Arriving in Italy, Santa Lucia di Budoia, Padova

[mythicalgirl]

Despite flying with a sinus infection my travel karma was actually good this time - no major flight delays or maintenance issues, no lost bags.  Yes, I was breathing a big sigh of relief when we landed at Venice's Marco Polo airport only about an hour late and with all our baggage. 

This is long so I've put it behind the cut. 

 

I left work on Thursday the 16th (My Birthday!) about 3:00 in the afternoon and went straight to the airport in Indy.  No first class upgrades were available (bummer) but I had a window seat so no biggie.  The flight left on time with no problems other than not enough room for everone's carry on luggage.  *sigh*  They really should start charging for carry ons, not checked luggage, then maybe some people would stop trying to clain a steamer trunk sized duffel bag as a "carry on".  My ears where just a little not happy with take-off but very not happy with landing.  I chewed my gum, yawned and gently popped my ears (a lot) and made it back to terra firma without any lasting issues.  Mom and Dad met me at the airport in Dallas and we had a nice quiet evening at their house with a light dinner.  Friday we all went to Delany's pub for lunch then Dad and I were ready to hit the road.  Our driver picked us up and off we went to the airport.  Again, no first class upgrades (poo).  The flight itself was fairly uneventful other than the old couple in the row in front of us stealing one of our blankets.  Boo old people! 

Our layover was in Madrid and can I just say that I don't really like that airport?  We had to go through passport control and security to get to the terminal and gate for our flight to Italy.  That wasn't bad - more about why I hate the Madrid airport later.  Our flight to Venice was delayed.  We had a plane but no crew.  Our crew was in France and couldn't get to Madrid because the air traffic controllers in France were on strike!  Once a crew was rounded up we were on our way.  The pilot came on to explain the delay and he was not happy, in either Spanish or English, when explaining the delay.  Dad and I weren't able to sit next to each other on this flight but no biggie - I tried to sleep.  Half the flight was a group of Italian high school students returning from a trip to Spain.  They all cheered when we touched down in Venice - it was cute. 

C- and T- met us at the airport and off we went to Santa Lucia di Budoia, a small town up near Aviano.  Driving through the Italian countryside my smile came back.  Even overcast and a little rainy it was just beautiful.  I love the houses with their red tile roofs and shutters on the windows.  Each house with a garden in the yard, some with grape vines, some with olive trees.  The buildings all white or beige or yellow.  Just driving down the road there was no mistaking this for anyplace else...I was in Italy!  I love the twisty streets in the little villages, all the old buildings, the people walking or riding their bikes.  Just lovely.  We arrived at T's place in Santa Lucia and after a shower and food it was time for some much needed rest (I didn't sleep much on the plane).

This is what I woke up to the next morning:


I was in the little guest room with the balcony.  I could walk out to a view of Santa Lucia, the countryside, the mountains, and the white line of Mezzomonte in the distance.  A truly breathtaking view. 

Sunday we went to Padova (Padua for us English speakers).  A short drive to Sacile to get the train to the station at Venezia Mestre then another train to Padova.  Once there we had some confusion about how to get to the Eremitani Museum and the Scrovegni Chapel from the train station (we left the guide books in the car back in Sacile).  Once sorted out we had a little walk through Padova until we got to the Eremitani.  Our reservations for the Scrovegni Chapel weren't until 3:00 pm so we had some time to wander around the museum.  While C- and T- went upstairs to see the paintings Dad and I stayed on the ground floor with the achaeological collections. 

I was in heaven. 

There was a tomb with the skeletons of a man and his horse!  Lots of funeral stele from the Roman era (Dad and I were translating the Latin and the Italian to figure out the inscriptions).  Etruscan pottery.  Lots of Greek red-figure and black-figure pottery!  Your little mythicalgirl was a kid in a candy store!  I could have stayed there for days.  Eventually it was time to go to the chapel and see the Giotto frescoes though so I reluctantly left the Greek pottery (one of which I studied in one of my art history classes!  Squee!) and off we went to the Chapel nearby. 

Here's a pic of a church tower taken from the courtyard of the museum (this is NOT the Scrovegni Chapel):
 

One thing you have to know about the Scrovegni Chapel - they take the conservation of the frescoes here very seriously.  You must be at the doors at least 5 minutes before your scheduled time.  You spend 15 minutes in a climate controlled chamber watching a video about the chapel and the frescoes.  The 15 minutes helps to regulate everyone's temperatures.  Then another door opens and you are ushered into the chapel for another 15 minutes.  And that is all you get - 15 minutes.  In groups of no more than 25 people at a time. 

That was easily one of the most amazing 15 minutes of my life. 

I am not a huge fan of Christian religious artwork.  Really, how many 'Madonna and Childs' or 'Last Suppers' does one have to see?  But these frescoes.....Wow.  Just Wow!  The artwork itself is nothing short of amazing.  Take in the scope of what Giotto did here, with the high ceilings and levels of panels all telling stories from the Bible, and the lower panels with the Virtues and Vices.  It is just spectacular.  If I ever make it back to Padova I am going to the Scrovegni Chapel again.  I especially liked the panels with the Virtues on one side and their corresponding Vice on the other.  And the vaulted ceiling with its blue sky feel and the arches of saints.

After the Chapel and the Museum we wandered around the old city of Padova a little.  This was not one of the better times of my trip.  T- and C- were intent on finding someplace to eat.  Except it was around 5:00 PM.  In Italy, as in much of Europe, all the restaurants close between 2:30 and 7:00 or 7:30.  This was the case here as well.  Pretty much the only places open were some food stalls in one of the piazza where an African Fest was going on and some bars where they had tramezzini (sandwiches made of white bread with crusts removed and available with all sorts of fillings).  Evidently fest food and tramezzini weren't up to snuff because it was decided, not by me, that we should go back to the train station to catch the 5:29 train instead of the 6:30 and we'd eat in Sacile. 

We were really hoofing it back to the train station to make the 5:29.  With my bad legs and knees this was not a fun time for me.  I was bringing up the rear, as usual, and while Dad would turn around to see that I was keeping up neither C- nor T- even checked that either of us was still with them.  Plus I was so focused on not losing them that I ignored a homeless man that was begging for money.  Someone up ahead had given him the rest of a liter of Coke and he was asking everyone else for change.  I not only didn't give him any change but I didn't even acknowledge his presence.  While this may be normal in the US I think it must be very rude in Italy because the guy started screaming at me in Italian.  Mamma Mia! and other phrases I didn't recognize were following me as I walking quickly away.  By the time we got to the train station we just made it to our platform and on the train before it left. 

I was tired, sweaty, my legs hurt and I'd just been most probably cussed out in Italian by an irate homeless man.  I was not a happy camper.  We did go to dinner in Sacile and I had a great pizza but I really couldn't enjoy dinner.  I had a monster headache by this time and was afraid to say much to our hosts because I was afraid if I opened my mouth something like F*** You would come out.  So I stayed kind of quiet.  While they complained about how noisy it was in there and how they should have asked for a table outside, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah.  I realized several things that day - 1) my Italian was better than Ts and he'd been in Italy for 4 years, 2) neither T- or C- had embraced the Italian culture and were still living like Americans and expecting things to be like they are here, and 3) both T- and C- are self-absorbed individuals.  
 

 

More on these observations will likely come up as I go through the remainder of the recaps.  Next up: Walking around Santa Lucia, an old goat, hiking a mountain, and Venice!