Italy recap: getting to Bologna

Our time on Ischia came to an end after four relaxing nights and three delightful days.  It was time to get the ferry back to mainland Italy, as you have previously seen posted.  A driver picked us up and took us to the train station

where we parked in the lounge

for a short spell and then boarded our fast train bound for Bologna.

Now, as you might guess from the flights and lounges and such, we do like to travel in comfort.  If we can afford it, we do so unapologetically.  So it was that we booked the Executive Class car on the train.  Look at those seats! 

Menus for onboard dining and beverages! 

These two looking all kinds of adorable! 

A stop in Rome (but no change of train), and otherwise it was a quick and smooth few hours rolling north.

Our hotel in Bologna was more like guest rooms that were associated with a restaurant (and yes, we eventually had dinner there - a later blog post!).  Casa Conoscenti

consisted of three rooms in a historic mansion.  The bedroom was a generous size, the living room was a little more modest.  It was fine for our four nights, but not as spacious and special in feeling as our previous hotel.  But that's being churlish.  It really was comfortable, and better still, it was an excellent location.  We didn't appreciate that when we arrived and looked out on the nearby buildings,

not able to place ourselves in the city very well.  But in the days ahead, as we walked around, we came to realize how very central we were to things and how very easy it was to walk to things.

Once settled into the hotel it was off to the next corner west of us to have dinner at Ristorante San Pietro

sitting outside along with everyone else. 

The weather turned for us in Bologna in the days ahead, but we had that first evening and the next day to enjoy a last gasp of summer.  Stuffed zucchini blossoms for us,

the classic lasagna for Van (lasagna is a Bolognese dish),

and for the first time in a handful of days, some meat for me with lamb chops scotta dita. 

After dinner we walked past the entrance to the hotel courtyard

to the other end of the portico and across the street to a grocery store, Conad (yep, we joked about that name to Conrad more than once),

to buy a few things for snacking on and drinking in the room.  And then it was to bed, a long day behind us, and exploring Bologna yet to come!

Whole Foods comes closer

A monumental day in our happy Chicago gaybourhood: Whole Foods is open and doing business. And what business it is! So many samples to snack on tonight. It's a wonder we even bothered with dinner!

Yes, I know some of the criticisms of Whole Foods. Expensive. Anti-union. And more. But I gave up on Treasure Island's meat a long time ago because of the smell in that area of the store, and the night I bought salmon from Jewel and had to sauce it heavily to mask the odor I swore off all but chicken from that store. And barely that. We've been buying produce and meat from Whole Food for some time now. Add in cheese and dried goods and even wine, and, well, there's not a lot we need from other grocery stores.

Whole Foods was a bit of an expedition for us, however. A trip there required a car. Now I can get off the Red Line at Addison or the Halsted bus at Graceland and just walk over to the new GLBT community center. The store - and all credit to them for this - anchors the new center.




Ah yes, Whole Foods knows of the power of the gay dollar. Smart.

It opened this morning, and we made plans with Rachel
to stroll over, buy our dinner, and eat on the deck at her apartment building. This was a good decision. The evening was so pleasantly warm, and it was easy to put things on plates and dine. Some turkey meatloaf; a baguette and a wedge of Cocoa Cardona cheese; a little antipasti selection of garlic marinated olives, cornichons, roasted red pepper, and an artichoke spread with little balls of mozzarella; Marcona almonds; something of a Greek salad. We sipped a Babich Pinot Noir and capped the evening with Rainier cherries and a Vosges Barcelona bar (my favourite!).





So, no more big journeys for groceries every couple of weeks. Now it will be stopping in to buy some meat and veg for dinner, maybe a bit of fun cheese or some other treat. The neighbourhood will change and adapt because of the new Whole Foods, but I, for one, am delighted! As is Conrad!

;-)