Sunday in Padua

Today is the first day of June. We have been traveling now for just over a month. In some ways it seems like time has flown by. In some ways it seems like it should be time to go home. We have a couple of more weeks of travel, and then we will be in Rome for two weeks and following that, we move to our Certaldo house for the month of July. I think I am ready to settle down. I am looking forward to having a veranda where I can sit and enjoy a glass of wine. More importantly, I am ready to eat a meal that I’ve cooked as opposed to eating out. I can’t wait to shop the local markets and make some home-cooked food.

Today really was a day of rest for us. The only work we did was to find a lavanderia (self-serve laundry) and do our wash. After filling up our gas tank a number of times and paying the tolls, we are pretty much immune to any shock from the price of doing laundry. I think we will fall into a system of doing wash once every two weeks and hand-washing our smaller things on the off-weeks.

The laundry this time was in a small town a few miles from our hotel, and we really enjoyed the drive. The lavanderia itself was as clean as a whistle, and we were glad about that. It takes a couple of hours to do everything, but this time we brought our books and there was a little café in the same shopping center so Bill went and had a beer while we waited.

Since I don’t have a lot to report, I want to talk about some general things. First of all, I want to talk about this hotel we stayed in here in Padua. The Hotel Admiral was delightful. It is very clean and modern, and they offered us breakfast every morning. We dined on salami and mortadella (similar to American bologna, only better), cereals, yogurts, sweet rolls, juices, and our choice of coffee. The granola had to be homemade; it was the best I’ve ever tasted. Every morning we were greeted with a cheery “bon giorno” and the waiter learned what kind of coffee we wanted (coffee with hot milk for me, cappacino for Bill). We are both ready for a regular breakfast with eggs and bacon, but that won’t come until we have a place where I can cook.

I talked awhile back about how far we are walking. As I mentioned, it is not unusual for us to approach 20,000 steps or more. What I haven’t pointed out, however, is that some of those steps are climbing steps. The sheer number of steps is actually fairly meaningless when you are talking about climbing up the hills in Trieste or climbing the bridges in Venice. Bill and I will be in good shape when we get home.

The flowers are indescribably beautiful. We have seen mostly geraniums (so, so many geraniums), which were one of my mother’s favorite flowers, and mine also. None of this pink or white stuff. They stick to the old familiar red geraniums, and we have seen window after window after window full of them. Lovely. The other thing I have noticed are the roses. I can’t believe how many roses there are, and the variety of color. I don’t think roses are easy to grow, but the climate is apparently perfect for them. The other common flowers are petunias, which brighten up a windowsill beautifully, and magnolias (which I’m particularly fond of now that I have a dear little granddaughter named Magnolia Faith). Here are some photos. We took them this morning outside the lavanderia (except for the magnolia, which we took in Padua), but we could shoot these same photos anywhere we have been.

Finally, I want to talk a bit about traveling together. One thing of which I have become excrutiatingly aware is that it would be impossible to do a trip like we are doing if we weren’t in love with each other. More important than that, really, is that we get along together. Imagine that for the past five weeks we have been constant companions. Moreover, for the past three weeks, we have been the only ones we each could talk to. I can’t tell you what that is like. Everyone else is speaking another language, including television. There is no one else but each other. We live in a small little room, and we really never get away from each other. If we didn’t get along, we would go mad. At the end of the summer, we will either be as close as two people can be, or will file for divorce! So far, so good.

We both agree that everything that happens to us is enriching us as individuals. When something goes amiss, we laugh and say, “well, we won’t do this again.” (As in, get on the wrong train!) Our experiences are a gift that we can’t take for granted. When I return to my home, after I kiss the ground and my kids and grandkids, I will never again take for granted the gifts that we have as Americans. But I am grateful for the gift that I have of this exciting adventure.