I forgot to mention a little confrontation I had yesterday! I went into the Sala Borsa, which is the city library but it is a beautiful building and in the basement it has roman excavations on display. What's more, the entry to the building is free! I went in search of the excavations in the basement and I was confronted by a woman sitting at a table with a collection box and a sign that said 'free donation'. I wanted to look first before I decided how much to donate but the lady would not let me past, she couldn't speak English but I pointed at the sign and said 'gratis' but she said 'non gratis'. We had a disagreement for a few minutes before I put my smallest euro coins into the slot which she didn't think much of but allowed me past. I was glad I didn't put much in because there was very little to see.
I chatted to a Romanian man called Josef in the hostel. He spoke good English and was visiting Bologna because he is enrolling at the University to study Business next September. We talked some politics and economics. He was a big fan of Margaret Thatcher!
In the evening I went out to the retail park about a kilometre away. It included a Decathlon. Whenever I go to a Decathlon I usually buy a load of sports kit because I think it is often good value stuff. After two and a third months of not buying anything I actually bought a white cycling shirt, a white cycling hat, a water bottle and a holder for it. This is because I am getting paranoid about tomorrow hill climbing in heat. I am stopping about 50km out of Bologna so it isn't too far but I am climbing higher than I have ever climbed (850m doesn't sound that much but it's higher than any pass in the Lakes and higher than many of the mountains!). The day after will be about 75km and will involve some more climbing but hopefully more downhill into Florence. I will have to throw away one of my shirts to make space for the new one!
This morning I had the worst breakfast of the trip so far. I had cornflakes in a mug and dry bread and jam. There was some fruit juice and coffee but they weren't great either! Nothing worth nicking for lunch!
I set off on my bike to the Ducati Factory and Museum on the other side of town. It was 13 km of city cycling in competition with the morning traffic. It wasn't too bad but you certainly need to keep your wits about you. The Ducati Tour was suggested to me by an ex-cop who insisted I went. I am not a great motorcycle fan but I thoroughly enjoyed it and British motorcyclists Mike Hailwood and Carl Foggarty (good Lancashire lad and deserves more recognition for his fantastic achievements) got big mentions. It certainly made a nice change from the grand buildings, churches and art that I have been seeing in abundance. I found out there is a Lamborghini factory and a Ferrari factory within about 30km but also was told that it cost 150 euros to get a ticket for a Ferrari tour!
Well I promised to do a bit more research on Bologna. I have revealed some interesting things. Yes the Bolognese ragu sauce originates from here but it is usually accompanied by tagliatelle not spaghetti. Spaghetti is frowned upon if used with the sauce! Also Bologna specialises in 'mortadella' which is often called 'baloney', so it isn't just me who can talk baloney!
Mozart studied here for a while under the tuition of Padre Martini. It is reputed that he could teach 'any time, any place, anywhere'! Rossini was born here too and so was Marconi. They don't make too much of these facts and the houses that Rossini and Marconi were born in both have plaques but there is nothing else to commemorate the connection.
I was busy looking for some alternative to visiting churches and saw in the guide book that there was a film and media library that included an archive of Charlie Chaplin. Thinking that there would be an exhibition or display and some movie clips etc I went along. Sadly, there was no exhibition at all and the archive was more for a study and recording purpose. I am still not aware of any real connection between Charlie Chaplin and Bologna?
Again, the churches I have seen today have been superb rather than pulchritudinous! Especially San Stefano and San Dominic.
I had a tagliatelle bolognese for my evening meal and then went to see a jazz performance outside the San Stefano church. They were a bit too Cleo Lane and Johnny Dankworth for my taste so I only managed about three songs. Back to the hostel and noticed I had clocked up about 36km during the day. That's a nice rest. The day has been a little bit cooler I think so here's hoping I will be OK tomorrow. I haven't done a song of the day for a little while so I will choose 'Running up that Hill' by Kate Bush. I nearly chose a Jasper Carrot B side to the Funky Moped single where he makes progressively louder groaning sounds until the very end when he says 'its the last time I ride my bike up that hill'!
Photo 1, The correct term is not 'colonnade' it should be 'portico's'!
Photo 2, Ducati Factory.
Photo 3, I got a new bike specially for he hills! And a new white shirt!
Photo 4, A bike that Mike Hailwood won the Isle of Man TT races on.
Photo 5, Can you see the special technology he used to keep his visor clean? It's a cut off tennis ball with a sponge tucked inside!
Photo 6, Bike that Carl Foggarty won his first World Championship on.
Photo 7, Ducati road bikes. Last Ducati picture I promise!
Photo 8, Handsome chap with his new cap.
Photo 9, Tomb outside the San Franchesco Chiesi. That's where 'I lost my heart'.
Photo 10, San Stefano Piazza and church with a Jazz Band setting up.
Photo 11, Cloister at San Dominica Church - the whole church had quite a bit of the wow factor but I can't show all the pictures.
Photo 12, The Ostello.
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