Day 7 - Rome to Bologna

Today we left the city of AMOR (ROMA) and headed north to Bologna for our last stop before leaving Italy.

Looking at Facebook, I came across this saying which I thought it was appropriate to describe one of the reasons we love to travel and decided to do this adventure.

As we were paying to leave, we were informed there was quite a big demonstration coming down the street where we had left the bike and we should get the bike out of there as soon as possible. We then started a time trial to get the bike packed up. It was quite nerve wrecking looking left and seeing the police cars and hear the crowd roar behind them approaching as we prepared the bike. We were able to get the bike onto a side street in the nick of time and then we stayed to watch the very peaceful demonstration mainly with young participants. We took some videos as well (see below) to give the idea of how a peaceful demonstration is conducted. The reason of demonstration was students protesting against government cuts in education. Rome was one of the 90 cities where students protested.

 

Before we left Rome we went to the largest BMW Motorrad dealership in the world. We were highly disappointed as no one even came to speak to us to ask what we were looking for, so 0 for service. The other interesting aspect is that there is a gate with security guard who has to open the gate. We were highly surprised at this and wondered if it was somehow related to security. Regardless, it did not feel right to have to cross a gate to shop. The other amazing thing is that road to leave the dealership is very uneven which is a nightmare to cross as you have to stop the bike to check for traffic and as you put your foot down, pray hard that the floor is there rather than a hole. Amazing ...

The main focus was on the new scooter which I think is fabulous (although quite expensive as well).

The rest of the trip was uneventful as we crossed the different areas on Italy, Lazio, Umbria, Tuscany etc.

We rode the whole day with rain gear as now and then we got some showers. We encountered many different color skies during the trip. It was a glorious sight.

 

We arrived in Bologna just as the sun was setting and decided to relax in hotel and have dinner there. The highlight was the zuppa inglesa (English soup) which is not English nor soup but rather a very tasty desert that some say originated in Emilia area (where Bologna is) whereas others say Tuscany area. As we were in Bologna, to be original I had a pasta with bolognese sauce ;-).

Tomorrow we will have to wake up early as we have a museum tour at 11am at Ducati. Looking forward to this special treat on the last day in Italian soil.

 

VIDEOS

Student Demonstrations in Rome

 

 

Click HERE for all the pictures for Day 7

 

Posted by Armando