Leaving Mantova // Friday Morning
Our train was scheduled to leave Mantova (to Verona) at 5:55 from track 1 T. There was a train to Venezia on track 1 that was scheduled to leave just before our train. We figured there was no difference between tracks 1 and 1 T, so we sat down on a bench and waited for the train to Venezia to leave... which it did not. 5:55 passed and I checked our train again, and thought, "1 T, maybe that's a different track." Sure enough, I looked to the right, and there was track 1 T, train to Verona.... leaving... without us.
Not knowing what to do, we found out that there was a rail strike that day, which complicated our situation a little bit more. We got in a cab which took us all the way to Verona, € 80. When we arrived at the station in Verona, there were three trains going to Padova. The third train was our originally scheduled train. I thought we should ask information if the trains were actually going to go because of the strike, my mom wanted coffee. So she went off to get coffee and returned with no coffee stating, "The coffee is next to the tracks."
6:48
I send my mother to information to find out what is going on. The three trains to Padova are at 7:02, 7:20 and 7:45 or something like that.
6:58
My mother leaves the information desk, grabs her suitcase and says "Run. The 7:02 train is the last train leaving to Padova for the day."
7:01:30
We get on the train.
Here's the amazing thing. If we hadn't missed our original train to Verona, we would have never caught the last train to Padova.
First Day in Padova
We arrived in Padova about 30 minutes ahead of schedule, so we waited patiently for my friend Elena to pick us up. We greeted her (it had been four years since we last saw her when she stayed with us in Los Angeles) and then she brought us to her house. But first! We had a tour of downtown Stra (the town where she lives). Stra is really a cute town, it has a lot of narrow alleyways (like Paris or Rome) and then some shops, a farmer's market, etc. It's very nice. We had lunch at her house, whole roasted chicken and potatoes. I wish I had taken a photograph, it was beautiful and delicious. Then we had some fruit, and then my mom and I took a nap because we were exhausted from the earlier half of the day.
Chiesa Santa Giustina
After our nap, we went to Padova to walk around and see the town. We visited a few churches and walked through a beautiful park called Prato Della Valle. One of the churches we visited had a special service where the priests sing and pray, I am not a catholic, so I am unsure of the name of the service, but it was at the Chiesa Santa Giustina. I would love to attach the recording to this post, but that is too difficult so I have posted it on another blog and the direct link is here.
Prato Della Valle
Then we took my mother to the train station where we had an interesting photo shoot... just a brief one. My mother went off to Paris, and we went off to eat Indian food in Italy. Again, I wish I had taken a photo of the food I had at this restaurant because the Indian food in Italy was better than any of the Indian food I had in London. I think I ended up at the wrong Indian restaurants in London because this food in Padova (of all the places in the world) was incredible. I had Chicken Biryani and veggie Samosas, and also a Mango Lassi. Delicious delicious delicious. Then we went home and went to bed!
