Antiques Sale in a Bologna sidestreet

Neptune Fountain in the main square of Bologna I didn't get a chance to write about my trip to Bologna the week before my birthday. I've added some pictures here. My rundown on the city...not worth going to if you're in Italy for a short amount of time. I enjoyed the trip, but after only one day I really wanted to go home (home being Siena). If you do go to Bologna, be sure to get to the anatomy museum in the university district, especially if you have slightly nerdy kids. This place was AMAZING! There were old skeletons of creepy deep-sea fish. My friend and I got a free tour up the old tower in a private part of the museum. The guide took us into rooms filled with ancient maps and astronomy instruments as we scaled the spiral staircase. We ended the tour on a terrace that overlooked the entire city (which is gorgeous from above, where you can escape the surprising amount of grafitti on the city's antique walls). I asked where I could find a bathroom and was shocked to see a whole other section of this free, empty, forgotten in tour books museum. There were about 10 large ship models built in the 1800s. They were incredible. And although I couldn't garner much from the Italian-only display cards, I think we came across a collection of old battle strategies carved into wooden boards. Bologna tourist suggestions: go to the museum, eat tortellini, if you're up for it don't miss the wild nightlife (my evening was a mild one in a jazz bar...but it's definitely a place to go if you want to meet italian university students), and make it a day trip, not the main stop (my friend and I wasted 6 hours around the square because we ran out of things to do the 2nd day).

Back in Siena, post b-day, it's snowing!!! It's not nearly the same as in Ohio, but really, snow? To all my new friends here in Siena, thank you so much for making my multi-part birthday celebration fantastic.