We knew it was going to be a long day, but it was even longer than that. Every trip needs at least one travel day from hell, and while we’ve had rough days, I can’t really call any day “hell”...until today that is.
Our drive to Milan was about 3 hours, and our intent was to be off and driving at 9:00 so that we could be there around noon, and hopefully catch the 1:15 pm with plenty to spare. It was a rushed morning, and hard to get everything packed up, but we did it. Then we somehow got jacked up with google maps and went the wrong way initially, and the whole thing ended up delaying us…and then you add in a stop for gas, and we didn’t roll into Milan until 1:00 p.m. We found the car leasing place, and were all set to get into their shuttle bus to get to the terminal to catch the train, when John asks me where the second car key was. Huh?
John, in unusual and stellar calculative planning, had given me the second set of car keys so that in case he lost the one he had we’d have one separate and safe. That was 7 weeks ago. I had literally NO idea where that key was or what I had done with it. Then I had to spend the next 20 minutes in the scorching sun digging thru everything, trying to find the key. I did find it though, so that was very exciting, but not before I swore up and down that I had given the key back to John and he had to look thru all his crap too. Memory is a tricky thing.
From there we went to the Milan airport and bought tickets to take the train to Milan centro, and then to Verona, and then finally to Venice. John bought the tickets from an electronic kiosk, and it’s super confusing because there are a lot of different times, a lot of different prices, and a lot of different trains. He read that there was air conditioning on all the trains. Big. Fat. Lie. The first train to Milan Centro was only 30 mins, and there was AC on that. Then we had a very short little layover (10 mins), and we’re rushing thru the big train station, past all kinds of fantastic trains, and then we arrive at ours and it’s the mostrun down, old train imaginable—it was like the train they were about to put out to pasture because it kept breaking down. All the windows were down…which turned out to be a very bad sign because not only was it super old, it had NO AC. We had no choice but to rush on, literally, no time to do anything but get on the inferno train.
Thereafter we were trapped on the inferno train for almost 3 hours during which time we were all about to pass out, sweating profusely, dehydrated, and starving. John had mentioned a possible food cart….definitely not one on this train, I think that was on the super fast, brand new trains---that we walked by. Ava (ever the dramatic child) said, “I’m passing out mom, I’m literally passing out right now I’m so sick.” Our response was, “well, then at least you’ll be out of your misery and will most likely wake up when this ride from hell is over.” We had no water with us, and there was no water to buy on the train. We were dying. There is a serious problem in Europe with body odor to begin with (they think we take too many showers in the US and our deodorant is giving us cancer and Alzheimer), and on this inferno train it was off the charts toxic. I thought they were going to have to carry us off on stretchers. Oh, and did I mention it’s “that time of the month” for Lucia and I? Again. I feel like that is valuable info for setting this entire picture in your head. So we are extra dehydrated, extra bitchy, and extra in pain.
We arrived in Verona, changed trains, bought vending machine water as fast as we could, and lucky for us, for the last hour we were crammed on a trained (all sitting in random seats), but it did actually have AC. We arrived in Venice, and managed to navigate our 7 suitcases (since we grew an extra one), thru the crowds, over a couple of bridges with stairs, winding thru cobblestoned streets, and eventually finding our little Venice flat. It’s amazing though, our landlady is adorable, grew up here in Venice but was educated in England so she speaks perfect English, made us a Tiramasu, and gave us the inside track on where to go to avoid all the tourists and find great art. The apartment is beautiful and huge, with a view of the canal. I love this city and all the water. How can you not? The tourist areas are mobbed and horribly intense, but it doesn’t take much to get off the beaten path, and then it’s wonderful and dreamy.
Elena (our landlady) pointed us a short block away to a great family Italian restaurant, we had a wonderful meal (and they even had gluten free pasta and I was so grateful I nearly cried.) Really great dinner, and now I’m just so exhausted I can barely stand up anymore, let alone type. I’m going to sleep nice and early ( before midnight), and wake up so that we can explore! Last time I was here I remember seeing all kinds of really cool art, so I’m on the hunt tomorrow to find something beautiful,
Signed, ME {lv}
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