Torre

Up early is and we had a brisk walk across town to catch the 9.10am to Bologna….or at least we intended to. There was such a weird long queuing system for the ticket desk, and the ticket machine demanded names, addresses and phone numbers or health cards(!) so that wasn’t an option, so long story short we missed that train. Very frustrating!
We used the time going to get our bus tickets for tomorrow and then had coffee and a pastry and then waited on the platform for the train. Sat upstairs and enjoyed looking at the countryside on the journey…quite flat as we went south and no signs of flooding.
We arrived and, because for some reason I’m having trouble with my network connection we got a paper map from a hotel and headed down into the old part of the city. Much busier than when we were last here in 2017, and the central square by the cathedral and the roads around the towers were really busy. We ducked out of all that after we’d seen the towers again (and remembered climbing up…not possible at the moment as they’re being repaired) and headed down some side streets to explore a bit. We recognised some places and then started looking for somewhere for lunch….several options but we plumped on a place under a colonnade and ordered a charcuterie platter to share and the. Two pastas…tortellini in bolognese ragu and red tortalloni with burrata, squid and cherry tomatoes. It was all delicious! Got talking to an Australian couple on the next table and had a lovely chat comparing travel stories and hearing about where they were from.
Afterwards we wandered again, finding the arch where you’re supposed to be able to hear each other when you whisper in one corner and listen in the opposite corner but we couldn’t get it to work this time.
Had some ice cream (I had granita…very refreshing) and K got some little socks for F’s baby as apparently that’s the traditional present for babies here, but otherwise we just enjoyed soaking up the atmosphere and strolling around. We went into the cathedral and enjoyed trying to figure out how the meridian line worked (extra). It’s the longest indoor working one in the world apparently, but as weren’t there at noon we couldn’t see it working.
We gradually strolled back to the train station and arrived just in time to catch our return train home… both dozing quite a lot of the way. We strolled back through Padua one last time, enjoying the quieter atmosphere and the sense of the whole town out strolling, sitting in the piazzas having aperitivi and lots of chatting. Such a sociable place….and so Italian. Nothing like the number of tourists as in Venice or Bologna, and very laid back.
Home and a cup of tea but then an early is night as we have to be up and packed and the place tidied and ready to go at 8.30am!