A: the late night trains tack hours onto the actual arrival time at their destination. Allot extra time for that. The ATFA (or whatever the precise initials are) bus that we took from airport to Venice? Also goes from Mestre train station to airport. Pretty quick, too.
B: the Venice airport, unfortunately, subscribes to the Italian train station model of efficiency: allow yourself extra time to negotiate the customs/security check-in stuff.
C: found the chartreuse which I'd lost in Bologna in Paris duty-free, for about 2/3rds the price. Hah HAH hah.
D: The Other Train Station- I forget the name of it- is actually not terribly far from where I was staying: I got there by 12:30.
E: thanks for a wonderful time!