May 2022 – May 2022

The next day, we started with a hearty breakfast at the Art Hotel Commercianti where I was surprised to see candy being served for breakfast.

Then it was time to begin our quest for a laundromat. By now, Pokin and Nicholas were low on clean underwear. I told them if they just wore a tunic like I did and stopped being so reliant on pants they wouldn’t be in this kind of predicament. Of course they didn’t listen.

After setting in, we decide it’s time for some lunch. We started exploring around until we found a charcuterie place. It kinda just looks like what we normally eat at home.

Bologna is also known for  Le due torri, or the Two Towers, built in from 1109-1119 by the Asinelli family. I don’t know what it is with Italian buildings and the fact they like to lean, but these towers lean. Something about the south ground. Apparently there are 9 towers in Italy like this.I guess at least they are beig stabilized so it’s really more of a threat to themselves!

Finally we peeked in the Basilica di San Petronio and called it good for the city.

Now here’s the thing about Bologna that most people don’t know. The city has canals. Like, actual Venice-style canals running under the streets. They paved over most of them centuries ago, but if you know where to look, you can peek through little windows in the walls and see the water still flowing underneath.

Nicholas made us go find them. Of course he did. The man cannot resist a hidden thing.

There’s a famous little window — the Finestrella di Via Piella — where you look through and suddenly it’s like a tiny Venice crammed between apartment buildings. Colorful walls, narrow water, the whole deal. Just… hidden behind a brick wall on a random street.

Naturally, people have covered the railings with love locks. Because humans can’t find anything beautiful without bolting metal to it.

We ended the day the proper way — dinner outside against a medieval wall, with proper Bolognese tagliatelle. Not spaghetti bolognese. Tagliatelle. The locals are very specific about this.

Oh as a last fact, Bologna is not the birthplace of Bolognese sauce. They do have a kind of meat ragu, but we were told definitely they were absolutely unrelated.

We’re in Bologna for two nights, but let me tell you about the night before when we got here.

Because of our packed day, it was already getting late.

Then Bologna is one of those restricted cities were the instructions for driving in are, to say the least, dicey. There are traffic zones everywhere that you are not allowed to drive in - even worse, they fine you and you don’t even know it till years later.

We didn’t want to run the risk so we tried our best to follow instructions as well as we could, be really instructions were wanting. This makes it look way simpler than it actually was.

What this map fails to show are just how narrow the streets are. It does show all the no go streets, but because of the fact that we were driving a ’large’ SUV to fit all 4 of us and our luggage, just because a street wasn’t no go didn’t mean we could actually FIT down that street.

Nicholas was not having fun trying to figure out how to get places. Sometimes we’d be trying to fit down a street, when a car would come the opposite direction and then it was a stalemate. Who would try to reverse into a little crevice to allow the other to pass. Stress levels were high.

We follow the map until we get to a large city square, blocked by police. Oh great. We pull up to the police and notice they are blocking the way because there is a giant mob of people in the square, obviously celebrating something. I assume they must be here to celebrate my arrival, but nobody seems to agree with me. We try to tell the police where we are trying to get to - a hotel that should be nearby. They point directly ahead, towards the mob of people. “Really?” we think, “through this crowd?” - Nicholas starts to drive. We notice in the rear view mirror the police officer chasing after us. No, not through the crowd, ahead and to the right he corrects, down a dead end alley way that looks like it shouldn’t fit our car, that is also blocked off by people in chairs.

After narrowly escaping mowing down a celebrating crowd of locals, we find the hotel and thankfully pass the keys off to hotel staff who is able to drive the car to wherever it’s supposed to actually go. Phew.

We’re in an Art hotel, it seems neat.

But hold up – what exactly is happening outside? We decided to check it out.

It turns out it’s a festival or something for the church, and the local bishop is visiting with a procession and a whole big celebration. Stupid. I’m just going to pretend they actually are here for me.

After calling it an early night, we got up early for a packed road trip driving day.

Today, the goal was to get on the road in Rovererto where we could hit up the oldest coffee shop in the world. Bontadi Coffee Roasters was founded in 1790 and they have a whole coffee museum dedicated to it! We got in right before they were open, but they were kind enough to let us in.

After seeing the museum, of course we had to go get some coffee, so we wandered into the square to find some.

Then, because we had a packed schedule, it was onwards to Verona.

Verona is now in the Veneto region of Italy, and we could start to see the transition away from more German influences towards Roman and Italian. Verona is most famous for being the setting for Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. There’s also a roman amphitheatre which I was eager to see, called the Verona Arena. Naturally, a question I had was what on earth is the difference between an arena, a colosseum, and an amphitheaters? I can’t say I really know, other than it seems like there is only one Colosseum – the one in Rome. Turns out the Verona Arena is older than the Colosseum, and was used as a practice ground. It was built in 30 AD and is one of the oldest structures remaining.

Since we were going to see the Colosseum later, we decided not to go in, but we did camp out across the Arena to enjoy some aperol spritzes.

After lunch, we went to look for La Casa di Giulietta, which is the home of Cappello family and the inspiration for Romeo and Juliet (hence Juliet’s balcony). It was pretty crowded and touristy so we didn’t spend so much time there, but had to see it.

Then it was back in the car towards Bologna!

The next morning we got up, had our respective breakfasts, and went off to get the rental car.

It’s not a long drive, our destination was just a couple hours south in Trento where we would relax, spend the afternoon as a staging ground so we can start the next day bright and early.

It was a tough balance, trying to find the right rental car as we needed one that could fit everything, but not so big we had to deal with difficulty parking. It’s because of the car too that we specifically had to find hotels that had parking, preferably free.

Car acquired, time to hit the road!

Trento is the third largest Italian town in South Tyrol, and also a university town. We got settled in, wandered around town went out for dinner before starting on our trip tradition - to hunt down gelato every night.

After a very relaxing stay at Castel Frasburg and a memorable birthday celebration with our friends, it was time to wave goodbye, and head over to Bolzano to meet up with my bud’s parents.

My bud’s dad and his wife Jane had always wanted to explore Italy, so as a treat since we were there already we decided to road trip from Northern Italy down through Tuscany over to Rome.

First stop, Bolzano.

Bolzano is the capital city of South Tyrol in Northern Italy. It’s also a region known for it’s high quality of life.

We went to the train station to pick up my bud’s dad Bob and his wife Jane, had a Bavarian style dinner of meats and sausages, and retired in preparation for our road trip!

Situated above Castel Frasburg was the original castle. Or maybe it was some sort of hunting lodge. Well we were determined to explore it.

So up the trail we went. It’s definitely less maintained. Fascinating exploring. After wandering the grounds, we noticed an unlatched door and decided to go in –

That is until we saw the ceiling full of scorpions and promptly booked it back down.

The grounds around Castel Frasburg seem much nicer after all.

Much nicer.

It’s pretty nice here. I wish my bud would get me a castle.

Today we popped over to the Kränzel Winery, which was a picturesque winery, medieval farmstead + art garden.

My bud wanted nothing to do with it but I was happy to go for the views.

Today was a leisurely day with the gang where we got to stroll around the trails and go on a hike. My bud spent some of that time going on an ebike instead. I stayed with the group.

But first breakfast, which was an excellent spread.

Onwards for our hike!

After a nice few weeks in London, it was time to head onwards!

We boarded a flight near London and it was onwards to Bolzano for a transit over to Merano.

I’d never been to this neck of the woods, but Northern Italy runs a lot more like Germany than it does Italy. Merano is in South Tyrol, and there are more German speaking Italians than Italian. It has something to do with how much the border changed hands over time.

The place we’re staying is a place called Castel Frasburg. It was our friend’s 40th birthday, and for his celebration he invited a number of close friends to celebrate with him at one of their favourite destinations. We were glad to go! We got settled in, and went out to explore the grounds. I think I’m going to like it here.

Slowly over the course of the day, people began to arrive. It was a fun blend of meeting new friends over a delicious meal.

When we got back, there was a cookie and a nice note for us.

It was time for our Europe trip! I was pretty excited. Unlike most of our past trips where we were running around in a mad frenzy, we were taking it easy for the first couple weeks.

Pokin was still recovering from her surgery and the doctor had advised lifting “no more than 10lbs.” I guess her usual backpack loaded with camera gear is well over 10lbs, so she agreed to “no plans” other than to camp out in a Doubletree in London, and to just see what happens.

Flight over was pretty smooth. Everyone shook their head as Pokin busted out Costco sized bags of Strawberry popcorn and keto snacks. I approved of none of her selection and didn’t touch any all trip long. The others shook their head but partook. Weak souls.

After the customary expected flight time and an incredibly smooth arrivals through customers, we were in London.

At first when we got to our hotel I was pretty worried. We had arrived early, and we got a pretty awful room. There was barely a window and we were looking into a boiler. Some things were also not working. Luckily because the room was a bit broken, they had to upgrade us to a better room, with a much better bed.

While I laid claim to the bed, my bud and Pokin went looking for food. Looks like lots of good options around. They found a crepe place pretty fast.

Now since the trip was meant to be pretty laid back, my bud didn’t think much about wardrobe. Which is a mistake in London. Me, I’m usually a dapper bear, so I was all set in terms of attire, but my bud was not at all equipped for the typical standards in London.

Pokin wanted to go for tea with their friends… and my bud did not have anything but tech startup tshirts.

And London has a dresscode. Especially for high tea.

And thus came about the great London makeover. So my bud stepped out.

And came back a new bud - clean shaven, hair cut, mysterious bags.

Turns out his bags contained a whole new wardrobe, suit and all. Look at that transformation!

We were in London during the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, and there were decorations everywhere. It looked so festive!

(I’m glad we came too as the Queen would pass away later this year)

The rest of our trip was pretty uneventful. Saw some pubs. Went to some tea shops.

Perfect low key start before we continued on to Italy.

Oh here’s also a photo of the red door where Pokin spent like an hour trying to record a birthday tribute video.