Excursion to Padova/Padua

Thursday 22nd August

Overnight I discovered that my new room was a lot noisier than the old one! I heard lots of doors banging from the rooms below. I heard the bells and also heard a singing gondolier.

Seeing Padua was so close, we had decided to take a day trip there.We met up at 10.30 and set off by waterbus to the train station. A return ticket to Padua was only about 7 euros. Of course we forgot the business of validating our train tickets, but we spoke to the conductor before getting on and she did it for us by hand, to save us walking back.

A bus station was just outside the train station, so we got a map and bus tickets in order to travel to the Basilica of St Anthony. Inside we saw bronzes by Donnatello. Outside the grounds were beautiful.

Outside we saw what was meant to be the largest square in Europe – seemed small to us by the standards of Prague and Sienna. We sat and drank coffee and decided we were disappointed in Padua.

We set off walking, following a map to the Scrovegni Chapel and on the way soon changed our mind. We found some fantastic old buildings. From a few plaques on the ground I formed the hypothesis that a lot of Padua was destroyed in favour of new buildings, but a line was drawn where the old ones would remain. They were lovely and much more interesting.

The Scrovegni Chapel has frescoes by Giotto. We decided we were not interested enough to pay the 13 euro entrance fee but we sat in the shade and enjoyed a drink. I tried a

spritz and decided never again! I didn’t even finish it and felt quite drunk and then very sore in lots of muscles. It took about an hour to feel normal again!

On the way home we stopped at the Rialto Bridge for dinner in a restaurant slightly off the beaten track but overlooking the canal. Of course on the way home we shopped and explored and took the long route via San Marco.

Here’s the view from my bedroom window by night, with the full moon and the Basilica shining above the nearby roof tops.

Exploring Venice

Wednesday 21^st August

No matter where you go in Venice there are shops and views! I can walk around the corner of my hotel and see four arched bridges, a canal, laden gondolas coming through (sometimes with an old man serenading his customers, along with piano accordion accompaniment – O sole mio) and tourists, tourists, tourists!

(See below on the right the water door to our hotel. This is where the water taxi dropped us.)

It is impossible to avoid fascinating views. It is also impossible to avoid the shops! I joined my friends for a wander, but once I realised that they intended to spend the day looking in the shops, I decided it was time to part. It meant too much stopping and starting for me to deal with well. I am better off sitting or striding. I set off through Venice to find favourite places from previous visits, to find new places, and to get lost! Getting lost in Venice is fun because of the fascinating lanes you find. You can’t stay lost for long as there are always yellow signs around pointing you to the closest vaporetto stop, but it’s fun trying!

It was an exhausting day, and I decided I never again want to visit Venice in Summer’s heat, but it truly is a lovely place to visit.

After dinner and our evening ramble in St Mark’s Square, I returned to my room to find that the room had been sprayed with a perfumed room freshener, despite my asking that morning for it NOT to happen. Very unpleasant. I tried opening doors and windows, but then realised that it was on the sheets and bedspread. There was no way I could sleep like that. I have too many perfume allergies. In the end I went down to Reception and explained the situation. They offered to put me in a double room; I asked if we couldn’t just change the bed coverings. In the end I had to pack up all my stuff and I was moved to a junior suite! It’s right at the top of the hotel, with attic style ceilings. I have a single bed in the reception room, a lobby (corridor) with a desk, and a bedroom with a huge bed and a Juliette balcony. This room, too, smells of revolting air freshener but at least it is not on the bedding. I’ve opened the windows and hope to get it liveable by the time I go to sleep.

Getting there

Sunday 18th to Tuesday 20th August

Sometimes I feel that the hardest part of the holiday is arriving at the start of it. Travelling there generally takes 1 day. This time it took 2 days. Compromise!

My holiday involved travelling to Venice, staying for 3 nights and then embarking on a cruise for a week, finishing up back in Venice. I had booked with three Australian friends. All three had been staying at my house in the days prior to leaving.

I’m a bit of a last-minute merchant and would probably have caught the Gatwick coach on Tuesday morning about 9:15, arriving in time for the 14:40 flight (as long as there were no crashes on the motorway). The others were more circumspect, especially as one of them has even more trouble getting up in the morning than I have. We left the afternoon before.

Sunday was a time to pack, and then to repack as Margaret and Wadia tried to fit all their belongings into the 20kg suitcase allowance for Easyjet, with the rest crammed into our hand luggage. We managed so well that when weighed at the airport we were about 8kg short, though I hate to say how heavy our hand luggage must have been.

On Monday we organised ourselves and the house and by 2:15 we were all out the door for the short walk to the end of my street to catch my local bus to Oxford, followed by the Gatwick coach from the bus stop around the corner. Simple! (Apart from the rush-hour traffic jam on the M25, of course.)

Following advice and lots of checking on the internet, we had booked into the Holiday Inn at the Gatwick North Terminal, although we were departing from the South Terminal. Everything was very easy. Our rooms were clean. There was a restaurant in the hotel. Wadia and I went for a walk after dinner and found our route ready for the next day. We met up at midday on Tuesday and caught the transit train to the South terminal, found a wheelchair for Sue, which gave all of us speedy access as well as motorised travel to our gate, which was the furthest one in the airport. Fantastic.

On our arrival in Venice we took the easy way to our hotel – a water taxi right to the hotel’s water door. It’s a great experience. To my amusement, I think I was put in the same hotel room I had last time. It certainly had the same view over a courtyard, while the others had a view over the canal, again like last time. I had a double bed while Sue’s was single – again, like last time.

After dinner at a nearby open-air restaurant, we wandered down to San Marco to take photographs and remind ourselves that we had finally arrived in Venice.