Padova/Padua

It's no secret that Tony is gone, and will be for, oh, let's just say a little while. I have no job to keep me busy, and even school and volunteer work don't fill all of my hours. So what else am I going to do, housework? Please. I've been filling my free time with all of the above, with a little car repair paperwork, yardwork, and travel thrown in. "But Elaine," you say, "how can you travel when your car is broken?" AHA! Did you forget I live in EUROPE? Oh, sorry, I probably shouldn't rub that in.

I live in Europe, I live in Europe, neener neener neener.

Ahem. Okay, that's out of my system. I promise.

But I've been fortunate enough to have taken three trips in the last two weeks, all of them utilizing public transit or the power of groups to rent a bus. My friend Helena was also temporarily spouse-less, so we have hopped a couple of trains (and a few water taxis) and gone exploring. Our first trip was to the neighboring city of Padova, referred to as Padua in English. I'd say that I'd never been there before, but that would be a lie because Ikea. Really, I've been to Padua a half dozen times, and even once went beyond Ikea and promptly got lost and frustrated at the broken car so we turned around and came back. So it was nice to head back with no agenda. Helena and I hopped a ten a.m. train and were happily wandering around well before 11, all for the low cost of around four euro! While the weather was pleasant in the morning, I was happy I brought my little rain shell with me, as the skies opened up later in the day. Our very first stop was a little park, which had plenty of blooming trees and a beautiful fountain. Of course we had to stop and gush over the koi and turtles before moving along.

Orange koi, bottom right

At the bustling Pedrocchi Cafe

We headed toward the University, but made a pit stop at one of the oldest coffee shops in Italy - the Pedrocchi Cafe. I think construction started in the 18teens, and it opened up around 1830 and has since been expanded, though it's been continuously open for nearly two hundred years. To put that into perspective, that's roughly when Andrew Jackson became president and the Oregon Trail opened, and pre-dates the Battle of the Alamo. Pedrocchi is also known for their pastries, and is attached to a museum. The cafe has a strange shape to it, and is known for some of its annexes. One in particular, the green room, is known as a gathering spot for students, who are welcome to sit and enjoy the heat in wintertime without having to order anything. Of course, everything is so beautiful and delicious that I'm sure they always buy something anyway. Helena had a Prosecco and I had limoncello; even though it was early in the day I still think those were great choices! We dithered over macarons, but our willpower ultimately prevailed, I'm sad to say.

Odes to Galileo are everywhere!

We stumbled across a restaurant/pizzeria and Helena recognized the name, so we decided to eat lunch there. I now have a new favorite pizza place! It's too bad it's in Padua, because both of our choices were excellent. I got a pizza with artichoke hearts, olives, red peppers, and gorgonzola, and Helena's had pickled cabbage, olives, and mushrooms. After lunch, we stumbled a giant market and spent a few minutes wandering through it before setting off for the University's Hall of Giants or Hall of Heroes. Padua is known as an intellectually important city, as Dante, Petrarch, and Galileo all lived and studied there. The University - the oldest in Europe - houses the Hall of Giants, which dates back to the 1300s and has been remodeled, refurbished, and rebuilt several times. At one point the building housed the University library, and the third floor is currently the home of the Museum of Archaeological Sciences and Art. We just took a quick peak and then headed back toward the market.

At the Hall of Giants

At the Hall of Giants

Dante

Watch out for cyclists in Padua!

We wandered through the Prato della Valle, admiring the vendors' wares and all the statues surrounding this giant oval. This is the second-largest square in all of Europe, and in addition to the market, there were also people setting up for the next day's marathon, so it was a great place to people watch. We sat down under a little tent for a few minutes, and then set out to explore some of the nearby churches. We struck out then, I guess because we made this attempt during riposo, but decided we should probably start making our way to the Planetarium. We found it with no problems, but since we were early and encountered a little bit of rain on the way, we decided to find a hang-out spot. It took a few blocks to find one, but we settled on a little neighborhood bar. The best thing about it was a nearby restaurant used two-story bicycles for deliveries, so we had fun watching the guys cruise by on their very tall bikes as we sat and sipped our (terrible) wine. We were there for probably an hour, but left half the wine on the table because it was just not very good. Oh well, at least it was cheap!

Flower and Plant Vendors

Prato della Valle

Meandering the halls of vendors

The Planetarium show is only held in English once a month, I think. Helena did her research though, and reserved us tickets for an English showing, so we entered the dome and quickly appropriated the best seats for ourselves. The reclining seats reminded me of a scene from Sweet Home Alabama, where the redneck dad Earl shows the Mayor of NYC his fancy new armchair, which reclines somewhat violently. After we got over the shock of tilting back, we settled in for the show. Surprise surprise, it was narrated by Mark Hamill! I never would have known that though, if I hadn't been paying attention to the credits. There were two short films, and they were interesting enough, but I definitely caught myself dozing a few minutes into the first one. Whoops. The graphics were a little dated, but I'm still glad we went. There was even a bonus segment at the end which talked about Halley's Comet over Padua, which influenced a famous piece of nativity art by Giotto di Bondone in the Padua  Scrovegni Chapel! Oh did I mention he painted the chapel between 1300-1305, and the painting depicts the comet's 1301 appearance? We actually tried to visit the chapel, but tickets were sold out the day we wanted to go; they only allow in 25 people at a time, four times a day, for climate control purposes. But now that I've seen it on a video, I don't need to see it in person! Just kidding; I would love to go see it some time, as the chapel is really important in terms of art history. (Now many artistic renderings of the nativity feature a comet instead of the Star of Bethlehem, and di Bondone is credited for this.)

di Bondone's Halley's Comet Nativity in the Scrovegni Chapel*

After the Planetarium showing, we decided to head back to the train station, as it was starting to rain pretty good. I put on my jacket, raised the hood, and we set out on our merry way. Flash forward 45 minutes and I looked like a drowned rat, thanks to some accidental misinterpreting of maps. #touristproblems It wouldn't have been so bad, except of course we were walking INTO the wind and rain, and my feet were starting to hurt from all the walking. Oh well, we made it back to the station safe and sound, and were happy to get onto the dry train. We got back to Vicenza and had to walk in the rain for about a mile, but I think that was even worse because we were already chilled and stiff from sitting on the train. I turned on the heated seat feature in the car and ran a hot bath when I got home, and I considered that an excellent ending to a very satisfactory outing.

*Photo from the Planetarium's website http://www.planetariopadova.it/