Buongiorno! Another fine day with some misty clouds. Have you had your coffee and roll today? I did not, going full American with eggs, and toast. Breakfast of champions! I am curious as to what you ate for breakfast.
Random thoughts today. Yesterday I had an appointment in Monselice, which is a large village about 25 minutes from my home. The village is medieval and so the streets are small, tight, and parking is... well, if you get a spot, you feel lucky. I always drive around and around the block where I have the appointment until something large opens up. The spots made by the city are small and I am so much of an American that I would suffer to squeeze the back of my car to back into a small hole. Finally I found one and felt lucky. From this spot I was able to look up and see an old ruined castle on top of the hill.
Once I was dining on the street in Paris and cars were passing by this tiny parking spot, some would stop and consider if they could pull it off, but for half an hour none tried. Then a lady about 35 years of age stopped, moved forward, turned backwards and put herself exactly into this little spot like one of those experts in the movies we have seen lately. She was literally bumper to bumper tight. Her stunt was so incredible that people stood up and gave her a standing ovation as she locked her car and walked away. I could not see her face, but I bet it was plastered with a smile of accomplishment. I envy this skill.
I mentioned the castle we visited on Saturday morning, but could not find the photo. You see it here. We think someone is living inside, but there is also a museum. Maybe you might be thinking of how wonderful it would be to live in such a huge home. I see a lot of cleaning, bathrooms to be kept up, and probably people hired to maintain life as it is when rich.
There are many big villas that lie empty in my area. No one lives there, and the families that owned it have given them up to the local village as the taxes and upkeep are too expensive, or the descendants cannot agree on who owns it after a death. These villas were once owned by a family that farmed the area using the peasants as workers. From my window I can see one that is now used as an art museum and also to show movies outdoors in the summer months. Another very large one was converted into a factory that made silverware, but now stands silent. Another one sits on a high hill and several weekends a year there are tours to see how the rich lived. One castle nearby was owned by a man who trained soldiers to fight, and hired them out. He also trained them in water warfare by using a pool of water he would pump into a large pool to float small boats. This castle is also opened to the public on weekends. There are more castles to find, most on tops of hills and in ruins.
This past Saturday after we drove to the castle you see above we drove ten minutes to a fish restaurant we wanted to try. We are always looking for good fish restaurants and this one had good reviews. We found many good qualities about this place, the first one you would find is that it is not noisy. Italian restaurants are fairly noisy. Did you know that dogs are allowed to come inside? Yes, and this is not the only shocking thing to me, as children are allowed to roam the aisles and run around loose. Parents just look and then continue conversation. There is nothing like dropping a hundred euros for dinner with dogs and children as an added pleasure! Here is what we were served. Stomachs were happy.
This is the one I chose, and ended up bringing home a large doggie bag for the next day. If you like a ketchup type sauce for this type of fish, you have to ask for ketchup. They will bring you two plastic containers of squeezable ketchup. Almost never will you find a bottle of ketchup for fries or fish.
The first thing they bring to most tables in the Padova area are bread sticks, some tiny long rolled, some finger sized, and then one that you see here. The moustachio type size of baked bread, with a semi hard outside and a powdery dry inside. Not a fave of mine, but the other types are good. The tiny ones are made with pig fat, which makes them quite tasty. You see the large one here.
You bite into this and it falls apart, flour dust falling and pieces will litter your nice clean table cloth. There is little taste to be found.
Lately it seems like restaurants here have begun to bring small food items as a beginning gesture when they bring the bread. In the future I will write more about what one finds in a food establishment here.
Taco, our cat continues to entertain us. What is confounding is that we have bought some costly things, but what he like best to play in and with are these. He not only likes to sit inside a cardboard box but also chews on them, I think to sharpen his teeth.
We have a teenager on our hands as for two nights in a row he sniffed and passed on his dinner. When we finally gave him a more expensive food, and the old one was not cheap, he dived right in a wolfed it down like no tomorrow.
Meanwhile I have lately been searching for subjects to paint in watercolor. Here is one I am considering to do in a full sheet of watercolor paper. I like to paint people who are working in a demanding job. This one that I found from an old clip showing English fishermen is a perfect composition and feeling that I want to project. Those old movies show history being made. Thank goodness Youtube is where one can easily find them.
You gotta love those hats. Can you smell those fish? Sorting fish while smoking, eh, okay. 1954.
I had an uncle, whom I really loved, he was always nice to me and he worked in a car repair place. He had this wooden cart that one could lay on and roll under a car to do work. That was my toy when my dad would take me to visit his brother, Chester. I remember that ability he had to keep a cigarette stuck to his lower lip while working or talking. It would not fall off and the ashes grew longer and longer. He had great stories to tell. Where is my time machine to go back and have a chat? I bet you wish for a time machine, too. You get more of these moments as you get older.
I wish you a happy and safe day filled with sunshine and a lot of laughs. Keep smiling!
Ciao!
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