sfogliatelle. Big mistake! The pastry was indeed delicious but there should be a warning placed on this pastry saying “Do Not Eat in Public”. I made such a mess. I must have gone through at least 10 napkins.

After leaving the pasticceria, I wandered through more of the Cannaregio area. I wandered down the Fondamenta degli Ormesini, through the Ghetto area, and also down the Canale di Cannaregio. I took some photos along the way:

Monday, June 18th
Bologna is known for its food, its porticoes and its towers. At one point in history, many have said that there were up to 180 towers in Bologna although more recent studies now suggest that the number is closer to 80 - 100 towers. Click here to see a panoramic picture of Bologna in the 11th century. Less than 20 towers remain today.

The two famous towers in Bologna are the Garisenda Tower and the Asinelli Tower. It is pretty difficult to get both towers from top to bottom in one picture. I took this picture on my walk over to the towers from the main piazza in Bologna

Both of the towers are leaning towers. The Garisenda Tower is shorter, leans more, and is not available for climbing. It is the tower pictured above on the left. The Asinelli Tower is the taller of the two towers, the tower I climbed, and the tower pictured on the right. I have read that there are 498 steps to the top. I lost count on my way up. It definitely was a challenging tower to climb.

I can't believe it has been 8 days since my last post. Where has all the time gone? When I returned home from my trip, I started to download all of my pictures onto my computer and ran out of room! I also ran out of room on my external hard drive. After doing a little research, I found a new external hard drive that seemed to meet my needs. It was delivered last Friday. While everyone was enjoying their new Harry Potter books, I spent 3 full days re-organizing my computer. I also learned a BIG lesson. If you have a Mac, DO NOT touch any of the folders or information in your iPhoto program. I was able to retrieve them all using iPhoto Library Manager, but it was a long process. My eyes were pretty blurry after all that work and so I avoided the computer for a few days after that, but now I am back.

For this post, I wanted to share more of Bologna. Leslie, I hope this continues to inspire you!! The following pictures are of the porticoes and the beautiful buildings and colors of Bologna.

When I first walked into Piazza Maggiore, I was a little disappointed that there were men setting up this huge stage with an area roped off and scaffolding placed right in front of the Basilica di San Petronio. There were two reasons for my disappointment. I was disappointed that it would be very difficult to get a good picture of this church and also that I would not be in Bologna for the free festivities about to take place over the next few days, a dance marathon of some sort.

Fortunately, a couple of hours later when returning for one more moment in this beautiful piazza before heading back to my hotel, I found that although the chairs and the stage was still there and the men were still working on some sort of electrical work, the roped off areas and the scaffolding were no longer there. I started to walk down one of the aisles to get to a good angle to photograph the church when a dog that was by his owner under a chair started growling and barking. I was pretty freaked out (barking dogs and thunder & lightening being my two fears). I jumped and let out a little scream. I was glad to see that he was on a leash, but still was not comfortable being near him and so I maneuvered my way through a few more rows and then was yelled at by the men working on the electrical wiring telling me I could not be there. I sort of acknowledged their message but continued on to get my photo.

The Basilica di San Petronio is the 5th largest church in the world. As you can see the top half was never finished. This makes it a rather unique church today.

One more entry for Bologna and then I will move onto Rome. The food in Bologna is definitely one of the highlights of this wonderful city. Here are a few pictures that I took during my afternoon there:

I have wanted to try this trackback thing for a while now and thought of a perfect post. Both Leslie and I have a LOVE for smart cars. I am not as smart as she is though as I have not yet figured out how to make a slide show. She has a made many wonderful slide shows for her blog. One of my favorites is of her smart cars.

In this post, I have added a few of the smart cars I have photographed during my past few trips to Italy. Now I am not sure what is going to happen as far as the trackback thing goes, but if it does not work, at least you will have the photos I have posted. My hope is that a link will appear so that you can also enjoy Leslie's smart cars.

a Bologna smart car

I took tons and tons of pictures while in Rome. I am still going through them trying to decide what to keep and what to delete.

Where to start when sharing my images from Rome? After some thought, I decided on starting with Piazza Navona since it was where I started after arriving in Rome.

There are three fountains in Piazza Navona. On one end, you will find the
Fontana di Nettuno or Fountain of Neptune

One of the highlights of my trip this summer was my visit to the Musei Capitolini (Capitoline Museums). The Musei Capitolini are said to be the oldest public museums in the world. The history of these museums can be traced back to 1471. The Musei Capitolini are located on the famous Campidoglio or Monte Capitolino (Capitoline Hill). The collections of art, statues, archeological remains, and other items are housed in three main buildings which surround the Piazza del Campidoglio and are interlinked by an underground gallary beneath the piazza.

The ticket cost 8 euros. I believe the cost for the audioguide, which I would highly recommend, was about 5 euros. When you rent the audioguide, you need to leave an ID. My copy of my passport worked.

The entrance into the museums is through the Courtyard of the Palazzo dei Conservatori. I'm not sure how, but I did not know about these museums until this spring, while reading up on Rome. I saw a few pictures of parts of a statue in this courtyard, the Courtyard of the Palazzo dei Conservatori, and I immediately put a visit to the Musei Capitolini as a must on my list of things to do while in Rome. The museums were even more amazing than I imagined.

Courtyard of the Palazzo dei Conservatori
Colossal statue of Constantine: right hand
313-324 AC

Today was my 8th day of teaching and I am still beat! Most days, after putting in an 8-10 hour day, I am passed out two to three hours after arriving back home at night. It is amazing how much energy preschoolers have and how little energy I have. This year however, I will be getting a second mini vacation very soon! I am renting a place on the beach up on the North Shore for a few days when my friends Katia and Guido arrive.

Meanwhile, I will try to do a few more posts before they arrive. I then may have to take a little detour on this blog and post a few pictures of Hawaii.

In Piazza della Minerva, you will find a very cute elephant. This elephant is the base for an Egyptian obelisk. The Roman name for this statue is "Pulcino della Minerva". The statue is located in front of the Basilica di Santa Maria sopra Minerva and behind the Pantheon.

While changing my memory card in Trastevere, I noticed this interesting reflection of some apartments. My camera was pointing down onto the hood of a shiny car. I could not think of a title for this photo but thought it was pretty cool.

Back to Italy...

The Castel Sant'Angelo has always intrigued me. The first couple of times I visited Rome, I never had enough time to visit the Castel Sant'Angelo. This past summer, I finally spent a wonderful Saturday afternoon inside this mysterious castle. The admission was 5 euros. Here are some images from my visit.

Ponte Sant'Angelo with the Castel Sant'Angelo in the background:

After spending a few wonderful hours enjoying the Castel Sant' Angelo, I headed to the bookstore. Outside sat a gorgeous cat. We quickly made friends. I must have spent 30 minutes just hanging out with her. I am sure she would have been a little happier if I had some food to share but I think she appreciated the attention I gave her. If I lived in Rome, I might have considered taking her home with me, but since there is a certain cat quarantine issue in Hawaii, I sadly said goodbye, and instead took a few images home with me.

While in Rome this past summer, I had the opportunity to once again climb to the top of the Cupola of the Basilica di San Pietro (dome of St. Peter's Basilica).

After climbing 323 steps, I was treated to an amazing view from the interior gallery at the base of the Cupola. Although I chose to climb the first portion, there is also the choice of taking a lift to reach this point. However, from the base of the Cupola to the top, the only way to get there is by climbing more steps (I believe it was 228 more steps).

In this post, I would like to share a few pictures that I took from the interior gallery at the base of the Cupola.

After leaving the interior gallery at the base of the Cupola, I continued my climb to the top for some magnificent views. I took this picture from the roof below. If you look closely, you can see all the people along the bottom railing. This is where you end up when you reach the top.

After taking in the 360 views at the top of the Cupola, my last stop on my " Cupola climb” adventure was a visit on the roof of the Basilica. Because it was extremely crowded at the top, I was relieved to find a lot of open space down on the roof. This was my favorite part of the climb.

The roof houses a coffee shop, a gift shop, and restrooms. I must comment that I was quite impressed with the cleanliness of the women's restroom on the day I was there.

While on the roof, you are allowed to walk around, get up close with the statues, and you are rewarded with more incredible views. I spent quite a bit of time just hanging out and enjoying the views.

I also went inside the bar to get a cup of coffee. I mentioned in my July post about a possible trivia question about the roof coffee bar. “Where in Italy will you get an espresso served in a tiny paper cup (and I mean tiny, even smaller than a dixi cup)?” Answer - at the bar on the rooftop of the Basilica.

A few of my favorite pictures from the roof of the Basilica:

My second trip to Italy, in the summer of 2000, included a visit to the Campania region. This is the region where Montefalcione and Lapio are located. My great-grandfather was born in Montefalcione and my great-grandmother was born in Lapio. My hope was to visit at least one of these two towns while staying in this region.

I met a friend who would be joining me on my Sorrento leg of my trip in Florence the day before we were to travel to Sorrento. We traveled by train the following day. After a day or two, we stopped at the tourist information booth where I inquired about directions and transportation options to get to Montefalcione. The man at the desk offered to take us if he would be going that way during the week while we were in Sorrento, and if not, he would try to find someone else to take us there. I was thrilled as I thought the only way to get to Montefalcione would be spending most of the day on trains and buses. That evening, he called me and said that his brother, Luigi, would be able take us the following day.

Luigi arrived at our hotel at 8am the following morning. After years and years of genealogy research, Wednesday, July 5th, 2000, would be the day I would finally step foot on the land of my great-grandfather's birthplace! I was a little nervous at first not knowing this man, but he turned out to be a very kind person. It took us about two hours to get to Montefalcione because part of the Salerno to Avellino autostrada was closed for construction. We had to take a long detour up and down a mountainside, stopping for directions a few times along the way. I know I would have never found it on my own. Montefalcione is located up high on a mountainside (monte=mountain). It seemed to me to be a pretty modern little town. We drove thru part of the town and then parked the car.

Luigi took the picture of my great-grandfather along with my genealogy list with of all my relatives' names from Montefalcione (Catalano, Martignetti, Musto, Noviello, Del Sasso, D'Amore) and started to ask some of the people if they knew if any of my relatives were still living in the town. Because Montefalcione is not a town where many tourists visit, we seemed to be quite a curiosity to many of the residents of the town. They seemed quite amazed that I came all this way looking for relatives. We did find a woman whose mother's name was Catalano but her mother was very old now and would not be able to help us.

We then went to the main piazza. This is a picture of Luigi and the main street in the town. Pictures in this post were scanned into my computer. Unfortunately I did not have a digital camera at the time and did not take that many pictures of the town.

Thank you softdrink for suggesting this fun topic on your fantastic Blonde Momentos blog and for helping me with my post for today :-)

I was going to try to do the hometown post but was not quite ready, so this idea worked out perfectly!!

Don't forget to check out softdrink's bookish meme.

Rules:
1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

I followed these rule as close as possible, but since I have been reading, or trying to read, three books (I am sort of ADD-ish) and they were all together, I chose "A Thousand Bells at Noon" since it was a book about Italy. The second of my three books was "Eat, Pray, Love" which has been a pretty popular book and I am sure has already been in a bookish meme, and the third book was a "female health issue" book which I am sure would not be as interesting to all readers.

I also will not tag anyone in particular, leaving this idea for as many bloggers as are interested, to use as an idea for a post sometime in February.

My Book: A Thousand Bells at Noon, by G. Franco Romagnoli:

"For you, my dear!" said the duke. Father and daughter were duly impressed; the duke's gamble worked and he gained a wife and a dowry. Rome (legend true or false) gained a splendid fountain.

But now the integrity of the rione that survived persecutions, wars, famine, and plague is beginning to break under the attack of the new affluence.

Can anyone guess the fountain being discussed? I will give you a hint...
The subtitle of the book is: A Roman Reveals the Secrets and Pleasures of His
Native City.

I am surprised at how these three sentences on page 123, sentences 6-8, turned out to be a perfect mystery question for all the Italy lovers out there. I have confidence that someone will be able to answer this question without peeking in the book. I will post the answer here in a few days, after everyone has time to guess.

*Edited to add the answer - the Turtle Fountain in Piazza Mattei

This car was parked in Piazza Sant'Egidio (Trastevere, Rome) a few doors down from the apartment I rented. I took this photo last summer.

Today has been a bad migraine day for me. A quick "photo post" was all I could do. Spending a lot of time on the computer is not working well for me today.

Manuelina is a restaurant in Recco famous for it's focaccia. I first heard about this restaurant and the focaccia they make from my Italian teacher, while taking a night class here in Hawaii.

In 2003, I spent a few nights in Camogli. After arriving in Camogli, one of the first things I did was to inquire on how to get to Recco. I was told that Recco was not that far and so I decided to walk there. It was a long walk (about 3 KM each way). The town of Recco itself was not that far, but Manuelina was located at the far end of Recco from Camogli.

When I finally arrived at Manuelina, I was rewarded with the most wonderful focaccia - focaccia col formaggio. This focaccia was not anything like the typical focaccia one has seen or eaten. It was thinner and filled with a delicious cheese mixture. The taste reminded me of my mom's blintzes. The only thing missing was the plum jelly to put on top.

So, if you are ever in Recco, make sure to visit Manuelina and order some focaccia col formaggio. They also have a take out window just for the focaccia.

San Fruttuoso is located in a bay between Camogli and Portofino. It can only be reached by boat or by foot. Since I will jump on a boat any chance I can get, how to arrive there was an easy choice for me. The boat ride from Camogli to the charming little bay where San Fruttuoso is located was quite relaxing.

The day I visited San Fruttuoso in the summer of 2003, a wedding was taking place inside the church. That unfortunately prevented me from more than a quick peek inside. I did however check out the special amber exhibit in the little museum nearby. I was quite surprised with what I learned about amber. After seeing some of the insects inside some of the amber pieces, I have not had much desire to purchase any amber.

I will try my best to briefly describe a little of the colorful history of the Abbey of San Fruttuoso (Abbazia di San Fruttuoso) from the brochures that I have saved and from a few google searches. The Abbey's existence has been dated back as far as the 3rd to 7th century depending on which account you read. The Abbey was attacked by the Saracens, a name which referred to the Arabs, Berbers, Moors and Turks, as well as pirates. The Abbey was rebuilt by Greek and then Benedectine monks. The Abbey was later home to fishermen and then finally the property of the Doria Family. The tower of Andrea Doria was built in 1562 to guard against Saracen and pirate attacks. In 1983, the Doria family donated San Fruttuoso to FAI.

First view of San Fruttuoso by boat:

One of my favorite places on the Ligurian Coast in Italy is the little fishing village of Camogli. I first learned about Camogli when watching filming of The Bold & The Beautiful in Italy. For those of you who are not familiar with The Bold & The Beautiful, it is a daytime soap opera, one of two I have been addicted to for years and years. I can now proudly state that I am no longer a daytime soap addict. I am thankful however that I was addicted back in 2002. If I wasn't, I would not have seen Brooke, Thorne, Macy, and Ridge in Camogli. I was immediately struck with the beauty and charm of Camogli when watching the scenes being filmed there. I knew right than while watching that show that I just had to go there one day. I went the following summer.

The Camogli boat harbor:

I do not have great memories of my two night stay in Santa Margherita Ligure. My initial plan was to stay in Camogli for five nights. Unfortunately all rooms were booked for the last two nights. Instead of cutting short my stay in Liguria, I decided on three nights in Camogli and then 2 nights in Santa Margherita Ligure, not exactly slow travel, but then again, I had not yet heard of the “slow travel” concept.

The train ride from Camogli to Santa Margherita Ligure was only 5 minutes. It was not really that much of a hassle to pack up and change hotels. When I arrived at Albergo Fasce (my hotel in Santa Margherita), I was informed that there was a problem with my reservation. I was given a single room with the bathroom down the hall that I would be sharing with two other girls. This did not make me happy at all. One of my "musts" when booking a hotel room is having a private bathroom in the room. I reconfirmed my reservation a couple of weeks previous to arriving in Santa Margherita and was not informed at that time of the problem with my reservation. The hotel situation definitely affected my stay. My review of Albergo Fasce goes into more detail about my experience at this hotel. I was hesitant at first to include my review on this post, but after a current search of reviews for this hotel, my review is reflective of many other reviews. To be fair, not everyone gave Albergo Fasce a bad review.

My first visit to Piemonte was in 2006. I spent four nights in Saluzzo followed by five nights in Torino. During one of my days in Torino, I did a daytrip to Asti and Acqui Terme.

Asti had been a town high up on my list of places to visit after reading about all the towers in the town years earlier. I love towers, taking pictures of towers, and climbing towers. I have a few posts about towers on this blog.

My reason to visit Acqui Terme was more personal. I had communicated with Diana Bauer during the planning phase of my 2006 trip to Italy. She was extremely helpful. We made plans to meet while I was in Torino. I was delighted that we would be able to meet and spend time together during my trip that year. I wanted to thank her in person for all of her help.

I walked by this cute little trattoria one day in Trastevere last summer and couldn't pass up taking a photo. I never found out the name. If you have been to Rome, have you eaten here?

Happy Easter!! ~ Happy Sunday!!

Coccaglio (my last stop) is a tiny little town where my friends Katia and Guido live. Coccaglio is located in the Franciacorta area of Lombardy (Lombardia) between Bergamo & Brescia, and when using more familiar landmarks, between Milan & Verona:

Closer view of Coccaglio:

The center of Coccaglio:

When reading Leslie's Kaleidoscope post today, I was reminded of PhotoHunt, a cool photo posting idea, and thought I would give it a try. What is PhotoHunt?

From the official PhotoHunt blog:

"The Photo Hunt was started in March 2006. A theme is given each Saturday. Post a photo that best represents the theme. New and old photos welcome."

This week's PhotoHunt Saturday theme is High:

It certainly looks like a long way up!! (Asinelli Tower in Bologna).

From the top ~ looking down at the Garisenda Tower and the tiny people below.

girasoli ~ I originally chose this name when setting up a yahoo email account many moons ago (or at least it seems that way now). My real name is such a common name and it was always taken. Even my last name is a pretty common name.

I decided on coming up with a unique Italian name as my user name. During my first couple of visits to Italy, I fell in love with the fields of sunflowers. After thinking about things that I loved about Italy, I decided on using the Italian word for sunflower ~ girasole as my user name. Unfortunately girasole was taken. Now I know that I am a singular person and "girasoli" means sunflowers (a plural word), but the only way I could use sunflower in Italian to create this new email account was to combine the Italian word for "two" with “girasole” and because I was now making the word plural, I changed girasole to girasoli (to be grammatically correct).

Since then, I have used girasoli in various combinations as well as by itself. To stay grammatically correct, I tried to use girasole when alone but it just got too confusing for my fingers to remember and for my family and friends needing to remember when to end the word in an "i" or an "e" especially since many could not even pronounce the word correctly. That is the story of how I became to be known as ~ girasoli.

Now, hoping not to confuse anyone further, I am adding a photo of a sunflower (singular) ~ il girasole. I took this photo while on the island of Burano two years ago.

Photos of the entrance of the Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria in Perugia. The art gallery is housed on the fourth floor of the Palazzo dei Priori.

For those contemplating or planning a visit to Torino, I would highly recommend a visit to La Mole Antonelliana and the Museo Nazionale del Cinema (National Museum of Cinema). I spent 5 days in Torino in July, 2006 and visited the Cinema Museum twice.

La Mole Antonelliana is the tallest building in Torino and at one time it was the tallest building in the world. The Museo Nazionale del Cinema is located inside La Mole Antonelliana.

Another museum I would highly recommend visiting while in Torino is the Museo Egizio (Egyptian Museum). My Torino card also worked for this museum.

After purchasing my ticket, it took me a few minutes to find the entrance to the museum because there were two different displays in the building. I found the entrance and wandered around the first room. This room held ancient rocks, dishes, pottery, jewelry, etc.

When I finished looking at all of the displays, I could not figure out where to go to find the next room. I went to ask the man sitting outside the entrance to the museum. He was not very friendly. I named him "crabby man." Instead of nicely pointing where to go, he yelled "sotto, sotto" at me, which meant downstairs. I found the stairway and headed to the next section of the museum.

I was in utter amazement when I entered this portion of the museum. I spent quite a while looking at each exhibit. I could not believe that we were actually allowed to take pictures in this amazing room! The only limitation was no flash.

This week's PhotoHunt was a tough one. All week long, I have been counting groups of things. I found 12 beautiful palm trees in a row, 7 great hibiscus flowers on a bush, but I have yet to find a group of 13 items that would make a good photo. I also searched through my photos with not much luck there either. I ended up going with a few photos with signs (even though next week's PhotoHunt has to do with signs). I figured with this choice, I could add a little bit of trivia to my post.

The word rione (plural - rioni) comes from the Latin word regio (plural - regiones) meaning regions. If Wikipedia is correct, the rioni in Rome were established for the first time in the 4th century BC by Servius Tullius, with only four, which at the time were called regiones (the plural of regio). More regions were added since then and they have been changed often over the years. Currently, there are 22 rioni.

R. XIII refers to the Trastevere rione of Rome.

Mondovì

Saluzzo

I still have tons of photos to share from my trip to Italy last summer. Because some of my photos would work better in a slide show type set up, I finally learned how to make a picasa web album slide show today. I have not posted any photos of Cortona yet. I decided to make my first slideshow of a hike I did in Cortona in June 2007.

After a long train ride to Cortona, finding a taxi, settling in, and having lunch, I spent my first afternoon in Cortona hiking up to the Sanctuary of Santa Margherita and the Fortezza del Girifalco. It was a long hike uphill. Although it was a hot afternoon, the views were spectacular. When I finally reached the top, I arrived at a huge church, the Sanctuary of Santa Margherita. It was unfortunately closed when I arrived.

I continued walking a little further uphill to reach the Fortezza del Girifalco. The cost to enter the fortezza was 3 euros. There was only one other person visiting this very peaceful fortezza while I was there. I first spent about 30 minutes walking along the wall that surrounded the perimeter along the top (similar to the fortezza in Montalcino) enjoying the views and the cool breeze. I then spent a little bit of time checking out the rooms inside. There were a few art pieces hanging in one or two of the rooms. Although the other rooms were empty, they were also peaceful and cool. After an enjoyable visit, I headed back to town, taking a different path, which took me along a few windy roads through a beautiful area of the town.

view from the bus stop:

I took this photo last summer while visiting St. Peter's Basilica.
This is one of my favorite photos from my visit that day.

While in Cortona, I took a daytrip to Arezzo, a place I have wanted to see since seeing the movie, Life is Beautiful. I wrote about my visit, "the men of Cortona & Arezzo" while traveling last summer. Here are some photos to go with the post.

The Duomo was HUGE!! Too bad it was closed when I arrived.

María did a post about her favorite palazzo on the island Murano in the beginning of May. I made a comment on her blog about taking a similar Venice window photo (of course now looking at the two side by side, they really are quite different). María asked me to post my window photo on my blog. Well it took a few weeks, but here finally is that window along with a few more of my favorite Venice window photos.
Do you have a favorite?

If you are in need of a nice bathroom while you are out and about in Rome, check out the Antico Caffè Greco, located on Via dei Condotti near the Spanish Steps. It is also a cool bar, although I can only personally vouch for the refreshing glass of peach juice I had while there.

It was a Wednesday in June 2005. I was staying in Bellagio on Lake Como. The prediction was for temporale that day (bad weather). I woke to overcast skies. I hung out for a while watching the weather trying to decide what to do.

The day before I walked all over Bellagio, got lost a couple of times, but had a wonderful time following the Bellagio walking tour. My feet and toes were pretty tired after a long day of walking and so I decided to spend the day on the boat, heading to Colico, the farthest point north on Lake Como, hoping that the weather would hold up for the day.

The first boat leaving (except the rapido boats) was at 11:30. I gathered up my things and headed down to the boats. The boat was not very crowded due to the unsettled weather. I found a great seat with a wonderful view and took lots of pictures on the ride up north. You can see my photos of the ride here. I enjoyed some cheese and some fruit on the way while checking out the towns along the lake. Many of the towns seemed much smaller to me than the towns on Lake Garda.

When I arrived in Colico, everything was closed except for a few bars. My original plan was to take the rapido boat back but because my boat was late to arrive in Bellagio, the rapido boat beat my boat to Colico and was heading back towards Bellagio just as we arrived. The next boat was scheduled to arrive in about 40 minutes. I walked around the town and found a little gelateria that was open while waiting for the boat.

On the way back to Bellagio, the sky seemed to clear a little as we got close to Varenna. I decided to stop there for an hour or so before heading back to Bellagio.

View of Varenna from the boat:

*Updated: click on "Continue reading" so see the 3 photos leading up to this photo...

I posted my favorite water photos last September: colors of the ocean and
ocean foam. Click on the pink words (links) and check them out when you get the chance.

Instead of posting them again, I chose a few of my favorite Lerici photos for
this week's water theme.

I am feeling a little like this today:

I took the photo of the rose on a wall by this beautiful church in Portofino.

When you first arrive in Portofino by boat, you can see part of the church behind the buildings in the main piazza.

Oh, and did you notice my new sunflower photo? That was the only sunflower I saw on my trip this year! I saw it outside a shop on my walk up to San Luca in Bologna.

The first photo is of a beach that is semi-private, meaning that you can still walk down this beach. The next three photos were taken at the far end of SML (closer to Portofino) where I believe you need to belong to have access.

boats on land...

One of the things on my list of "to do" items was to take a photo of the statue of Santa Margherita. I don't know how I don't remember seeing this wonderful statue the last time I was in Santa Margherita Ligure back in 2003. It is located right near where the boats depart for Rapallo, Portofino, and San Fruttuoso. María posted a wonderful photo of this statue on her blog a couple of months ago. I was not able to capture this statue as well as María did, but here are my three tries.

The inscription on the base of the statue:

According to Debra Cole-Weber of the Pittsburgh, Pa. post-gazette.com, the statue of Santa Margherita faces the sea to pray for the safe return of the fishermen of her city.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed myself at the aquarium in Genova (Italy). The first five photos are all of various sea life (and a couple of people) "hanging out".

Jellyfish hanging out. I was mesmerized by all of the amazing jellyfish displays. Here are photos from two of the displays.

I believe the structure with all the white poles is a famous landmark in Genova.

I am not quite sure what this is either. It looks like some sort of huge greenhouse.

If you are interested in seeing more photos from the aquarium, click on the "Continue reading..." link below.

When walking out of the Genova Brignole train station, I saw this magnificent arch in the distance. I headed straight for it. Of course that immediately got me off track and slightly lost.

I kept on walking away from my planned out route to get a closer look at the beautiful designs in the grass and the wall at the top. I thought about walking up those stairs to get a close up view of the wall, but I knew I had a lot of walking ahead of me and not much time.

As I got back on the route I had planned out for the day, I stumbled upon this doorway and fell in love. I think this might have been a hotel, but I can't remember now.

Last year, after Bob the Navigator from Slow Travel posted this photo, I added Genova to my long list of places to visit. When I decided on Santa Margherita Ligure as one of my bases for my summer trip, Genova was on my list of daytrips. I had did have a momentary thought of using Genova as a base but decided that I better visit it for a day first before committing for a longer period of time. While planning my trip, I read about a few things to visit while in Genova, but my main goal when I arrived was to visit the Duomo, also known as the Duomo di San Lorenzo or Cattedrale di San Lorenzo (where Bob took his photo). I was so excited when I finally arrived. This church was incredible (even if the sun was behind the church when I arrived which seemed to be a pattern for me). It did not have that immediate beauty as say the Duomo in Florence or Siena or Orvieto but instead it had a hidden beauty, one I found more in the close ups of the church. Here area some of my favorite close ups (and don't forget to check out Bob's photo):

Now this is a cool photo! Imagine visiting the Duomo back then.

(photo from Wikimedia Commons - click on the photo for the source).

Here are a few more photos of the Duomo from my visit this summer:

And for a peek inside...

As requested by my dad, here are more photos of Portofino. One of my favorite things I did while in Portofino was visiting the Castello Brown. If you ever get to Portofino (or return and have not visited this place yet), I recommend that you check this place out.

The entrance to the castle (looking back down from the top of the steps):

Inside the castle:

I took this photo inside the Duomo di Cremona, using Katia's head as a tripod.

One more post on Portofino...

These photos are views of Portofino from the Castello Brown. Last week, I posted a few close up photos of some of the pretty buildings in Portofino.

This was a tough theme. I almost gave up until I remembered taking these photos while in Santa Margherita Ligure...

To see the two windows together...

I went to Modena for the first time this summer. The main purpose of my visit was to climb the tower, the Torre della Ghirlandina. If you don't know already, I love climbing towers. I took the one hour train from Bologna on a Sunday morning (the only day of the week that the tower was open for climbing).

I was surprised at how fast I fell in love with Modena. The colors of the buildings were quite similar to the colors of the buildings in Bologna and the architecture styles were also quite similar, but it seemed more open, more peaceful and a lot less crowded than Bologna. I also have to admit that I was a little bit in "city shock" after leaving tiny Acqui Terme and arriving in bustling Bologna a day earlier. Later after visiting a tourist packed Florence, my opinion of Bologna changed. I guess it is all relative. In the end, I loved all three places and oh would I give anything to be in Modena, Bologna, or Florence right now. Lucky Palma, lucky Sandra, lucky Anne, all who are heading back to Italy and will be in one of these three places very soon.

I took tons of photos and have lots to share of my visit to Modena. I will start with my tower photos since that is what drew me to Modena in the first place.

After leaving the train station and stopping in a bar for an espresso and the toilet, I headed for the centro. My heart skipped a beat as I experienced my first views of the tower. I knew in advance that it was being restored and so I was prepared to see it covered.

This first photo shows what the tower would look like if it was not covered.

I'm not sure who this guy is and what he did to get a statue but I thought it was a cool photo. **Updated by Leslie: Alessandro Tassoni - a noble and a poet, did good works around 1600 in Modena.

Finally, the Torre della Ghirlandina

I took this photo outside the Villa Durazzo in Santa Margherita Ligure, Italy this summer.

The Duomo of Modena is huge! It was impossible to get the entire church in one shot.

There was a mass taking place the first few times I attempted to go inside the Duomo. Each mass was packed. Finally the last mass of the morning ended. There was so much to see. In just 15 minutes, the workers started to close the church for the day. I wish I had more time to spend inside the church. Modena is definitely on my list of places to visit again.

While in Modena, I saw a sciopero sign at a bus stop attached to one of the poles where the bus schedule was listed. It was a strike notice.

I was aware that there was going to be a national train strike the following day, but I was not aware that the strike would also include all local buses until I saw this sign. That meant that I had to rethink my plan for Monday (in Bologna).

My original plan was to walk up to San Luca.

(Photo is linked to the San Luca website where this photo is from.)

After finding out that the buses would also not be running, I thought about changing my plan for the day. It looked like it would be much too far to walk by foot. The person at the front desk at my hotel told me that it was only an extra ten minute walk to the beginning of the 666 arches which lead up to San Luca. This is where the "do not try this at home" warning comes in, especially if you have been walking and walking and walking for the past two weeks. It was definitely NOT a ten minute walk.

As luck would have it, because I took that walk, I saw my first little Italian Elektrocar.

Not far from my hotel, as I started my walk to San Luca, I saw a tiny yellow car parked on the side of this little road next to the ring road. At first, I thought it was a Smart Car (my favorite car). As I walked over to the car to take a photo, I realized it was even smaller than a Smart Car. It turned out to be a very cool yellow electric car.

Just as I was about to take a photo of the car, the woman, who I assume was the owner of the car, showed up. I asked her if I could take a photo. She seemed pleased that I was interested in her car. After I took a photo, she opened up the tiny latch, which I swear was made out of plastic, to show me the plug. I put an arrow where the latch is located because it is hard to see the latch in this photo. The tipped arrow is where the hinge is. The latch opens from the windshield side outward and obviously bends at the hinge.

As she opened the latch, I wondered if the entire body of the car was also made out of plastic. That is one mystery that I have yet to solve because I was not brave enough to ask her this question. As she pulled out the plug, she explained how she charges her car. I wanted to take a photo of the plug, but again was not brave enough. I didn't want her to think I was a crazy American obsessed with her car.

I have not yet posted any photos from my time Acqui Terme because I have still not been able to organize them. I think part of the problem is that I was continuously lost in while staying in Acqui Terme. Don't get me wrong, I LOVED Acqui Terme, I just never found my bearings while there. I even took photos of ways to get from my hotel to the train station and still ended up getting lost!

So for today...here are a few random photos of Acqui Terme.

No, this is not a post about George Clooney...

I saw this cool car while in Alessandria this summer. My second favorite car in Italy, the Fiat. FIAT is an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (Italian Automobile Factory of Turin). This summer, I heard another cute acronym for the Fiat: "Fix It Again Tony". I can't take credit for this acronym though. A friend of Diana's told us this joke while we were having dinner at her B&B one night. But back to the car...oh I mean the guy in the car.

While wandering down a street in Alessandria, I noticed this beautiful building. I think it was either a hospital or a senior citizen home. As I got closer to the entrance to try to read the sign, I noticed this cool car. Just as I went to take a photo, the guy noticed me and gave me "stink eye" (a local expression). That's my story. Nothing worthy of the gossip rags, just a guy in a car...

(p.s. I added my bug photo to my "eek a bug" post. It is not a great photo but the best my classroom camera could take.)

These are the three photos I took of the building in Alessandria where the car was parked (previous post). Because the street was a very narrow one way street, it was impossible to get the entire building in one frame. I wish I took the doorway though. Not sure why I didn't?

While wandering the streets of Alessandria, I came upon this lovely little hat shop called Borsalino. Too bad the shop was closed when I was there. I would have loved to have spent some time inside trying on a few hats.

Little did I know when I took this photo that Borsalino was a famous name of a hat company. According to the History of Straw hats & Felt hats - Borsalino hats page of the Hat History website, Giuseppe Borsalino set up the first artisan workshop for the production of felt hats in Alessandria, Italy. Check out the website for more interesting facts about the Borslino hat company.

Close up of the store name:

Does anyone know the Italian word for "hat store"?

Soave, Italy

The only road to Civita di Bagnoregio, Italy (scanned photo of me in 2001)

I finally organized my photos of my hike under the 666 portico arches to the Sanctuary of the Madonna of San Luca (Il Santuario della Madonna di San Luca ) in Bologna. After a 45 minute walk to reach the beginning of the 666 portico arches, it took me an additional 40 minutes to reach the top.

The first photo (which I did not take) gives a good idea of the hike to the top.
It's a good thing I did not see this photo before doing the hike.

(Photo is linked to the San Luca website where I found this photo.)

Because I had to stand on the sidewalk to take the next photo, I had a difficult time getting a good photo of the start of the walk. I decided against standing in the middle of the street and possibly risking getting run over.

Photo of the first few arches of the walk ~ at this point, I am thinking, this is going to be an easy hike.

First, I would like to share this plaque, which provides more information about this church (if you can read Italian). These informative plaques can be found all over Bologna.

And now, I would like to give you a glimpse of the inside of this magnificent church.

I apologize for the delay. Here are my photos of the Sanctuary of the Madonna of San Luca (Il Santuario della Madonna di San Luca) in Bologna.

Sad elephant ~ this statue, which is called the Pulcino della Minerva, is located
in front of the Basilica di Santa Maria sopra Minerva and behind the Pantheon
in Rome, Italy.

Sad lion ~ this statue is located on the steps of the Cattedrale di San Lorenzo,
also called the Duomo di San Lorenzo in Genova, Italy.

The first time I saw a Smart Car was in 2001 while staying in Ferrara, Italy. Ever since then, I have been a huge Smart Car fan. Since blogging, I have realized that I am not alone.

Leslie is also a huge Smart Car fan. Today, she posted a photo of a Modena Smart Car.

Kathy has been lucky enough to drive a Smart Car. She rented one while staying in Siena in 2005.

And, Smart Cars have finally made it to the US. Jane recently spotted a Smart Car in her cul-de-sac in San Diego.

Here are some of my favorite Smart Cars from my stay in Italy this past summer.

Santa Margherita Smart Cars:

One of the things I miss about Italy...

Alicia & Giovanni ~ Camogli, Italy

Together forever ~ Museo Egizio/Egyptian Museum, Torino, Italy

Espresso cups ~ Katia's house, Coccaglio, Italy

After “hunting” through all of my photos of ruins from Italy, I decided on this photo of the Ponte Rotto (which means broken bridge). The original name for this bridge was the Pons Aemilius. The Ponte Rotto or Pons Aemilius is the oldest Roman stone bridge. Construction began in 179 BC and was completed in 142 BC. It stood until 1598 when floods “ruined” the bridge. I guess you could say that it is now the “bridge to nowhere”.

This has been another crazy week. One more day of work and then four days off!! Yay!!

I have been working on a few blog posts but have not finished them yet. Meanwhile, I thought I would post these photos of a cute little shop in Nizza Monferrato (Piemonte).

I was not able to get the entire storefront in this photo due to the narrow street and the archway.

Liquor & sweets. That seemed to be all that is sold in this charming little shop.

The owner gave me a photo of this sign after she saw me taking a photo of it.

Breakfast in Italy can be simple:

(cappuccino and brioche in Camogli)

or elaborate:

(buffet breakfast at Hotel Eden in Sirmione, Lake Garda)

Breakfast in Italy can also be in beautiful settings:

(outside table at Hotel Eden in Sirmione, Lake Garda)

(garden table at Hotel Victoria in Torino)

BUT my favorite breakfast in Italy is breakfast with my friends Guido & Katia:

(sitting outside Katia's parents' house in Coccaglio enjoying her mom's beautiful garden)

I can't believe how much of a fog I have been in this week. First, I completely spaced out one of my physical therapy sessions. This not only frustrated me since I have never missed an appointment before but it also cost me $15.00! All week, I was sure that I had therapy on Monday and Thursday and then on Thursday morning, when looking at my calendar to write down a January school meeting, I saw the words physical therapy circled in pink written under Wednesday!!

I am blaming it on end of the semester Christmas stress, lack of sleep, and possible baking fumes! Of course just opening my eyes and looking at my calendar also would have helped.

So what does this have to do with PhotoHunt? Well, last weekend after posting my "favorite" PhotoHunt post, I checked on the next theme, looked through a few photos and found a photo for the them right away! I put it on my desktop and forgot all about it.

I started to think about PhotoHunt again on Thursday night and could not come up with anything until my friend suggested the wide ocean last night. I did my PhotoHunt post and checked other photohunt posts. All was fine.

Then just a few minutes ago while filing all of my cookie recipes and cards into a folder on my computer to clean up some of the clutter on my desktop, I noticed the wide photo I chose last weekend! It has been sitting there all week right in front of my eyes!! Thank goodness my head is attached to my neck!!

So...here is my "wide"~ PhotoHunt ~ take 2 post...

a W I D E foot:

One of the events I wrote about while in Santa Margherita Ligure this past June was the Festival of Sant’ Erasmo. Sant' Erasmo is the patron saint, the protector of the fishermen. I attended three of the events.

The first event was a procession at sea (processione in mare). Saturday morning, June 28th, I walked down to the boat area across from the church where I believed the procession would be taking place.

A few minutes after I arrived, I noticed a very handsome priest, all dressed up talking to a few people in the small crowd. Next came a small procession of people, also dressed up, along with four men carrying the statue of Sant' Erasmo. The statue was placed on a big fishing boat. This was quite an interesting ordeal. Once the statue was safely aboard, the people involved with the ceremony boarded the boat.

As I was taking photos, one of the men (who I believe had had something to do with the event) told me that if I was interested, I could go on a boat at the imbacadero. I understood everything he said to me except I was not sure where the imbacadero was. I walked down the waterfront in the direction he pointed but did not see any boats that looked like they were boarding passengers. I was just about to walk back, when I noticed a few ladies who were also watching the statue being placed on the boat walking towards the main boat dock where the boats left for Portofino and Rapallo. How obvious! The imbacadero meant the dock where you could catch the boat.

I followed the woman to the boat. There was a huge crowd waiting for the next boat to Portofino. The women weaved through the crowd and said something about the procession and were given free tickets to board a boat ready to depart. I followed the women and was also given a ticket to board the boat.

Our boat followed a bunch of other boats out to sea, motoring almost to Portofino. The breeze on the boat felt wonderful as it was a very hot day. As we motored out, a sweet older woman standing next to me started pointing out some of the sights; where she was staying, what beach she went to, etc. At one point I said "wow". She replied, "Oh, you are not Italian". I smiled. After we established where I was from, how I learned my little Italian, etc. she went right back to describing the various houses and villas she knew about. She also told me more about the procession.

We stopped at a spot near a big building on shore where monks lived. The priest said a short mass using a microphone so everyone could hear. All the boats blew their horns when the mass was finished and a wreath was thrown into the water. For some reason, I thought the statue would be going in the water, but it never did. I think I thought this because I remembered seeing a movie once that took place in Italy where a statue was put in the water. I think it might have been The Talented Mr. Ripley.

I felt very honored to be a part of this event. My guess is the family on board the boat lost someone at sea.

Everyone on my boat was very kind to me. I think I was the only American tourist on the boat. On our way back, we stopped closer to Santa Margherita Ligure. A few people on the boat that carried the statue and the handsome priest started waving to a few people on my boat.

Here's a slideshow I made with some of the photos I took.

The last of the three festival events I attended was the "Processione sulla Banchina con i tradizionali "CRISTI" e la Confraternite." This took place at 6pm, starting at the church and ending across the street at the marina. The men took turns carrying the crosses. They looked pretty heavy and there were a few moments when I thought one of the men would topple over while attempting to balance their cross. The procession was short with more cars stuck in traffic than out watching the parade. I thought it was pretty cool even though it was not well attended.

I have been meaning to write about my memorable dinner at Osteria al 15 for quite a while now. This osteria can easly be missed since it is located on a quiet side street. Outside this osteria, you will find the only written menu.

I was shown to a table in a little room up a few stairs. I think I remember there being five tables in this little area. A group of four American college girls studying in Bologna sat at one table and an Italian couple sat at another table. View of the entrance area from my table:

After being seated, my waiter, who I am pretty sure was also the owner, started rattling off the menu items rapidly in Italian. Because I am always confused between the tortelloni or tortellini, I stopped him when he mentioned one asking him if it had meat. He asked me if I was a vegetarian. I said yes since I did not see fish or chicken on the menu outside (both of which I do eat). He recommended a few dishes to me that did not include meat.

I hesitantly chose the ricotta all’ aceto balsamico caramellato not knowing what to expect. OMG, it was incredible!!! Delicious ricotta cheese topped with a homemade combination of Modena’s expensive balsamic vinegar, honey, and caramel.

I was also given a basket of some type of fried bread which I dipped in the balsamic sauce. Heavenly!! (this photo unfortunately came out a little blurry)

For my primi, I had the tortelloni con burro e salvia, one of my all time favorite dishes.

When the waiter returned, I asked him about the newspapers on the ceiling. He was very proud of the ceiling and told me a story about how the newspapers ended up on the ceiling. He and a few others (I forget exactly who now) saved all of the old newspapers and put them on the ceiling themselves.

After telling me about the newspapers and the ceiling, he took me on a tour of the rest of the restaurant showing me some of the older pots and pans on a wall near the back of the restaurant, all of which he found at different outdoor markets.

When I returned to my table, he asked me if I was ready for dessert. Sadly, I had no room. I asked him if the osteria was open for lunch, hoping to stop by again so that I could enjoy another meal at this osteria and try some dessert. He told while pointing to his dark tan, that he was only open for dinner because he goes to the beach during the day,

I highly recommend Osteria al 15. Not only is fabulous food served at this osteria, but it is also a fun place to have dinner. The bonus for me was that Osteria al 15 was only one street away from the hotel where I was staying. I highly recommend this osteria for the food, the atmosphere, and for the kindness shown to the customers. I think about the times I have felt unwelcome as a single diner and have even been turned away because I was a single diner and then think about my wonderful experience at this restaurant. This is how customers should be treated everywhere. It will be tops on my list of places to return to the next time I am in Bologna. Thank you Amy for reminding me of this fabulous little osteria in Bologna.

The food!! ~ Reason #1 why I love Bologna.

I have eaten wonderful food all over Italy (well in 11 regions of Italy) and I have to say that one of my favorite places to find food that has blown me away with each bite is in Bologna.

To give you a little background about my taste in food, I don’t eat beef and pork (although I have occasionally been tempted to try a tiny piece of good proscuitto). Because I like to have at least a few options on the menu, I am more picky about the restaurants I like to eat at. I often decide against eating at restaurants famous for mainly meat dishes. Put ravioli or tortelloni con burro e salvia (butter and sage) on the menu and I will order it. I also love fresh pomodoro (tomato) sauce and a good pesto sauce (although you won’t find much pesto in Bologna).

I have been to Bologna four times now, although my first visit really doesn't count since it was only a quick two hour peek in 2000 while waiting for a train connection to Verona. I can't even remember what I ate while I was there. My first real visit to Bologna was a one night stay the following year in 2001 to break up the train travel from Rome to Coccaglio. My second visit to Bologna was again a one night stay, this time in 2007 to break up train travel from Coccaglio to Cortona. Last summer, I finally spent more time in Bologna, this time spending six nights. I was so excited to finally have enough time to try more of the amazing restaurants I had read about.

Back in 2001 during my one night stay in Bologna, I ate lunch at Ristorante Montegrappa da Nello (located at Via Montegrappa 2). I ordered the melanzane all parmigiana (eggplant parmesan) and the Fiori di Zucchini (fried zucchini flowers). It was so good that I returned to Ristorante Montegrappa da Nello for dinner. I don’t recall what I ordered for dinner, but I do remember ordering some sort of zuppa inglese or zabaglione dessert which was delicious.

Two years ago during my second visit to Bologna, again a one night stay, I enjoyed a very delicious lunch at Al Sangiovese (Vicolo del Falcone, 2), a wonderful restaurant just down the street from the Hotel Porta San Mamolo where I was staying.

I ordered the spinach and ricotta tortelloni with burro and salvia (butter and sage) for lunch. It was so good that I returned there that night and ordered it again for dinner. Palma also has eaten here a couple of times and has posted photos from Al Sangiovese here (after clicking on the link,scroll down to see her fabulous food photos from Al Sangiovese) and here.

Last year I returned to Ristorante Montegrappa da Nello for my first dinner in Bologna. I asked the waiter about the options for something without meat. I think there was a bit of miscommunication because instead of being served the fresh pomodoro with penne I thought I ordered, I ended up being served half tortelline with the creme pomodoro sauce and half penne with the fresh pomodoro sauce. I was happy though with the misunderstanding because I ended up being served two types of pasta. The food was good, but not outstanding. I also ordered a caprese salad (mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil) which was just ok. I have had much better caprese salads in the past. I now have mixed feelings about this restaurant. The pasta was good but nothing outstanding. Although I did not realize it at the time, Ristorante Montegrappa da Nello really is famous for its meat dishes. I am probably not the best person to judge this restaurant. I did find this review with photos. The restaurant was given an 8 out of 10.

The next day, I did a daytrip to Modena, walking everywhere. My feet were so tired when I returned to Bologna that evening. It was Sunday night and many restaurants were closed. The hotel recommended Le Mura, an osteria across the street from my hotel. That sounded wonderful to me since I didn’t think I could walk much further.

La Mura was ok but not one of my favorites. It was very smoky inside. No one was actually smoking when I was there but there was no air circulation and either the people that ran the restaurant smoked inside before the restaurant was open (my guess) or the smoking right in front of the doorway caused the smoky smell in the restaurant. The menu was also meat based. The waiter who was perhaps the owner was extremely nice. He offered to make me some penne pasta with a tomato and cream sauce. I also ordered some grilled vegetables. The food was good but not anything to rave about but I was too tired to really care. Again this restaurant might serve great meat dishes. I can’t really say.

After two good but not great meals, I was starting to wonder about the food in Bologna. On Monday, I did the long trek to the Sanctuary of the Madonna of San Luca. I had a sandwich in a bar for lunch. If only I had read this review for Trattoria Meloncello, which is located near the start of the walk to the Sanctuary of the Madonna of San Luca, I would have definitely eaten there for lunch. Make sure to read this review if you are heading to Bologna. The restaurant is given a 9.5 out of a 10 rating.

For dinner Monday night, I decided to give Ristorante Teresina a try. Colleenk from Slow Travel wrote a nice review about this restaurant. Ristorante Teresina is located between the two towers and Piazza Maggiore right off the main street (Via Francesco Rizzoli) at Via Guglielmo Oberdan, 4. I was seated inside at a little table in the corner. There was also outside seating but I prefer eating inside now that there is no smoking inside and everyone smokes outside. This was the view of the tables across from me.

Two very nice waiters took my order and brought me my food. I ordered melone (without the prosciutto) and then mezzelune ripiene di melanzane e formaggio caprino con pomodoro fresco e basilica. My melone (cantalope) was wonderful.

The mezzeluna pasta filled with eggplant and a type of cheese that I think came from sheep was incredibile! The photo does not do it justice.

My dinner at Ristorante Teresina was the best meal I had so far during my entire stay in Italy last summer. For once at the end of my meal I had room for dessert, but I declined because I wanted to keep the taste of the mezzeluna pasta in my mouth for as long as possible. After I paid my bill, I told one of the waiters that my meal was so good that I wanted to make a reservation to return the following night.

Tuesday, I did a daytrip to Empoli to visit my friends Francesco and Irene and their family. Francesco's mother cooked a huge meal. We had a wonderful time catching up while enjoying lunch together. In the afternoon, I spent some time walking around Florence.

After taking the train back to Bologna in the evening, I returned Ristorante Teresina. One of the waiters smiled when I arrived. He said they were waiting for me and showed me to my same table. I ordered the mezzaluna pasta again along with the rabbit roll with rosemary.

The food was fabulous. I ate much too much with my big lunch earlier in the day and had no room for dessert. When paying the bill, the waiter brought me some grappa. I thanked him but told him that I could not drink it because to me grappa tastes like gasoline (not that I have actually tasted gasoline). He was so nice that he then offered me some limoncella. After drinking my limoncella I thanked both of the waiters once again and headed to Piazza Maggiore.

Stay tuned for part 2 coming up tomorrow on the food in Bologna...

Wednesday morning, after eating a very filling breakfast at my hotel, I stopped at the beautiful Caffè Zanarini for an espresso.

Caffè Zanarini is located at the corner of Piazza Galvani on Via Farini. After paying, I ordered a caffè macchiato, which was excellent. Oh how I wished I had room to try one of the delicious pastries. I was very impressed that the barista gave everyone who ordered some type of coffee drink a little glass of acqua frizzante (fizzy water). I have not had this happen before, or at least that I remember.

Here is a review of Caffè Zanarini with more photos of some of the caffè's delicious treats.

I ate at Caffè Zamboni (Via Zamboni, 6) for lunch. Caffè Zamboni is a fun little bustling caffè. I ordered a stacchino (a type of cheese) and rucola sandwich with a flat type of bread. It was very good and very cheap.

For dinner, I ate at Osteria al 15 (Via Mirasole, 13). I wrote about my wonderful meal at Osteria al 15 and posted some mouth-watering photos last week.

Thursday was my last day in Bologna. I went into Tamburini to get some lunch. Tamburini is a very cool gourmet delicatessen. I love walking through this shop looking at all the food. I bought a little plate of greek salad and a little plate of pasta salad. The greek salad was very good, but the pasta was mushy and not so good.

In the afternoon, I trekked over to Pasticceria Laganà (Via S. Stefano,112), a pastry shop Chiocciola recommended to me that is very well known in Bologna. I wanted to go there to buy some treats for my friends Katia and Guido. Pasticceria Laganà is located on Via Santa Stefano. Note…it is not located near the Santa Stefano church. It is located at the other end of this very long street. It is also closed in the afternoon, which I found out after my very long walk there. Since Laganà was closed, I stopped at a nearby gelateria (which I will talk about in my gelato post) before heading back to my hotel.

I returned to Pasticceria Laganà again in the evening, this time taking the bus, to buy my pastries. Chicciola was right. This pasticceria was amazing! The woman waiting on me was very kind. She helped me choose a few different types of tiny pastries that would not spoil while taking two trains to Coccaglio the following day. She even wrapped them up with a beautiful ribbon.

Then it was time to buy something for myself. There were so many wonderful choices. I had a very difficult time deciding because I wanted one of everything. I finally decided on a zabaglione pastry and a pastry with strawberries and whipped cream. The zabaglione pastry was very delicious and filling. The strawberry and whip cream pastry was even better. It was my favorite. It reminded me of the strawberry shortcake my mom used to make. I ended up eating both pastries before dinner!

Unfortunately, I was too busy drooling over all of the pastries to think about taking any photos. I also was not able to find anything in English on Pasticceria Laganà but I did find this wonderful post about Pasticceria Laganà in Italian on an interesting blog about Bologna.

I was now down to my last meal in Bologna (besides breakfast at my hotel the following morning). I couldn’t decide where to eat. Of course after eating gelato in the afternoon and then eating the two pastries before dinner, I was not very hungry. My grandmother always scolded me when I would eat dessert before dinner. She was right this time.

I walked around checking out a few restaurants I had listed as recommendations but in the end I headed back to Ristorante Teresina. It was my last night in Bologna and I wanted to make sure I would have a fabulous dinner. I knew that I would not be disappointed with the food there. I also knew I would be treated wonderfully at this restaurant.

Photo of the nice waiters at Ristorante Teresina.

I ordered the tortelloni filled with ricotta cheese and spinach with burro e salvia (butter and sage). It was homemade and so delicious. I was much too full to eat anything else. After dinner, I waddled back to my hotel to pack.

I have barely scratched the surface, trying only a few restaurants in Bologna. I really need to go back and spend at least a month there to fully enjoy the delicious food of Bologna.

While planning my trip to Bologna last summer, I printed out the following two restaurant recommendation resources:

Matthew Lepori's Everything Bologna (scroll down towards the bottom for the food section)

Slow Travel Emilia-Romagna restaurant reviews

While writing yesterday's part 1 ~ the food in Bologna post, I found this resource: Where to eat in Bologna.

The food markets ~ Reason #3 why I love Bologna.

Non ci sono le parole... (no words necessary)

This was a very difficult theme for me. I searched through all of my Hawaii photos, beach photos from both Italy and Hawaii, and sunset photos. I just couldn’t decide on which one to use. Instead, I decided to go with a photo of the Bollente in the Piazza della Bollente in Acqui Terme in Piemonte, Italy. The water that comes out of the Bollente stays at a constant temperature of 75°C or 167°F.

The Bollente at night:

Piazza della Bollente during the day:

Click on continue reading to see the photo I almost posted for "warm". After considering it for a few minutes, I decided I better not post it as my main "warm" photo. I was afraid all my friends dealing with the cold weather right now might throw a few shoes at me for posting...

The porticoes ~ Reason #5 why I love Bologna

From Pomodoro Viaggi:

Bologna is a city of porticoes, holding the world record of 38 km through the historical center. These are most impressive in the 3.5 km portico of S. Luca (the longest in the world) the porticoes of the Certosa, those of Via Mazzini and those of modern Bologna.

The origin of the porticoes is not certain but they were developed mostly during the 1200s. In fact in 1288 the Commune of Bologna made it obligatory for anyone who built buildings in the city to build porticoes as well; moreover the porticoes had to be a minimum height of 2.66 m to allow the transit of people on horseback.

I found two more interesting links on the porticoes of Bologna: Italy, The Porticoes of Bologna and The Unesco World Heritage site on The Porticoes of Bologna.

I walked under the 666 portico arches that lead up to the Sanctuary of the Madonna of San Luca last summer and posted photos of my walk and these amazing portico arches back in September, 2008. Here's the link to my post: my hike up to San Luca under the 666 portico arches.

Porticoes in Piazza Santo Stefano:

Porticoes in Piazza Maggiore

The Sanctuary of the Madonna of San Luca ~ Reason #6 why I love Bologna

The Sanctuary of the Madonna of San Luca (Il Santuario della Madonna di San Luca ) is located south-west of the historical center of Bologna on the hill of La Guardia at almost 300 meters in elevation. After my long walk under the 666 portico arches, I finally reached this amazing sanctuary - the Sanctuary of the Madonna of San Luca.

View from the sanctuary...

Instead of reposting more of my photos of the Sanctuary of the Madonna of San Luca, check out the two posts I did back in September/October 2008...

inside the Basilica della Madonna di San Luca

the Sanctuary of the Madonna of San Luca

Piazza Maggiore ~ Reason #7 why I love Bologna.

Piazza Maggiore is the largest piazza in Bologna. This piazza houses both the Basilica di San Petronio (church of San Petronio) and the Palazzo del Commune (city hall), as well as beautiful buildings with cafes, shops, and museums. These buildings were all built between twelve hundred and fourteen hundred.

The Basilica di San Petronio is one of the biggest churches in the world. It was intended to be bigger than St. Peter's Basilica until the Pope at the time put a stop to it. The top half of the outside of this church was never finished.

The Palazzo Communale not only houses the town hall offices, it also houses a couple museums, a place where you can get free internet access, a beautiful courtyard, and a cool stairway.

Doorway leading to the free internet

Cool stairway inside the Palazzo Communale (see the Everything Bologna link
at the end of this post for info on this stairway)

There are very strict guards that stand at the entrance of the church by the bottom of the steps. No backpacks or large purses are allowed inside the church. They are very serious about this rule. I even saw the guards turn away a priest with a backpack! I only had a minute to take the second and third photos before they told me to move on. I was not allowed to take any photos inside the church.

The beautiful buildings ~ Reason #8 why I love Bologna.

Yesterday I shared some of my photos of the buildings of the Basilica di Santo Stefano.
Today I would like to share my photos of some of the treasures found inside these beautiful buildings.

Both Annie's post on Orbs from last week and Brenda's post with photos of Orbs from last summer reminded me of the photos I have taken with Orbs.

I used to think that Orbs were water spots or dirt on the lens of the camera. Wikipedia describes them as light reflections off normally sub-visible particles when using digital cameras. I have also read the theory that they might be ghosts or spirits or something else mystical in nature. I found this interesting website called What are Orbs which talks about some of these possibilities. After reading more about Orbs, it makes me wonder if they could be something more than just dust or light reflections.

I took this photo of the little church near Katia’s house in Coccaglio back in 2003. We stopped by this church on the way to the yearly festival event taking place nearby. When I returned home from Italy that summer, I almost dumped the photo thinking it was ruined. I saved it though since it was the only photo I had of the outside of this cute little church. I also thought about trying to clean up the photo in photoshop but never got around to it.

If you look carefully, you will see one Orb in this photo up above the light on the right and a few Orbs, which are more difficult to see on the floor.

There is just one Orb that I can find in this photo on the wooden bench on the right.

I don't think it could have been dust on the camera though because I took the second and third photos right after taking the photo of the outside of the church. If it was dust or spots on my lens, I would assume the Orbs would be in the same spots on all three photos. I am sure I did not clean my camera in between shots. I also took other outside photos that night without any Orbs in them.

Below is a video clip of a story I saw on the news the other night (Friday the 13th) about Ghost tours and Orbs. Check out the cool shirt!

It makes you wonder...

Last year on St. Patrick's Day, I posted a YouTube video of Gael Inn-Traditional Irish Music. Check it out if you are up for some great toe-tapping Irish music.

This year, I thought I would post a couple of green photos from Portovenere, Italy.
I know, you are probably thinking Irish green from Italy? Well, I've never been to Ireland so I don't have any green Ireland photos to share. I did find some green photos of Hawaii, Switzerland, and Italy, but ultimately decided on the photos below for the fun factor.

Lots and lots of olive oil. Yum!

And if you are looking for pesto, look now further! A Pestomat 24 hour machine!

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

I was surprised at first to find so few purple photos in my collection with purple being my favorite color. After searching some more, I came up with the following:

Mask ~ Venice, Italy:

Lilac house ~ Burano, Italy:

Glass shop ~ Burano, Italy:

I decided to go with painted buildings that use the trompe-l'oeil technique, creating optical illusions, which make windows, shutters, bricks, etc. appear to be three-dimensional. The first two photos were taken in Santa Margherita Ligure and the last three were taken in Acqui Terme.

All but the shutters are painted in this photo.

Close up of the trompe-l'oeil technique above the door

Whoops! This one really fooled me. I thought the shutters were real at first.

The door to the far right of the main entrance of St. Peter's Basilica is called the Porta Santa or Holy Door. This door is not only locked but it is also walled up and is only opened during Holy Years, also known as Jubilee Years. The Holy Years originally occurred every 100 years and later were changed to every 25 years. The Holy Door is also occasionally opened on other proclaimed special occasions. For more information on the Holy Door and for details of how this door is opened, click here.

In 2007, I was at the Basilica late in the afternoon after the crowds left and was able to take a couple of photos of the Holy Door without the usual crowds.

The walled up Holy Door from the inside:

In 2000, during the Jubiliee Year, I was very fortunate, honored, and excited to walk through the Holy Door while it was open. It was very crowded. This was the best photo I could get with my cheap film camera before I was ushered through the door.

Click continue to see close up views of the panels of the door. These panels are from a cropped photo I took of the door.

Wednesday, June 24th:
After checking into my wonderful B&B and unpacking, I headed out to explore Florence. My first stop was GROM for some gelato. I wandered around a little bit and then headed back to catch the parade of men in tights and a few cute little boys also with flags and drums as part of the Festa di San Giovanni (Festival of Saint John the Baptist). Every year, on 24 June, Florence celebrates the feast of its patron, San San Giovanni. A huge crowd lined the parade route in Piazza Signoria. I managed to work my way in to get a few shots.

After the parade, jet lag really started to set in. I wanted to find a place that served dinner early. I was given the suggestion of Boccadama, which is located in Piazza Santa Croce. I asked if I would be able to get to it since the famous Calcio Storico Fiorentino soccer match was taking place in that area. She assured me that it was not in the blocked off area. After wandering around the area of Piazza Santa Croce, I gave up and headed to find the other suggestion given to me, Yellow Bar. This restaurant was recommended for good pizza. I found the spot marked on my map, but it was on block too far towards the Duomo. I headed back to my B&B, searched Yellow Bar on my maps app on my iPod Touch and realized that it was located just around the corner from my B&B and was so easy to find. When I got there, it was packed! There was a line of people waiting outside. I knew I would never last, so I went inside and ordered a pizza to go. After all that, the pizza was not very good. It was cold and the edges were very burnt.

The evening event of the Festa di San Giovanni was fireworks at 10 pm. I heard them from my bed but was much too tired to head back out to see them in person. It was a good thing I knew about the fireworks. Otherwise, I probably would have thought Florence was being bombed. I watched USA upset Spain in the semi-finals and then fell asleep.

A note about editing photos - picnik was easy to use (although all in Italian so it took a few tries to find the correct editing tools I needed) but this computer takes forever to save each photo, so I probably won't be posting many more photos (at least from this computer). I also tried pixlr express (which was faster) but it saved the photo in a way that does not open after being saved. I am not sure what I did wrong but it is much to late to figure it out right now.

More later... Ciao!!

This fountain in Piazza della Vittoria in the town of Reggio Emilia, Italy...

provided two little girls entertainment.

The two little girls provided me with entertainment.

The Teatro Municipale Valli (by the fountains) provides the people of Italy as well as visitors to Italy entertainment.

Another view of the Teatro Municipale Valli

One more view of the fountains and Piazza della Vitttoria

For more photos of the fountain, the Teatro Municipale Valli, and Piazza della Vittoria in Reggio Emilia, check out this link.

Thursday, July 9th:
After a low key day on Wednesday, Thursday was going to be a daytrip day. My plan was to visit Reggio Emilia in the morning and possibly continue on to Parma (about 15 minutes further by train) in the afternoon. Reggio Emilia is not a very popular tourist stop but it is very famous for its early childhood education. I went to Reggio Emilia without any notes and no set plans. I only brought an old map of the town that I picked up a few years ago at the Informagiovani in Coccaglio where Katia works

I discovered an even closer bus stop for the A bus on Wednesday while walking around Bologna that was located right next to the church in Piazza Maggiore. Thursday morning, I bought two bus tickets at the nearby tabaccheria and then walked to the bus stop by the church. I waited only a few minutes before the bus arrived. I took the bus to the train station, bought a train ticket from one of the automatic ticket machines, and took the 9:30 regional train to Reggio Emilia, arriving at 10:08 (notes I kept/I don't have that good of a memory).

It is a good thing I had an old map with me because the tourist information office is located in the center of the town. I would have never found the centro, which was about a 10 minute walk without a map. Even with a map, I had to ask for directions to find the center twice.

I had no idea what I would find in Reggio Emilia. The area right by the train station seemed like a mini Chinatown. I say this because most of the signs were written in Chinese. As I walked towards the center, the buildings reminded me somewhat of some of the buildings in Modena.

The first piazza I came upon in the centro area of Reggio Emilia was Piazza San Prospero where the Basilica di San Prospero is located. It was market day in Reggio Emilia and Piazza San Prospero was full of stalls selling various items. Because of the piazza being full, it was difficult to take one photo of the entire church.

After visiting the inside of the church, I continued on to Piazza Prampolini. I loved the view of the roof tops heading towards Piazza Prampolini.

According to my map, the tourist information office was supposed to be located in Piazza Prampolini next to this interesting church.

When I walked into the building where I thought the tourist information office was located, I was told that the office moved to a building just outside of the piazza.

There was also a beautiful clock tower in Piazza Prampolini.

As I walked towards the correct tourist information office, I took this photo looking back towards Piazza Prampolini.

Most people just look up at the Leaning Tower of Pisa, but if you look down low you will see the amazing base of this incredible tower.

When looking down low, I discovered these cool creatures sculpted into the base of benches both at Villa Taranto on Lago di Maggiore

and in Lonato outside of the Casa del Podestà

Thursday, July 9th:
The train ride from Reggio Emilia to Parma is only 15 minutes. With the train running 10 minutes late, I arrived in Parma at 1:35. I was starving! I considered eating lunch in Reggio Emilia but couldn't pass up having a meal in Parma. The tour guide from Bologna recommended a restaurant in Parma called Sorelle Picchi but I forgot to look up where it was on the map and gave up looking after about 10 minutes. I was concerned that many of the restaurants would be closing soon and I did not want to miss out on a sit down meal in Parma.

I remembered eating at a wonderful restaurant near the Duomo. As I headed up a little street behind the Duomo area where I thought the restaurant was located, I saw this cute little restaurant called Ristorante La Forchetta.

It turned out to be a fabulous choice! I ordered tortelli di zucca alla parmigiana (little ravioli filled with pumpkin and covered in butter and parmesan cheese). As I took my first bite... WOW!!! Incredible!! The homemade bread was also soooo delicious! It was one of the best meals I had in Italy this summer. The only complaint I had was that I was so stuffed after eating the tortelli and bread that I had no room for any dessert.

After I rolled out of the restaurant, I had a little time to kill before everything opened up again at 3. Perfect time to take some photos. I headed straight for the beautiful Piazza Garibaldi. The Palazzo del Governatore with its very cool astronomical clock is one of my favorite buildings in Parma.

After taking a few photos in Piazza Garibaldi, I walked back to the Piazza del Duomo.

The pink and white marble octagonal shaped Battistero or Baptistery of Parma was designed by Benedetto Antelami, who was director of works from 1196 to 1216. Benedetto Antelami was one of the most important sculptors of the late Romanesque period Italy. The Baptistery was completed in the Gothic style in either 1260, 1270 or 1307 (the information I have read cites different completion dates). Does anyone know the correct date?

Below are more photos of the exterior of the Baptistery of Parma, including close ups of the sculptures above the three doorways.

I am blown away every time I visit the interior of the Baptistery in Parma. It is my absolute favorite baptistery in Italy. I find it even more beautiful than the two amazing baptisteries covered with mosaics in Ravenna.

The inside of the Baptistery of Parma contains 16 sides and 16 arches forming alcoves. Sixteen rays come out of the center of the ceiling, corresponding to the 16 arches. The cupola was influenced by Byzantine concepts. The 13th and 14th century frescoes and paintings in the baptistery were perhaps not true frescoes. According to Wikipedia, the paint started coming off of the walls and literally hung on. Due to this, the Baptistery had to be painstakingly consolidated and restored with syringes and spatulas.

Yesterday, I posted photos of the exterior of the Baptistery of Parma. Today, I would like to share both photos and a short video of the interior of the Baptistery of Parma. When taking the video, I spun around twice (obviously a little bit too fast - but you can pause if you get motion sick). If you have not been to Parma yet, the Baptistery of Parma alone is reason enough to visit Parma someday.

The ducks in my previous post were ducks from Hawaii. Below are some photos I took of a cute duck family hanging out by the lake in Stresa. I was amazed at how close I was able to get, especially to the baby ducklings.

Daddy duck standing guard...

Mommy duck with one eye on me as I got near her cute little babies...

Baby ducklings having a converstation...

One of my favorite things to do in Bologna is to hang out watching the action at the fish market. There are actually a few fish markets close by but the photos below are of the one that seems to be the most popular. I was lucky on Friday (my last full day in Bologna) to be able to hang out and take lots of photos. The people working there seemed proud that I was so interested in their fish.

Saturday, July 11th:
My original plan was to spend 7 nights in Bologna. Due to a national train strike planned for the following day, I ended up leaving a day early. After packing my bags, I walked around the centro area of Bologna one last time. I stopped in Eat Italy and bought a panino pomodoro mozzarella basilico (tomato, mozzarella, and basil sandwich) to eat on the train. I really enjoyed my stay in Bologna and at Hotel Orologio and was sad to leave. I said goodbye and thanked everyone at my hotel one last time as my taxi arrived.

Once at the train station, I looked for Simona, Katia’s friend. We both realized earlier in the week that we would be taking the train to Milano Centrale on Saturday. On Friday when I talked to Simona, I found out that we were taking the same Eurostar train! Too bad I was not going to Coccaglio next. We could have traveled the entire way together.

The partenza board with the dreaded strike announcement (sciopero means strike):

Although the train station was crowded (possibly due to the strike the following day), Simona and I found each other right away. We had about 20 minutes before the train was supposed to arrive. We were both hungry. I offered her half of my sandwich. As we were eating, I mentioned how I Iike taking the Eurostar from Bologna to Milano because it always leaves from the first binario.

I must have jinxed it because just after I said how I liked the fact that the train to Milan left the first binario, Simona noticed on the partenza board that the binario number changed. Good thing I was with her. I am not sure if I would have noticed it on my own. There is so much noise at that station that it is sometimes difficult hearing the announcements clearly.

So much for leaving from binario 1 and not having to lug my bags down and then up a flight of stairs. Heading to binario 3 ended up being even more of a challenge because our train just arrived from Florence. As we tried to carry our bags up the stairs to binario 3, we had to dodge a crowd of people descending down the stairs after departing the train. I lost Simona for a brief moment but easy found her again at our binario.

Because we made our reservations at different times (which are mandatory when taking a Eurostar train), we had seats in cars far apart from each other. We decided that we would SMS (text) each other once the train departed and then see if we could find two empty seats together.

As I was walking to my train car, I noticed a group of policemen and train personnel inspecting a big scrape near the bottom of on of the cars and two other men standing on a ladder putting a black plastic covering over the window. That did not make me feel to secure. I noticed a woman taking photos of the event. I thought about also taking a few photos but my camera was inside my bag and I did not want to risk missing my train since it was supposed to be leaving momentarily.

The train ended up leaving 15 minutes late. While waiting, I asked a woman sitting near me, who boarded the train in Rome, if she knew what happened to the train. I tried my best to explain what I saw (lacking vocabulary words such as scrape & metal). The lady started repeating over and over how this is why she does not like Bologna. I really was just curious and did not mean to get her all riled up. Meanwhile another woman chimed in that she thought it must have happened in Florence.

As the train departed Bologna, I left my luggage with the two women who continued to talk about the train situation and went looking for Simona. We ended up finding empty seats in a car between our two cars. I went back and grabbed my bags. It ended up being a very pleasant train ride to Milan.

Sunday, July 12th:
My hotel was nice and quiet when I awoke Sunday morning. Here is one of the first views of the morning from my balcony. It looked like it might rain but I soon learned that the first view of the morning did not always predict the weather in Stresa. It ended up being a beautiful and warm sunny day.

Despite the fact that the hotel was nice and quiet early in the morning, I can't say the same about the night before. Although no loud noises came from other hotel guests or from people nearby, it was a bit noisy at as cars drove by the main road below the hotel. There was also the occasional train rumbling by. I knew that the hotel was near the train tracks but was surprised to hear the noise of trains Saturday evening since the train strike started at 9pm. I am guessing most of the trains were freight trains and perhaps a few might have been trains coming from Switzerland.

Breakfast at my hotel was very good. Of the four places I stayed this summer, B&B La Romea still wins as top breakfast spot with the B&B in Florence coming in as a close second. I would rank this hotel as third of the four. There was a better choice of cheese, pastries, breads than at Hotel Orologio and there was even individual cups of flan. Both hotels had a good juice selection though.

After eating breakfast, I sat outside my hotel by the peaceful garden for a while catching up on things using the free hotel wifi connection. The hotel does provide a computer for use in the room next to the lobby but there were some keys that seemed to stick and it got frustrating fast.

The wifi set up however was also a bit frustrating. Every time I turned my iPod Touch on, I had to type in this long username and password. If I went up to my room where there was no wifi access and then went back down to the garden area to check one more thing, I had to type in the username and password again. This did not happen at other places that required a username and password during my trip so I think it was the way the wifi access was set up at this hotel. I am not sure if people staying in the main hotel building had wifi access in their rooms although I was not able to connect while eating in the breakfast room. I was happy though that I had a wifi connection even if I had to type in that username and password each time. Yes, I am an internet addict!

About 10 am, I headed down to the tourist information office to check on a few things and then bought a ticket for the boat to visit both Isola Bella and Isola Pescatori (Superiore). The large crowd waiting at the dock brought back memories of my stay in Sirmione trying to get onto a boat. I did notice that the crowds in Stresa were much more polite with a lot less pushing and shoving going on. The boat crew was also very nice and didn't mind if people stood near the sides of the boat to take photos.

My original plan was to visit Isola Bella first. Because of the big crowds, I decided to go to Isola Pescatori instead, hoping that the majority of people would go to Isola Bella first.

Views of Isola Pescatori by boat:

Sunday, July 12th:
After spending time on Isola Pescatori, my next stop was Isola Bella.

The main thing to see on Isola Bella is the Palazzo Barromeo. The combined ticket for both the palace and gardens costs €12. This was one of my favorite places to visit while staying in Stresa. Photos are not allowed inside the huge palace. This ended up being a good thing because just as the boat pulled in, I noticed that my camera battery was starting to run low. I couldn't believe it! I always charge my battery at night and was so upset with myself that I did not bring my spare battery with me. I have never ran out of battery power before and have always charged my battery at night.

The first part of the tour is of the palace. There were so many huge rooms to walk through. Explanations were provided in 4 languages of everything in each room. My two favorite rooms were the music room where the 1935 Conference of Stresa took place and the room with the mosaic flowers.

The next portion of the tour takes you down some steps where there is a small room with an amazing display of marionettes.

Then the tour takes you through the grotto rooms. Because of my battery situation, I only took one photo in this section of the palace.

As you leave the grotto rooms, you walk through a long hall with amazing tapestries and then finally you walk out into the most spectacular sight, the gardens.

(close-ups of the Duomo in Florence ~ July 2008)
*whoops - just realized that the last photo was taken ~ June 2009

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I have been a bad blogger lately and am also way behind in catching up with everyone’s blogs once again. It has been a crazy couple of weeks – lots of meetings after school, union stuff to deal with, and car problems.

An agreement was finally reached late last week on our teacher’s contract. Sadly, the Governor does not seem value education as the education budget has been cut by 14%. Tuesday was the day for everyone in the Teacher’s Union to vote on the new contract. Because I am a union rep for my school this year, I had to be there to help with the voting process. The contract was ratified with 81% of the teachers voting yes for 17 furlough days both this year and next year. Big cut in pay and kids lose on a lot of instructional days but voting no could have meant striking. The University of Hawaii is in the same mess, although their contract offer is even worse. Meanwhile, the football coach continues to make big bucks.

My car started making funny noises and chugging along on the freeway, making me very nervous. I brought it into the shop on Wednesday and was told that it was the transmission. I haven't even been able to decide on which espresso machine to buy and now I was faced with an even bigger decision of either getting my transmission fixed (which would cost probably $3000) or buying a brand new car. Bad timing with the furloughs starting soon. I also had to figure out what to do with my Saturn. I was afraid to drive it anymore. Fortunately, I was able to leave it in the school parking lot while I rented a car for a couple of days and went car shopping. The shiny new cars won out.

Next decision, which to buy... a Toyota or a Honda? This was a very difficult decision. I liked both cars and was treated well at both places. I ended up deciding on the Honda. After signing what seemed like a million papers, I drove my shiny new Honda Civic home last night. If anyone on Oahu is interested in a new Toyoto, head over to the dealership in Mapunapuna and ask for Ken and if you are interested in buying a new Honda, head over to Tony Honda in Waipio Gentry and ask for Rick.

It looks like Italy may not be in the cards for a while and I will probably be making espresso with my little moka for the next couple of years BUT I have a beautiful brand new car and I don’t have to worry about breaking down (hopefully) for a long long time. I will try to get to everyone’s blogs either sometime this week or next week when I am on break.

Words chiseled in stone (Capitoline Museums in Rome)

Words created by mosaics (Neonian Baptistery in Ravenna)

(close up)

Words typed (part of the script of Psycho ~ Cinema Museum in Torino)

(cropped photo/close up of the script)

Words written in chalk (street in Stresa)

Monday, July 13th:

I can't believe it is October and I have yet to finish up blogging about my summer trip to Italy. The way things are going, I hope to finish by Thanksgiving or perhaps even Christmas!

Continuing with my stay in Stresa:

I awoke early Monday morning enjoying this beautiful view out my window. What a wonderful way to start the day.

My plan was to visit Villa Taranto. After puttering around my hotel for a while and enjoying another wonderful breakfast, I walked down to the imbarcadero and bought a boat ticket to Villa Taranto (€ 10.80).

Being a fan of boats, I loved that it took about 45 minutes to get there. The boat pretty much emptied out after making stops at Isola Bella, Isola Pescatori, and Baveno. I think there was only one or two other couples and myself left on the boat at this point.

After leaving Baveno, we headed past Isola Madre, the only one of the three islands that I did not visit during my stay in Stresa. This was one of my favorite photos of Isola Madre.

Next, we headed towards Verbania. As I understand it, Pallanza and Intra both neighborhoods of the the city of Verbania. Villa Taranto is located between these two places. The boat stops in all three places.

I would have loved to have stopped in Pallanza but did not have enough time. Here are a few photos I took as we rode by.

The next stop was the amazing Villa Taranto. I had no idea just how much I would love my visit to these beautiful gardens.

There were so many beautiful flowers in the gardens of Villa Taranto. Here are a few of my favorites:

Dahlias

Last but not least, the flower that captivated me... the Nelumbo Nucifera. I had no idea what type of flower this was and the sign (Nelumbo Nucifera) did not help any. The knowledgeble British couple (who travel the world to see flowers) did not know what kind of flower this was either. When I got home, I was very surprised to find out after googling Nelumbo Nucifera that is is the Lotus flower. How did I not know what a lotus flower looked like?

So here you go... my photos of the magnificent lotus flower:

*Answer revealed at the end of this post...

No, this is not related to the Mystery Date game (for those old enough to remember).

I chose the title mystery door because I wanted to see if anyone can guess where this door in Florence is located. This is the same door (different shot) as the second photo in my last post - "tied"~ PhotoHunt.

I cropped the second photo from my last post so you can see the detail a little better.

And if anyone knows more about the history of this door, I am curious about the story of the one panel on the door that is carved like a flower. I tried googling this door but came up empty.

Woo Hoo!!! Sandra guessed the mystery door location!! :)

This was going to be my next clue...

These flags fly over this door.

The mystery door is...

the *other door* of the Palazzo Vecchio.

Can you spot the door in this photo of the Palazzo Vecchio?

Wednesday, July 15th:
The skies were gray Wednesday morning. Not long after I woke up, it began to rain. I had two full days left in Stresa and both Santa Caterina del Sasso & Orta were on my list as places I definitely wanted to visit. Santa Caterina del Sasso, a monastery that was built in the 12th century on a rocky hillside, looked like the better choice for a cloudy/rainy day. After breakfast, the rain stopped for a bit. I took the 9:55 am boat (5.80 euros roundtrip) to Santa Caterina. For the history of this amazing monastery, check out Dana's blog post.

View of the church:

Cloister outside of the church:

A peek inside the church:

I have decided to go with the...

Sunday morning, after climbing the Giotto's Bell Tower (in Florence, Italy), I heard band music playing nearby. The band turned out to be the Rossa Italiana Corpa Militare Band. They were closing out the Calcio Storico event that took place a few days earlier in the week. After watching the band play for a few minutes, it started to march. Everyone followed the band. It was really alot of fun. The band marched around the block from the Piazza della Repubblica towards the Duomo and then back to the Piazza della Repubblica.

Somehow, I ended right up in the front and was able to video the band marching. Here's a little video clip I took. Towards the end of the clip, check out the cute kid and his mother's expression as she realizes that I am taking video of him marching along with the band.