Saturday, May 31, 2008

Your Favorite Travelers Meet Thomas the Train

After a stressful day of driving yesterday, we were looking forward to our train trip to Venice today. We got to the Padua station about 10 a.m. Trains leave for Venice from Padua about every 15 minutes, and we had no problem buying tickets and finding our train. We arrive in Venice about 30 minutes later. It was a piece of cake.

Fast forward seven hours. After spending the day in Venice, we walked to the train station. It wasn’t quite as easy buying tickets because the station is bigger, the crowds were bigger, and the machine was older. But we managed to successfully purchase our tickets to Padua. They are not for any particular time. Now it was time to find a train.

We looked on the departure board for trains leaving Venice around 6 or 6:30. We found a train to Bologna that showed a stop in Padua that left the Venice station at 5:57 from Track 6. Perfect. Now, those of you who have spent any time in Europe can see the handwriting on the wall, can’t you?

We get on the train that is on Track 6, and off we go. We are happily traveling along and have been doing so for about 25 minutes when the ticket collector comes by to take our tickets. The people who take tickets rarely speak English. He looks at our tickets, shakes his head sadly, and says, “Train no goes to Padua.” Picture two adults looking like deer in the headlights. “Get off at next station.”

We get off at the next station, which was Treviso. We again go to the departure board to see if there is a train that is leaving the Treviso station for Padua. At that point we are looking for trains that would leave around 7. All of a sudden, the light bulb goes on in my head. We are in Europe. They use the 24-hour clock. We had been looking at trains that left at 6 in the morning. We should have been looking for trains that left at 18.00. Yikes! If the nice conductor hadn’t told us we were on the wrong train, I would be writing this blog in Austria.

I’m happy to say that we found a ticket seller who spoke English who got us on our merry way to Padua, where I am now sitting and writing this blog.

Venice. Hmmm. I have very mixed feelings about this city. It is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The narrow streets, the bridges over the canals, the fact that there are no cars or scooters zipping around all make it very romantic. When we were on the ship, I promised one of our table mates (who had been a travel agent) that we would visit Venice, and that we would stay until after the tour busses had left. Well, I can certainly see what he meant. I am not exaggerating when I say that I have never seen so many people in my life. You could really scarcely walk the streets. There was a minimum of four cruise ships in the harbor, so there was a MESS of tour groups walking around following a man or woman holding an umbrella.

But we did stay past 5, hoping it would clear out a bit, and it didn’t seem to get any better. I think summer is just not the time to go to this pretty city. Nevertheless, I am glad I went because it is hard to imagine a city without streets without actually seeing it. Bill and I took a water ride in the afternoon. We took a people ferry, really a local bus of sorts. It was so much fun, and so interesting, to see where and how the people of Venice live. They literally have no need for a car because they would have nowhere to drive. We saw people get onto this people ferry with bags of groceries to take home.

The city is dirty and it was very hot. But, I am making it sound terrible, and it really is a lovely city. It would be worthwhile coming back, perhaps in the winter when there are not so many people.

After our ferry ride, we did enjoy a wonderful meal of in a café near the Rialto Bridge. I even had a bellini, which is a drink that was invented in Venice.
Tomorrow is a day of rest for us.


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