Padua is full of bicycles and telephones. Paduans are either riding one or talking on the other, always with emphatic gestures of the free hand.

I didn’t witness both taking place at the same time but maybe someone somewhere was. Paduans are very smart. Everyone was wellturned out;  well coiffed, well shod and well tanned.

we spent the morning wandering and gawping, cameras working overtime. The buildings are antique and beautiful, the streets full of arcades and churches.

The bells go off at proscribed times and each seems to try to outdo the others. We found the huge central market and revelled in the sights and sounds.

I found the frescoes in the baptistry and enjoyed an half hour of peaceful contemplation. Lou is delighting in the good coffee and my cappucinos are ‘perfisk’.

Late yesterday afternoon we visited the basilica of saint antonio, an assault on the eye and the nose, utterly ott decoration and enough incense to make me need to return to the fresh air.

For us, the beauty of the place is on the streets. To finish, pizza last night with cold glasses of soave, the drink of our honeymoon!