Padova and Venice

After riding the train for five hours or so we arrived in Padova.  It was pretty late, around 7:30pm.  We decided to hit the grocery store for some items before trying to find our bnb.  Mark and I went in and left the kids outside with most of the bags.  We entered the checkout line and because I didn't understand the woman I said NO when I should have said YES to needing bags.  We started filling the bags with groceries and she totally flipped out on us.  She started yelling at me and talking to the customers behind us about us.  It was so humiliating.  We finally figured out that we needed to pay for the bags.  (No one mentioned that in the guide books!)  Mark gave her the money, but I was so upset that I had a really hard time letting it go.  It has been a long time since I haven't understood a language in a new country and that feeling of helplessness that comes with it.  After thinking about it all night, I think that next time it happens I will calmly talk to the person in English and tell them that they are being mean and do not have to treat us like that.  I tend to internalize things for a long time, so that will help me to not carry that kind of negative baggage around.  (pun intended) 

Last night we went back to the same store and guess who was there?  When we got in line Mark and I both screamed FUNDAS! at her!  LOL  I don't think she initially recognized us, but then she sure did.  She was very nice that time.  I think she realized later that she was acting totally inappropriately.
I don't forgive her.

Finding our bnb was quite the adventure.  We did not have a SIM card in our phone and trying to find a wifi hot spot was tricky.  That was our only way of communicating with our host, Nunzio, so we had to walk around trying to find one.  Eventually we made contact, but we sat outside in a dark square waiting for an hour or so.  We were tired, but happy to finally get somewhere.

On Sunday we went into Venice and if you've seen our pictures, you know it was a magical day for us.  The sun was out and the city was sparkling.  We opted to take the #1 vaporetto down the Grand Canal to St. Mark's square for the best bang for our buck.  I had forgotten that day to bring the Relief Band I had bought for Finn's seasickness, so this was going to be a good test as to whether he had outgrown the horrible seasickness that has afflicted him for so long.  He did get a big queasy, but once he stood on the rails outside he felt fine.  I am happy I bought the Relief Band, but I'm even more happy that he has finally outgrown it.  Now, maybe we can go whale watching again and this time he will actually get to see a whale!  Poor thing was barfing his brains out not five minutes from shore and saw not one whale even though they were breaching only meters from the boat. 

St. Mark's square was just wonderful.  The energy was amazing.  We could have sat there all day, but decided to explore the island by going where our feet took us.  We were surprised by how many shops and restaurants there were.  It is very commercialized.  That did not appeal to us.  But, we did love the quiet skinny alleyways and tiny squares we found while walking.

We had bought a vaporetto pass for all five of us that lasted for 48 hours.  I'm glad we did because even though we were exhausted the next day, it pushed us to get going and head back to Venice to take advantage of the money we had spent.  We decided to go to the island of Murano to see the hand-blown glass. Venice was a different place on Monday.  The crowds were gone and a blanket of fog now coated the city.  It made it eerie yet beautiful at the same time. 

We took the vaporetto over and spent about two hours walking the quiet streets of Murano.  The glass art was beautiful and when the lights came on in the stores it shone through the fog.  Very enchanting.  The vaporetto ride back in the dark in the fog was eerie and exciting at the same time.  I loved it and was so glad we had made ourselves go.

We have really enjoyed our stay in Padova.  We stayed in a lovely neighborhood with regular Italians.  The woman across the street sings and talks to her Australian cattle dog every day.  She always smiles and laughs and waves to us with a Buongiorno!  It is those little moments that makes traveling like this so special. 

We have learned a few things about staying/living in Italy and hopefully those things will translate across Europe.

1.  YOU HAVE TO BUY THE GROCERY BAGS OR BRING YOUR OWN!!!!

2.  YOU HAVE TO VALIDATE YOUR TRAIN TICKET!!!
     We had ridden the train six times, I think, before this happened.  This last time we were traveling from Venice back to Padova.  It was evening.  We were tired.  All of a sudden a huge wave of Italian police storm the car and start asking to see our tickets.  We fish them out after a bit of a struggle.  The officer very slowly looks through them like he is contemplating something.  He looks at us.  He looks at the tickets.  After many minutes he tells us the tickets are invalid.  That we will have to pay a fine.  He says the fine is 30 euros.  I'm kind of upset because we had never seen anyone else validate their tickets and we didn't know how or where to do that.  Again, that feeling of helplessness.  It is clear to everyone in the car that we are tourists and have no idea what he is talking about.  He discusses it with his other police friends and then tells me that we will have to pay the fine.  Ok.  I pull out my wallet and start to take out 30 euros.  He says no, it is 30 euros per ticket.  WHAT!!!!!  150 euros!  Oh, hell no.  So, I snap my wallet shut and tell him to take us to jail or throw us off the train.  I sit back and wait to see what they will do.  After 15 minutes or so of discussion and kind of just standing there, he sits down and validates our tickets.  HA!  What this guy doesn't know is that I am from Ecuador!  I have waited out all kinds of cops in both Ecuador and Peru and he is not going to take me down.  LOL 

Listen, I would have gladly paid the fine if I thought it was fair.  Yes, we did make a mistake and not validate our tickets, but it was very clear that we were tourists.  Now we know.  But, 150 euros?  That is crazy.  Maybe we are missing something, but why would ANYONE in their right mind not validate their ticket.  The tickets have the date, time and train listed on them.  How can you scam that?  We must be missing something.

3.  Buy your groceries and cook at home.  Even sandwich shops are astronomical.  We have spent $80 to $100 for just dinner at a sandwich shop.  But, we have not done that often I am telling you!  We are looking forward to staying in one place in December for the month and hunkering down to save some money.  We are also spending a larger span of time at the end of this month in Sicily to try to save money.

4.  Buy a family tram ticket instead of individual tickets.  The family ticket costs only 3 euros and lasts for six hours vs. the individual tickets that cost 1.50 euros and only last an hour and a half.

5.  I LOVE the Italian language.  I get it now.  When people say that they travel to Italy just because they want to learn the language, I so get it.  I'm grateful for my Spanish base because it has allowed me to pick up Italian very quickly.  But, Italian is much more fun to speak.  I love the ups and downs and musical quality to it.  Even listening to the tram lady say the names of the stops sounds like music.  Bellisimo!

Tomorrow we are heading to Florence.  Things we hope to do in the next week are to visit and tour the Ducati factory in Bologna, and take side trips to Siena, Pisa, Lucca, Florence and maybe the Cinque Terre region.  We originally thought we would stay in Cinque Terre, but since we are trying to cut costs we have decided to skip that region.  If we can rent a car we still may do it for a day trip, but we are not sure at this time.  We are excited to be moving on.  The fog has moved into Padova and shows no signs of letting up.  It has been covered the last three days.  Maybe if we go further south we will see the sun again.  Ciao, for now!