The Gondola Sisters!
Day three in Venice gave us the very same weather that we have had every day of this trip. Beautiful skies, fairly warm temperatures, and no wind or rain.
The view from our window is typical side street Venice - quaint and quiet since were not near the tourist attractions. After breakfast we started out on our day.
Carla had done some research on a city called Padova (pronounced Pad a wa) about 25 minutes from Venice by train. Padova has some very pretty piazzas, so we started our adventure.
We took the Vaporetto to the train station (3-stops), bought tickets, jumped on the train and away we went. It was a relaxing, quiet ride on the electric train.
Crossing the grand canal to the train station.
Here she comes - all aboard!
Arriving in Padova, we needed to figure out which way to exit the station, which we did after going the wrong way. Bill had his maps app to direct us to the piazza that Carla wanted to go to. It was about a 20-minute walk once we went back under the station to the other side. Some of us doubted the directions Bill's map app gave us, but we pressed on and came to a busy part of town with many high-end shops. We tried to ask directions but got mixed messages.
We finally came to a piazza where many people had set up stands offering clothes, jewelry, and purses for sale. Afterall it is Saturday with lots of locals. This distracted from the beautiful buildings and especially a beautiful astronomical clock.
We enjoyed the church bells and thinking we were not where we wanted to be, we kept walking until Bill's app told us we were there. His app directions were correct. In fact, a sign also told us we were at the piazza that Carla wanted to go to, but she said it was supposed to have beautiful fountains and this one had no fountains. After some checking on our phones, Carla realized that she was using the wrong name for the place she wanted to go to. Ugh.
We decided the best thing to do was to find something to eat and refresh ourselves. We bought some cookies and then soon found a good place for a panini lunch and relaxed a bit.
Sidewalk cafe was a perfect location away from the city noisy center.
We decided after eating that we would get a cab and go to the piazza that Carla wanted to see, but finding a cab was frustrating and a difficult task, so we decided to walk back to the train station. We were disappointed to miss the beautiful piazza, but we did enjoy the city and get a lot of exercise.We got back to the train station and bought return tickets but missed the next train to Venice by 1-minute, but we were able to get the next one 15-minutes later.
Vaporetto back across the grand hotel to our hotel
After getting back to the hotel, we rewarded ourselves with some gelato and a rest. But first:
This morning when we met for breakfast, the sisters where nearly dressed alike. In fact, they were dressed similar to a gondolier. Hence forth, we called them the gondola sisters!
We're going in for our fix!
After a break and meeting our new neighbors in the hotel - they were from San Diego - we went back to the same restaurant that we ate at last night because it was so good. We ate well - Mike had duck ragu and Bill, Karen, and Carla had mixed vegetable ravioli - all pasta is made by hand at the restaurant. It was delicious.
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