Yesterday in Bologna

Spent Friday and yesterday in Bologna with a couple of friends. Becky and Dave live on a barge in France but they are driving around Italy while they are having repairs done on the boat. Since they were in Bologna for several days, I took the train over to visit.On the way, I got to experience some wonderful new aspects of life in Italy. First of all, the train strike. There was a quickie strike from 9pm Thursday to 9pm Friday and it affected only a few trains. Specifically the ones I needed to get to Bologna, two in a row. I sat in Prato, just outside Florence, for 2 hours.Once I was there, Becky and Dave took me to the Ancient Fishmongers Alley for lunch. These tiny alleys near the cathedral are full of small restaurants that specialize in charcuterie and local cheeses.After that, we took in an art exhibit from the MFA Boston on Hokusai and Hiroshige. I loved it! The details in these prints is extraordinary.We had to rush when we got out at 5pm because I had to pick up my Airbnb keys and my friends had booked a tour at 6pm, but it all worked out fine.The tour was of a Renaissance period cistern system that was built in 1563 to supply water to the Neptune statue in the center of Bologna. Bringing fresh water into town was a huge undertaking and was an announcement to the world that Bologna was to be taken seriously.The cistern was an intricate, beautiful, and carefully designed system that would remove sediment from water as it passed through. Unfortunately it never worked very well and was abandoned. Over the centuries, it has been rediscovered a few times, and has finally been restored. The design was based on Nero’s Golden House in Rome, which was rediscovered in the 1500s.It’s always fun to find something off the beaten track.The final amazement of the day was our dinner at iPortici, a Michelin-starred restaurant. We chose a meat-focused menu and were surprised and delighted by the series of small tastes that are delivered to our table. Astonishing food!A great day!!Yesterday was another awesome day. Bologna has a food and educating center called “Eataly.” It’s an enormous convention center with demonstration booths, classrooms, sales booths, restaurants, and outdoor livestock and vineyard areas. Matteo took us around and taught us about Italian food. I learned a few new techniques and, for example, i learned how mortadella, grana padana cheese, and rustic pasta are made.Mortadella hanging:A ham from southern Italy:Wheels of parmesan drying:Culatella is from a pig, somewhat like prosciutto, but it doesn’t have the skin or the bone and is kept moist as it cures.And here are some shots of candies and sweets:To finish, here’s a wall of chocolates: