Museum and Bologna
Sunday, May 10
Siena and I woke up at 8am and had breakfast with Maria. She's originally from Portugal, but has been living with her Italian husband in Italy for 25 years. She really missed speaking Portuguese, so that's how her and I communicated during our visit. (She would speak to Siena in Italian.)
Then, Siena and I went to the Museum of Natural History: Zoologia, the one called "La Specola". It was really interesting! They had stuffed animals (by taxidermy, not plush toys) that had been stuffed about 100 years ago and you could see the stitches! They were behind cabinet doors made with hand-rolled glass, and the collection in the museum has not been moved or changed since it was put there about a century ago.
After strolling the halls of La Specola, we went to the Florence Union Station to catch our train to Bologna so we could meet up with our distant cousin, Gionata. The last time I had seen him, it was about 10 years ago! His train came in only 10 minutes after ours and we walked from the train station towards the downtown area so we could find a place to eat. We ended up picking a pizza place because I pointed out that I haven't had Italian pizza yet (this trip). I got the "Popeye" pizza (it had spinach and cheese) and it was delicious!
We kept walking around town, and Gionata pointed out that Bologna also has a leaning tower (like Pisa). Except in Bologna, there are 2 right next to each other and only one is leaning. We also saw a piazza and a couple of churches while we were waiting for Alessandro to meet up with us. He and Gionata had shared a desk at school when they were kids, and now Alessandro has been living in Bologna for about 8 years.
He told us about the myth of the statue of Neptune in the piazza, and explained some things about the city to us. Before heading back to the train station, we stopped at a little bar and joined the Italians for a drink called "Spritz". It was really tasty!
At the train station, Gionata gave me a present from Aunt Rita and then we said good bye. It was nice to see him again after so long!
After the short, high-speed train ride back to Florence, Siena and I rushed to the homestay for the 8pm dinner with Maria and the other students staying there. We were joined by Maria Eugenia, Maria, Paolo (her husband), Stefan and his friend (Austrians), and Anika (from Sweden). Needless to say, there were many languages present at the table that night! We had pesto pasta, meat, salad, and fruit for dessert.
Siena and I went to our room and watched "Meet the Fockers" dubbed in Italian before going to bed.
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