We left Como by train, heading south, and soon landed at Milano Centrale. It is a beautiful old train station and it was, as always, full of travelers, coming, going, and waiting.

Milan Centrale

And soon the number appeared. Ten minutes before scheduled departure. We walked to our assigned Frecciarossa (fast) train car and boarded. We were surprised to find ourselves not in economy, what we paid for, but in business-class. We consulted a train employee because we could find only one of our two reserved seats. Business, you see, has fewer seats. But lucky us; turns out they'd substituted our economy car with an upgraded car, allowing us to enjoy the perks of business class -- roomy, reclining leather seats and free drinks -- as we watched the countryside whiz by.

And soon we arrived in a foggy, atmospheric Venice. It looked familiar. We'd last visited in 2019.

Venice is small but getting from place to place is slow; it requires navigating a maze of narrow walkways, some barely shoulder-width, and ascending/descending pretty bridges that span canals. We are currently using Maps.me¹ to create walking routes. It requires no internet connection, something Google maps (no walking routes when offline) and Citymaps2go² (no longer supports offline maps on iOS) cannot. Of course tech being tech, these software observations will probably go stale as quickly as a baguette. Alternatively, you could get a local SIM and be online all the time. Why did I not do that?

I'll post Biennale photos over several days. Later I'll add comments; text clips from the guidebook; photo captions and artists; and additional photos when I am back home, at my desk with my big monitor, Lightroom, and faster internet.

¹ Maps.me is now subscription, which is fine, more power to them, but in future I'll see if I can get by with Apple or Google maps and a local SIM.

² Citymaps2go seems to be a dead product.