Thurs 19^th Sept

It was a wet and cold morning so we were in no hurry to get outside and it was 11 am before we wandered out to explore a bit further and have some lunch. We had a 3 hour food walking tour booked for 4 pm and hoped that the rain would ease up by then, as the forecast suggested.

Our small group food tour was with Tours and the City, Bologna, and it was great because we had such an interesting group. So much so, that the food was rather incidental to the whole evening. We had:

• An Iraqi born woman, now a US citizen, traveling with two of her 3 adults sons through Italy, France and Switzerland as well as a partner of one of the sons. The husband was ill back at the hotel. She had fled Iraq during the early 1980s Saddam Hussein era and was smuggled out of the country by her father who got her a false passport. She reminisced about her youth when Christians, Jews and Muslims all cohabitated and intermarried and lived in peace and harmony. She worries about the rise in extremism plaguing the US, having already lived through a similar regime.
• One of the Iraqi women’s sons: a most interesting and well educated guy living in Washington DC and working with a large private firm to promote nuclear energy throughout European countries. His company had Bill Gates on board with a plan to resurrect old coal mines and convert them into SMR. Sound familiar? He was aware of this initiative in Australia but conceded it was an easier sell in the US as they already had around 100 nuclear reactors across the country and it’s one area where there is pretty much bipartisan support.
• Her other son, and his partner, were successful tech guys living in San Francisco, and he seemed to work for Apple. He was happy to work from home but ok if forced into the office as they had good food! He and his partner were off next to travel through Croatia so we chatted about that as well.
• A young Pakistani couple: the guy was a disenchanted lawyer who had thrown in his corporate role and was looking for something more meaningful. He was the most gracious and interested young man and a delight to chat with. His partner had shunned the corporate ladder her tiger parents had planned for her so as to follow her dream of baking. She was the most beautiful girl and I suggested she put herself in front of her instagram camera alongside her food, instead of the boyfriend as she currently does, as I believe she’d be able to sell stale bread.
• A young US/Malaysian girl struggling to carve out a niche herself in the competitive US real estate market but who had just decided to have a go at going out on her own.

The Iraqi mum and the two young females in our group were so inspiring and it was lovely to have some female companions to chat with, even if just for a couple of hours. I was sorry when our time came to an end but we headed home as we had an early start tomorrow with an 8 am start for a 7 hour tour out to the Emilia Romagna region.

 

Fri 20^th Sept

It was an early start for us this morning as we had an 8am pick up for our full day tour out to the Emilia Romagna food region. Our small group tour was with Bologna Tour but it ended up being a private tour as were the only guests. It was still a good day though as we visited a farm that produced Parmigiano Reggiano, took a wine tasting tour and visited a balsamic vinegar production venue. Thankfully, the rain had cleared which may the day’s outing much more enjoyable.

It was very interesting learning about the process to make Parmigiano Reggiano and how they age the wheels for different lengths of time. The longer the aging then the drier and stronger the cheese and the more expensive. Shops in Bologna sell the Parmigiano Reggiano categorised according to  the number of months of aging and couldn’t fathom how we are none the wiser of the age of cheese when we buy it in Australia. They said ‘just look on the rind’ so maybe I’ll have to do some closer inspection next time I’m cheese shopping. It was a rather similar story with the balsamic tour. Locals here use different aged balsamic for different purposes in the kitchen. I’ll be looking at these bottles a bit more closely as well.

The funniest part of the day was when we went to a supposed wine tasting but the owner of the business was a car and general memorabilia fanatic so we had a tour that included one of Ayrton Senna’s last cars and all sorts of ancient farm equipment. The area is well know for Lambrusco so we ended up tasting some and bought a bottle for the huge price of 6 euros. Sadly, had we wanted to ship a dozen home the shipping was almost 200 euros!

Our guide dropped us back in Bologna at around 3 pm and, although rather tired from the day, we headed back out to take a trip on the small tourist train around the city. It seemed a sacrilege to just sit in the apartment, as lovely as it was for such purposes. We strolled a bit more after that but then we’d pretty much hit a wall of fatigue so headed back to the apartment for an early night. It was our last night in Bologna but we were too tired and too full of food from the day to have any interest in eating out for dinner. Tomorrow we leave Bologna for the drive up to Verona.

We had enjoyed our time in Bologna and it is a city that is well worth a visit. We noticed that the general population here all seem to be rather slim; it’s rare to see any one overweight which astounds me when you consider the diet of food that is promoted here; cheese, wine, pasta and mortadella. I’d love to know how they enjoy their local produce but stay so trim! We also noticed the standard of dress here was lower than for nearby Torino. Nearly everyone wears some form of grungy blue jeans so I felt very left out as I didn’t bring that hue.

For anyone considering a visit to Bologna: I highly recommend the apartment where we stayed. Apparently the CEO of IKEA has even stayed here! The apartment is located in a peaceful sidesteeet but just a 5 minute stroll to the center of the city and the major square of Piazza Maggiore. We didn’t use the kitchen much but it was as well stocked as our kitchen at home; maybe even better. There is air con in the living area and both bedrooms and there is a huge amount of space for storage. The large balcony was also a huge plus and we were only sorry the weather kept us from enjoying more time out there.