I drove to Padova, a city about 45 minutes west of Venice, to meet my friend from Victoria, Kathleen. She was visiting one of her best friends, Mary, who had moved from Canada to Italy a few years ago and just yesterday, married an Italian fellow, Domenico, in a union that took place at the city hall. They also plan to have a big church wedding next year.
I would have been on time to meet Kathleen at 10am (and I was only 10 minutes late) but I had challenges with getting gas for Betty. Since it was Sunday morning and all the gas stations were closed, some of them did have the option to buy the gasoline automatically. I pulled into one and I couldn’t see where one paid with a credit card so moved on to the next one. At this one, there were some instructions but I couldn’t figure them out. I followed them by first selecting how much gas I wanted at the pump, then walked over to a machine for paying but couldn’t get my pump to come up. I returned to the pump and my perplexed look must have transmitted easily up to an old lady on the second floor of the neighbouring building as she bellowed down to me in Italian what I should do, or what I was doing wrong. She kept talking and talking...but of course it wasn’t helping much. There were a few other people around so I asked them if they spoke any English and luckily one person did so they helped me out. Of course after putting some gas into Betty, she wouldn’t start again and by this time everyone had left so I ended up using some of the starter/magic spray to get her going.
One of many gorgeous buildings in Padova:
I met Kathleen at a beautiful round park with numerous statues dotting the circumference and a small fountain at the middle. We chatted for a few minutes before heading off in a direction towards Mary’s apartment while continuing to catch up. We had a drink in a small square and then visited a domed building/church called the Duomo (mine was a crazy expense orange juice, 3 Euros for 200ml!). There was a small entrance fee for it but by the time you opened the door and entered, you pretty much had seen it all and although we were about to turn around and continue on, the man at the desk indicated that we needed to pay (thanks for buying Kathleen!). The whole place was painted and it was quite impressive. I have to admit that places like this make me wonder about how they came up with all of the symbolism and events that form the basis of Christianity but I tried to keep an open mind and just enjoy the paintings as paintings...for their artistic content. I know I couldn’t come close to creating something like this, even if I was allowed to trace!
Arriving at Mary’s apartment, I met Kathleen’s friend Sue from Los Angeles and Nicole and Nicole, who both live on Vancouver Island. One Nicole is Mary’s cousin and the other is her friend (they are both teachers who studied together but teach at different schools) and they are touring around Italy and Paris for a few weeks. Sue is a colourful character (in attitude and wardrobe!) who used to live in Canada but she found her love of her life in the states and has two daughters, one 14 and the other around 2. Her elder daughter actually has a channel on YouTube where she explains beauty tips to other girls her age and has thousands of viewers...pretty cool. We went for a drink back in the same square where Kathleen and I had just been as we were waiting for Mary.
The plan for the afternoon was to head to a “villa” that has been in Domenico’s family for almost 200 years. It was built in 1795 and was purchased by Domenico’s family about 30 years later. We met up with Domenico, his friend Hectore (not sure if I got the spelling right), a couple Enrico and his wife Jo (from England) with their daughter Daisy and another couple Mattea, Marie (also an English lady who had met her Italian soul mate) and their young son. The four cars convoyed for a little over an hour northeast of Padova to the villa, and what a stunning place! Entering the estate we were greeted by a round, inactive water fountain followed by a huge building that must have measured over 80 meters in length beginning with a three storey section that was the main part of the villa. All newcomers of our group (including me) were gobsmacked with the enormity of the place.
The villa:
Kathleen and I in front of the main house:
Mary and Domenico sharing a laugh at lunch:
First order of business was to have some lunch as it was around 3pm. Everyone (except me...as I wasn’t aware of the program) had brought some food that ranged from pasta salads to cheeses and meat. After eating, Domenico was kind enough to take us on a tour of the main house. I imagine he has done this dozens of times but he was still enthusiastic and funny at the same time. Since Mary’s originally from Canada, some of Domenico’s younger relatives had fabricated a small Canadian flag on a stick and Domenico used this as his tool for the tour; to keep everyone together and use it to point at interesting items. Every room was ornately painted and many of them had themes, ranging from a room of the seasons to animals to Greek Gods. In the center of the building was a two storey ballroom with a balcony that ran the perimeter on the second level...tres cool. Domenico kept us chuckling with comments such as “Here we have a half man, half goat, going after some random naked woman as usual”.
Our humourous but highly informative tour guide:
Amazing amount of painted walls:
Looking up to the upper level in the main ballroom:
The death mask of Domenico's great great grandfather (maybe another great in there) who fought with Garibaldi...cool history!
After the tour we hung out a bit, Kathleen and I attempted to play some badminton with a super cheap set and I’ve never played a game where the birdie got caught in the strings of the racket so often (every third or fourth hit!) and then the boys played a little bit of 2 on 2 football. I felt I didn’t do too badly being the non-European who didn’t kick the ball around much as a kid.
We headed back to Padova, this time Kathleen and I riding with Hectore. Grande giornata e grande popolo! (Great day and great people!)
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