Ferrara Monday

My day started off well with a lovely phone call from my younger daughter.. Then off to look at the palace, museum etc except that I forgot many things (and everything in Ferrara it appears) are closed on Mondays. As it turns out I am not unhappy. I took some photos of the outsides of buildings, went into the cathedral - rather unremarkable except I don’t recall ever seeing so many big glittery chandeliers in a church before. I listened to a mass that was going on and was surprised at how much I understood.

I wandered in the direction of the medieval part of town and stopped in a wool shop. There were 2 shop helpers and a customer knitting. They asked me what I wanted and I said I was looking for patterns. They had several books . The 4 of us were talking for ages – why were there not books in Australia , did I like travelling on my own – all sorts of things , knitting for our children. We were talking about the differences between Australia and Italy and I said I had sat in a bar outside for ¾ hour yesterday evening. So, they said, doesn’t everybody do that? At least a few times a week? Not really – I know of noone who does that in Australia. 1 of the ladies could speak some English, but I reckon my Italian was better than her English. I bought a book – whether I make anything or not it doesnot matter, it only cost E4. I walked through 1 of the gates in the walls and walked towards what said on the map was a tourist port and looked like it may be a small marina . But it was only for tourists who had a key. I could not see through or over the fence. The only restaurants on my list that were in the area were closed on Mondays so I went to another that was fairly ordinary. I pottered in the afternoon for a few hours then went out and bought my train ticket to Turin on Saturday. All went well and he was understanding my questions – there were a few options and I wanted the cheaper train- until I tried to ask for a forward facing seat. I do have a window seat, so I hope it doesnot have a great big post in the way like the train to Edinburgh. Then I walked around a bit of the wall and came home to bread roll and tomatoes and apple for dinner. Quite ordinary.