VI.xiii. A Day's Visit

"Exploration belongs to the Renaissance, travel to the bourgeois age, tourism to our proletarian moment."
- Paul Fussell

Before I leave Bologna I think I will have perfected my tour-giving skills, as they are being called upon increasingly often. There is, of course, something wonderful, a harmless pride that comes from having at least the feigned authority of a guide, of someone who knows the place. As a city, though, Bologna seems to exalt this aspect especially, as its chaos affords anyone who knows how to navigate its streets a certain god-like quality in the eyes of the first time visitor. It is not just a labyrinth, but an Italian labyrinth, one that seemed completely beyond reach of understanding mere months ago.
    This morning my friend Rosie arrived with her sister Charlotte and her husband Eric. Rosie is studying in Lyons for the year and was visiting her sister, in Florence for a conference. We spent the day visiting the city, seeing Piazza Maggiore, Santo Stefano, the University, all the sights most evocative of the city. Traveling with three interested intellectuals, who were willing moreover to buy me lunch, is of course a wonderful luxury, though I suppose I have had no reason to complain about this aspect of my visitors in the past, either. It was nice to have some company, though Eric and Charlotte (whom I had never met before) were only here for the day. Rosie stayed on for a few days before going back to Lyons.