Okay, so I'm an egg girl. My Italian DNA is missing the "dulce" chip! I want my egg breakfast! Done with sweet pastries, chocolate croissants, etc. as finger-licking as they are (literally). Fortunately, my hotel in Bologna offers a breakfast that has hard boiled eggs! Yeah! Who knew this would make me so happy.
Out walking again today but in an entirely different direction as I head out to the MoMBA which is the Modern Art Museum. It's Sunday so the high-end shops are closed but all the markets are bustling and so I got a bit distracted at the "sun glass stand". Purchase made and moved on....
Really, really enjoyed the Fellini retrospective. What an interesting, provocative man. Can't wait to re-watch some of his films, especially, La Dolce Vita! Maybe we'll do a movie night at my new abode when I get back. Did you know that in the 50s, when Hollywood went to Italy to save money, the movie sets were kept in tight secrecy. This secrecy inspired the common man to grab his camera and taunt the movie stars at night when they were off set and dining, etc. Fellini coined the word paparazzi for one of these camera men. This is how and when this obsessive photography profession began.
This was a well presented retrospective. Fellini began as a sketch artist for comedy magazines and so many, many of his sketches were on display. He also wrote for these comic books as well and then started to write screen plays collaborating with a friend. His directing took off from there. He went into psychoanalysis for a while to recapture his dreams and step into his subconscious...a lot of these experiences are evident in his direction, etc., especially his fascination with the circus. For a while when he was younger, he almost ran away to the circus due to his love of acrobatics. Trippy guy. Anyway, having some historical knowledge of him will make watching his films more interesting.
Timed my departure from MoMBA to walk across to another part of town and have some famous pasta Bolognese. Hmmm, good. Home-made fettucini with a meat based tomatoe sauce, some pane rustica (whole wheat bread) and a simple greens and tomatoe salad. I was quite content. I chose a street with outdoor dining that seems to always have some street musicians there to entertain. I was in Bolognese heaven.
Today, I decided to return to my habit of taking an afternoon siesta (pardon the spanish) and give me body, legs, feet a rest before going out tonight for some gelato.
I've looked up 3 Italian Language schools in Bologna that I'm going to check out and see what they "feel" like. I'm not sure I've expressed in this blog my disappointment at the Ascoli "Accademia", but it just wasn't what I was expecting. No problem, but I do want something more structured with the right atmosphere as well as social and cultural outings. I can see myself returning each year to the "right" community and continue to study the Italian language. I've really loved the exploration of this language and hope to continue some sort of study when I return to Santa Fe.
Finding the right community is part of this process. Now that I have made a fairly confident assumption that the North is right for me, I want to check out some of these communities and see "where" exactly. So, I will look into the schools here in Bologna and tomorrow I'm doing a day trip to Parma as this is a town that Lonely Planet says one must not miss if in this region and they have a language school there too.
Parma's population is about 170,000 while Bologna's is 370,000 and so I'm curious at what Parma's population size feels like in comparison to Ascoli and Bologna. What is helpful to Bologna is that the "center" has such little traffic allowed and so although it's big, it doesn't feel crowded or noisy. Pretty remarkable.
Didn't carry my camera today and so will bring to Parma and do a photo ops day in Bologna on Tuesday.
Almost pistacchio gelato time! Caio for now.
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