Alla Fiera Padua

... of this one were Michelangelo’s “David” (of David and Goliath fame) and a series of unfinished works (also Michelangelo) that really gave some insight into his process. Next came the “Renaissance Walk” - about a two hour stroll from one end of the old city to the other, including stops at the enormous and beautiful “Duomo” (the cathedral nicknamed for its imposing dome), the Campanille -bell tower - (where we did NOT climb the ...

... struck Michele about the Venice bridge, well maybe three. First, it was not beautiful. She wonders where the money went. Second, it is not elaborate. She wonders where the money went. And, finally, this is the main bridge across the Grand Canal for newly-arrived tourist and, yet, there is no way to get a rolling suitcase over this bridge without hitting every single step. Could they not create a smooth ...

... endowed a museum of modern art, which seems especially radical in Venice, with its nearly universal focus on the Renaissance.
After dinner and a rest, we finished our day with a night at the Opera! We saw “The Barber of Seville” a great, silly romp of an opera - and to add to the fun, it was performed inside one of the old Venetian palaces, with each act taking place in a different room. (The small audience followed the players and the Piano Quartet from room to room.)

The two weeks after finals were very interesting and fun… Katy, Steve, Kelsa and I took a night train to Venice to start our trip. The train was not as nearly as bad as the one we took to Paris… at first, Katy, Kelsa and I were in a 6 person seating compartment with 2 other people serving in the military in Germany, but Katy and I quickly realized that the train was almost empty, so we took ...

... etc. Poor thing she was quite upset as it was her new bag and new dress. I washed them out when we got back to the apartment in the sink in the bathroom and hung it to dry. Hopefully it will be dry before we leave tomorrow. It was lovely though walking past the church eating gelato and listening to the bells clang clang for a little while though.

About 6:30 we walked back to the laundramat and lo and behold the owner was drying all the clothes in one dryer together. Oh well ...

... quite beautiful. We went into the Frari Church which cost us 2.50 Euro to get in, but it was really quite beautiful. We grabbed a slice of pizza at a pizzaria along the way and ate as we walked. We had to pay 1 Euro to use a public toilet (so I took a picture of it!! I figured that I paid for that picture!). There was a Disney store which seemed strangely out of place in Venice. We went inside, but didn't buy anything. We did some great ...

... t recall the price of the pizza but it certainly enabled us to budget for a nice meal tonight. So... off we set in search of a restaurant we'd found in the guide book - which was by all appearances closed for business on a pretty permanent basis. Crossing several times back over the Rialto Bridge, which frankly couldn't be classed as a hardship, we settled on a canalside ...

... get to it. Unfortunately we stayed on the island too late and by the time we got back to Piazzle Roma (where all the public buses leave from) we were too late to get the campsite bus but we could get a public bus to the airport and then pick up another one. Phew! (we thought), however, this was not to be. When we got off the bus at the airport, we were stranded and the public buses to the campsite had finished for the night! We asked a cabbie how much it would cost to get to the ...

... back to our hotel for a late lunch of Swiss style macaroni & cheese (a gratin with potatoes & ham). Lunch was on the restaurant's terrace where had that same great view of the mountains and we were entertained by watching two paragliders making their way down from high above the Eiger. These mountains are a popular starting point for the paragliders to start their sail down to the lake. They have tandem glides for beginners - the beginner strapped into a double seat with the ...

... the streets of medieval Italy? but I did, and it took a while to realise that the part of the city (that tiny, core of history) would be surrounded by a busy,dirty,congested town of the C20TH where people were leading lives similar to mine. I think I wanted the time travel version. So we developed road rule number two - keep driving until you find an old wall! Park as close as you can, get out the map and walk. In Padua the old and the new seemed to have wrapped ...