All of our time we spent in Venice and Verona we actually had a hotel in Padua and rode a train or bused to the location we were headed to that day.
Our hotel in Padua was unique, to say the least.
It was an art-deco style hotel: meaning the entire hotel was supposed to have some sort of artistic influence throughout it. But really it just ended up meaning it had crazy weird paintings in it, like a lot of weird paintings.
It was an art-deco style hotel: meaning the entire hotel was supposed to have some sort of artistic influence throughout it. But really it just ended up meaning it had crazy weird paintings in it, like a lot of weird paintings.
Apparently the owner's wife or daughter or someone was artistic(-ish) and drew/painted all the pieces in the hotel.
Unfortunately all of these pieces were really weird. The majority of them were naked women paintings. This is alright, in its own way. Yet these paintings were not simple paintings, but more like sculpture paintings. They were basically paintings using random objects put together into the shape of a woman.
In the room that Conner and I shared for example, it was a naked woman made mostly out of plastic sea shells. I mean it was just weird.
I was just glad I wasn't in the room where the doll was in. Every room had a different painting, and one of the rooms was very unique. It was a black canvas with a small creepy doll glued to the center of it. Just hanging there on the wall. I doubt I would hav slept if I had that room.
The city of Padua was itself a very cool city in my opinion. Very laidback-ish.
We were allowed to enter the prestigious and illustrious church, the Sanctuary of St. Anthony of Padua. This is semi-coincidental for me. For my confirmation, I was required to choose a saint and write a report about him/her. I chose St. Anthony of Padua, and then there I was: standing in the Sanctuary of St. Anthony in Padua, Italy. Quite extraordinary actually.
The church was crazy. Super elaborate, and with so many relics in it as well. Just a lot and lot of relics and sanctuaries and crazy paintings and frescos. It was the coolest church I have been to. Probably because technically I was in a branch of the Vatican. Apparently as soon as I entered the doors to the church I entered Vatican property and officially left the state of Italy. So that was pretty fun, if not to do then at least to say.
One amazing part of that church was that they had preserved and kept pieces of St. Anthony and put them on display. There were pieces of his Jaw, his Larynx, his teeth, and his Tongue. They just looked all shriveled up and disgusting but nevertheless they were interesting pieces. They also had his tunics and some of his original manuscripts and such.
When we left the church we went through he city. The city looks very Italian, but not too grand or elaborate. Just kinda "basic" Italian I would say. Still pretty cool I would say.
While we were there the university students were protesting. The university students are notoriously vocal and active in politics and they were fed up with the inability to acquire jobs in the market after leaving and graduating from university. So they went to the streets, holding banners and yelling into microphones. It was quite interesting, and not only university students supported them. Old and young supported their movement against the government. (On a side-note, it seemed everyone in Italy despised Berlusconi.)
After seeing the protest, we saw another form of public involvement. A man with a little footstool was standing in the street, asking people as they walked by questions and asking them to answer the questions by standing on the footstool. This eventually became a whole forum, a whole little interaction and discussion of random people in the street. It got quite passionate, and I did not know what it was about. I eventually learned that they were all arguing about the university students, and whether or not they had a valid point about the jobs. They were to stand on the stool and speak their opinions. Some said yes, some said no (I could tell by their demeanor). The whole nature of the discussion was amazing though. Everyone was respecting one another, and everyone was listening to one another and then debting about their opinions. I was just so entranced by it cause I felt that this sort of thing 1) would not randomly be started in the US 2) not go as smoothly in the US. So I enjoyed that part very much.
The church was crazy. Super elaborate, and with so many relics in it as well. Just a lot and lot of relics and sanctuaries and crazy paintings and frescos. It was the coolest church I have been to. Probably because technically I was in a branch of the Vatican. Apparently as soon as I entered the doors to the church I entered Vatican property and officially left the state of Italy. So that was pretty fun, if not to do then at least to say.
One amazing part of that church was that they had preserved and kept pieces of St. Anthony and put them on display. There were pieces of his Jaw, his Larynx, his teeth, and his Tongue. They just looked all shriveled up and disgusting but nevertheless they were interesting pieces. They also had his tunics and some of his original manuscripts and such.
When we left the church we went through he city. The city looks very Italian, but not too grand or elaborate. Just kinda "basic" Italian I would say. Still pretty cool I would say.
While we were there the university students were protesting. The university students are notoriously vocal and active in politics and they were fed up with the inability to acquire jobs in the market after leaving and graduating from university. So they went to the streets, holding banners and yelling into microphones. It was quite interesting, and not only university students supported them. Old and young supported their movement against the government. (On a side-note, it seemed everyone in Italy despised Berlusconi.)
After seeing the protest, we saw another form of public involvement. A man with a little footstool was standing in the street, asking people as they walked by questions and asking them to answer the questions by standing on the footstool. This eventually became a whole forum, a whole little interaction and discussion of random people in the street. It got quite passionate, and I did not know what it was about. I eventually learned that they were all arguing about the university students, and whether or not they had a valid point about the jobs. They were to stand on the stool and speak their opinions. Some said yes, some said no (I could tell by their demeanor). The whole nature of the discussion was amazing though. Everyone was respecting one another, and everyone was listening to one another and then debting about their opinions. I was just so entranced by it cause I felt that this sort of thing 1) would not randomly be started in the US 2) not go as smoothly in the US. So I enjoyed that part very much.
I ended up, on the last day in Italy, trying non-Italian food. I had heard that the middle-eastern food in Italy was delicious, but for most of the trip I sought the autentic Italian food. But this time I did not want simply another pizza or another panini or pasta. I wanted something new! So I tried a delicious kabob place, and it blew my mind. I was glad I did so.
There was quite a bit of interesting graffiti in Padua. For some reason there was a lot of anti-Nazi stuff on the walls, specifically things that said "Death to Nazis" and "No Nazi zone" in Italian on the walls. There was also an artist who drew these long colorful humanoids with very long and dull features, interesting stuff. Probably my favorite was some artist who was writing interesting sayings throughout the city in English. For example: one said "Don't look back into the sun." And another said "It's not easy to make a name for yourself." I found these quite interesting.
Padua was where I had my last gelato. So sad.
There was quite a bit of interesting graffiti in Padua. For some reason there was a lot of anti-Nazi stuff on the walls, specifically things that said "Death to Nazis" and "No Nazi zone" in Italian on the walls. There was also an artist who drew these long colorful humanoids with very long and dull features, interesting stuff. Probably my favorite was some artist who was writing interesting sayings throughout the city in English. For example: one said "Don't look back into the sun." And another said "It's not easy to make a name for yourself." I found these quite interesting.
Padua was where I had my last gelato. So sad.
No comments:
Post a Comment