A weekend 'off'

On my official day off, Friday - a localised bank holiday, I did work stuff, but exciting work stuff! The Saturday and Sunday I 'touristed' Padova and Verona.

After arriving in Ferrara, I caught a bus.  I recognised the station from when I went there to visit a friends parents who have a B&B in a near-by town.  This time however I met one of my close friends I met in Pescara who has since moved north.

Before arriving in Ferrara I went to the Loris Malaguzzi Centre with one of my colleagues.  The centre is where the Reggio Children foundation is based, a particular focus for a learning style based on play within the whole context of a child's life.  There were exhibitions of objects children have created over the years as well as an example of an Atelier, a working space at out in a certain theme which encourages play through resources laid out purposefully to be investigated.   My colleague and I found many inspiring things, if which I took how simple the original resources are as it is the teachers observations of the child's interaction with the objects and others that is the focus.  Monday I'm going armed with a new observation sheet and plans to work with three children at a time :-) 

In Ferrara I took an aperitivo with my friend, it was great to see her after so many months. We then ate in an osteria where I tried some typical Ferrara dishes:

Garganelli - cusina e butega (con erbette) (twisty pasta tubes)
Cappellacci di zucca al ragù (pumpkin filled pasta shapes with bolognaise)
Tenerina (a chocolate cake thing)
Tiramisù (....Tiramisù)

Saturday led my friend and I to Padova.  I enjoyed walking around the streets even though we did not see lots.  We entered the Basilica of San Antonio and we wandered around three of the squares: Piazza delle Erbe, Piazza dei Signori and Prato delle Valle.  In the prato was a large street market where I purchased some knitting needles and wool.  To say I didn't see half of the things I could have done is an underestimate so I'll have to return to the city.

On Sunday we headed to Verona.  As cities go, considering it's quite a 'famous' Italian city thanks to Shakespeare's Juliet, it was a surprising place to explore.  The views of the buildings from the river and the different types of architecture, all generally old, was really interesting.  My friend and I spent aages people watching in one of the squares as our feet were hurting from all the walking.  Somehow I found myself being told some of the original Verona stories by my friend's work colleague who met us in the centre.  He pointed out things that you would need a decent guidebook/tour guide to tell you, like the cuboid carved in a stone that was used to control the size of the bricks used in some of the buildings. 
I leave the 'north' of Italy feeling excited about seeing the sunshine again (in these places fog prevails most of the time) and yet I also feel that it won't be long til I return to Padova, I really did like it a lot.