Stormy day in Bologna
From Ljubljana, our next intended main stop was artsy Firenze. But the journey was much smoother and faster than expected, so we arrived earlier and decided to stop for a few hours in Bologna, too. It was a lovely sunny Sunday afternoon, until it all turned 180 degrees in matter of minutes.
The first feeling I had when I got off the car and started walking along the streets was “WOW”. The buildings were so big, out of proportion. I was turning my head up and down (turnin’, turnin’, turnin’ around…) and found it hard to perceive them fully. The city was quite empty when we arrived, except for the old center filled up with tourists and students of all nations. Many areas around the old town were under construction or undergoing preparations for (or after?) some festivities, which made it a little hard to take that clean, perfect architecture images, hehe. We walked around the area near Piazza Maggiore for about an hour, while the sun was throwing its last warm rays on the beautiful reddish streets before slowly setting down and we were sorry for not having more time to chill out at one of the cute outdoor restaurants, enjoy the peaceful atmosphere and admire the charming architecture.
While heading back to the car through the wonderful arched passageways, the clouds suddenly covered the sky. It all happened ultra fast. The weather forecast announced “some rain” for that evening, but by the time we were driving out of the center, it was literally pouring water from the skies. The streets filled up with water too and you could only slightly see the brake lights from the car in front of you. Still, we kept going, hoping to find a gas station or parking where to stop safely. There was none. Driving ultra slow through heavy rain accompanied by thunders and lightnings, we turned around right before taking the highway and entered some sort of residential area on the outskirts. We parked in front of a random block of flats and just waited for the storm to pass. We waited for about an hour or more. The heavy wind was shaking the car and we were hoping the thin trees around us were strong enough despite their appearance. A pizza guy was just delivering to the building in front of us, his umbrella torn apart. A woman was running, instead of finding some temporary shelter. Man, these people have such a strong sense of duty! Then, to top it all, the rain turned into an ice storm aggressively hitting the car’s windows, which seemed to last for ages. We were already contemplating the prospects of sleeping there in the car if we were to make it through the heavy storm.
But eventually, it all tempered down a bit, turned into a monotonous rain, and we could safely leave our spot and head to Firenze unharmed.
