Thanksgiving Vacation 2013: Travel to Bologna

View from my room's balcony

We kept up the family tradition for the eighth year in a row of traveling to a foreign country during the week of Thanksgiving. Our original plan was to visit Capetown, South Africa. This would have been my first time to the continent of Africa. However, due to uncertain work schedules we decided on a destination that was easier to get to. We, meaning my brother, his wife, my sister and I,  had been to Italy before, but never Bologna. So that was our base city. Or plan, which we mostly stuck to, was to fly into Bologna, spend two nights, then take a train to Venice, spend two nights there, and finally head back to Bologna for the flight home. To make the trip more interesting, and to add a new country to our list, we decided to take a day trip into Slovenia to see some caves and a castle. That would be a day trip from Venice.

The two towers

My flight left Sunday afternoon, and it went through Chicago and then to London where I had a four hour layover, my brother and his wife and a different flight to London but we all had the same flight to Bologna. Their connection was very tight in London and I had lots of time to rest in the British Airways lounge as all my flights were on time. Once the gate was announced for the flight to Bologna I began to worry because my brother and his wife were not there yet. So I boarded the plane and was happy to see them walk onto the plane just before the gate closed.

The flight to Bologna was only two hours, and we arrived at what I thought was a small airport. My one checked bag was on the baggage carrousel, but the other bags did not make it. So my brother had to go to the lost luggage counter and fill out a form. They said most likely the luggage would arrive later and be at the hotel in the morning. Turned out the luggage was delivered after noon the next day. Better late than never. We took a taxi to the hotel and got caught up in some traffic as we got closer to the hotel, which was in the historic downtown of Bologna.

Neptune

Once at the hotel, check-in was quick and the lady at the front desk was very friendly. We weren't sure how tired we would be upon arrival, but it was only six in the evening (or three in the morning according to our internal body clocks), plus, our sister was arriving in one hour. She flew in from a different city. So after a quick trip to our rooms, we headed back out into the city, bundled up in layers of clothing as it was freezing outside.

Ruins under the library

All of the sites we wanted to see were within walking distance of our hotel, so we never needed to use a taxi except for when we went to the train station later on. So we walked around the area to get a feel for the city. One of the sites we wanted to see, the famous two towers, were one block from our hotel. The taller of the two towers, the Asinelli tower, was the one you can walk to the top of. The other tower is closed and leans almost as much as the leaning tower of Pisa. As we walked up to the towers in the dark see what hours they were open, we were disappointed that the tower was closed until Friday. Well, we planned on being back in the city on Friday, but staying at a hotel near the airport.

arched porticoes in bologna

As we walked around more I tried to take some photos, but it was too dark and they didn't turn out, so the photos on this page were taken the next morning. We knew our sister was arriving soon, so we were able to text her with a phone, not mine since it won't work outside the US, and we met up with her near the hotel. There wasn't much to do at night, but since some of us were hungry and the others wanted a beer, we walked around until we found an Irish Pub! It was kind of busy inside, and after awhile we figured out that you seat yourself and order food and drinks at the bar. My sister and I got a Guinness and my brother and his wife got food. As a bonus, it was happy hour, however, they were showing a soccer game on the TVs, and like most Americans, we didn't care to watch, but the rest of the patrons were sure into the game. After finishing our beers and food, we headed back to the hotel for the night.

Me on the roof of a church

The rooms were pretty small, but all we needed was a place to sleep. Our plan was to meet in the breakfast room in the morning for our free breakfast. As usual, I had trouble sleeping even though I was exhausted. I fell asleep quickly enough, but woke up at two, laid in bed for an hour before drifting off to sleep and having the alarm go off way too soon. But as I always say, we were there to see the city, not sleep. However, taking half an extra strength nighttime Tylenol helped me sleep some.