The original university town
Honestly, things in Padova got off to a bad start in Padova. Gabe had a bad customer service experience and wanted to go back to the shop and give the staff a piece of his mind (in his best broken Italian). Shilo convinced him this was time poorly spent. On our first day we really just strolled this city's wonderful medieval streets and chilled out in our room, trying to get some energy for the next day. This gave us time to have our first Italian patio lunch experience. We expected it to take a while but the service was really slow. Shilo had a veggie plate and Gabe had a salad. We split some wonderful Prosecco and Tiramisu. In total, it took 2 and half hours. Good thing we didn't have pasta.
Early the next morning we had reservations to view Padova's famous Giotto frescos. These frescos are in a small church (Capella degli Scrovegni) sealed from the outside world. This requires visitors to pass through an airlock of sorts, all very high tech. Only 25 visitors can view the frescos at a time (limited to 15 minutes). This was a much calmer experience then our Sistine chapel experience and allowed us to really enjoy the whimsical frescos. From here we visited Padova famous markets at Piazza della Frutta and Piazza della Erbe. Shilo proclaimed them her favorite in Italy (which is saying a lot as I have dragged her to more then a few). Even though it was 10am we joined the locals in their drink of choice, the "Spritz" (campari, white wine and other such things).
No trip to Padova would be complete without a visit to the Basilica di San Antonio... A review- Basilica di San Antonio Shilo's thoughts- The most enjoyable part of this church for me was watching the pilgrims circling St. Anthony's tomb in the Chapel of the Saint. The chapel itself was elegantly decorated with white marble reliefs depicting the life of the saint. Gabe's thoughts- Many of the churches we have visited in the North of Italy have been very large but feel somewhat empty inside. Lacking things to see or just feeling like a town hall. Saint Anthony's was not like this at all. Every inch of the huge building was bursting with something unique and wonderful to look at. We did some other things after this, but I couldn't really tell you much about them. All I know is that Shilo found me asleep buy the vending machines in the Musei Civici degli Eremitani. I felt terrible and had a burning fever. The rest of the day was spent in our room, sleeping and watching fuzzy MTV Italia on an 8 inch screen. Will Gabe survive? Find out in the next entry! "Diarrea" (Italian for diarrhea) Shi and Gabe
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