My Friend Flicka

We decided to spend today exploring the city we are staying in for the next few days, Padua.

We slept in a bit, then breakfasted at our hotel. We boarded our bus about 10 and went into the city center of Padua. We visited an amazing display of art, including a chapel built by a local Paduan in honor of his father back in the 1300s. It is purported to be one of the best displays of fresco art in Europe. To help preserve the art, we had to sit in a sterile environment for 15 minutes in order to regulate our heat and humidity prior to viewing the art. We visited several churches, including the basilicas of St. Anthony and St. Guistina. Most interesting to me was that the Basilican of St. Guistana housed the remains of the apostle St. Matthias and the gospel writer St. Luke (photo). Amazing.

When we got back late in the afternoon, after a short break, we drove our car to IKEA, the Swedish-based housewares store, which has a store located nearby. Having only seen the IKEA in Phoenix, I was amused to see an identical selection to Phoenix but with the signs all in Italian. I was in the market for a new pillow as the pillow on the bed in my hotel room reminds me of a concrete block.

Tonight Bill and I went to a restaurant a couple of blocks from our hotel for dinner. We were looking for pasta somewhere close where we could walk. Our dinner was wonderful. Bill had bucatini, which is a hollow, long pasta, dressed with duck and asparagus. It was wonderful. I had tagliatelli with tomato, garlic and pecorino cheese that was also very good. We shared some red wine. Lots of red wine.

I have to reference my title. I love Italy. It is full of surprises. As I said, our restaurant tonight was wonderful. However, much to our surprise, the menu featured none other than horse. I’m serious. Horse as an appetizer. Horse pasta as a first course. Horse steak as a main course. Really, who would think that you would dine on My Friend Flicka?

Tomorrow I think we will drive to Verona.