Happiness, bells, Lohengrin

​We had an uneventful second day in Bologna; we bought a music stand for me and groceries for us in the morning. There was another protest outside our front door, too. This one was teachers at a school who were unhappy with administrative decisions that seemed to devalue teaching (does this sound familiar?). We chatted with one of the teachers, which was pleasant. In fact, everyone that we interact with is pleasant, which seems counterintuitive - it's a big city, and we would expect less patience and kindness than what we have received. In the evening we took a walk, expecting to get dinner at a Greek restaurant, but instead, we were attracted by one of the hundreds of hole-in-the-wall food places. This one made falafel sandwiches for us. The food was really good, but we also chatted up the proprietor. He left Iran at age 19, when the Shah was deposed, and he hopes and believes that the current unrest in Iran will finally overturn the religious authoritarians. 

We are very happy here, for many reasons. One of the things that we love about Bologna is the ringing of bells every half-hour. We also like the colored buildings (see a photo below) and all of the very old buildings; most of them have plaques with details of their construction and later renovations.

The other photo is of me standing next to one of the few remaining open canals in Bologna. Most have been covered over.

We tried to get tickets to Lohengrin at the opera house last night, but couldn't find an open door. We tried to get online tickets, but that didn't work, either. We will try again today.

Colored buildings and the canal. Notice all of the locks attached to the fence with lovers' names written on them.