Vi faccio entrare nel mio disordine – seconda puntata

Day 2

I suppose this was the best opportunity of the trip for a good amount of sleep. I woke up a bit after 8am IIRC, even before the alarm clock was supposed to go on. The morning started with Sanremo performances played on YouTube from the TV (without adblock), or in the case of Click Boom!, the music video. Then I switched on to live TV and on that particular morning I think I caught TG1.

Fact checked: indeed, I remember watching the start of the 8am TG1, I was able to check this because they actually upload them to RaiPlay. That means I woke up even before 8am. Oh and yes, on TG1 there were Sanremo mentions, regarding the city itself too since there were farmer protests going on there.

I had a very light breakfast, if you could even call it that. I was modest with food cause I knew today I would have meals at two different restaurants I had reserved, for lunch and dinner.

Shortly before leaving to go around the city I played Vai!, lifting spirits ahead of what was gonna be a chill day meant for taking in and enjoying Bologna.

And I did a lot of walking. And I enjoyed the exploring. Little things brought me a lot of joy. Such as walking around the city and hearing Click Boom! playing. A moment I even captured on a video. Every Sanremo I’d be in my own mental bubble, my headspace being occupied by it while following the internet happenings around it and replaying the songs. It was never really externalized (other than playing the songs on my phone during some years I guess) because no one around would care. It was basically that “they don’t know” meme.

This time was different. I was in the country where it was happening, in a place where it was actually relevant, where people actually followed what was going on, where people actually cared about it and would play the songs. I don’t know but this just made me so happy.

Oh and it happened to be the song probably growing on me the most in those moments.

Soon after that I went to a manga shop. This theme of the things I love feeling relevant somewhat continued. This was easily the biggest selection of manga I’ve ever witnessed. More popular titles I’d even see in Croatia, titles from currently or recently airing anime, even NSFW (I suppose) stuff. A selection of things such as figurines as well. There was an upper section with more merchandise available by stairs (which some people asked if you could go to and I went up there myself after they received a positive answer).

I kept getting impressed basically by how many series there were. Except for a volume 1 of Frieren. Which I’ve even inquired about. Was told there isn’t one available here, more needs to be printed, but it can be ordered for me, to which I’ve replied that I’m only here for a few days, all in Italian (yay me).

As far as I’m aware, all or most of the selections were in Italian. I left with 3 Oshi no Ko volumes, a Frieren volume 2 and an Aria The Masterpiece volume 1. I knew this was basically set in Venice so it was a series on my radar. I thought getting this series in Italian was fitting. It will probably add to the immersion.

Oh and through the city I’d see artworks of a specific artist in anime style, adding to this theme of the things I love feeling relevant. And I also checked out a Flying Tiger Copenhagen store, because these aren’t a thing in Croatia. It felt like, if IKEA was kinda the closest thing non-Swedes could get to a Swedish store/feel, then I guess Flying Tiger Copenhagen would be similar, but for Denmark? I don’t know if that made any sense. But it was nice looking around.

One of those pictures is from day 3 but does that matter? Probably not

In a state of joy and positive feelings I went back to the apartment to have a slight break, put down the things I had, process things. Coming soon was a lunch at a Michelin star restaurant.

The restaurant was pretty busy, with pretty much most of the tables taken as far as I could see. Staff nice and professional. Ended up having the appetizer which was crescentine, cured meats and the squacquerone cheese that I was curious to try. I was internally debating on whether I should have that because the menu stated that it’s recommended for two people, but the waiter arranged for it to be a one person portion so there was that. And it was great. The only problem was my stomach capacity.

Then the obviously must eat in Bologna, tagliatelle al ragu. In the end ciambella with ice cream (and coffee). All brilliant. I don’t know when was the last time I felt this full. And I still carried back some of the tagliatelle which I was thankfully able to.

Some exploring. Quick return to the apartment. Heading back out for more exploring. Somehow ended up just outside the edge of the old parts of the city multiple times. Sometimes my sense of direction sucks (spoilers?)

I wanted to find a place called “piccola Venezia”, where there’s a tiny window with a view that looks like a scene that could fit Venezia. I wanted to get there before the sunset. When I got there, the dusk already started doing its thing, but I was still able to get pictures and enjoy the view. I thought there’d be lines of people or something but there wasn’t really anyone else around for this. Maybe I came just outside the “peak” times?

And I thought I’d find a tiny window where I could see the view. I’m not sure where it was supposed to be and if its embarrasing that I missed the window, but I don’t quite know where it was. But I still saw the scenery without looking at it through the window.

Then more exploring. Wanted to revisit the places I already walked around on that brief 1 hour stop in Bologna in May 2022. Those were mostly the areas near the bus station. Back then it wasn’t too crowded, which made sense for late night, although it was a Friday night. The tiny throwback to those days was really nice, a feeling of familiarity as I took a look at the bus station and crossed the bridge over the train station. I also wanted to check if that machine for official photographies still existed around the area. I don’t think I saw it but admittedly I ended up not pursuing the idea too hard.

In the area there’s a church where I sat at a bench for a while to give my legs a short rest. It’s where I found out that the cute girls golf anime I recently randomly watched its single short episode of has had an actual full season announced. I continued a bit further into that “outside the inner city” area. Nothing too memorable admittedly, but I did take a too blurry picture of a cute artwork I stumbled upon, and I went by an Eurospar.

The time was nearing for my second food reservation of the day. I walked a lot but still wasn’t sure if I’ll have enough capacity for a lot of food. I got tortellini in brodo (broth), which were brilliant. This restaurant only had a few other guests, which kinda surprised me but not that I minded. The service and food were top. And Ti Muovi by Diodato played. I sprinkled parmeggiano on the tortellini which I was able to bring back to the apartment and enjoy as Sanremo was starting.

Someone dressed as a bunny because why not

I just think that the architecture of Emilia-Romagna