# Campari & Soda: 0, # Gelati: 1
My first completely alcohol free day since the start of this holiday. I think my liver appreciated it.
I spent the first part of my morning on admin. I've booked a flight from Brindisi in Pulgia to Palermo, via Rome on the re-branded Alitalia. I'd paid extra to select seats but for some reason my seat selection only "took" on the first leg. I had to ring them up to fix it. I carefully practiced how to say "I don't speak Italian very well. Can I please talk to an English speaking agent." before I called. When I called, I was greated with a recorded message, in Italian of course, saying what I pretty sure was the standard "Our call volumes are higher than normal but we'll get to you as soon as possible" and then it went into options. You know, pick 1 for something completely unintelligible, 2 for something equally bewildering and so on. I hadn't allowed for what to do if I couldn't actually speak to a person. Fortunately, some digging uncovered another number for non-locals to call. In theory it has now all be sorted. I guess I will find out.
My second bit of housekeeping was finding somewhere to store my suitcase in Bari. I'm only staying there one night before catching an afternoon bus to Matera, which is the first stop on my Puglia hike. However, that one day is 1 May which is the Labour Day holiday here in Italy. My B&B doesn't let you store luggage after checking out. I had used a service called Bounce to mind my bag when I arrived here in Bologna. They are a middle man who put travellers in touch which shops, restaurants and hotels who want to earn a little money on the side storing bags. I booked a luggage spot in Bari that was a hotel. I figured they would still be operating even on a public holiday. They took my money but 24 hours later cancelled and refunded me. The only other Bounce locations were shops, which are even less likely to be open. I started thinking my day in Bari was going to be ruined. How could I go sightseeing lugging a suitcase behind me? Then it dawned on me I could just look for a different luggage storage company. I can't even blame a lack of caffeine for the amount of time it took me to think of this. I found Stow Your Bags which just have banks of lockers. You pay the fee and they send you a code, so they operate year round. My day in Bari is saved.
After this I decided not to push my admin skills any further and headed out to meet Kim. We wandered around the flea market but managed to talk each other out of buying things we didn't need. We then went to the park where, last week, the perimeter had been wall to wall food trucks. However, today there was only a fairly sad half dozen or so. We settled on a snack from the Sicilian truck - cassata and something called Iris which was a deep-fried piece of brioche filled with pastry cream. Some Googling (there is an Italian verb Googlare) told us there was a Finger Food Festival going on just outside the historic centre, so we headed off in that direction. We found the rest of the food trucks there and had a pleasant time checking them all out. We ate something from a Puglia truck (bombette) and dithered about getting hamburgers made with horse meat from another Sicilian truck. However, they were playing a recording of a truly awful cover band and we couldn't stand it any more so we left.
We were close to the part of Bologna where Kim is staying and she knew of another market with a great gelati stand so we headed there. However, we got there just before 2pm and most stalls we shut, including the gelati one. It was siesta time. The gelati place was supposed to open at 2pm so we hung around. At 2:15pm a young woman and her boyfriend/brother (?) showed up to open up and put out tables & chairs. At 2:30pm they were ready to serve customers. Well, she was. His job seemed to be to loiter around. Kim asked for a sundae but the young woman said she'd never made on in her life and didn't know how to do it. Kim then asked for a cone with her two chosen flavours but they didn't have them. We both ended up having pistachio and sour cherry gelati. The gelati was delicious but the whole experience was so Italian.
After dessert we went our separate ways. Kim back to her place to study and do laundry, while I headed to the Historical Museum of Bologna. In addition to the regular sort of museum exhibits they have this virtual reality experience that you can also do. You sit on a swivel chair with a headset with goggles and headphones. In you hands you have two joysticks - one to move you around and another to highlight objects and select them to get a bit of canned commentary. I greated the woman in charge and got all set up, entirely in Italian. It wasn't until I asked for the English commentary that she realised I wasn't an Italian speaker. It made me feel much better after my morning experience with the airline. The VR tour of medieval Bologna was absolutely amazing. You could walk around the streets and go in and out of buildings. You also got to fly around above the city, swooping up to the tops of towers and then down again. Fascinating, but not for those with a weak stomach.
After this I headed back to my place to do laundry and study too. The thrills of life in Bologna. On the way home, I stopped at a local supermarket to buy a big tub of minestrone, some cheese & salami and bread for dinner. My hiking pants, that used to be a little too big and needed a belt to hold them up, are now a little too small and, frankly, uncomfortably tight. I need to exercise more. The alternative, each less pasta, pizza & gelati, is just not a practical option.
ReplyDeleteWell done on fooling a local that you were Italian!