Adventures in Bologna

So we have somehow managed to conquer our first weekend trip...don't ask me how.

We decided to head to Bologna, a town we had only heard was very cute. No one likes to make any decisions or take the lead, so it very hard to travel in this group. To start off the trip, only half of us made it to the train on time; the half without the tickets. So, as the rest of us arrived, we hopped on another train, had to pay an extra fee, sat in first class without realizing it, but then were allowed to stay. After arriving in Bologna, we got on what we thought was the right bus to the hotel but with no map or any idea of where we were going. So, after about 45 mins of what was supposed to be a 15 min. bus ride we asked the non-english speaking bus driver who then directed us to the right bus. After getting on the right bus, we asked the new driver multiple times if we were headed the right way. We were still very skeptical, so after another 30 mins. Mary Beth began to get impatient and we just decided to get off at a random stop. After all 5 of us had gotten off the crowded bus and started walking away, the bus driver started honking and everyone on the bus yelled at us to get back on. Apparently, it was the wrong stop. We then trusted him to take us the right way and we all sat back and relaxed. After about 15 more mins, we were all casusally laughing and talking when everyone yelled at us to get off because it was finally our stop...and that is how we made it to our hotel.

Bologna turned out to be not as exciting as we hoped, but it was the people we were with that made it so much fun (and our many crazy bus experiences as much of our time was spent on the bus). It was nice to have a relaxing weekend with not much of an agenda but time to just explore.

So with the bus system in Bologna, you are supposed to buy $1 tickets every time you get on, but when we realized there was no one ever checking for these so-called tickets we never bought them and just enjoyed our free ride. Well this turned out to be a bad idea about the 10th time when we were sitting there, and Tiffany and Lizard kept mumbling to each other and making akward stares. It turned out to be a policeman behind us writing the boys behind us a ticket. So we planned to get off at the next stop even though it wasn't ours. As Lizard made the move, the policeman stuck out his arm and blocked her from getting off. He asked for our tickets. We all just stared blankly while Tiffany gave her ticket from the day before that was expired. We all waited in fear. Lucky for us he couldn't speak English and we couldn't understand him, so we shuffled to the front of the bus bought a ticket and waited anxiously for the next stop. We made it off before he came back to us and walked briskly away.

Many more adventure occured in Bologna, most of them involving us being lost on buses, eating Nutella, or running after our bus so we wouldn't miss it. It was definately a fun-filled, very relaxing weekend.


Again with the photos...I don't want to post without MB, so hold tight!