Delaine

I want to do a day-trip from Venice to Padova via train. I have visited the Trenitalia website and printed timetables for my possible travel days and read information on the train types. However, I still have a few questions:

1. What are the differences between first and second class?
2. Can I wait and buy my tickets at the station in Venice and Padova before traveling or do I need to buy them in advance?
3. Do they accept credit cards at the station?
4. Do you think it matters whether I travel on Saturday, Sunday or Monday? I'm thinking it might be harder to get reservations at the Scrovegni Chapel on a weekend.

Sorry if my questions seem elementary. I have never arranged for train travel in Italy before. I will be going in about 3 weeks.

Thanks.

adrienne

1. Minimal difference. It's only a half hour train ride so I would get second class tickets.
2. Buy in Venice when you arrive.
3. Yes
4. Don't understand the question. Does what matter?

bellini

4. Doesn't matter- find out when you can make reservation for Scrovegni Chapel and base your travel to Padova on that.

Midnightsun

I'd agree with Adrienne and Bellini. It's probably not going to be all that difficult to select your time if you make reservations now. In 2008 we were able to get tickets on Tuesday morning for a Tuesday visit around noon. We were in Padova a few weeks ago, and the front desk at our hotel was advising guests to make reservations for the Scrovegni Chapel a few days in advance. We didn't visit this time around, so I can't say how far out the bookings extended this year. There are just a limited number of folks allowed in at each entry time.

I don't know your interests, but there are many things to do in Padova. Visiting the Basilica of St. Anthony is certainly worthwhile. It's an impressive structure, and it does house the tomb of St. Anthony (or what remained of him...he was martyred in a rather brutal fashion). If you are in Padova on Saturday or Sunday, you can get a tour of the old observatory at the University of Padova (Museo La Specola). There are tours in the summer on Saturday and Sunday at 4:00 PM and 6:00 PM. You have to purchase advance tickets at the Oratorio San Michele, a couple of blocks away, but I wouldn't worry about doing that too far in advance. It's a great little tour, but something of a hidden gem. There were only six of us waitiung for the tour a few weeks ago. No, Galileo did not use the observatory, but it has a rich history and is a neat building. Details:
http://www.oapd.inaf.it/museo/Pagine.../index_en.html
There is also the Baptistery at the Duomo, which has 14th century frescoes by Menabuoi. Not as famous as Gitto's work, they are nonetheless impressive and in better shape.

yestravel

Not specific to your question but u might want to consider a "double tour/turn" when u book your tixs to the Chapel. We did that and while the groups changed over we had time in the chapel by ourselves -- it was really nice to look at the paintings with no one else in the chapel.

ladycartel

When you get to Padova go to the tourist information office so you can get free audio headsets which you can take with you throughout the day. You just have to leave your ID with them until you return the headsets but it is a nice way to get to know the city for free. The scrovegni chapel is the only one you'll have to make your reservations for and then the trains go back and forth to Venice about every 20 minutes until after 9pm when they are spaced out a bit more, but remember to take a taxi back to the station after dark since that train station area gets a bit creepy. In the daytime, it's very safe and you can take the bus or walk to most of the sites. Be sure to also see the Botanical Garden which is behind St.Anthony's.

Take the second class train ticket which can cost 3.40EUR per person for the 36 min ride or the 25min train costs 14-15EUR. Enjoy!

PalenQ

have done this day trip from Venice several times and there are so so many trains do like others suggest above just buy your ticket once there - to save costs avoid the faster trains that also serve this route and take the dirt-cheap regional trains that you with a ticket can just hop on as there are no seat reservations like on IC and faster trains where your ticket would be train specific - Buy a return ticket so you can just head back to Padua station and hop any regional train back.

I was struck with poignancy at the Shrine of St Anthony, patron saint of accident victims I guess as folks had plastered photos of loved ones killed in crashes, etc all over the shrine.

kybourbon

1. On many of the trains between Padova and Venice there is no 1st or 2nd class as they are the older R trains (no reserved seats either). It's all one class for 3.45€ with travel time of about 45 minutes. There are some faster trains (25-35 minutes) which will have a class choice, but it's really not necessary to pay a 30% premium for a 25 minute ride.

There are also buses which run between the two.

Consider taking the train to Bassano del Grappa if you have time.

PalenQ

Here is Einstein's letter that Starrs and others who claim he was not an atheist dare not quote - in it he clearly states his views on religion and his complete ladck of as well as calling religious belief 'childish'.

Yet though I have brought this to starrs attention before I do believe he/she will continue to distort Einstein's views on religion.

"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." So said Albert Einstein, and his famous aphorism has been the source of endless debate between believers and non-believers wanting to claim the greatest scientist of the 20th century as their own.

A little known letter written by him, however, may help to settle the argument - or at least provoke further controversy about his views.

the document leaves no doubt that the theoretical physicist was no supporter of religious beliefs, which he regarded as "childish superstitions".

Einstein penned the letter on January 3 1954 to the philosopher Eric Gutkind who had sent him a copy of his book Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt. The letter went on public sale a year later and has remained in private hands ever since.

In the letter, he states: "The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this."

Einstein, who was Jewish and who declined an offer to be the state of Israel's second president, also rejected the idea that the Jews are God's favoured people.

"For me the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions. And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people. As far as my experience goes, they are no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything 'chosen' about them."

The letter will go on sale at Bloomsbury Auctions in Mayfair on Thursday and is expected to fetch up to £8,000. The handwritten piece, in German, is not listed in the source material of the most authoritative academic text on the subject, Max Jammer's book Einstein and Religion.

One of the country's leading experts on the scientist, John Brooke of Oxford University, admitted he had not heard of it.

Einstein is best known for his theories of relativity and for the famous E=mc2 equation that describes the equivalence of mass and energy, but his thoughts on religion have long attracted conjecture.

His parents were not religious but he attended a Catholic primary school and at the same time received private tuition in Judaism. This prompted what he later called, his "religious paradise of youth", during which he observed religious rules such as not eating pork. This did not last long though and by 12 he was questioning the truth of many biblical stories.

"The consequence was a positively fanatic [orgy of] freethinking coupled with the impression that youth is being deceived by the state through lies; it was a crushing impression," he later wrote.

In his later years he referred to a "cosmic religious feeling" that permeated and sustained his scientific work. In 1954, a year before his death, he spoke of wishing to "experience the universe as a single cosmic whole". He was also fond of using religious flourishes, in 1926 declaring that "He [God] does not throw dice" when referring to randomness thrown up by quantum theory.

His position on God has been widely misrepresented by people on both sides of the atheism/religion divide but he always resisted easy stereotyping on the subject.

"Like other great scientists he does not fit the boxes in which popular polemicists like to pigeonhole him," said Brooke. "It is clear for example that he had respect for the religious values enshrined within Judaic and Christian traditions ... but what he understood by religion was something far more subtle than what is usually meant by the word in popular discussion."

Despite his categorical rejection of conventional religion, Brooke said that Einstein became angry when his views were appropriated by evangelists for atheism. He was offended by their lack of humility and once wrote. "The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility."

PalenQ

do excuse me for mistakingly posting this here - I was on another thread one higher and inexplicably made a mistake - sorry and hope not to offend anyone on a travel thread - would be totally out of line here - meant for a Lounge discussion.

Delaine

Thank you for all the responses.

I'm glad someone mentioned taxis. I'm a good walker, but my boyfriend is less so. Are taxis easy to come by in Padova?

kybourbon

Many historic centers are pretty compact (many have pedestrian only areas) so there isn't as much walking as you would expect.

ellenem

You'll find taxis at the Padova train station. In Italy taxis do not cruise for fares, so it's good to note the location of official taxi stands in the town you will visit (usually major piazzas), and also take the card/phone number of a taxi you take so you can call for one if needed.