Day trip to Padua (aka Padova)...

I wake up again at 4am in the morning - but fortunately- I go back to sleep... I wake up a couple of hours later and watch some bad Italtian TV. The previous night I had catched a glimpse of the Italian version of Wheel of Fortune. The Adriana woman had breasts bigger than Dolly Parton and when she greated the host at the start of the show - the camera kept panning up and down her legs... Subtly - Italian TV style. This morning - there was an ad with an attractive lady and an ugly old guy in a car together - and I was thinking Anna Nicole Smith "golddigger" wannabe - but it was just an ad for wheel of fortune.

I wore my "Jesus Raves" T-shirt to breakfast which caused a few catholic eyes to pop out of their skulls.

I head to Mestre station - and grab another cold coffee from the cafe. I then meet up with Tasha at the ticket office and puy a 2 euro ticket to Padova (sorry - I'm used to the Italian way of saying Padua!). Taeko buys some breakfast at the cafe for Tasha - and she buys one of those infamous Italian Marmalade Crossiants - which she straight out refuses to eat. I explain to her that she can eat the top - the filling is only at the bottom of the crossiant - and she tries a bit.

The train to Padova only took about 1/2 an hour. Padova is a smallish uni town - but the reason why tourists visit it is for its famous "Cappella degli Scovegni" - a church with famous Giotto fresco paintings all inside it (hence that is why we are going - also we were getting a bit bored with Venice).

As soon as we get off the train at Padova station - we get harrassed by some guy who doesn't speak a word of English (he wasn't a dero or anything). Sacha said to him "do you speak english" - and he kept mouthing off at him so we did the polite thing and ignore him.

Because of the lack of food Tasha had for breakfast - we make a quick pitstop at a "typical" Italian cafe. The prices were dirt cheap and I tempt myself and get a Machiatto (my 5th coffee for today and it was only 10am - no wonder I can't get no sleep).

We head down to the Cappella degli Scovegni - which is a 5 or so minute walk away from the station. We read both Don't Know (Sacha stole my copy - which in turn - I stole from my parents) and LP and they both said you need to book the tickets 74 hours in advance. We see a sign at the entrance that confirms this - but we thought we might try our luck and just ask at the ticket office. Probably because it is off-season - we could get tickets straight away for it. LP and DK both mention something about all visitors being "decontaminated" for 15 minutes before entering the church. I thought this would involve them throwing holy water on us all and performing exocisms, hail marys and the like. But it was just that we had to sit in a room so we can get aclimatised to the church in order to preserve the frescos - because they are suffering from a bit of decay.

Anyway - to keep in the religous theme - I was wearing my Jesus Raves t-shirt - while Sacha was wearing his Jesus streaker t-shirt. Praise the lord!~

Once we were inside the small church - which incidently was built by some dude who was hated by all the townspeople and became a born again Christian and built this church in order to save him from going to the firey pits of hell. He got Giotto to decorate the walls with several murals depicting various religous stories including the birth and death of christ. There was also a gnarly picture of heaven and hell (hell had more orgies happening than heaven - yeh) with the guy who owned the church - knelling before christ or something. Although it ain't no Sistine Chapel - it was still pretty cool and worth the trip out to Podova.

Another motive to come to Podova was to find an H&M. I was pretty disappointed that H&M in Mestre was only for the ladies and kiddies (not sure if I could fit into a size XXXS!) - so I had checked on the H&M website on the net and it said there was an outlet in Podova - which had male clothing in it. Unfortunately - we wandered around town for a bit and couldn't find it. Taeko even went up to a department store droid and asked where the H&M store was. The droid looked a bit puzzled (she didn't speak much engrish) - and called over another assistant. She two looked puzzled - and called over another assistant - who spent about 2 minutes studying Taeko's map of Padova. The third assistant said - you need to catch a number 24 bus from here - and it will go for 40 minutes and there is an H&M there... Foiled yet again....!

We had lunch at the local Brek restaurant (yay Brek!). I had ordered some Penne - but the woman serving went mental a bit and we had a bit of a communication breakdown. She was trying to say "I couldn't hear you over the glass (between the counter)" - and I though she was asking me to pick up a take away dish nearby... I also spoil myself and get a Tiramsu - which was slightly frozen...

In order to find the location of H&M - I set off by myslef and try to track down an internet cafe. About 10 minutes later - I find one - only to be denied again - because the computers were all full.

Feeling a bit defeated - I head back to Brek and pick up Tasha where we check out Coin (that crappy-esque department store). The clothes were pretty tragic but we did get a bit of a kick roaming through the homewares department. I found a Donna Hay Cookbook translated into Italian... and took a picture of it (despite the "no photos" signs everywhere). I soon discover that Taeko is a serial merch-fingerer. Someone who likes to finger or touch all of the merchandise in a shop.

Because I had lost my sunnies a couple of days ago in Venice - I check out a nearby Sunglasses/Glasses shop - and end up buying a pair of Diesel Sunnies which are kewl. Everything was on sale - and they were only 80 euros (much cheaper than at home!).

We then wander thru the city's various plazas and take a few pictures. I stumble on a Zara (another major international clothes store like H&M) - and go a bit mental and buy 80 euros worth of clothes including a pair of black tight denmim jeans (not quite metallica tight but getting there), a fluoro t-shirt (I hope Ant won't divorce me), a fluoro hoodie (I really hope Ant won't divorce me - although he might not want to be seen in public with me) and another funky t-shirt which makes me look like out of a Justice video-clip.

After my shopping rampage - we decide to do something touristy and visit the Palce Zimmerman - which houses a couple of museums including a venetian decorative art museum. Although for Taeko and I - the main purpose of the visit was to try and locate a toilet (I was busting after all of that shopping excitement).

We head back to the station - buy a couple of tickets and I almost lead everyone onto the wrong train (damn those Eurocity class trains!). Our trip back to Mestre was even shorter - only 15 minutes. We all decide to go to the Mestre Brek restaurant (which is located in the LP map) - although upon arrival - we discover that it opens at 6:30pm and we got there at 6... We hang around out the front like people do at the Belconnen Mall until it opened. I discovered that Brek makes pizza (eg: they cook it fresh for you) and order a Maghretta pizza. Although it was basic (eg: tomato paste and cheese) - it was really yummy and cheap (at only 4 euros). I also had some vino on tap (as you do).

I say goodbye to Tasha for the day - who head back in a mad rush to catch a bus to their hotel located in b##f####-somewhere-near-mestre. I stumble upon a cheap internet cafe (2 euros for an hour) and do some blogging - until the internet carks it and I leave in a mad state - hoping that my last half an hour's worth of work hasn't been lost.