Verona and Tunafish

Europe » Italy » Veneto » Padua
February 17th 2009

Published: February 17th 2009

a good sleep last night - the first night in new surroundings is never great, but last night was fine, and i have a feeling tonight i'll just pass out. very tired, another long, active day.

so i nearly slept in this morning. how does one sleep in on vacation you might ask? well i had a reservation to see the Scrovegni Chapel here in Padua at 9am. i don't know what i was thinking last night when i set the alarm for 8 because you're supposed to be there a half hour early to pick up the tickets you have to reserve and pay for earlier. so after my shower i realize its almost 830, and the chapel is a 15 minute walk away. No breakfast stop, just a beeline there. Lucky for me its not busy this time of year, and out of 25 possible spots, there was only three other people there. they make you reserve ahead for a 15 minute time slot. at your time, the door to the "anteroom" (porch) open and everyone goes in, the door closes again. to preserve the paintings, everyone ha sto wait there for 15 minutes while the humidity adjusts. they put on a movie about t hechapel which was pretty interesting. so this guy scrovegni was denied a christian burial (14th century) because he had loaned money and charged high interest rates - something the church frowned upon. now if only we could do that with visa eh?

anyways, his son wanted to try to get his dad into heaven, so he commissioned Giotto to do up this lovely chapel so he could donate it to the church. well, if i were a higher power i may have been persuaded. it was beautiful. every wall top to bottom, the ceiling was a painting. it was painted os it looked like there were marble frames around all the... panels i guess you'd call them. they start in one corner, and go clockwise around the room, then down to the next row down and continue again, all around, in three rows. it tells the story of marys parents Joachim and his wife, Mary, then finally Jesus. The ending, on the far wall, is a huge painting of the last judgement, hell on one side, heaven on the other. of course scrovegni junior is in there, presenting the chapel to the angels (and is placed on the heaven side conveniently). crazy to think its over 700 years old. some spots looked a little rough, but its been constantly worked on for the last 20 years or so, and had been previously. breathtaking really. good thing its only one room because they jus tigev you 15 minutes and then the boot so the next group can file in.

so i left there, and went back to the hotel to get my watch which i had forgotten. then off to find some breakfast. i went to the market, where there were all kinds of fruits, veggies, meat, fish, trinkets, clothes, etc etc for sale. so i go into the bakery, get a custard filled croissant, some big ring of bread (which turned out to be like 8 dollars!!), and an orange from the market. good breakfast.

off to the train station to head to verona.

bought a 'verona card' at the station, which covers practically every sight in the city, plus public transportation. trying to save my feet a little, since its a 15 minute walk to the center from the station. got the right buss and off i went.

first stop was the roman arena. almost 2000 years old, looks like a small colosseum. beaitufl pink marble, and its still used today. needed to pee and didn't want to have to pay a euro at the public WC (water closet) out on the square so i went to use the bathroom in the arena. well the mens ones were locked up. so i snuck into the womens since there was no one around. just as i was coming out, of course a big group of guys and girls were coming in. the girl right outside the door got a fright hahaha i jus tlaughed and ran away. thankfully i was done there and headed out.

on up the street to th emain square, piazza erbe, filled with people, merchants, american tour groups, and japanese tour groups. nice old buildings, some scattered roman ruins around. and of ocurse down the street wit hthe biggest crowds of all was juliets house. so romeo and juliet suppoesdly lived in verona. they're fiction, but someone in verona had th esmart idea to set up a house, balcony and all, and claimed it as the capulet house. funny enough its on via cappelo (street name). anyways i didnt bother going in th ehouse because the line up wa shuge, but i did see the balcony and the statue of juliet with tons of tourists, young and old, men and women, rubbing her breast for good luck. its a different color than the rest because of all the rubbing. when a 70 odd year old korean man started rubbing it the whole crowd starting cracking up laughing. funny!

then off to lamberti tower, which you can climb or take the elevator. i had my verona card so it was free, but only for the stairs - had to give an extra euro for the elevator. i thought that was in bad taste to the spirit of the card, so up the steps i go... about 300 later, beautiful views all over verona, all the way to the snow-capped alps in the distance.

after that off to another church, st anastasia... with a double scoop chocolate and straccioleta (probaylb mispelled) gelato. YUM.

anyways the church was, again, fantastic, with a hunchback supporting the big bowl of holy water on his hunch. also tons of artwork, huge domes, high ceilings.

then up to the river, which blocks in verona on three sides, a nice pedestrian bridge with good views back on the city, with a few clock towers poking up through the buildings. then off to the duomo, another huge church. i think i snuck in the side door and avoided payin gto get in (but i'm not going to hell bc i wouldn't have to pay wit hmy verona card anyways). i'm starting to get a little churched out i think bc i cant really remember much about this one. i'm sure it was big, beautiful and full of great art. oh yes, this one was built on the ruins of old roman churches, which you can see through glass walkways they have installed there. not a lot to see but osme old bricks and columns, but still interesting.

then back through the city, adn a stop for a bit to eat. went into a self service cafeteria style place, and got some random pasta with red sauce, parmesean cheese, with bread and water. 10 bucks and moderately tasty. and for dessert, you guessed it, gelato. fragola (strawberry) this time, just one scoop. good thing i'm walking 20 km a day or this gelato would not be a good thing. plus i'm on low food rations anyways because they damned stuff is too expensive.

which brings me to another thing. costs. i may seem like a bit of a tight wad (ok so i am) but first of all, anyone that knows my family knows that this is entirely genetic, and i can safely say i am not the most frugal of the bunch. secondly, i would be in debt till i'm 50 if i were buying everything i wanted and eating really well. also i'd rather use the money on a good sight or something, or, as i di dtoday, drop a euro or two in the church boxes and light a candle.

anyways, about 400 i decided i had enough of verona nad got back on the train to head to vicenza, which is on the way back to padova where i am staying. the ride is over an hour, it was gettin gdark, and my feet are gonna go on strike, so i skipped it. came straight back to padova, went to find a snack/supper. its a university town and there are take out pizza places everywhere on the main square, so off i go. i find one, but want to keep looking in case something better is around, and there are 5 or 6 dodgy guys hanging out. when i walk by, one gives me the raised eyebrow look, and as soon as i pass i hear "ssssssssst sssssssssst sssssssst", which if i am correct, is the way they let yo uknow they are drug dealers. just wonderful! i got pizza there anyways becaues it was the only place i found open so i ignored the mas i passed the second time and got some pizza that looked like chicken, onion, cheese. well it wasnt chicken exactly, mor elike tuna. haha but it was still good pizza, and it did the trick.

now i am trying to decide where to go next. i have 5 days left, and sunday i want to be in florence since my flight leaves from there monday lunchtime. i want to see florence, pisa, lucca, siena, and th ecinque terre. but i think thats setting my goals a little too high but i have no idea where to go tomrorow. and i need to book a hostel before i leave this internet cafe... you can see my dilemna, and i'm sure you feel bad for me.... rigth.

anyways i'm off, managed to get a phone card today so i should call home since its been... 4 or 5 days.

see you in... not sure. wicked!

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