Venice at last

14/5 Lucca to Venice
First of all I’d like to say that I do change my clothes, its just that I’ve got black and navy jumpers, a couple of pairs of black pants and some black tops so they have all been washed several times. Looking at the photos this morning it looks as though I’ve had the same clothes on all the time with just a change of scarf.

Up early and despite Giovanni telling us ‘Go to breakfast at 8.15, early, before you catch the train’ he shooed us away for another quarter hour, but we were already packed up so not to worry. He’s a bit OCD but no complaints at all about our accommodation, we’d definitely recommend it as being extreme value for money. Giovanni called a cab for us and we were in plenty of time for the train.

On the platform we ran into the Aussie couple from the day before so stood and chatted again, they have relatives in Nelson and had visited a few years ago. They’d also travelled a fair bit so we had that in common. We had a half hour on the train to Pisa (no sign of the tower from the station) then all four of us changed for Florence and what a scrum that was to get onto the train with a case and backpack each, it was absolutely crowded, no seat reservations, and it had three levels (quite an odd configuration in the carriages, some are double decker, some are on the level but with maybe four steps up above the wheels, then down again). We all got seats but Pete was tucked into a corner on a flip-down seat with one bag under his feet, the Aussies’ bags beside him and our other bag tucked into an opposite corner, was impossible to do it any other way as there’s no baggage storage other than above the head and no-one's 20kg case is going up there. Got my book read anyway.

We had 45 minutes at Florence so it was McDonald’s for lunch standing on the platform, easy. At the stations we again noticed people smoking any old where: lined up to get on a train, waiting on the concourse for track numbers, waiting outside cafes. It’s really not very pleasant to be around. You don’t see many vaping so maybe tobacco is cheap. On the train to Venice we laughed, hearing again the announcement that says ‘This train is going to XYZ, if that is not your destination please get off now’ very sternly.

We had reservations on the third train so no scrums involved. We noticed some people had the lunch boxes and the staff came through with a trolley once we were under way and this time we understood that they were looking for people who had just got on and were giving them the boxes and wine or hot drinks if they wanted. Having just had McDonalds because we weren’t sure about the lunchboxes on every trip (this is only in business class by the way, that’s what our train pass was for booked seating), we declined. They came through again after the next stop and we realised that we could have actually had one on the train Rome to Milan back on the 7th but there’s no English and just a mutter as they go through the carriages really fast so I think there’s a bit more PR needed as it’s a great service. The people next to us didn’t understand so we helped them out with sign language and they were happy to get a free lunch.

This trip was on a fast train, got up to about 280k but mostly just under 200kph, and I got my laptop out so caught up on a bit of the blog but also looked out the window. We went for miles alongside rice fields, I googled it and this area is the rice bowl of Italy. In some parts the crop was partly flattened in parts and looked a bit like crop circles. I’ve put in a photo of one of the trains with the Venice Lion on the front, they look really good, we saw several on our trip today.

Had no trouble getting a Vaporetto pass at the station, found our way to the hotel pretty easily, it's just a short walk from the Rialto bridge, checked in and were settled all within an hour so that was good going. We’d stayed at Hotel da Bruno four years ago, as had a friend from Nelson before that and she’d put us onto it, we were happy to stay again https://www.hoteldabruno.com/en/ When we checked in I asked how they’d got on in the bad floods a year or so ago and the receptionist showed us the flood marker almost two feet up the wall. He said they’d had to renovate/repair/replace much of the ground floor but it still looked the same.

The oldest part of the building is 14th century, they know that, but the main part where we are he didn’t know other than ‘it’s old and has had many changes and owners’. The rooms are very old-fashioned, in fact I know the wallpaper in our room was around in NZ around 1980 because we had similar in our Tukuka Street living room until we repapered it. The bathroom is tiny but there’s hot water (important as you know), and this time we have a little balcony. No tea-making in the rooms but there’s a jug and teabags by reception so you can help yourself at any time (and don’t have to pay 3 Euro).

We were happy to put our feet up for a while and later went for a walk around the neighbourhood towards St Mark’s Square. I like looking at the shops, there's tourist tat and countless Murano glass shops (rumour has it that much of it is made in China), and still marvel at the old buildings and countless bridges, old doors and their brass knockers and handles, and there are plaster decorations everywhere you look on buildings and bridges. And you wonder how they manage with the flooding pretty much every year getting into the houses, not just on the Grand Canal but in the alleys too.

We had dinner at quite a nice place and at last had the iconic Venetian Bellini cocktails BUT Pete’s sea bass was priced on weight, it was quite sizeable and I feel he owes me a small Murano glass cat for that small mistake. However the fish was very tasty and expertly boned and served by the waiter. We got gelato from the shop next door to the hotel, it’s really popular through the day, famous in Venice. A nice way to end our day in Venice, my happy place.Read more