Venice!
Here are our pictures of Venice (and Padua)! We went for a quick weekend trip with our friends Claudia & Fabrizio from Torino at the end of January. Warning: they’re mostly pictures of buildings/landscapes. Not too many people pics, but if you’ve never been to Venice, it’ll give you a good idea of what the city looks like. I have to say, it wasn’t what I was expecting. I thought there would be more…water. I suppose when you dream about going to a certain important destination for so long, you can’t help but feel a little let down when you actually see it in person. Though this isn’t always the case. I remember when I got to Las Vegas I was like, “Holy crap! This is SO not what I expected!!” Venice is certainly beautiful, with gondolas and striped poles and live musicians like you would expect, but I always thought it would have a romantic feeling about it, and instead it just felt touristy.
We also visited Padova on this trip. The highlight of the city for me was the Basilica di San Antonio, which is this huge basilica dedicated to Saint Anthony. I’ve never seen a church like this, and I at least peek my head into all the churches I go to in the area. Every single inch was covered with some sort of painting or sculpture or marble decoration. I think they’re overdoing it a little on the whole Saint-Anthony-worshiping thing though. There was a line of about 20 women waiting to throw themselves on his marble tomb and wail their miseries, and two walls dedicated to pictures and notes from people asking for his help. Containers asking for donations abound, though I found it odd that they don’t let you light candles like they do in most churches. You can donate money for candles or donate candles, but you can’t actually light one yourself. There was also a chapel inside of the basilica that was filled with Saint Anthony’s embalmed body parts (cheerfully on display in golden canisters). Umm, eww. Besides, isn’t that like illegal in this religion?