Tuesday morning
I caught the early train from Padova to Venice and arrived at 7:30. I had done absolutely no research beforehand so when I got there I thought “Cool, I’ll just go for a little walk and see what’s there”. Everything I expected was there: canals, dirty water, tourists (in ever-increasing numbers), beautiful buildings, history and narrow walkways; it was just a hundred times larger than I imagined. I really enjoyed walking around, had some breakfast at a cafe near the Rialto bridge, kept walking, stumbled by chance on the big square and went up to the main tower. Holy cow, this place is HUGE!
I turned around and tried to head back. Not so simple. I stopped at a supermarket for toothpaste and cat food (as you do), wondered through the Ghetto area and went back and forth along some familiar alleyways trying to work out which way I’d walked just a few hours earlier. I stopped for some gelato, crossed a bridge, stopped to admire the low-slung building that looked like an art gallery and suddenly realised that it was the train station! Nice one.
By now it was in the early afternoon and I’d had enough, so I returned to Padova by train. If you ever go, make sure you validate your ticket. I didn’t and was fined 30 euro (well, 26 if you factor in the morning’s ticket that I reused a few days later). The inspector was unsympathetic to my inexperience, and I didn’t want him around any longer than was absolutely necessary, so I just paid.