10/7/2019, Bologna

At Padova's train station.
You may take a number, and wait for your turn to purchase tickets from a human.
 

Or you may purchase tickets from a machine, but these machine only took credit cards with a PIN.
Without a PIN, you'd have to feed cash into the machine to buy tickets.
 

Arrived at Bologna. This is the Neptune fountain, in a square adjacent to Piazza Maggiore.
 

 
San Petronia Basilica, located at the southern edge of Piazza Maggiore.
It is a minor basilica and church of the Archdiocese of Bologna, started in 1300 but never finished.
That's why the exterior looked like that, unfinished.
 

We walked to the narrow lanes of the old market, Quadrilatero,
which is a rectangular area of several streets.
 

Many people were sipping wine and enjoying a plate of Bologna's cure meats and cheese.
 

Fresh Tortellini and other kinds of pasta.
 

A fruit stand.
 

There was an EATALY too.
 

Our lunch, Rigatoni with Tomato Sauce (very tasty), ...
 

.... and a traditional "Tagliatelle alla Bolognese".
It looked good, and was what we wanted, but the sauce had a very strong meat flavor that we were not used to.
(May be it was because they used more meat fat in it?)
Since we know that everyone cooked their Bologna ragu differently, we had to chalk it up
as due to the ingredients this particular restaurant used.
 

We walked by this shop and saw many people eating something in a bowl, so we went in to check out.
They were eating bowls of Tortelloni in broth, in a similar way to how we ate won-ton soup (餛飩湯).
Tortelloni are stuffed pasta in Northern Italy, with a similar shape as tortellini, but larger and with the extremities closed differently.
Tortelloni in broth is a popular dish in Bologna.
 

The Two Towers of Bologna stand in the heart of the old town.
Both were built in the 12th century by families of the Bolognese nobility to show their power.
These are part of Bologna's Medieval heritage.
Even Charles Dickens wrote about the towers in 1846 in his travelogue, Pictures from Italy.
 

The gothic building to the right of the Towers is the seat of the Chamber of Commerce.
 

As you can see, the two towers are leaning too.
This square was quite popular with young students.
We stopped by at this sunny cafe for a coffee and tea break.
Bologna has miles of buildings with porticos.
 

Entrance to the city's public library.
 

Inside the public library.
 

A coffee shop inside the public library.