Tuesday/Rārua
Chiara and Lachie come and have breakfast with us at Verdenoce. Lachie obviously wants to eat his breakfast and does not care for my blog.
We take the rental car back to he airport, and bus into the train station of Bologna ready for our tour of Bologna. This is the only part of the city wall left. It used to surround Bologna.
From Wikipedia: "Bologna hosts many students. Known for its towers and long arcades, it has a well-preserved historic center, one of the largest in Italy. The University of Bologna is considered the oldest university in the western world. It was founded in 1088. The life of the city and that of the university are intimately connected since the Middle Ages, making Bologna deserve the nickname 'of the learned'. In the academic year 2018/19 it hosted more than 86,000 students."
Manuela completed a degree here. While it is basically free to attend, accommodation and food is expensive. There is no city campus. From Manuela "When going to university in Bologna for four years I commuted every day and attended all sessions and lectures. Since it was a group of friends form Reggio all travelling together by train, it was fun and allowed us to either study or chat depending on the mood or need. I loved my commuting"
University in Italy is tough - the philosophy is not to turn out as many degrees as possible. You have to do the work and plenty of students fail. The ones that pass are scholars and have worked hard to pass.
Chiara and Lachie outside a University building.
If Bill had gone to university in Bologna, he would have been here. This is the Chemistry building.
In medieval Italy two wealthy Bologna families competed to build the highest tower. One did, and the other gave up. The queue was too long so we did not climb to the top of the tallest tower which you can do. It is 97.2 meters, the tallest leaning tower in Italy. (Both these lean.)
We went for a wander. These symbols are significant to trades in medieval Bologna. The scissors are a symbol of the cloth trade in early times. The other two I tried to look up and could not find.
More wandering. Bill and Chiara at the Fountain of Neptune.
Chiara and me, Lachie and me. I photographed Bill and he had his eyes closed, so it is me twice.
We went for lunch and an ice cream. Then we trained to Siena (via Florence), while Lachie and Chiara trained back to Reggio.
