A bit of culture...

Yesterday, I went for a little (read, 3 hour) walk with a local from Bologna. She was showing me around and telling me about the best places in Bologna (including the best gelato!). At one point we poked our head into a church and she told me the history of this little church. This "little" church, btw, is bigger than almost any parish church I ever been into, with about a dozen side alters, paintings from the Renaissance, and lots and lots of gold covered objects. But compared to the other churches in Bologna, this is small. 500 years ago, the Pope stopped construction of what is now the main church in Bologna because it was going to be bigger than the Vatican! And all these churches are like museums- with so many Medieval and Renaissance paintings, statues, and objects.
Another fun-fact. Did you know that Bologna could have been like Venice. Over 2,00 years ago, Bologna was a marshy land. (I now know how to say marshy in Italian... I'm sure I'll be using that one a lot!). When the Romans took over the city, they turned the marshy waters into canals. However as more people moved into the city, they started to build on top of the canals. Now there is only one place where you can see any water in Bologna. :(
And now for some more Bologna street-smarts. Everyday, I go to a bar. (Everyone is now wondering, does her mother read this?) Don't worry, in Italy a bar is a caffè. The strange thing about these caffè's is not the name, but the way most of them work. You help yourself to a pastry, and then you pay after you are done eating. I just don't understand how everyone is so honest and pays; it would be so so easy to take the pastry without being noticed or take the pastry and walk out without paying! And it's not like Italians have the strictest honor code in the whole world because probably only 25% of the people actually pay for their bus ride.
Before I understood the concept of paying after you eat, I went to go eat at a little sandwich shop. I finished my sandwich and sat at my table wondering when they were going to give me the bill. Finally I asked the lady, "Quando pago?" which means "when do I pay?". The lady laughed at me and said in English, "You say quanTo pago (how much) not quando pago" and then gave me the bill. As I was leaving I heard laughing and telling the story to the other Italian workers. But I really did mean quanDo pago. Oh well.