This Is What I Wake Up To...

When I woke up the first morning, I realised that I hadn’t so much as looked out the window when I got in, because it was dark and I assumed I would only be looking out on a nasty side-street. Instead, here was the view that greeted me to the sound of medieval bells ringing out in a brassy, deep chorus of ringing:



You win this one, Bologna.



The view from my window at home, for comparison. A bit of a contrast.



The first thing I ate in the food capital of Italy was a packet of plastic-wrapped, pre-cooked, hard, crumbly, dry toast-crackers that were labelled DELIKAT. A glory-less start to what I’m sure will be a glorious five months of meat and cheese, but I was so hungry that I was about to try anything. I bitterly regretted turning down Luca’s offer of food when we came from the airport. I followed the crackers up with what seemed to be a mini lemon-and-apricot tart, which was much nicer, and something called schiacciatine fragranti, which translates to “fragrant crackers.” The ingredients listed are flour, olive oil, salt, beer (of all things), and “aromi” of some sort. I had them with jam made from albicocca…I’m fairly sure that’s apricot. It looks like an apricot, right? It was jolly tasty. :3



The food has improved by jumps and strides since that first day—yesterday I bought half a loaf of Tuscan bread, which was nice, then we had pizza for dinner, which was better (much more filling and salty than the American kind), and then today’s late lunch was crowned with a plate of spaghetti pomodoro, pasta with tomato sauce. Cooked perfectly al dente, swirled over a parsley-sprinkled plate, warm with falling-apart tomatoes and an almost imperceptible hint of olive oil, probably cooked that morning—it was pretty darn good. The portion was tiny compared to what you usually get, but I was mysteriously full less than half an hour after finishing. It cost the equivalent of $10, and worth every centesimo. Expensive, but the breakfasts are free at the hotel, and so cute! On my first morning I had a cup of tea, a buttered croissant, and my first espresso which tasted like being shot in the head, except with coffee. A good start to a long and fun day…