Romeo and Juliet, Sunday, 04/27/11

Verona. Setting for the fictitious, ill-fated lovers. And yet, there is a small alley with walls completely covered in ink, ink that tells the tales of countless women who seek advice from Giuletta. The alley leads to a very small courtyard with the balcony and Juliet's bronze statue. The act of rubbing her left breast promises to bring a favorable love life and so it gleams from continuous rubbing. Just as in the movie, Letters to Juliet, love letters are answered by the Guild of Giuletta. There is even a Tomba di Giuletta! Wonder who is buried there?

Giuletta's balcony

Good luck breast

Verona is my second favorite city, just after Ravenna. The pretty Piazza Bra is dominated by the Roman Arena covered in pink and white marble. Twenty thousand cheering Veronese crowded into the Arena during its heyday to witness the spectacle of Christian vs. lion. A vibrant concert season brings people to the Arena today.

Roman Arena

A riot of colorful flowers and people filled the piazza. Despite the fact that it was Palm Sunday, every shop was open. We heard many languages being spoken but we heard German most often. Waitstaff and sales people amaze me with their fluency in many languages. Two Latvian girls addressed us in Italian until I explained, 'No parlo Italiano molto bene." In English, one asked which language did I want to use. She was fluent in 5 languages and understood more!

04-15,16

Thursday night back in Bologna we attended the Vagina Monologues directed by our host. What a performance! Each cast member was rich in talent.Friday and Saturday we explored more of Bologna including the Basilica of San Petronio on the Piazza Maggiore. Breathtaking.

Padova Treasures

We slept late Wednesday, 4/13/2011, because Venice wore us out. Sensory overload.
We did get up and out for lunch on the piazza in the shadow of  the Palazzo della Ragione. Love eating outside on the piazza. Gary had the best pizza so far, covered in very thin slices of a large porcini. My meal was vegetable spaghetti, literally; very long, thin pieces of carrot, celery, and zucchini in olive oil with seasoning. Desert was sweet strawberries in balsamic vinegar with whipped cream. What a feast of flavors for the tongue to sort out.
Fortified by the meal, we ventured into the Palace which houses a huge wooden horse by Donatello and the Grand Hall frescoes by Menaboui with Astrological theories by Mierto.

Inside the palazzo

Park in Padova

This Donatello sculpture ca. 1447 of famous Venetian condottiere, Erasmo da Narmi, was popularly called Gattamelata (The Honeyed Cat). The sculpture was very controversial at the time of its creation as it was an equestrian monument glorifying a man who was just a man, not a ruler. Such works had been executed solely for rulers.

Donatello's Gattamelatta

Welcome to the Basilica of Saint Anthony in Padua. The friars of Saint Anthony’s shrine have established a web site about the place where the body of the Saint which the world loves has been guarded for almost 8 centuries. http://www.basilicadelsanto.org/ing/visita/visita.asp
People touch tomb. Bedecked with photos and requests.
Cathedral of St Cristina. Tomb of St Luke, gospel writer. Luke had no head (in Rome)  and was missing a rib - sent to Thebes .Had seen a painting by St Luke of the Madonna in Bologna at the Cathedral of San Luca.
Rode bus around perimeter of Padova. Long ride.
Supermarket dinner

Our Last Day in Padova Thursday, 04/14/2011

We were up at 6:00 am Thursday morning to check out of our hotel and catch a local bus for the train station. At the station we utilized a booth to store our luggage for the day at euro 3.87 per bag. Then off to have coffee and see the nearby Scrovegni Chapel! This chapel alone is well worth any trip to Padova. It's by reservation only and the tour is very well organized. Marge had studied the artwork of Giotto for the chapel and how it is a defining point in the history of art. Afterwards we had a pleasant lunch at a little bar near the Univerity of Padova.
We spent the rest of the day shopping at a retail department store called "Coin" and then at a small grocery store. Marge had a successful conversation in Italian with one of the sales clerks, clearly an indicator of increased confidence in the langage. We can do this!
We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Padova. A great town, very residential and pleasant, well worth spending time in. The people are very friendly and I would advise you not to just spend time near the train station.

Katherine Hepburn and me Tuesday 04/12/11

Rialto bridge

Gondolas, real gondolas!

I caught the excitement of Katherine Hepburn in the movie Summertime with our first glimpse of Venice from the train as it crossed the long causeway onto the island! Just like her character, the crowded vaporetto carried us under the Rialto bridge along the wide S-curve of the Grand Canal. Incredible, amazing, astounding...these are appropriate adjectives for this city! Once again, photos and movies did not prepare us for the granduer of the Piazza St Mark where we disembarked. With scenes from the movie fresh in my memory, we found the location where Hepburn first spotted her summer love interest. Our senses were flooded, not just in the square, but on every turn on every alley. I think we found the exact shop where Hepburn met her lover, and we found the red goblet she purchased! On the Rialto bridge, a merchant (of Venice) eagerly instructed me in the art of discernment so that I could recognize authentic Murano glass.

Palace of the Doge

Lost on an Island called Venice!

Marge and Gary in Venice

"This doesn't look right." I said in frustration and it wasn't. After walking down crooked passageways ending in brick walls and onto an island with only one bridge on and off, I was getting just a little annoyed with all the "blind alleys". Normally my sense of direction was pretty good but my short cuts to get away from the crowds and back to the train station just weren't working.

It was late in the day on a Tuesday and Venice was packed with travelers from all over the world. We had a great day being tourists; boating down the Grand Canal, lunching on the piazza of St Mark, and shopping all over. My camera was full of pictures and my wallet was nearly empty. It was time to get on the train to go back to the hotel to Padova and I was fast learning that in Venice an empty street was probably a street to nowhere.

All the while Marge was very clam and reassuring, "Let's take a look at the map.

As I said, it was late in the day, I was tired, and, forgive me men, I followed her advice and looked at the map!

But I don't think it was just me being lost in Venice; I think that Venice has lost itself. The lure of tourist money permeates everything. Seldom do you see anything that resembles life for an existing population. The shops, restaurants and gondola rides are for tourists. Venice has sold itself and you may as well be in Disney World waiting in line for the boat rides and tours. It brought me down from the high of the Italian “bella vita”. Venice is “Fregatura”.

Picnicing tonight

Tonight's menu is:

• Mortadella con Mozzarella di Buffolo
• Pangustosi
• Filetto di Salmone
• Trebbiano Veneto vino
• Insalata Misto con Carciofini allla Paesanna
• Dolce Salame al Cioccolato

We're enjoying a little picnic in our room at the Small Hotel Royal, a very small, charming hotel in a residential neighborhood of Padova.

When we first arrived, we visited the Tourist Information office at the train station for maps, then walked to the city center and ate pasta at the Caffe Hausbrandt. So good! Mine was in a pomodoro sauce, Gary's was pomodoro mixed with sausage and prosciutto. Next, we did a bit of sight-seeing while pulling our suitcases. Then, we found our hotel via bus. After a brief rest, we walked and walked and walked, found a supermercato, and returned to our hotel for a picnic.

BTW The dolce salame al cioccolato is out of this world!