Paris to Venice

We had to wake up at 6:00 am to pack and get ready for the trip to Venice. Doreen is an expert packer, and she was in and out the shower and started working as soon as she was woke up. It is great to take so much time off, but it means that we needed to pack clothes for four months, two seasons, five countries, and all occasions. It was not easy, but we got everything into two large wheeled suitcases (one actually a duffel, the other a more standard suitcase) and a couple of carryons for our books. We shipped back some art and books that we bought in Paris, and are packing a little bit less than we started with. These bags weigh a ton, but with the wheels we are able to manage with little help.

The taxi arrived on time, as did Emmanuelle to check us out of the apartment. If anyone wants to rent the place, send an e-mail to Nabil, you can click on his name, or send it to [email protected]. He and Emmanuelle are great, and they will not do you wrong.

En route

With our heavy bags, I thought that the trip was going to more trouble than it was. The cab dropped us off right in front of the Gare de Lyon, and we walked through to the train area with no problem. (Incidentally, the Gare de Lyon is home to a great Bell Époque restaurant (recommended by Doreen’s friend Lynn Lethcoe) called the Le Train Bleu – the Blue Train. No, I did not hear Linda Rondstadt singing anything – but the food was wonderful, and we had one of those "Good" Paris experiences there. We arrived at the restaurant just before 3:00 PM. for a late lunch. It turns out that they stop taking orders at 3:00, so they rushed us through the ordering process, so they could get the order to the kitchen. But then they did not try to hurry us through our meal at all, and the food was delicious.)

The track the train was leaving on had not yet been posted, so we sat and waited for about fifteen minutes. When the track was announced we hauled all our stuff to the track, to make sure that we could get a good place for our bags. One of the disadvantages of train travel is that you don’t have the option to check your bags. You MUST carry them on with you.

We found our car and our seats with just one hitch (We went into the wrong car at first, and the seat numbers we were assigned were not even close to one another! We had turned left instead of right, and when we found our assigned spots, they were facing each other – but, sad to say, not on a window. We stowed our bags (at the end of the car) and sat down for the long ride.

The Alps

This train rides through some absolutely beautiful country. Well, it goes through the Alps, what do you expect? We had a map of Europe with us, and tried to follow the route. An old Italian fellow across the aisle from us tried to help, but I could not really understand what he was saying. At one point, we rode by a HUGE lake, and I KNEW it had to be on the map. He took the map, pointed I the general area where I knew we were, and said, "A-lay-bomb. A-lay-bomb. Lac, Lac. A-lay-bomb." So I started searching for A-lay-bomb. I looked and looked, but I just could not find anything that looked close!

Then I started looking for lakes. I KNEW we had to be close to one of those, so I finally found a likely location, and then I found the city! Aix-les-Bains! I was so happy to have figured it out. Knowing that, I could also tell how long it would be before we reached Milan.

The trip was comfortable and interesting. We were flanked by two older Italian couples, also seated facing each other. One woman was surprised by a small bouquet of Lillies of the Valley her daughter had hidden in her picnic lunch. She enthusiastically offered to let us smell them, too. The other couple was playing a complicated version of gin with two decks of cards. When I pointed to a car that had fallen on the floor next to the gentleman, his wife started teasing him about hiding the cards. We had prosciutto and a melt-in-your mouth ball of fresh mozzarella cheese for lunch – surprisingly good for train food. The countryside changed from the plains of Paris, to rolling hills covered with grape vines, to the Alps, to the plains of northern Italy covered with flooded fields of Arborio rice. By the time Milan swept into view, I was surprised at how quickly the time had passed.

Self portrait on train

We had only about an hour in the Milan train station, and it was a zoo! People EVERYWHERE and noise and confusion and hub bub. It was just the type of city scene I enjoy. In the midst of all the confusion I made a bad money exchange and lost about $85 US, and later felt a complete fool, but it taught me that you should never get complacent when traveling. Cheap lesson.

Milan to Venice

The train from Milan to Venice was far from full, and we had a little "cabin" of six seats all to ourselves. It was fun to be alone on the train, and take off our shoes and relax for the rest of the trip. It was about three hours, and we saw daylight turn to dusk, and the slow dusk of the northern latitudes disappear into night. We are in the same timezone as Paris, and much further east, so the sun sets around 8:00 instead of around 9:00. We are also a bit south of Paris, so that makes the days a little shorter this time of year.

We arrived in Venice with instructions to call Denise, the apartment lady from the train station. We also had directions to get on the public water taxi, and get off at the San Stae stop. It all seemed a bit confusing, as new cities do, but we lugged our luggage (dragged our duffels? Spirited our suitcases? Brought our bags? Some of you know that alliteration is my hobby.) to the Vaporetto stop and waited for the water bus.

The stop was crowed, the boat was crowded, and we struggled getting our things on and off. But by the time we got to the San Stae stop (five minutes or so) we had it all figured out, and Denise was waiting to take us to the apartment.

Home again, home again, jiggity jig.

Apartment Floor.

RETURN TO GRAND TOUR HOMEPAGE!

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