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The fall of the Roman Empire
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The fall of the Roman Empire....
On Tuesday we left Paris. We had checked out how to get to Gare De Lyon (Lyon Station) by 7:40am the previous day. Our plan was to get a bus that went straight there at 6:15am. We were up at 5:30am and at the bus stop by 6:10am. Our only problem was that there was no one there to sell us a ticket and the dispensing machine wouldn't sell anything under a weekly ticket.
Time for Plan B.
We also checked out the underground and new which two trains we had to catch to get to the right station. Just a small hick-up but a sign of the day ahead. At the station there was a porter obvioulsy enjoying himself. He was going thru a routine of explaining exactly how things operated whith a humerous lilt in his voice and great animation. The only problem was he was doing this routine in French and his audience was everything but French. We all just looked at each other and laughed. We worked out the right platform and snuggled into our first class seats without further incident.
The train journey went quietly. I read most of the way and Fiona looked at the pretty cottages in the fields and then later we were treated to some amazing views of snow covered peaks as we crossed the Pyrenes Mountains.
For lunch we had gone shopping the night before and bought some supplies. We had Foie De Gras (Duck liver Pate), a cured pork sausage, toasted brioche fingers (toasted bread) and a small bottle of Cab Sav for Fiona and water for me.
I had thought that we were travelling a little slow at times and there were a few occassions when the train stopped all together.
When we crossed into Italy a team of sniffer dogs got on to smell our luggage. We had a pork salami we smuggled on for lunch - lucky the dog was well trained. Our snacks included cashews, dark chocolate with pastachios, bananas, and fruiche. We were enjoying first class!
I started to get worried about making our connecting train in Milano. We only had a 15 minute window to catch our next train to Venice - not very smart in hindsight. When I enquired what time we'd get to Milano my jaw hit the ground. We were running over an hour late - we would definitely miss our train. Nothing like Italian efficiency!
The conductor told us that there was a train at 4:05pm and another at 4:55pm. We arrived at Milano at 4:00pm!
We bolted from the train and I asked anyone who'd listen in uniform if they spoke English and did they know what platform the Venice train was on. At 4:04 and 30 seconds we boarded a train for Venice - we made it ......just!
Unfortunately there was no room left in first class for which we had reserved tickets on the 3:05pm train, so we were crammed in with the commoners in cattle class - I wasn't happy.
We got to Venice at 7:15pm.
Venice is a rate maze, it might be a very lovely rat maze but it is still a rat maze. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I had a map. I got lost....more than once. It took us 40 minutes to get to our hotel when it should have taken 20 minutes. Our hotel is .... homely. Definitely not flash but quite clean and the staff are very friendly and helpful.
We decided on taking Mateo's (our landlord) advice for dinner and we were not disappointed. Three courses for 20 euro is about as good as you can do and the quality was fantastic. I had spaghetti with fresh seafood, a mozzerella and tomato salad and fried potatoes as a side (which turned out to be chips). Fiona had a delicious platter of roast vegetables, lightly fried seafood selection and a side of mixed salad.
After dinner we decided to visit Saint Mark's square. I had a map. We got lost again! and again!
We eventually found the square. Not many people about at 10:15pm except for the 2 classic four piece orchestra's playing. We looked around the square for a while and then decided to go back to the hotel.
I had a map. I got lost! By this time it was after 11pm and the streets were desserted. I thought my luck was changing because Fiona grabbed my are and snuggled into me as we walked - I then relised she was just scared.
Fiona was actually a big help finding our way back to the hotel. I try to rememeber streets - she remembers shop windows and what's in them. It was she who recognised the Lush Soap Shop which was in the completely wrong direction - we had managed to double back on ourselves!
We eventually got back to the hotel unscathed and very tired at about 11:40pm - what a day!
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| 9. | The fall of the Roman Empire - Venice, Italy Apr 29, 2008 (  4 ) (  2 ) |
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