Can I help you?

Chapter 66

After everyone packed, they get on the bus and drive towards their new destination, Bologna. They arrive there, as promised around 10 PM. Everyone goes to sleep quickly, tired of the eventful day. Although everyone has their own rooms in the new hotel, Jimin quickly finds himself knocking at Jungkook's door. They both go to sleep, pressed against each other in the small one person bed.

The next morning, Sarah Explains what to do. "We are going to walk around the city, while Emma is our personal guide. There will be sightseeing, but mostly food. That's why we assembled later today." Emma pitches in "As Sarah mentioned, we will mostly have a food tour today. I want to press you all about wearing your masks. Inside the markets it can be a bit busy, the streets are also small there. But let's make a great time okay!"

They start their tour. It's now 12 o'clock.

"As you see we just entered the fruits and vegetables market. Although our own country, Belgium, is quite famous about its strawberries, the strawberries here are just divine. Let me go buy some and I'll come back. I spotted a merchant with good looking ones but for a reasonable price. Because they are so good in flavor here, they are normally very expensive."

Emma goes to a merchant and buys 3 packages of strawberries. She comes back to the corner of the market where the group was waiting and they eat the strawberries while sitting on a few benches and empty crates. After eating the strawberries, they continue the tour, because they still need to see the other markets.

The next market is more like an open street market. It's an area with normal building shops, like little spice shops.

"Here you see the market is more unorganized. Some streets are more for cheese, bread, or meat. We now stand before a shop where I bought really good cookies and funny pasta. Why you think the pasta is funny? Well, pasta is not so hard to make for real Italians, so they try and get creative with them. It has all kinds of colors in one package, as well as really weird shapes. I just bought flower shaped pasta, but if you want you can buy other kinds, if you get what I mean." Emma smiles. "But I don't understand? What do you mean?" innocent Jungkook asks. "Let me just go and buy some stuff and show you Jungkooksshi." Emma winks and enters the shop. "Oh damn Jungkook, you've really done it now." Sarah adds. Emma comes back outside with a big bag. "Let me show you what I bought. And yes, we are going to eat it." Emma opens the bag and shows the content. She bought 2 packages of really good-looking cookies, but when Jungkook sees the pasta he shrieks. "I am not going to eat dick shaped pasta!" Everyone starts to laugh really hard. "Oh Kookie, how I love it that you act so innocent sometimes." Jimin says. "Let's just continue the tour and then we can find an eating spot." Emma says. JK huffs. "We are now entering the street where more meat and cheese is being sold. Have you ever eaten Mortadella?" The other 2 girls nod. The boys, being Asian, and Sarah have never tasted it. "You can say it's a kind of salami, but it totally does not look or taste like one. Even if we Belgians ate it at home, the mortadella is the best in Bologna. It was invented here. It's a light pink sausage, with white spots in it. Really soft and big. Let me go buy some." Emma goes to buy some and returns. "Now taste it" The boys taste it, and their faces are incredible. You can see they entered heaven because of the soft, melting sausage in their mouths. The girls find it pretty good too. For them the taste is nothing new, but the melting is. Sarah passes politely. "Not a sausage fan." She says. the members look at each other, still remembering that one dare at the beach and smirk. "Mortadella in Belgium is not as soft as the one here." Emma concludes.

They continue their tour. The next shop is a cheese shop. "You all know parmesan. The whole Italian kitchen uses it. But the parmesan of Bologna is the most special. It's not hard. It has the same taste, but is way softer. Taste it."

After they tasted the parmesan, Emma lets them finally taste the cookies of before. The pasta is just kept in the bag, because its hard pasta and needs to be cooked first. "God I missed European cheese." Sarah moans as she enjoys it. "Now, has everyone ate enough? I bought big portions for everyone, but I ask you to be sure." "I don't think it's enough to not eat until late in the evening, but for now it is." Jin answers. Sarah nods and agrees with Jin. "Let's eat something again around 5 o'clock then. It is now almost 2. We had a food tour for 2 hours." Emma says. "Are you guys ready for the history part?" Sarah asks everyone. "Yes? Okay then Emma continue." They can hear her phone go off, but Sarah doesn't even look at it.

And so Emma continues. She tells the group all about the city while making their way out of the market maze. They stop under an archway, where she instructs them to stand to the sides and whisper. "It's a whisper gallery. It was used by spies in the medieval times." After a demonstration they continue their way back to the main square with the fountain. They stop there for a minute to drink some water, because the sun is getting the ancient city stones very hot.

After that they walk for a bit until they reach a beautiful old building. "This is the ancient university of Bologna. Founded in 1088 it is presumed to be the oldest still functioning university of the western world. Let's go inside and explore the artwork and teatro anatomico, the ancient scientific aula.They used to have corpses in there." They enter the building and admire the artwork. J-hope goes to Emma. "What do you mean ancient scientific aula? I don't want to see any mummies" J-hope says. "Don't worry hobi-sshi there are no mummies but let me tell you about the aula. We have arrived there now anyways." Emma says and gathers everyone. Sarah places her hand on Jhope's shoulder. He looks behind him and she smiles warm at him. He relaxes. Emma continues. "We have arrived at the aula. Behind this door is a very special room. It is not big, but really impressive. It is totally made out of wood. Every piece of the aula is wood. It was used to show dissections of firstly animals, and later on humans. Operations might also have happened here, but this is not sure. Around the table the benches stand in an 360° angle. Above the benches there are busts of important scientific men. If you enter please be quiet while walking, the wood makes lots of noise."

They enter the room one by one and sit on the benches available for the public. They look around, while Emma continues to talk about the history of the room. As emma told them, the room is indeed totally made out of wood, except for the table top of the dissection table. Around the table is a wooden barrier with a low door, to let the prof enter that area, but to keep the students out.

After their visit to the ancient building it is already 5 pm. Emma leads them to a gelati shop, the nicest one in Bologna. It sells weird tastes. They all buy a bowl of ice cream, and sit to rest for a bit. They all try the bites from each other. "Ieeeuuww this is disgusting!!!" Mary pulls her nose up. V quickly puts a bite in her mouth from his ice cream. She smiles. "Better?" "Better."

They go back to the hotel after a nice dinner. Emma pulls RM with her to a nice view. The others huddle around. "Tomorrow is Namjoon's birthday. We should do something special." Jin says. They all nod and bow their heads in conspiracy.