Today was the gondola ride. Don’t get me wrong, I loved it, it was awesome amazing (more later).

I almost fell into the canal. You see, they are having a particularly low tide right now, so that means the distance between the boat and the stairs that get you down to the boat is much greater than normal. It was terrifying. But I survived, dry and a little wobbly!

Yesterday we arrived at Ravenna after a stormy day in Padova. Ravenna was bigger than I expected, and the lady at the train station ticket booth was angrier than I expected, but the town won me over.

Ravenna is in the Emilia Romagna region of Italy. This was our venture out of the Veneto region where we have so far spent all our time. The Emilia Romagna region is known for its food. The Italian food that we associate with Italy (pasta, sauce, etc) comes from this region. Ravenna became the capital of the Western Roman Empire in 450 A.D. and for that reason, there are many mouments in this small town. What Ravenna is most known for is its mosaics. The mosaics we saw were incredibly beautiful, vibrant and 1,600 years old.

Walking into San Vitale for our first monument was astonishing, the detail and vibrancy of the mosaics is incredible. Next door to San Vitale is the tomb of Galla Palicidia, sister to a Roman Emperor (sort of, too long a story to get into now), but her small tomb is ornamented in the most beautiful blues and golds I’ve ever seen. I have pictures and I will share them when we return. The green and the gold in San Vitale was the most surprising. That, and the preservation after all these years. I think what I liked so much was that they were there, much as they had been when they were created. It was such a difference than looking at a pile of marble in Rome and trying to picture a building. This was actually what they created. Amazing. I’ll describe more when we’re home and the internet is free.

We also had a great meal. I had capelletti in ragu (meat sauce) and sliced chicken breast with balsamic vinegar. Eric had some sort of polenta and then sliced meat (I can’t remember the name of it). The wine in the E-R region is sangiovese, we shared a mezzo-litre and while it was great with food, the tannins were a bit much for just drinking.

Padova is big, that’s the first thing I didn’t expect. You can’t leave a small painted cozy town like Verona and land in Padova without a bit of a shock to the system. The next bit of fun came during our walk from the train station to the Scrovegni Chapel to see the Giottos. Someone came up behind me and tried to get into my backpack. I wish I could say that this is the first time this happened to me, but I recognized the strange feeling of someone behind me and then a little tug. I stopped and turned around and stared the little bugger in the face, but he quickly ran off. As with the last time this happened to me (descending the stairs to the Pigalle Metro stop in Paris 12 years ago), the only treasure he would have gotten from me had he gotten the zipper open was my scarf and my guide book. However, it put me on edge and made me a little paranoid and made it even harder for me to like Padova.

The Scrovegni Chapel is a whole lot of buildup for not a huge pay off. You sit in a climate controlled room for 15 minutes and then that set you loose for another 15. That style of art has never been a favorite of mine, but the colors were beautiful. I think I would have liked it better if I’d had absolutely no expectation. But, alas, I did. I’m glad we saw it though.

I won’t now go into all the details on the differences between Italy and the US. Let me just say that Americans are spoiled when it comes to signs that explain things, like where to catch a bus or where to stand in line for something. That’s all I’m going to say on the subject, that and they should reconsider the hours that they open their stores to actually be more convenient for people who may want to shop in them. That’s all.

The highlight of Padova was the Palazzo Bo, or the University of Padova. The ancient courtyard and the anatomy theatre (built in 1495, the first anatomy theatre in the world). Were amazing. I can’t wait to post photos. Eric was able to get more into the spirit of youth this university town had, I had a harder time. There was a lot of chaos due to graduation (see Eric’s post) and I was having a hard time acclimating to this new town. It was a lovely town, in a dirty medieval sort of way and I really enjoyed the history of the academic culture there. So, you see, I am still trying really really hard to like Padova.

OK, so may of you seemed concerned about the horse. I too was worried. The restaurant we went to that night in Verona only had cavallo on the Italian language menu, it was missing from the English version. But, what they did have which was almost as bad was a rolling cart of boiling meat. Thank God they didn’t roll that sucker out until after I had eaten. Eric narrated for me, as the cart was behind me but apparently they pulled a tongue out and sliced it for the table. The smell alone was enough to finish me off.

Fortunately, prior to the rolling cart of smelly simmering manzo, I enjoyed very much my tortellini in broth and my ravioli. Eric got the gnocchi (which was the bast gnocchi I ever tasted, they served it in marscapone cheese on radicchio). For  his secondi, he got fish mush on polenta (which is also a kind of mush). I wouldn’t have cared so much if he hadn’t  spilled some on his sweater and then worn the sweater the next day. I swear a gang of cats followed us around Padova. There are some disadvantages to packing light. We topped the night in Verona off with some gelato and then a nice long bath.

Wait, wrong play. Anyway we’re off to Padova (or Padua to us in Ameri-land) to see the Scrovegni chapel and the Palazzo Bo. Galileo taught at the Palazzo Bo. On Thursday it’s off to Ravenna to see the mosaics. Not sure if we’ll find access again until we get back to Venice on Friday. So, if you don’t hear from us you’ll just have to be in suspense.

But keep commenting! We love to see the comments!

Here we are in Verona taking advantage of our 6 hours of free internet that came with our room. I got a great deal on a pretty swank place, there are some advantages to traveling in the winter. We have a bathtub, a real one, not just a bidet.

So, Verona is really beautiful. I mean really, really, really beautiful. I’m tired from our sight seeing orgy or I’d come up with some better adjectives. The buildings are frescoed on the inside and the outside. My neck hurts from looking up. All the details are amazing, tucked into the corners of squares or on houses. Incredible. Oh, and don’t forget all the Roman stuff everywhere. There is more Roman stuff in Verona than anywhere else in the world except Rome. We went to the arena, where they now do Aida every summer, but used to involve an entirely different drama involving slaves. There are a few of the Roman portas, or gate ways. And a huge Roman theatre up on a hill. Then there is a castle and some walls, Romanesque stuff in the basements of some place that is 1,000 years old.

Did I mention the orgy of sight seeing <question mark> My mind is spinning and my legs and feet ache. Why did the Romans build such steep stairs <question mark> Weren’t they shorter than us<question mark>

Even though I gave Eric a bad time about comparing the palazzo’s to hookers, the more I think about it, the more it fits. Venice used to be a very wealthy state, they used to sell the salt out of the sea all over the world and turned it into 24 carat gold that they stuck on their ceilings. Now they are selling themselves and judging by the amount of people with cameras around their necks walking around out there, they seem to be doing a pretty good job.

Today we saw a lot of gilded things. The Doge palace (seat of government back before there was an Italy). Lots of gold, lots and lots of paintings of Mary and Jesus and Doges. Lots. Then we went over to La Fenice (the opera house). Beautiful but a bit sad as it is all a painstaking reproduction (it burned almost to the ground right before my last visit here 12 years ago). Looking forward to Verona tomorrow but I’m also a bit sad to leave Venice. This is one of those cities that you could spend years in and not experience everything. Eric says you can say that about any city. I say that most cities you don’t want to experience everything.

Forgive me ahead of time, who knew Italian keyboards were weird.

So, we made it, this is our second full day. Yesterday we did all the main tourist sites and walked all over. The weather is pretty cold, but we brought enough layers of clothing to make it bearable. Today we spent most of the day on boats. Oh right,Venice is an island. I forgot. We went to Torcello and Burano, two very different islands. Torcello is old and where Venice all started. Burano is colorful and touristy but very cute.

Everything is beautiful, cannot look everywhere at once. Also, I cannot seem to find the apostrophe on this Italian keyboard. Ok, I am going to sign off and turn it over to Eric. He is loving the art.

We made it to Germany! We have enough Euros for 2 minutes of internet, so here goes. 11 hour flight was great. We bit the bullet and upgraded to Economy Plus-what a difference. Actually got some sleep and feeling pretty good. Flight to Venice leaves in an hour–now to complete our quest to find frankfurters in Frankfurt!