Day 9: Bologna
We barely missed a train out of Vernazza and had to wait an hour for the next one to arrive.  This day ended up being a 4-5 hour travel day on four different trains.  For our Florence – Bologna segment, I gave in and went with the Eurostar train just to see what it is like.  It was pretty cool but definitely overpriced.  It was amazing what a difference in people there was between the Regional trains that we had been using and the Eurostar train.  Once we got to Bologna, we made our way to the hotel as it started to rain.  I had been planning to use the hotel’s free bikes to cruise around the city, but decided not to with the weather.  This hotel was a steal of a deal and very impressive.  They clearly cater to the business crowd and we happened to need a room on a weekend night.  Our room was only 59 Euros and I am sure that it generally commands a price triple that during peak season.
     

We rode a bus into town and walked around while it rained.  We had our rain jackets on, so it was no big deal.  Bologna is a very different city than the ones we have visited so far.  All the shops are very high end and the people on the streets reflect that.  It quickly became apparent why Bologna isn’t in the guidebooks.  It is a big university town with high end shops.  We wandered around until it got dark and then headed back to the hotel.  The internet connection at the hotel was extremely fast and I was able to upload all my remaining pictures before we hit the hay.