Ferrara

So for our Northern class trip, which doubles as our spring break, we stayed in the town of Ferrara.

The city got better as we were there longer.

The first day we were there was a Tuesday, it was raining, cold, and windy.  I discovered that my rain boots had sprung a leak.

In the piazzas and streets there was a marked absence of people on the week nights.  The shops and restaurants had slightly odd hours.  For example, one restaurant we looked at was open at 4 pm, closed at 6, open again at 7, and closed finally at 9 pm.

The specialty there is pumpkin stuffed pasta in ragu sauce.  I was unsure how it would be at first, but it was really good.  The sweet pumpkin filling was not overwhelming, I think it was mostly a smooth filler that complimented the meat sauce.

The hotel we stayed in was on the piazza which faced the castle of Ferrara.  It was absolutely frigid inside that castle.  But impressive to look at, it even had a moat.

Thursday and Friday night the town started to be more lively, we saw more of the young people about the town, in bars and restaurants.  It was much more enjoyable then feeling like it was a ghost town.

One of the nights, we got three bikes (for six of us) from the hotel.  We tried a biking and walking combo that lasted less the 30 minutes.  It was fun while it lasted, but the cobblestones were not kind to bike on either.