Buona Pasqua

The past three days have been wonderful.  Saturday, we walked all around Bologna and found the neatest shops and sites.  There are two towers in the center of town, one of which is severely leaning.  We found a neat enoteca and stopped for a glass of wine and Ricardo had his first (and maybe last) grappa of the trip...boy is that stuff pungent!  Then we went to the supermercato to stock up on food for the next few days as we figured most restaurants and stores would be closed Sunday for Easter and Monday for Liberation Day.  We made dinner and enjoyed the night in our apartment. 

Sunday, we slept in and planned our trips for the rest of the week.  We decided to go to Ferrara Monday, Modena Tuesday, Parma Wednesday and Venezia Thursday and Friday.  We then went for a walk around Bologna and went to a restaurant for dinner.  The food was fantastic but the service left a lot to be desired.  The manager kept coming by and looking at our tab.  Typically in Italy, you have to ask for the bill and you have the table for as long as you want it so we were surprised that he seemed so anxious to get rid of us, especially with several other open tables.  He then took our tab and brought the actual bill.  We paid right away and asked our server why the manager was trying to get rid of us.  He apologized profusely and even gave us some complimentary limoncello.  We didn't let him rush us as we were enjoying the nice weather.

Today, we headed to Ferrara and decided to rent bikes to explore the town.  It was such a great way to see the city.  We saw the Este Castle which is surrounded by a moat right in the center of town.  We also saw one of the most beautiful cathedrals I've ever seen.  They were even holding mass when we went in and it was interesting to hear service in Italian.  We also biked around a peaceful park and stopped at a local pizzeria for lunch. 

The best part was that it was Liberation Day and they did a reenactment of the end of German-Fascist control that occurred on April 25, 1945.  It seemed all of the local residents came to town to celebrate and watch.  We'll try to post a video of the festivities later.

Arrivederci!