Getting To Venice

Big day today. Long day today.


So we made it to Venice withstanding any complications I tried to throw in to spice up the trip. I probably deserve a gold star however. First we got on the "wrong" train to Milan, as it was fifteen minutes early, but the ticket person assured us it was okay, so we were nervous the entire way that we would miss our stop. Once we did get into Milan I could not recall what to do so an older American couple from Massachusetts helped point us to the metro for the Centrale train station. Trying my best to go south (the wrong way), my better half prevailed and put us on the uptown train. Once at Centrale I hopped into the automatic ticket machine line but had to solicit help from some Italian guy just wanting to get his ticket after me (no reserved seating available - I should have booked this train ahead of time). Then we got onto our train only to get stuck amongst hordes of people trying to find available unreserved seats like us. At this point invisible daggers were sticking out of my back, and hatchets, swords, glaives, halberds, and falchions were en route. I made the mistake of sitting in reserved seats...twice. I was one of those tourists. I then noticed the seat numbers started to repeat on the 2nd class cars as we were among the few left standing. Odd. I had no clue how this whole system worked (not sure I do now either) but I did notice two seats unoccupied except for personal belongings. So I politely asked in Italian if the seats were free and scored us two seats after some of their grumbled replies. One point for the visiting team! One step forward, three steps back. I forgot to punch our tickets before we got on. We were told this is the most heinous crime that anyone could commit and was punishable by severe fines and imminent death in my case. Fortunately my luck was starting to change and the conductor (the first one seen on our trains) gave us no trouble. I think it was because the tickets were for a specific time. That was a close one.









Finally, Venice. Where just about everything is done on a boat, from garbage hauling to markets selling produce, and ambulance patrolling to UPS package delivering, this city lives on the water like no other. However, as my gold star was not yet fully earned, I confidently got us on the right boat going in the wrong direction. At least that was an easy fix. Amazingly, finding the hotel from the vaparetto stop was simple once we corrected our orientation.


Totally spent, hungry, tired, and exhausted we decided to set out and get lost right away. Obviously we weren't satisfied with our day's experience yet! Stopping for a quick charge, we got some water and a diavalo pizza (like pepperoni but nicely spicy) that was easily a highlight of our trip so far, and not just because we were hungry.


Pizza gone, requisite gelato consumed, we wandered onto a somewhat peaceful dock along the south of Venice. Absolutely perfect timing, as the sun was setting and the Venetians were out in full force. They came in all forms, many (MANY) were walking their dogs, dressed smartly with dark sun glasses and saying "ciao" to everyone (especially pretty young girls if it was a man).




Feeling the hours weighing on us it was time for sleep at last. This was a rough day with a sugar sweet ending.


(Just to be clear, I am normally quite good at finding my way. Honest!)

-NT

Location:Sestiere Dorsoduro,Venice,Italy