Italy day one!

How does one land at the Venice airport and NOT go to Venice on the way to meet our group in Padua??? So, we snuck in a quick water tour and a gelato in St Mark's square before taking a train inland. 
We were the last to arrive at out hotel, and have met our group! We've been warned...rural Italy has terrible internet connectivity...so...I may have to take a forced 'unplug' from time to time. Scrat has already attracted much attention. We told everyone he would pose in their pictures for lemoncello. Kind of pimping him.

Tonight our group took an orientation walk thru town and had a welcome dinner in the traditional Italian style....aperativo, prima, secundo, dessert. Two diffent local wines. Fabulous! I'm likely to gain a good 5 lbs on this trip!