Oh…..wrong Bologna. OOPS!!
Oscar Meyer has the best little ditties, don’t they? Since I stepped off the train in Bologna on Monday, this one has been in the back of my mind. I was just waiting for the right place to put it! Tee hee!
Mike and I had a few unscheduled days between Venice and Rome and were searching for something to do with them. After some research, some discussion and a little pressure from me, we decided on Bologna. For those of you who don’t know, Bologna is the food capital of Italy, serving up some of the best food in the country. After our food experience in Venice, I decided that Italy needed to vindicate itself in the food department. Maybe Bologna could help them.
We were able to find a 4-star Mercure Hotel that was right next to the train station for the whopping price of $70.00 per night. And, we could take the very luxurious “Frecciargento” train. Bologna is kind of the center of the Italian world…..food, university….good train connections. Can’t beat that! So, we were off!
Because of our several less than perfect train experiences in the last few weeks, I am now ultra-cautious about getting a reservation on the train. I decided, before we boarded the train to Venice in Bolzano, that we would get our reservations to Bologna from the friendly and helpful people at the Bolzano train information station. They were so efficient. (This, of course, was before my middle seat, stinky man train ride!) I explained to the nice ticket person, the issues we had so far with the train system and, in a nice way (really), stressed that we wanted to have a very nice seat on the very fast train to Bologna. She was all too happy to help us. Gotta love these train people!
So, on Monday, we boarded the train to Bologna. As we entered our cabin, we realized that we were not in first class, but in second class. This must be a mistake. Nope! This was our assigned seat. It wasn’t bad, but we had paid for first class.
I try to be flexible when traveling because things happen. It’s just the way it is. No matter how careful and seasoned you are, things STILL happen, and sometimes you just have to go with the flow. I thought that maybe this was one of those times. It was a short ride, after all, and what difference did it really make anyway? So, we put our luggage in the overhead rack and sat down.
The more thought I gave this and the more I watched the increasing numbers of people coming into our second class cabin, though, the more irritated I became. So, I decided to check out the first class cabin. If it was significantly different from where we were, I would say something about the seat.
What a difference! First class had a lot more room, nice leather seats that reclined and they were doing a coffee service that was complimentary….and, they were less crowded.
So, I found a nice female conductor that had very good english and explained the situation. Again, I got the blank stare….and then. “Did you pay for first class?”
I have a pretty long fuse, but as the discussion continued, my fuse grew shorter. I looked at her with my train pass and reservation in hand that reflected what we had paid and said,
“Yes. I paid for first class, which is significantly different from where we are seated. You WILL find me a seat in first class. I have paid for this and WILL be sitting in this section for the next 45 minutes.”
She fooled around with her scheduling device and finally came up with 2 seats that we could have. I looked at her and sweetly said, “Thank you very much.” …nasty woman……
We had a lovely ride, a nice espresso and arrived at our hotel relaxed and rested. Imagine, a non-chaotic situation in Italy.
The people at the hotel were SO friendly that I mentioned to Mike that the train people might have called ahead to tell them that a “bitch woman” was on her way to them and to be on the lookout for her. Is that possible? I don’t know, but we had a very nice stay at the Mercure.
We came across a few interesting things about the hotel, though. First, we were so happy with the hotel that we thought we would sign up for their “club”. You know the kind. You stay at the hotel chain and gather points toward a free stay. We had booked this stay through a travel agent and knew we couldn’t count these points, but we might book directly at the hotel for future stays. Much to our surprise, they wouldn’t let us join. Couldn’t do it! Really?! OK!
I also don’t think they have tourists like us. We had lots of questions for them. They were very nice and extremely helpful. But, we could see them scatter when we approached the desk for information, which was pretty often. There were about 3 people, 2 young women and 1 man who were always delegated to help us. They were very nice. KUDOS to them!
We LOVED Bologna. Bologna is kind of “old school Italy”. There aren’t many tourists here and it is obvious. There are not a lot of crowds and chaos. Just some friendly people and some good old fashioned cooking in spots that are frequented by mostly locals. Just great!
As we anticipated, we had some of the best food of the trip here. In fact, after the first meal, we decided that we would not take any side trips from Bologna, but just stay here and eat for 2 days….and, that’s what we did. We had tortellini and taglietelli with Bolognese sauce more than one time. We had lasagna with green noodles twice. These items are typical for Bologna and just spectacular made with homemade noodles and covered with lots of the parmesan cheese that this area is famous for! YUM!
We also had a very good artichoke salad that was sprinkled with a lovely vinaigrette. Just delightful!
The other winner in the food category was an eggplant parmesan that I had on the first day. The eggplant was sliced paper thin and just covered with a wonderful Bolognese sauce and lots of parmesan cheese. It was the best I have ever had. So good!
We had dessert each night, which we don’t normally do. But, it was pretty inexpensive and so tempting. The best of the desserts was a panne cotta with a burnt carmel sauce. I have never had anything this creamy and smooth.
One of the nights, I had a shot of Strega with my dessert. Mike insisted because I have never had it. It was a little better in taste than the Grappa we had in Vienna, but had the same effect. Couldn’t finish it. I am the navigator…..someone had to get us back to the hotel!
The other winner was the wine. This area is known for its Sangiovese. We had it with every meal and sometimes in between. I couldn’t get enough of it. We had bottles and just single glasses. Even the house wine was Sangiovese and tasted just great! And, it was cheap. We were getting this wine for between $10 and $18 Euro a bottle, which is between about $14.00 and $25.00. For those of you who buy wine in restaurants you know throw reasonable this is!. You could get more expensive wine, but why would you?!
OK, Italy, we feel better about you……or, at least the food. And, you have Bologna to thank.
My Bologna has a first name…..it’s Y..U…M….M….Y…….HAHA!
Travel With Betsy 
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