I hate, absolutely despise, Oscar Meyer Bologna. As a child, I had to eat it on white bread sandwiches. Bologna, one slice of yellow Kraft American cheese, a little mustard. Gag me.
And that is why I wanted to go to Bologna: for the food. That’s it.
We discovered a very cool town along the way.
I’ll admit, getting off the train and walking the kilometer into town through graffiti tagged porticoes was a little off-putting at first. But then you are emptied into the main piazza, with a guy on an actual (soap?) box debating some political issue, in front of the cool fountain of Neptune, and things pick up.
My quest: I was looking for just the right cheese and meat shop. It is not that I couldn’t find one, rather, there were so many that looked so great, I had trouble choosing just one. My Italian, at this point in the trip, was still pretty sketchy. The one phrase I had down cold, Un litro di vino rosso, della casa, per favore. wasn’t going to cut it here.
I picked a place. Maybe it was the hams hanging from the ceiling, or the piles of pasta to buy in bulk. Somehow I managed to tell the counter lady that I had come to Bologna for the food, that her food looked the best, and could I please try just a little of this cheese and that prosciutto?
Just two euros worth.
A sample.
Un po? Poco? Prosciutto e formaggio? Per favore?
A slight pinch of the fingers and lots of smiling.
Well, her smile grew and grew, she turned and talked with the girl next to her, a taste of this and a nip of that was offered to me, more smiling and pointing and the next thing you know I was walking out the door with a wrapped set of samples of cheese and meats, at least ten euros worth (but they just would not take more than my two euro coin. They refused to even weight it!). This was my snack now and the next day on the train, along with a small, half litre of the local vino rosso.
What else about Bologna?
Oh… an unfinished cathedral which was supposed to be larger than the one at the Vatican. When the pope found out about it, POOF! The funds dried up.
The Neptune statue, the university, a very tall, very leaning tower and seemingly kilometers of porticoes: covered walkways lit up at night and the obvious place for an arm in arm stroll. We spent a great evening strolling the walkways, seeing and being seen.
The room was OK for the night, plain but centrally located.
But the food…
And yes, the dinner was fantastic.
- June, 2010