Vicenza

Our hotel in Vicenza, not centrally located, was a short brisk walk to the old walled city area.  Public transit and taxis are available.

Enroute to the old city centre we passed through the arches for the gated wall of olden times.  Saturday markets crowd the squares covered by canopied stalls filled with every sort of merchandise available.  Up above the architecture hugs the sky and dazzles the eye with columns, arches, niches, capitols and statues.  Turn a corner, look for a seat at a sidewalk gelato cafe; enjoy a treat and relax.  Look up and drink in more fantastic sights and sounds as pigeons swirl over head and street musicians entertain for a mere donation.

Take a sandwich and leisurely stroll through a park, usually filled with ancient statuary, stop at a bench and enjoy your lunch out of doors.  There are many nice sidewalk cafes with exquisite menu offerings to please your palate.

After lunch buy a museum pass, they are good for a couple of days and most sites are well worth the price.  We did that and were also lucky enough to buy tickets to the ‘Van Gogh’ exhibition, an added pleasure.

Our hotel had a bicycle rental concession and we opted to ride through town in the direction of the train station to a traffic roundabout, where we got confused.  Our rescuer, in the form of ‘Jennifer’, a delightful outgoing young woman, lead us to safety and the bike path.  She was training for a marathon jog and paced us for a while.  Thank you.  We pedalled over a flat distance passing the ‘Rotunda’ , the model for Thomas Jefferson’s, president of the United States,1801-1809, Monticello.  We enjoyed lunch in a small village,with the working men of the area.  After lunch we were pulled up short to the aires of symphonic music emanating from a building.  We stood straddling our bicycles and allowed the effect of the sound to wash over us.

We formed our own ‘Happy Hour’, with like minded people, a good bottle of wine is only a few euros and very enjoyable.  Supper usually followed and then it was bedtime for an early wake up call.

A word of caution; do not stop under the protection of the outside eave of a building because you may need to wash your hair under an public fountain because of the pigeons.

“There’s a lot to see…do we walk about or fly over?”.