Settling In

So almost three weeks down and we’re settling nicely into our life here in Bologna. The local summer holidays are coming to an end and little shops around the place are starting to reopen. Turns out there’s a great take-away pizza shop a few doors from us (which is getting a bit of a workout), a juice bar around the corner, and quite a few hairdressing salons on our street.

The gyms are opening again, too, and Greg has found one he really likes about a fifteen minute walk from home. Open seven days, it’s modern and well-equipped with great staff and facilities. The age range of members is pretty broad (so it’s definitely not just a pump station for bulked up young blokes) and, of course, at the gym language is no barrier – a grunt of exertion sounds the same the world over!

Meantime I’ve been off to the hairdresser where the language barrier may have been slightly more significant. But then again if it didn’t go well it would simply mean you wouldn’t see me in any blog pics for a while! Fortunately the people at the salon were great and between us – with a lot of finger scissor action and pointing at colour swatches – we managed to achieve a good result.

Piazza di Porta Saragozza

The weather here has been beautiful; long sunny days under brilliant blue skies. Maximum temperatures have been around 28-30 degrees, but the humidity is generally low and often a light breeze will pick up in the afternoon.

We seem to be establishing a routine of early to the gym for Greg after which we head off to find something we’ve been wanting to see or do, then a light lunch (out or at home), a late afternoon nap (such a civilised culture!) and then we start thinking about dinner. Sometimes we take our books and head down to the local park, Piazza di Porta Sarragozza, to sit for a while. It’s a nice pace of life, and easy to lose track of the days.

Having said that, though, we are starting to plan a few excursions. A road trip to the Ferrari, Maserati and Ducati factories (all not far from Bologna) is in the schedule – no surprise there – as well as visits to Verona, Lake Garda, Ravenna and then Milan to experience the Frecciarossa (the Red Arrow), Italy’s luxurious fast train which is capable of speeds of up to 400kph. So between the fast train and the fast cars, it’s probably just as well the rest of our days are rolling along slow and easy.