We start our day with breakfast at our hotel before rolling our suitcases down and across the street to the train station. We change trains twice today.
On the second leg of our ride, a man from Eastern India and his family are sitting near us. He is sitting straight across from a lady with a strong Italian accent. They chit-chat in English throughout the ride, laughing frequently and sharing travel and world experiences. He speaks more quickly than she does and she doesn’t seem to mind his that he frequently interrupts her. At one point, he realizes that he and his family may miss their next connection, as the train we are on is running late. (Incidentally, the train he is worried about missing is also our next connection!) She shares that her brother works at a train station, and she makes a call to him. She then shares with her new friend that his tickets can be refunded if they do not make the next train. He is very grateful to her and when we get to the end of our ride, they exchange names and decide to stay connected via What’s App. His name is Naveel and hers is Francesca. He tells her that if she is ever in Chicago, he has lots of family there and anything she needs, she is to let him know. She asks, “Anything?” “Yes,” he assures her. “Anything at all!” So much fun to watch people from around the world make such sweet connections.
The second train change proves to be challenging. As stated above, our train ran late and in addition, we misread the signage and find ourselves at the wrong platform. Shawn quickly realizes our mistake, but we are quite a jog from where we need to be. I tell him I can run, so off we go, pushing our luggage and weaving in and out of people. It’s hot and we are sweaty. My luggage falls over as I try to rush off one of the escalators. Passersby help me to upright it; I thank them and we keep running. We finally get to our destination, half expecting to have missed our train. Thankfully, the train has not departed and we hop aboard.
Once on the train, we meet a couple who is about our age; she’s a PACU nurse and he is in sales of Volvo trucks. They live in the bay area in California, and we quickly find we have a lot to talk about. We cover the gamut from work, to children, to caring for aging parents and of course, travel. We learn their names are Brian and Teresa and at the end of our ride, we joke that if it’s meant to be, we will run into each other again. We will all be in Venice for a couple of days before we are off to Florence.
We get off the train and head to find our hotel. Venice is like nothing we’ve ever seen. The pictures show the waterway streets but in my mind, I always thought that was just a small area. There are endless blocks of homes, restaurants and businesses, all on water lined streets with boats along the way.
We arrive Venezia Grand Hotel, Palazzo dei Dogi, a beautiful 17th century building that once served as a convent and then later became the Embassy of France and Savoy. The lady who checks us in spends time explaining the highlights of the city to us and how to best get around. I find it difficult to concentrate as we are drenched in sweat and in need of a shower!
We have a balcony which enables us to do some laundry and lay it out to dry before we freshen up and head out for dinner. Shawn chose a lovely place on the water with amazing food and excellent service. Our server is attentive and shares with us that he’s worked here since 1998! Everything is delicious but dessert is to die for! We share a bowl of lemon sorbet with basil and mint. The basil and mint are blended with the sorbet which has a nice, very slight grainy texture. The flavors blend beautifully. The sorbet is garnished with basil and mint as well, so the presentation is also lovely.
We leave the restaurant at 11 p.m. We have become night people! I love how we seem to walk through mazes of tall buildings with tiny, narrow streets to find our way back to our hotel. We drop into bed and I am thankful to see yet another beautiful part of Italy.