Saturday, April 06, 2013

April 6, walking downtown

.

Our street.  Very work-a-day -- a street for Italians, rather than for tourists.



This is the park we walked by every day on our way downtown.  On our way home, on the 6th, we walked on the other side of the street for the first time.  This pic was taken the evening of the 6th, but it does a good job of showing the stairs which are the entrance to the park.  And the brick ruin, which I have been unable to identify!




This next one shows more of the ruin, but the sky is all blown out........




Cannonballs?





Rubble inside, and bricks outside?




Now we have walked up those cream-colored steps, and are looking back across the street.



In Il Parco della Montagnola.




As we continue south, leaving the park, we encounter a LOT of vendors, selling all kinds of stuff.  This is the same area-with-vendors we've seen before, but this time, it's packed.
Somehow, it is impossible to imagine that a pair of shoes for 5 euro (about $6.70) can possibly be a good deal.  Wondering how on earth anyone makes a profit, at that price!  It seems like materials and shipping would be more than that!



Walking on downtown.

I don't know if there was something special about April 6, or whether Saturdays are always a fiesta, in downtown Bologna.  The main streets were closed to motorized traffic.  There were buskers.  I think this is the first time I've seen a busker with a harp.  He was good, too.



Here is the Piazza Maggiore.  Balloon sellers, bubble-gun sellers, squeaky mechanical dog sellers.  I didn't see any kids who looked interested in the squeaky mechanical dogs, we saw live dogs who were very interested indeed...........



Pooh!



More buskers.   They are amplified.  The piazza was the scene of duelling buskers.  Or, at least, the duelling volume of multiple buskers.



Embellishment.  See the painting, near the top of the building?  In addition to the very fancy window surrounds?  (Note canvas shades, rather than shutters.)



A closer look at one of the previous building's windows.  Me, and Italians -- we resonate when it comes to color schemes.  Love this window........



In order to facilitate chronological traversal of these posts, here is a link to the next post.

.

No comments: