Padova aka: Padua

was in 2003 to visit my personal angel on my way to the ocean…

I can’t say that I remember much about the town… we arrived in the midst of the World Cup 1998 and were swept into a local pub to watch the match surrounded by screaming Italians only to be swept along a street crowded waving scarves and replete with the celebratory honking of altogether too many mopeds.

It was an amazing experience (particularly for a young American who was completely unaware of the European fervor for football) but I’ll have to go back to Padua to see the town itself.

Padova is a city that notes its heritage but, I think crucially, is not bound by it. The historic city center is not preserved in aspic, and there’s a certain ease I found there which allows for the new and old to mingle in a way where the design of the old still stands strong. I came to Padova because of a good friend who lived there, and left feeling like I had been lucky to be here than a more well-known location, because it felt less like a tourist visit and more like a temporary home.

Spent 3 months studying at the university here. Lovely city, young atmosphere.

I felt this is one of the least lively city I visited, it’s fairly uneventful, not too much to see, there’s some shopping however nothing you can’t get in other cities.