After another lovely relaxing day in Geneva, including a short bike ride in the countryside, we picked Nina up at the airport on Sunday morning, got our car, and headed back to Italy. This involved heading around the west side of the lake into France, then through the Mont Blanc tunnel. After the disastrous fire in 1999, the traffic regulations are extremely strict. There is a minimum and maximum speed limit of 50 and 70 kph, respectively, and a required distance between cars of 150 meters. They even have blue lights every 75 m and signs telling you the car ahead should be two lights distant. Video cameras monitor compliance closely. A somewhat wearying experience to drive through it, since it's 11.6 km long!
It was a day of high tolls (a total of about 90 Euros) and crazy navigation. We decided at one point to leave the toll road and forage for food in a town called Ivrea. NOT a good idea. First, it was Sunday, so nothing was open. Second, we hit a one-way section of road that precluded returning the way we came. Third, we saw what appeared to be a lot of people eating right next to a parking lot, except it turned out they were eating IN the parking lot, which was closed for some kind of festivity. So there we were, in the middle of a crowded parking lot needing to get back out. That managed, we continued on up a hill through increasingly narrow streets until we found ourselves teeing into a street entirely filled with a market. Reversing up the way we came with my bike hanging off the back of the car didn't seem such a good idea. However, we did spot two policemen approaching on foot, so we asked them what to do. They wanted to know where we wanted to go, and I said someplace else! They helped me make a 3-point turn without taking out any market stalls, and we made our way back to the autostrada. Then we ate at a highway rest stop where we should have eaten in the first place! As I always say, you can't get a bad meal in Italy, not even in a highway rest stop.
We continued uneventfully on our way, following our pre-printed instructions from Google maps. However, when we reached Bologna and followed the ring road as directed, the exit did not say anything similar to what Google maps called it. David actually guessed correctly that the target-like symbol next to the word Bologna indicated Bologna Centro (city center), but I doubted and we missed our exit. There wasn't another for miles! Finally we found a place to exit -- onto another freeway, and then exited again near the airport. At this point, we had no idea where on the map we were or, worse yet, where on the map our apartment was. We called the landlady, but her directions (in French-accented English regarding Italian street names) were pretty much incomprehensible.
Fortunately, we had borrowed a GPS from Ben mostly for bike riding, but also for situations exactly like this. Once we figured out which of three choices presented for Bologna (Bologna, BO, Bologna, AT, or Bolgona, LC) we wanted, we were able to find our address and follow the directions. Except for having left the GPS on the "bicycle" setting, which caused it to try to send us the wrong way down a one-way street, we were set. The landlady met us at the gate and helped us unpack the car, then showed me where on this tiny narrow street I could turn around, and where to park. We found a spot very close by, where we have left the car for the duration of our stay in Bologna. No WAY am I driving around this city. For one thing, you can't park or even drive anywhere inside the old city, and for another, I'd never find another parking space.
Our landlady very thoughtfully stocked the refrigerator with homemade yoghurt, milk, bread, juice, some cheese (mozzarella and fontina), and bottled water. She even baked us a typical Bolognese pastry, and showed us how to make espresso in the morning. I don't expect such service at the next two apartments! She gave us directions to take the bus to our language school and two choices for dinner. Tonight we go to the second one.
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