Awoke, showered, dressed and checked out of our hotel and made our way down to the train station for the next leg of our journey. It was not the easiest walk even though only about 15 minutes long, it was around -5 C so our hands, even in gloves, were being exposed to the cold whilst we where wheeling our bags.
We made it the station without incident and were happy to be able to warm our hands up in our pockets.
Checked tickets at the ticket window and then found a small kiosk to buy some pastries for breakfast. For some reason they wouldn't let Sharon buy what we wanted with the coins we had even though we had more than we had calculated the total should be. They turned her away with the change minus the two extra croissants we wanted for the train journey. Oddly the change was over €3.00 and the cost of one croissant was only €1.30. So I went back to the counter with the same coins they had handed back to Sharon stating that it wasn't enough to buy the croissants and yet I was able to purchase the two croissants and even be given change. The interesting experiences that can occur when there are language barriers.
We waited for our trains platform to be posted on the board and when it was we made our way to the platform and boarded the train, found seats and were moving away soon after. There was some great scenery, including quite a lot of snow. The journey was about 4.5 hours to Milan where we had to change trains to go on to Venice.
Our first train was 15 minutes late arriving into Milan which meant our connecting train was about to leave as our agency had booked trains only 15 minutes apart. We dashed from train one with our bags and checked the board for the platform of our next train. Luckily it was only 3 platforms away. We raced over to the next train and just as we started down the platform it started pulling away. There were several other people who had the same problem.
We made our way to the customer service information office and received an authorisation stamp that allowed us to get on the next train to Venice. We just had to wait for another hour. When it arrived we had to see the customer service attendants 'colleague' and they would sort out seats for us. This was all quite vague. We saw another little booth at the end where all platforms join the station so went up to ask who one of the colleagues may be and where we would find them. To my surprise the guy that served me at this little booth was the same guy who had given us the authorisation stamp in the main customer service office on the other side of the station. After another 2 or 3 minute conversation I was finally able to work out where this 'colleague' would be once our train arrived.
We waited in the main station area for the next 45 minutes until our new train arrived. We found the platform, spoke to the 'colleague' and were told to get on and find any empty seats and that the conductor would sort it out for us once he came around. As we didn't actually have booked seats for this train we had to move when someone got on who had the seat booked that we had been sitting in. We found two more empty seats and luckily they were not taken and the train headed off from the platform.
The conductor eventually came around and after checking advised we could stay in the seats we were in. Finally we were on our way to Venice, an hour later than planned.
After around 3 hours we arrived into Venice into the dark with a serious fog hanging over the city. It was quite eerie and really suited the vibe of a city that is made up of small lane ways and canals and has no cars on it. The walk to the apartment was a little gruelling lugging our bags up and down three different bridges all with plenty of steps both up and down. Not fun, and I suggest packing light if you come to Venice.
Still it was beautiful to hear the canals and the footsteps around and no traffic noise, just a few little boats and canal taxis passing from time to time.
We finally got to our apartment and were let in by the owner Sebastiano who was extremely helpful in explaining the apartment and more so how to get the most out of our time in Venice. He had little tips on good areas for restaurants, other insights into some interesting parts of the island and even had guide books and maps all there for us to use. The apartment was fantastic, the best one we have had on this trip. Amazing views right over the canals and a very modern and well equipped apartment inside, with great classic Venice character from the outside. We could not have picked a better apartment or person to deal with.
As it was now after 8pm settled in briefly and then headed out for a walk and to find a restaurant for dinner. It was freezing cold outside around -2 and the fog making feel much colder. Even with gloves, hats, jackets and thermals the cold was biting through to our skin. FIngers and feet were numb within 5 minutes outside. We found a little Italian restaurant not far away and quickly headed inside, where it was actually only slightly warmer. It seems Venice restaurants and shops don't overheat like they do elsewhere. THis could be due to the fact that households and businesses have limits on how much power they can draw at any one time. The owner of apartment had warned us of this and that you can only run one appliance at a time or the power regulator switches cuts in and shuts power off.
We enjoyed our pasta dinner with some great Italian red wine and then made our way back to our apartment around 10:30 for showers, some unpacking and then off to bed.
