Very much loving Venice too.

Not sure when I’ll get to do this otherwise. It’s now 11:55am and matt and I have had an unbelievable morning already. Amazing that it is not even noon.

It started with an early alarm to get up. We got moving at 7am. Not a soul around. No one at the hostel was up, doors were locked, they literally lock you out of the common area, is that even legal? I mean come on!

So we wandered to toward the bus stop and on the way saw the bus we wanted going by. Same number bus anyways. So after much deliberation we waited for the next bus to come along. Once he arrived I opened the bin below to put our bags in and the bus driver shut his door and started to move. So matt is shouting at me to grab my bag and I’m trying to figure our why the bus driver would leave with that big door open. Sheesh! So since we’d gotten to town late enough the night before that we couldn’t buy bus tickets we got on without any hoping to pay the driver…no! At one of his stops he turns to me and says tickets, bar, and points. So off I run to buy us bus passes.

Once we got to the town of Como we stopped at one station and then the other and realized that we should have gotten off at the first one so we had to run to the bus office, find out which bus was going back to the other station and get back there.

We managed that pretty easily and then had to tackle the ticket office next. The lady didn’t speak English, all I wanted was a ticket to Milano Centrale. And we ended up (of course) on the Milano Girabaldi train. So we’d have to make a switch in Milan.

We boarded that train and were soon being fined for not stamping our tickets in this invisible machine. No one mentions validating tickets so how would you know. The fine is 50 euro but he was kind enough to only charge us 5. Sheesh!

At Giribaldi we had to find the metro station...yeah right. Hardly any signs anywhere and that place is huge. When we found the right signs we got to a dead end, still under construction. So we had to go up and up and then back down another way to get to the metro.

The metro cars in Milan are really antique looking. Very square and wide. We found the central station pretty easy and by then were definitely running out of time. So we ran around the main station (which is gorgeous) and go to the ticket office to validate our eurail passes and the lines were so long. You wouldn’t imagine! That was 11am and our train left at 11:35. So we had to hope and pray that they would get through all of the people and we’d get it done in time.

You should see how efficient these people are. They were so fast and friendly thank goodness, we ran out of there and found our platform and off we ran! It was 11:20 by then and we weren’t sure how far away our platform was.

Turns out it wasn’t too far and we’d have had time to get food and water at least. We haven’t eaten so far.

We left Menaggio an hour early to give ourselves time to look around Como and then when we got there and realized we went to the wrong station and had to get back to catch the right train we didn’t get into the market.

Likewise at each stop after that we were so close to being late that we haven’t had a bite yet! Luckily at the market we bought some cookies and gummy bears so that will hold us over until we find a) the food car on the train b) the nearest food we come across in Venice station.

I am so glad we chose to leave early, we never would have made any of these connections. And its been nice to have a witness to the fact that I am not totally an idiot when I mess stuff up.

The station we stopped at first (the right one) didn’t have a train sign on it, nor a name or anything.

I asked both train officials in the ticket office if we were in fact going to the central station on that train. I asked some conductors on the platform, all of whom said yes right train. So after getting on and realizing it wasn’t the right one it was a little sad.

We are happily (and hungrily) buzzing along toward Venice. Luckily Italy is so amazing or I’d seriously be hating it by now!! I will never buy train passes again either. What a pain in the butt. I’ve never all summer long hade to be somewhere at a specific time so this schedule is really tough, especially when I keep messing it up.

I have really enjoyed the freedom of just catching a train here and there (and that also gives me time to mess up and fix it without panic) so I won’t do it again.

The validating was a one time thing so we’ll have an easier time of it form now on.

Lets hope!!

The train to Venice was a breeze. We found our seats right away and made it to the city without any trouble. From the pictures it looks like you can’t get into the city without help but once you get outside the station there is a bridget that takes you into the city. We chose to save 13euro and walk ourselves to the hostel. Did I mention the weather was warm? Sunny? Hot with backpacks. But worth the walk. This place isn’t big it turns out. We stumbled along till we found the Rialto bridge. Big deal by the way. Not as impressive as you’d think. We made our way through the mass of people to our little hostel in the alley… tiny little alley!

We are actually staying the dorm building away from the main office. It’s a huge building must be entirely full of rooms with beds. Pretty cool! Worth every penny too. Everything is so close for walking!!

We unloaded and caught our breath and changed into cooler clothes and decided to head to Saint Marks Square. On the way we stopped and had a beer (birra) at a place overlooking the not so impressing Rialto and it was fun. Lots of people watching and gondola watching etc. But St. Marks…Oh my gosh, what an amazing place that is!! Huge and beautiful and beautiful and amazing and awesome and Matt and I both had the hugest grins on our faces! Matt has studied these buildings so he was especially keen to see them in real life.

We wandered around there for a bit and I paid 1.5euro to use the bathroom, desperate times call for desperate measures. Just to be clear I’d paid only 1.20 euro for gelato. Ugh! But the nicest public bathrooms I’ve ever used so it goes to show.

We had another pizza for dinner and are now going to use the internet (in the other building) and then go see the city at night.

Its amazing here! For all the hassle we had getting here it was worth it. So glad we are having a second night to hang out. Its tough to keep moving. Especially when I keep messing it up!

I'll tell you this blog is so hard to maintain with someone else around. I'm finding I keep notes and then type it adn then cut and paste. Matt is waiting now so I'm going to go.

More later.

K