Up at 5:30am, luggage outside of room by
6:15am, down in the lobby for breakfast at 6:30am and on the bus at 7:15am. All
this so that we could drive to Florence and catch the train to Venice. We are
taking the train instead of driving because it is quicker. So we had a nice
quiet drive to Florence and Christopher gave us instructions about getting on
the train. We arrived at the train station and bid Mimo (our bus driver)
farewell. We only had our carry on luggage – all of our other luggage was being
brought to the hotel in Venice by truck. We made good time getting to Florence
and we arrived at 8:15am and our train wasn’t until 9:30. So Christopher gave
us 30 minutes to get coffee and walk around. Then we all gathered at a decided
meeting spot and made our way to the train at 9:15am and Christopher got us all
settled in our seats. The train left exactly as scheduled at 9:30am. I did a
little blogging and reading and Thomas read. It was a great trip. The train was
very comfortable and it was a smooth ride to Venice. We had lots of room in the
seats. And before we knew it we had arrived at the Ferrovia (that is the train
station) in Venice
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Venice, Italy |
We gathered outside in front of the train
station by the Grand Canal and Christopher told us what we were doing for the
rest of the day. We then walked a little ways away and got on a private water
taxi for the group. We couldn’t go down the Grand Canal so we had to go through
some back canals and then around the Dorsoduro sestieri and we eventually
docked a little ways down from Piazza San Marco. From the water taxi we walked
to the piazza. Christopher gave us until 2:30pm to do what we wanted. Thomas
and I walked with Frank and Susie and ended up at La Bricola for lunch. Thomas
and I split a prosciutto pizza and lasagna (both were good). We had a nice
visit with Frank and Susie and then we left do some walking and to look for a
letterbox. So we walked back to Piazza San Marco and then over to the
Giardinetti Reali. We spent a little time letterboxing here and you can read
about that at Letterboxing along the Grand Canal on my other blog – The Lion’s
Game.
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St. Mark's Lion |
Now it was time to meet our tour guide
for the day. So we walked back to the piazza and met up with Christopher and
the group. Our tour guide was Pietro and we started with a talk in front of the
Doge’s Palace. He talked about the history of Venice and he talked about all
the buildings around the piazza – the Doge’s Palace, St. Mark’s Basilica, the
Campanile, Procuratie Vecchie, the Correr, the National Library and the Museum
of Archaeology.. He also talked about the columns near the Grand Canal and the
Café Florian. We ended up leaving the piazza near the Correr Museum and walked
some of the back streets. We stopped at the opera house – La Fenice. He gave us
some more history pointing out lots of little things as we walked. Eventually
we made our way back to St. Mark’s. He was going to take us for a walk through
of the Basilica but Thomas and I and a few others decided to stay outside. The
line was long and it was too crowded so we decided to skip it. When the group
returned we walked back to the Doge’s Palace where we ended our tour. After the
tour we had about an hour to ourselves before we took the water taxi back to
Ferrovia. So Thomas and I just walked along the Grand Canal looking shops and
then went to the meeting spot and relaxed until the rest of the group showed
up. We took the water taxi back to the train station and here we got a lesson
on using the local train to get to and from our hotel on the mainland to the
island. Here is how it works. You check the monitors for a train that is
regional (marked with an ‘R’ or ‘REG’) and you look at the times and track
numbers. When you find a train with a time you can make you get your ticket and
validate it (put it into a machine so that the time is marked). Then you make
your way to the track and board the train. From the island there could possibly
be one stop before the stop we needed for our hotel. Christopher instructed us
to look for a small stop with only about four tracks and not to get off at that
one. Our stop is a much larger one with lots of tracks. So he took us through
the motions and got us on a train and then off at the right stop. He then
showed us where to exit the station and the route to walk to our hotel.
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Venice Sunset |
We arrived at our hotel – Hotel LuganoTorretta lo9cated in Mestre in the dark. We got checked in and settled in our
room. We had a little time to clean up before dinner and then it was down to
the restaurant at 7:30pm for the worst dinner of the trip so far. First of all
the service was really slow and second the wait staff were just plain rude.
They served us some spiral pasta with olive oil (this was just okay), then we
had some cooked, mushy vegetables and
then an assorted fried fish plate (calamari, shrimp and some little guppy
looking fish with the heads still on). I tried a few bites (but not the ones
with the heads) and pushed the plates away. It was terrible – the calamari was
like chewing rubber and the things they called shrimp didn’t taste like shrimp.
Thomas and I decided to leave dinner early even before dessert was served.
Back
in our room we showered and relaxed. I got some blogging done and Thomas read.
I think we are both looking forward to our partial free day in Venice tomorrow.
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