This week I'm in Italy visiting my cousin Mirian. I arrived on Monday but it seems like I've been here for a longer time, as so much already happened.
On Tuesday we decided to go to Padova to search for some of my family documents in the Commune (City hall). At the city hall they told us that birth certificates from 1853 (my relatives birth date) are not in the Comunne, but in the historical archive. So after grabbing a delicious Italian pizza we asked around and found out that this archive place was quite far and we took a bus to get there. At the Archive is quite cool because they gave us the book with all the birth registrations of the Province and we could actually open and read ourselves these really old stuff. I discovered many new details about my relative, exactly when and where he was born, the name of his parents and where they lived. So with the name of the town, we have to go to the church there and ask for the certificate. So really cool stuff, I didn't really expect to find out much but I did it.
After that we decided to go see more of the city. Padova (well, Padua in English) is a very cute city in the Veneto Province. Home of very friendly people that sometimes speaks a dialect that I could hardly understand a word. We walked through some famous square, saw some beautiful historic buildings and afterwards we walked to the Basilica of Saint Anthony. Its a really beautiful Basilica but somehow different. They found the coffin where the Saint from the XII century was, and opened it in 1981. Then they took out his organs and made a exhibition at the Basilica with all his stuff cause the body was so preserved, so u can actually see all in separate little jars, his tongue, vocal cords, robe and etc. Its really weird... But definitely worth the visit.
Saint Anthony's Basilica
Altar
Treasury Chapel - Where the rests of
Saint Anthony can be seen
The Saint's tongue is inside of the Jar
After walking around Padova, it was already 20:50h and we went back to the Railway Station to get the train back to Altavilla, where my cousin lives. We made it to the train station, bought the ticket, and as we rushed and talked so much at the same time, we didn't pay attention on what we were doing, and we ended up taking the wrong train. Well. the thing is, from Altavilla (near Vicenza), we take the train to Venice to stop in Padova. of course we have to take the train in the opposite direction to go back, but as Venice was always on our heads, we accidentally took the train to that direction instead to Vicenza. Then when we realized, there was water on both sides of the train and the guy said on the speakers, "next stop, Venezia Bla" We looked at each other and cracked laughing. Then we thought, "how dumb could we be but good, we take a picture of the canal at night in Venice and take the train back". Ok, then I took the picture and we rushed to take the other train. We bought the ticket just to Padova cause we had already the ones from Padova to Altavilla. Then we took the 22:17h train in the direction of Padova and arrived there. Then, guess what???? It was already 23:05h and there were no trains leaving Padova on that day anymore. So we thought (Well, I did), "there must be a night bus at least to Vicenza". But guess what? We're not in Germany and there were no buses at all. So in the end we realized that we were stuck in Padova and the next train would be only at 06:00h the next day. So we had to stay in the hotel in front of the station. We didn't feel like searching for other hotels at that time because we're two girls and there were just weird man out there. So we bought a Kebab nearby and took to our rooms to eat, took a shower and went to bed at around 1:30 am. I hardly slept and at 5:00 we got up and headed to the station and took the 06:00 train cause my cousin had to work the next day at 07:00h. So in the end we arrived here safe. Oh man, what a trip, I think I'll never forget how we ended up in Venice by accident and afterwards being stuck in Padova. Everything here stops at 23h, its unbelievable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but funny afterwards...
Venice by night
So here is my tip: When you come to Italy, make sure to take the last train before 23:00h, or you might ending up stuck somewhere! :)
Some more pictures of Padova:
Prato della Valle
La Torre dell'Orologio
Palazzo della Ragione
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