Our next stop: Bologna.
I honestly did not know what to expect from Bologna. Other than the bolognese sauce that originated here (which our Italian friend Joe, there is no such thing as spaghetti bolognese, only tagliatelle ragu!), I know nuts about this place. It proves to be an old charming town which has some sort of official distinguished vibe to it, but has a lot of small cool nooks.
We stayed at this Guesthouse de Amelie the first two nights, and I have to say, it really is super Italian, and reminds me of the castle we stayed in Tuscany. I did not like the fact that we had no windows though.....
A typical street in Bologna. Every building had high arched ceilings, which is very Italian.
One of the official government buildings.
A pretty statue.
A glimpse into a meat shop. I felt like running in and grabbing as much meat as I could get away with. Hehe.
This statue in the city center has an interesting history. Apparently, some sculptor was commissioned by the state to sculp out this statue but he had intended for it to have well, a bigger genital part than the government would like. Due to the disgust of the public, it was modified to be smaller, but the artist decided to place the hand in such a way that looking from the right angle, it still looks like it has a big dick. Ha.
This is the best shot I could get. Heh.
One of the beautiful brick buildings in the town.
These two brick towers have a rich historical past, and are two of the tallest monuments in the city. One is built sloping, so it looks like it's going to fall on you when you look up at it.
Like this. And at the bottom is an inscription with a quote from Dante commenting about precisely that.
We found a beer bar that Deron approves. Apparently, Italy is dabbling her toes in micro-beer making as well, and they have a significant following. Which makes Deron.....
A very happy man, as seen in picture. Hehe.
We stayed at Il Portici Hotel for the next two nights.
The room was sparse but the ceiling was painted with a mural of irises that I love, and the view from the window was lovely. Not to mention that they have separate blankets. Score!
The view of the garden and street from our room.
This church is known as the church of the seven churches. Apparently built on pagan ground, every subsequent reconstruction was built on top of each other, so you feel like you have walked into more than one church when you are actually in just one.
Beautiful clouds.
And look what we stumbled upon! From the grin on Deron's face, you can tell that it's beer-associated. That's right, an Italian beer fest!
It was so pretty, with white tents set in this historical backdrop. So pretty!
Me bored. Ha!
Inside the church of seven churches, this is the first part we saw.
And this is another segment of the same church.
The garden in the church.
And the bell tower in the church. It was really interesting.
The last day we were in Bologna, it was a perfect day, and there was some sort of national parade with the firemen/government aid workers from all over Italy marching. It was really a pretty end to our visit there.
We took a flight out of Bologna and arrived in Lyon.
We had a studio apartment, and it was really pretty.
The shower arch was made of old brickwork from old times, and also had no door. Ha.
Our kitchen/bar area.
Lyon is divided by the river into Old Lyon and New Lyon. We stayed in the old lyon, and everywhere was cobblestone and restaurants and quaint buildings which I really loved.
One of the cathedrals near our hotel. It was really peaceful and lovely.
And in the backdrop on the hill, there's another cathedral that looks right out of a movie.
Some sort of parliament house.
One of the oldest churches in Lyon.
I was sitting on the remains of the first church ever built in Lyon. So cool!
We went onto this miniature museum, where they make everything on a way smaller scale. In some of the following pictures, I can't even believe it is not on a real life scale!
I love the libray. :)
They also had a lot of props from movies, and this is the original mask from V for Vendetta, which is one of my favorite movies.
I love this too!
Ornaments made from ostrich and chicken eggs.
The miniature opera house.
I took this picture for Nicole because she's crazy about shoes as well. They were all mini too!
At the end of the walk, we see this guy who is intently working on restoring the props. I think he was trying to mend the alien's arm in this picture. Really cool!
And this is my favorite miniature set. So romantic!
And we crossed the river to new Lyon. First of all, they have a merry go round right smack in the middle of the city square. How cool is that!
Very distinguished ornate buildings. Although, at this point, I was kinda distraught when I realized there was no Prada nor Chanel in Lyon, so I didn't really manage to enjoy it as much as I should.
The cathedral again, from across the river.
And back to our studio for the night. And yes, the dark brown door is the entrance. Super French!
The next day, we walked across the river again and stumbled upon this church. So beautiful. I wish we had something like that in Singapore......
And we did our obligatory offering......
The next day, we took the tgv to Brussels, arguably my favorite spot of the whole trip. More about that in my next post!
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