My first thoughts of Bologna

Bologna is beautiful
It is the rossa cita, the colours on the buildings are shades of earth reds, ochres, the buildings are 3 - 4 stories high, with incredible history and detail . You walk around the city under porticos, there are miles and miles of porticos (covered walkways) some with frescoes on the vaulted ceilings and terrazzo floors. Is is perfect in a city that can rain a bit, and is very hot in summer. These make wonderful views as you look down through the arches, the other thing is often you can walk down streets and see no one, which is a reason Bologna is beautiful, it is not a busy city. the centro attico is a walled city like many Italian cities, Bologna has some of the original walls still standing, and  entrance gates on the main roads in and out of the centre. Bologna has two main towers left standing at the intersection of several roads, one of the towers appears to about to fall over, and infact l cannot understand why it does not. The main transport is buses, which go everywhere and are quick, but l am starting to tire of the excitement of them. Obviously there are scooters everywhere, and though they say watch yourself when crossing the road, l find most drivers very aware of pedestrians, maybe because l have the boys in hand. Everyone loves the boys, they love children, especially blond twins. Everyone in Bologna is very friendly and seems to want to know why we chose Bologna, and very excited to here we are from Australia, as compared to America or England. Jayne always tries to speak Italian in the shops, and they appreciate the effort, often praising her on her accent, and from that we have made many friends who offer to give us free lessons in Italian, as they are bored in an empty shop, or teach us to make pasta, or where to eat or go.
I love the BARs that are everywhere, where l get my caffe, what l am not mad about is the amount of cigarette butts thrown to the ground, and the graffiti on some wonderful old walls.
For me the best way to get around Bologna is by bike, you can ride from one side of the centro to the other in 5-10 minutes
Everyone dress's very well, and the long scarfs are the look, no matter how warm, l have become an addict to these. You have to love the effort everyone puts into their look, and every second person wears aviator style ray bans. No one wears baseball caps, and the town closes down from 1.30-3.30 which makes a great time to walk around in quite streets.
There are no green grass areas in the centro, but wonderful piazzas. They have a large park on the edge of centro called Marguarita, which is packed with people playing sports , sun baking, pic nicking , they have a trampoline area with about 12 tramps, and bouncy castles etc for litle kids
There are many Africans walking the streets trying to sell tissues, crayons etc, they are happy and friendly people, so you don't mind being stopped and chatting with them so much.
One of the best views is looking through hugh wooden open doors leading into a palazzo, with a courtyard and small garden area, it is a perfect picture, and the respite from the bustle of the brick and concrete. This is were we will be living in a month in a palazzo off a wonderful piazza , quite peaceful and visually beautiful. So this is a quick response to my first thoughts, l will try to talk more about my thoughts of Bologna, but l imagine l will always feel it is a beautiful city, with wonderful people.