Bologna Day 1

We get an early start today, well, at least mom and I do. There's a couple cafes that open around 6:00am and 6:30am so we head out to get coffee and pastry. It is so much quieter this time of morning. The portico is almost completely empty of people save for a few. Much more enjoyable stroll than the night before.

There's one cafe just around the corner from us but the "pastries" don't look very pastry-like so we move on. Next stop is the place we were originally looking for but although Google said it's open, there's no food in sight and only has purple lighting? Hmm. Moving on. We continue on to the next place on our list and it has a wide selection of pastries. Now, I say "pastries", but Italian pastries are brioche-like so much more on the bready side. Although we like our pastries, we keep reminding ourselves this is Italy and not France. Le sigh.

We get a few pastries from Biancolatte Bar - a chocolate twist, cream-filled "croissant" and pistachio-filled "croissant". Nothing to write home about and the pistachio "cream" was more like pistachio flavoring and icing sugar. Not sure what's cream-like about it. The coffee was pretty good though. We got "take away" of two cappuccino and a decaf Americano for the dad. All in all, three pastries and three coffee was 9€ including 10% tax.

Another thing about Bologna - crossing the street is an obstacle course of vehicles. Buses will cut in front of you and cars turn right behind you. There's no patience to wait. And people jaywalk like crazy. The horror. Your safety is in your own hands when crossing the street.

First things first, grocery provisions. Especially decaf Nespresso pods for dad. We head down the main street, Via dell'Indipendenza, all the way to Nespresso about a 20 minute walk. Funny thing is, we passed the main piazza, Piazza Maggiore, which is the center of the city so I'm thinking we went too far past our destination. But no, Nespresso is still down the street so the city is that small. Looking on the map it seems so large until you actually walk it and realize it's not that big.

We of course did not look at when the store opened so we have a few minutes to kill. Which means walking around the block. But by the time we come back around the doors are opened so we stop in and get some pods and continue on our way to the market - Mercato delle Erbe. It's an indoor market but with a handful of produce stalls setup in the center to buy fruits, vegetables, nuts etc. Great looking produce!

A few grocery provisions in hand, we head back to the apartment to put away the fruits and veg and decide where to eat for lunch.

Quite a few of the restaurants in our list don't open until 12:00pm or 12:30pm. Italy is definitely a late lunch culture. So we choose one that's already open - Zerocinquantello Osteria Bologna Centro (Mercato di Mezzo). What a mouthful.

The specialty is tortellini, which originated in Bologna. So we must try it! We choose the traditional tortellini in brodo (in broth), birichini verdi burro e oro (green tortellini in tomato butter sauce) and lasagne alla bolognese (lasagna with meat sauce). So ono! The tortellini in broth is so simple but so much flavor. And the other dishes also high on flavor. Very good.

Full from lunch but not too full for gelato, we search for a few places nearby and come across Cremeria Cavour. They have a long list of interesting flavors - I go with amarenata and la dotta. Amarenata is amarena cherries with toasted almonds, chocolate chips and hazelnut and amaretti biscuits. La dotta (underneath) is mascarpone with melted chocolate. Delish!

Back at the apartment, a bit of rest time before heading back out to another grocery store. This time, Tuday Conad. I find the name of this grocery chain - Conad - very strange, but to each their own. Italian grocery stores are interesting. Most, and actually all the ones we've been to, do not carry toiletries of any kind. There's separate stores for that. Go figure. And within the city they're very small. If you want Safeway-style stores with more options and bigger aisles, those are in suburban areas outside the city.

One thing we had a heck of a time finding was juice. Fresh juice. We had just about given up finding orange juice and this Conad has the juice machine - score! And funnily, it was filled with what we didn't realize were blood oranges. The color of the juice was a surprise that's for sure! We picked up additional provisions for dinner as well - soup and focaccia (lettuce, cheese and salami from earlier shopping trip). Simple fare, but satisfying all the same.

Ciao!