Italy with my students!

Sadly, Jim left Monday to fly back to the states - through Istanbul, Turkey of all places! He took lots of photos. Meanwhile, I moved to yet another flat, a VRBO this time, with one of my students, Dorothia, and her friend, Jim-also! Another student, Larissa, also came along and the four of us hung out quite a bit. (This is at Trattoria Fantoni.)It was so lovely to have them both there to help with our Fair booth and hang out with around town! The flat we stayed in was a flashback to the Art Deco period—there were Mucha prints all over the apartment, and heavy, carved furniture. It was also very well located more on the north side of town. It was rather high up, so we were so grateful it had an elevator!It also had amazing views out the kitchen balcony. Walking out the front door, we were immediately in the thick of the covered walkways.Like my new Italy pants?We did quite a bit of wandering and discovered lovely new things. Of course, there's the obligatory pose mimicking the mermaids at the Neptune Fountain in the Piazza Maggiore. And these playful Satyrs. (Mimicking the poses is a thing!)But we also passed this fountain on our walks to and from the Fair.And somehow I'd not yet discovered the lovely Piazza Santo Stefano before! Flower shops spill their marvelous blooms - here's Dorothia in an ideal shot.Bologna is just so pretty! And so very OLD.We did a LOT of walking! Which was a good thing because we also ate a lot of pasta!We ate at the Gran Cafe., admired the restaurant across the street where they make their own pasta in the window (I ate there last year and it's very good too!).One restaurant I'd eaten at long ago with my SCBWI friends and must try again was the Trattoria Osteria. Next time! You simply can't eat it all in one trip, as I proved - HA!