Tuesday, April 26, 2011

In Italy and Loving It #1

Yes. I am in Italy, once again - I might add. End of March I traveled to take Daughter #1 to study in Italy for 10 weeks. Sir and co. went with me. I am back in Italy traveling with Daughter #1 on her spring break. Life is good!

We have planted ourselves in Verona, but take day trips out to small towns in the country side. Our first stop? Pad ova or Padua. We loved walking through the town but was a little discouraged when most of the shops were closed, we bought REALLY bad fruit from a street market and toured the wrong church. Once a old man who spoke no English pointed us in the right direction, we happily made the most of the day. We toured a big, beautiful church had lunch on the piazza then went to Scrovegni Chapel. Daughter #1 studied it in her art history class in high school and was thrilled to finally see the chapel. It was amazing. We ran for the training eating McDonals on the train on the way home!

Today we traveled to Vicenza. Daughter #1 liked it better than Padua. The town was smaller and cute. We spent the morning touring the Teatro Olimpico, which is the most amazing thing I have seen in all Italy. The theatre was started in 1580 by Palladio, a famous architect who lived in this area and had a big impact on architecture during this time period. We walked the streets looking at the buildings associated with his name. After a tour of the museo civico palazzo chiericati and another great lunch, we headed out of the city center to see the Villa la Rotonda and the Villa Gazzotti Grimani Curtis, both works of Palladio's. We were impressed with the architecture but under whelmed with the "famous" frescos and furnishings.

It has been a beautiful two days. We are loving the towns and enjoying each others company. We are tired tonight but heading into Verona's city center for dinner. We have an early start tomorrow!

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