Exploring the Historical Italian Streets of Bologna

The ancient Italian city of Bologna was founded as an ancient Etruscan city as far back as 1500 BC and eventually became a Roman colony. The Via Emilia is a road that has connected Bologna to Rome since it was built in in 847 BC., and still runs through the city changing its name to Strada Maggiore, Rizzoli and a few others.



It sits about eight hours north of Rome at the top of the boot-shaped country, just an hour south of Milan. This Emilia-Romagna region is full of culture – art, music, industry, wine and food.



















Tall, slender towers have become a symbol of the city. The most famous and prominent are the Two Towers – the Asinelli and Garisenda. It is said that during the 12th century there were more than 180 towers creating a unique porcupine skyline when viewed from afar.





Bolognese families have a foundation of wealth, which can easily be seen in the rich clothing donned by many of the city’s citizens, men, women and children. This is particularly the case in the area surrounding the luxury shopping center of Galleria Cavour that sits at the meeting of Via Luigi Carlo Farini and Via Giuseppe Garibaldi.








In the second picture you can see two barbers people watching outside their shop in the lavish neighborhood around Via Giusseppe. Throughout the city we walked under glorious archways decorated with ornate beam designs and sometimes paintings. The most impressive were found here (the blue and pink painted ceilings in the photos).
























Between the endearing architecture, fantastic post work apertivo spots, the fabulous cuisine, vino and people watching, Bologna, Italy has a wonderful feel to it. We enjoyed it greatly, and I hope to have the chance to explore and experience its culture again – and for a longer time.




















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Urban Booty at NYC Flea

On my final Saturday morning in New York City I was ready to go on one more exhilarating adventure, so I rented a bicycle. In a bird's eye view we must look like small two-wheeled ants hustling through cracks of a constantly moving yellow brick road.


It only took a few blocks of dodging the ubiquitous yellow cab flying down Eighth Street, nearly moving into Madison Square Garden, before I ditched down 39th. Preparing for my next move I could see that 39th ended with what looked like stalls and a flea market. Score! Turns out I stumbled my way into Hell's Kitchen Flea Market, aka. HKFM.


Located in the Chelsea neighborhood of west Manhattan, the flea market is a nice walk through the High Line from the south side of the island, and even has a shuttle that runs to a sister trove on 25th. The High Line is a gorgeous upcycled elevated rail line, boasting gardens, unique views, pop-up bars and food trucks hidden amongst the concrete jungle.





HKFM fills Thirty-Ninth with both spruced up and still dilapidated treasures of all sorts, 'urban booty', a trove that seems long as the river Nile floating you by bits and pieces of world history.


In 2007 HKFM was listed as one of the Top Ten Shopping Streets in the World by National Geographic. Other markets I've been to that are included in the list are:

Plaza Dorrego, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Portobello Road, London, England
Temple Street Night Market, Hong Kong, China

If you get to the Plaza in Buenos Aires, walk around the corner to the San Telmo market. Stop at the always packed grill stand just outside for a Choripán.









The market's blog Fleaspeech includes announcements, new vendor introductions, latest finds and news. Follow HKFM on Pinterest where organizers frequently post photos of inspiring fashion - celebrities, designers, models, artists, singers, dancers - and interior decor. The Hell's Kitchen Flea Market pinterest board is appropriately called Market Muse.


After meandering through the stalls (one kind keeper watched my bike while I browsed his vintage clothing, pin, jewelry and purse collection), my pedals and slender seat carried me into Central Park...



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Hong Kong

Reflection of Hong Kong street in cab rear view mirror

Hong Kong became a colony of the British Empire after the First Opium War (1839–42), was occupied by Japan in during WWII and controlled again by the British until 1997. The Programme for International Student Assessment ranked Hong Kong as one of the top education systems in the world.







Traditional Chinese tea house - Lin Heung

At the historical tea house we shared a pot of wonderful Jasmine tea and took in the every day people that surrounded us reading the paper, discussing politics and playing crosswords. I discovered Pu Erh tea on this trip which tasted much like my favorite African Roobios (Red Bush).




Old Street leading to Hollywood Rd, one of the first streets built in the colony, on Hong Kong Island.

You can see that a florist on Hong Kong Island has a store packed with tangerine trees. Tangerines in Chinese tradition are supposed to bring luck into the new year; Oranges are to bring wealth. Both have evolved from a language pun since the Chinese words for luck and wealth are similar to that of tangerine and orange.




I discovered this amazing store in the city called Initial: The Unusual Experience that is armed with super classic cuts with determinedly pimped-out detail. One of my personal favorites was a longer white flowy blouse with a small fur detail just on the collar.
Photo from: http://www.allabouthongkong.com/?p=169

The decore is inviting although a sculpture at the front literally shocked me so into the unusual that I almost walked right back out...thankfully I didn't! The website is fancy, but I can't see anywhere that I can do some real shopping; makes me wish I had done more while there!

We also checked out S.T.P. who became popular with its edgy lines of gift and leather goods, and is now growing an name for its clothing line.


Busy merchant street on Hong Kong Island



After some adventuring through the busy streets, wandering through the occasional sale, we made it to Cafe Landmark for a truly brilliant lunch. My host had the lobster linguine pictured on the website. I enjoyed a small kobe steak thinly sliced served aside wild greens with aged balsamic vinegar and olive oil. It was the most classic, comforting decadence.

For desert we tried a few scoops of ice cream - get this - rose petal and ginger flavors. The were rather different and nice to try, but I'll touche with my Kopps's chocolate custard any day, time or place.

All of these views are in Kowloon near the Harbor City mall