Venice Wednesday 14 May, Day 21

Three weeks on the road -  or on the rail to be more accurate - and we are both feeling a bit worn out, and glad to be staying put for a few days. We had to be out early to catch a train to be in time for our booking to view the Scrovegni_Chapel in Padua. We left our bags at the checked baggage service at the station, and unencumbered walked down to collect our Padua pass and chapel ticket. Only 25 people maximum are allowed in, and you have to sit in a special room for 15 minutes to control the atmosphere in the chapel to help preserve the paintings.  The Giotto frescos in the chapel are well worth the hoo-ha. The frescoes depict old testament stories and then the life of Christ in a narrative series.  I particularly admired the Last Judgement fresco which covers the whole of the rear wall. It is interesting that the Hell section of the picture is way more active and interesting than anything else in the painting.  Heaven looks pretty bland by comparison.

After the Chapel viewing we wandered into the attached pinoteca museum.  After the Chapel, we were beginning to suffer from sensory overload, but every time we would try to sneak out an exit or take a short cut, one of the charming and enthusiastic attendants would kindly direct is into yet another gallery. After eventually making our escape, we caught a tram down to the Basilica of San Antonio. The building is massive, and includes both the tomb of the saint, and various bits of him in the Reliquary chapel. The grisliest collection of bits we've seen, the reliquaries included what looked like his lower front jaw, with teeth visible, his tongue, and his vocal chords. Heaven knows what is left of him in his tomb.

We had definitely had enough by now, and headed back to the station.  Our tickets give the train number, the time of departure and destination. You stand in front of screens which display those details and tell you from which platform your train departs. Except today, the screen had the right number but a different destination and a different departure time. There was an earlier train to Venice leaving and I had to physically restrain Anne who wanted to leap onto that one.   But our train did arrive at the scheduled time, and did go where we wanted it to go, and a nice man on the train brought us a cup of tea and some biscuits as well, so we arrived in Venice in good spirits. My GPS led us through the little streets, some almost too narrow to let two people pass, and brought us to the right place, but the place we are staying is so discrete we walked past it a few times.

But here we, in a lovely room looking out over the Canal San Trovaso.  This pic of the canal was taken on the way back from dinner in a great seafood restaurant not too far away.

Really looking forward to a few quieter days exploring.