A Good Life: Day 5: From Rome to Venice!

{Friday, May 30, 2014}

Time to pack up and ship out of Rome!

We woke up and took a taxi to the Termini Station, where we caught our 4-hour train ride to Venice. The train was actually pretty comfy. A few tips for taking the long-distance trains in Italy:

1. Do NOT accept help from random people in the train station. A really nice, upbeat girl offered to help us find our right train, and after she helped us, she all of the sudden seemed sad and depressed and asked for money for her health. We gave her a few euro coins, and she disgustingly shrugged and demanded for more. So THIS was the gypsy beggars that we were warned about before coming to Italy! Then, when getting on and off trains, men are standing at the door basically grabbing your bags from you, asking if you need help. Before you can even respond, they have your bags and are asking for money. Do not let them help you. Better to grab tight of your bags and do it yourself before they run off with it.
2. Do not expect the "free wi-fi" to work on the trains. It does not.
3. The train food is reasonably priced, but pretty gross. Bring your own snacks instead.
4. Keep an eye on your luggage if you have to store it between the cars. Gypsies are known to hop on, grab a bag or two, and hop off before the train leaves.

Dad and I watched a movie on my iPad ("Layer Cake" - really good, I highly recommend), Zach slept, and Mom read. The 4 hours went by quickly, and as soon as we pulled into our stop in Mestre (the town just in-land from the island, Venice), we hopped off and could smell the sea! Our next rental apartment was only a 5 minute walk from the train station, and super easy to find. It was gated, and brand-spankin'-new. A completely renovated and updated building. Another Paolo was our host, and he was very helpful, and provided us with a great booklet of maps and information about Venice.

Once we settled in, we headed back to the train station to get to the island. It's a 10 minute train ride to the Saint Lucia station on the island, and as soon as you exit the train station, you see this:

Don't mind this chick that just ran in front of my photo...

The first bridge we crossed was so beautiful, we just had to stop and take pictures right away...

Before going to Italy, I read A LOT of books, blogs, and websites on what to do in each city we visited. Almost every thing I read about Venice said that the number 1 thing to do was to GET LOST. Just wander the streets, don't look at a map, and stay off the touristy streets. So...that's exactly what we did. I mean, we had a few places in mind that we wanted to go see, but we zig-zagged the random alleys instead of taking the main "roads." And I'm glad we did.

After wandering around and popping in and out of some churches and gift-shops, we went to St. Barnaba Church, where Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade filmed. It cost 6 euro go to in (rude.) so Mom and I opted out, while Zach and Dad went in. I felt bad saying it, but I kind of had enough of churches at this point. Bad Catholic, I know. Wah wah.

Instead, Mom and I sat on the steps going into the water, and watched the people in the gondolas that went by. And guess what we saw? A marriage proposal taking place! It was so cute. The friends put a sign over a bridge, and waited for the gondola to come down the water to drop it as the man proposed to his girlfriend.

The couple was crying as the sign dropped, and everyone in the Piazza behind us started cheering and clapping as we all watched it happen. It was beyond adorable.

Almost as soon as the proposal ended, and Dad and Zach left the church, we saw major rain clouds start rolling in. We took the quickest route back to the train station, hopped on, and as soon as the station stopped in Mestre, we got off and the rain started pouring down! We hustled back to the apartment underneath scarves and backpacks held high over our heads, and took a huge sigh as soon as we entered the apartment and the warm, dry air.

We were starved, though, so Dad and I offered to go to the nearest pizza place and get some food to bring back to the apartment for dinner. We hustled down the sidewalk under our umbrellas, giggling at ourselves singing songs from "Frozen." Seriously, my dad is the goofiest big kid I know, and I love it. I can pretty much convince him to go along with any of my shenanigans and he will just laugh through it. Our 5 minute walk to get pizza turned into jumping through puddles, singing a Disney song, and having the locals look at us like we were nuts. I don't know what they put in the rain in Venice, but I like it :)

We ordered some delicious Pizza Takeaway (Italy's version of carry-out pizza), and the four of us sat around our apartment dining room table laughing over funny things that had happened on our trip so far, and eating every last crumb of the pizza.

Warm showers, lounging in beds catching up on e-mails while the rain poured down...it was a perfect Friday evening in Venice.

Tomorrow: a full day in Venice, and a bar tour with an old friend from the States!

Ciao! :)
xoxo

p.s. Before the train going to the island of Venice, Zach and I spotted a McDonald's at the station, boasting that they serve a "Gran Chicago Classic." Naturally, we had to try it. We just HAD to see how the Italians perceive Chicagoans.