Early Thursday morning we did the final clearance and waited for Gloria and Piero to arrive. We had a brief conversation and were then on the road for Bologna where we had arranged to meet Glesni for a meal. There was a festival on in Bologna and it was practically impossible to find parking. The hotel had parking for a surcharge but unfortunately the car park was full leaving us in a position of not being able to put the car anywhere in order to check in. We circled the area several times and then found a parking garage - not an underground carpark with the usual mechanised system. This was simply a big garage which would hold about 20 cars. We turned in and the man in charge allowed us to park in a no parking area. He took our keys and gave us a docket. It was just a short walk to the hotel where checking in took almost half an hour! We asked about parking and he said there would possibly, but not definitely, be parking after the conference in the hotel was over - around 7pm. That didn’t sound too promising to us so back we went to the garage to negotiate overnight parking which we managed despite language difficulties and at a cost of 20 euro - in the hotel the cost would have been 25 euro!
We were in Bologna early enough to be able to see some of the sights before meeting Glesni.
The outer side of one of Bologna’s gates which is designed to be forbidding to keep enemies out.
The walls
The inside of the gate which is more friendly
Views of Piazza Maggiore. The Basilica di San Petronio is being renovated. The festival in his honour was on while we were there.
The fountain of Neptune
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