Last Wednesday I went to Bologna with a group of students from my class. The train there cost 11.50 Euro and took about an hour and a half. It had assigned seats in compartments so I ended up getting a seat away from the others. This gave me a chance to just relax, enjoy the scenery on the way and study some in my Italian phrase book. 
Once in Bologna we headed for the center of the town where the main Piazza is and where we could find a map at the information office. Once in the center of the city we took some photos of a famous 16th century fountain in Piazza del Nettuno.
After getting our maps the group split up for a while. I went with Naida and Ashok to some of the first buildings of the University of Bologna, which is arguably the oldest University in Europe. Here we saw the anatomy theater. This one was mostly rebuilt after destruction from the war but still very beautifully carved and interesting. Next we went to a church in Piazza Domenico but unfortunately it was closed and wouldn’t open up again until later that afternoon. The courtyard did have some interesting tombs raised high above the ground. I don’t think I have seen anything like that before.
We met the rest of the group back in Piazza Maggiore around 1pm and took a stroll down Via Clavatura and some other connecting streets to see some really interesting food stalls and shops. There were butcher shops with all sorts of meat cuts all over hanging from the walls and everything. There were beautiful flower shops next to sea food stalls with octopus and squid. There were shops selling every type of cheese and fruits. We also saw shops selling the tortellini and handmade egg and stuffed pasta that Bologna is known for. If I had already gotten the money from my scholarship I would have bought some things from these shops to bring home. On our way to find a restaurant for lunch I also saw a little stall with jams for sale.
We found a restaurant in Antigoni’s Italian Guide Book that had inexpensive pasta dishes for lunch. It turned out to be pretty nice. I had the tortellini with ragu (Bolognese) sauce.
After lunch the whole group walked to the Torre degli Asinelli, which is a slightly leaning medieval tower that is right next to an even older tower that is half as high but is leaning twice as much. We had fun climbing the Asinelli tower, taking lots of pictures of the city, and reading about the stabilization of the two towers.
Next we went to Piazza Santo Stefano where there is an unusual cluster of four churches. The site has been sacred for over 2000 years and was founded on the site of an ancient spring. Romans built a structure here and then successive generations and eras brought other buildings and styles to the site to create the entire complex of interlocking churches. I bought some postcards and a book in the gift shop to learn a little more about the history on my own time.
We returned again to the Piazza Maggiore where we had some gelato and visited the Gothic Basilica of San Petronio. We weren’t allowed to take any pictures in the Basilica but it was very interesting and beautiful. They had a pendulum that shows how the earth is moving. Also the meridian line was built into the stones of the floor.
A little after 6pm Chris and Jaqui left the group to return home on the train. The rest of us visited the church that we hadn’t been able to visit in Piazza Domenico where we saw a beautifully carved tomb with an angle by Michelangelo. We walked by some of the University buildings as we made our way back to the train station.
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