Just a quick post from Bologna...

Hey all,

This will be just a quick post, it's late and we need to get climbing again so will be leaving early tomorrow. No pics with this post, I fear that the dial up connection may take forever to upload anything...

After returning to Rome, Emilie and I braved the incredible heat (I swear, Canadians belong in the snow... at least this Canadian does) to eat dinner at an authentic and tasty Italian restaurant and spend a day with Emily and Justin (two auzzies we met in Naples). On Tuesday morning we blasted out of Rome with fire coming from the engine (yes it was that hot... I swear at times it felt like my face would melt off). On tuesday we quickly drove through Assisi (where my sister Christine got married 3 years ago - Emilie thought it was quite a gorgeous town), and Perugia before stopping at a little town outside of Siena for the night. Wednesday was spent in Siena. Siena is a nice little town, but parking was a bit of a pain. Mostly walked along the old medieval town centre. Wednesday evening we headed into San Gimignano for a quick evening stroll amonst the towers.

Thursday was spent driving through Florence (touristy and overly long lineups i.e a few hours per site... we didn't stay long. We did take pictures of the "fake" David, a free replica that was outside one of the churches) and onto Bologna where we met up with my aunt, uncle and cousin (and cousin's gf) for dinner. Friday (today) was spent in bologna, initially with my uncle who gave us an impromptu tour of the center. He showed us several cool things including climbing the tower at the centre of Bologna, 97m high. Higher than the Pisa tower by the way! It was a fun and interesting time. Bologna, though somewhat barren of important touristy stuff (and therefore the associated crowds) is a nice town and is reknown for its Porticas. One can walk through most of the town center while remaining under cover thanks to the numerous porticoes... My uncle conviniently forgot to point out one of the more interesting sights in bologna, but a group of giggling youths gave it away. In the evening we went to a bbq with some friends of my cousin. It was really good as it was the first steak we have eaten since leaving Canada. The steak was good but not as good as good old Alberta beef. Better than Ontario beef though. Emilie and I had to rebuke some Canadian stereotypes about how we only eat bison steak and never eat pasta. Good times were had.

Tomorrow we are heading through Parma to buy some prosciutto and then onto Torino and the Vall d'Orco for some crack climbing. Yee haw!