Ham and cheese

If there's one thing I've learned this week as I've travelled along the Via Emilia (well, caught the train near the Via Emilia, you get the picture. By the way, have you caught an Italian train before? Nope? Here's a tip: validate your ticket) it's that Italian cities of a certain size are all pretty much the same. The old city walls have been replaced with a leafy boulevard of a ring road. Inside the city walls are winding, cobbled streets full of houses of varying shades of orange with lots of shutters. There's a noisy square dominated by al fresco dining and a quiet square dominated by in-frescoed basilicas. There are people walking dogs, leads boobytrapping across the road. There are cafes that think not only is espresso an acceptable form of coffee but that it is also an adequate alternative to breakfast.

I guess it makes writing guide books pretty difficult, which maybe explains why Lonely Planet had to resort to this nonsense:

"If Italy were a meal Modena would be on the main course."

Really, you'd have Modena for main rather than Rome, or the Lakes? Or Tuscany? Or the Amalfi Coast? I had Bologna for my main and thought that Modena was a somewhat disappointing dessert. A creme brulee where the top wasn't fully crisp. And don't get me started on:

"If reincarnation ever becomes an option, pray you come back as a Parmesan."

So yeah, Rimini (albeit briefly), Modena (where it was strangely difficult to get a good meal, given the town's foody rep), Reggio Emilia (my favourite of the four, although that probably says more about me) and Parma. All nice enough, all a bit difficult to get excited about.

But we are here for the food right? The parmesan and the parma ham? I've made a fair crack at eating all of the food, but have had to resort to pizza more than I intended.

Tigelle - disappointingly small sandwiches.

Tortellini en brodo - epitome of student food. M'eh. 

Gnocco - one of the more curious 'specialities' that I've come across. Deep fried dough that puffs itself up like an empty ravioli, so that you can fill it yourself. Basically a sandwich that leaves you with oily fingers and fuzzy arteries.

Pesto do cavallo - horse tartare to the unwary. Not sure whether this is actually a thing but it was nice enough.

The Fat One

I'm in Bologna. The Fat One. The Red One. The Learned One. The One with Too Many Nicknames. It's a right hotchpotch of a city with its old and its towers and its porticoes. I like it.

Porticoes, hey. They're a thing. In Bologna if you can't travel there by portico then it's not worth going.
- But the Basilica of the Virgin of St Luke is one of the big attractions and that's 4km outside the city.
- Yeah it is. And yeah you can get there by portico.
Although it does beg the question of when a portico stops being a portico and becomes a what? A portico plus? A colonnade? An arcade? My limited architectural knowledge just can't answer that question.

Whilst we're sort of on the subject of the Virgin of St Luke. Is it bad that I'm somewhat skeptical about its authenticity? You've got to admire the brazenicity (let's all coin new words) of whoever sold that eight hundred years ago.

I've eaten bolognaise. When in Rome and all that... It tasted of bolognaise, which I guess shouldn't be a surprise.

And now it's Bologna Jazz Festival, so I'm off to snap my fingers. Or eat something carby. Or both.

One Long Strip Mall

I try not to negatively generalise about entire nations based on a few hours' experience, but San Marino is a bit rubbish. It's just a strip mall with a castle hat.

Now don't get me wrong "citte" del San Marino is mighty pretty with its medieval empty streets and its castles and its massive views but there doesn't seem to be anything else to do. To quote Shakespeare: a cable car doth not a country make.

I'm staying in Borgo Maggiore, which is just down the hill from the (air bunnies) city. I'd call it San Marino's second "city" but it's really only its second highest. It is, however, a prime example of the strip mall mentality - the only way I can get anywhere is by walking along a dual carriageway. It's like the whole country is set up for car drivers only. Like UAE but with trees.

All that aside, any country with a vampire museum can't be all bad.

Party Like It's 1994

Do you remember S*M*A*S*H? What about These Animal Men? What, were you not reading the NME in 1994?

Seems like there were a few people that were.  One of them has made a film about them called Flawed is Beautiful and to launch it he got both bands to play one of those gig things.

Now I don't know how much of it was nostalgia, of forgetting that I wasn't a teenager any more or how much of it was that These Animal Men are just an amazing live band, but that gig was absolutely phenomenal.

Surfing the Geekgeist

Oops, it appears that I'm doing something that's sort of hip.  Accidentally of course.

Turns out that over the last couple of years there's been a growing movement of people that aren't using computers for gaming, preferring instead actual interaction and doing table top gaming - you know? Boardgames. But like for grown ups. It seems boardgames have gone through a bit of a revolution over the last twenty years, with a lot more emphasis on strategy rather than luck.  

About a year ago our pubquiz team retired and we invested our meagre winnings into Settlers of Catan, since then we've geeked out somewhat - only it turns out we were actually being cool. In an effort to make myself less cool, I figured I should write about the boardgames - sorry TTGs - that we've been dabbling in.

Settlers of Catan / Ticket to Ride / Carcassonne
These are the big three gateway games, the ones that get you hooked.  Plenty of People have written plenty of words about them. You've probably played them already. All three are ace, now let's move on.

Pandemic
So this game you don't play against other people, you play with other people against the game. You know, like in Knightmare, or the Crystal Maze. Only on a table top. It is frustratingly tough.

Tikal
The first time I played Tikal it was super fun. I would talk concept but the make believe / role play aspect makes my skin crawl a little bit; let's say it's like Indiana Jones if Indiana Jones was a centimetre high wooden cylinder and leave it at that.  The next time I played it just seemed really slow - whilst most of the other games here are turn based, you will still be doing things on other people's turns, here you can nap.

Machi Koro
However you describe it, it is going to sound like Monopoly. It isn't like Monopoly. Monopoly is long, slow and rubbish; this is short, fast and great.

Puerto Rico
So this is like a next level game.  I felt like I should have taken A-Level economics before playing this. Or maybe instead of playing this. It's gone back on the shelf until I've sunk further into the tabletop mire.

So what next, any recommendations gratefully received.