To and From Venezia-Or 15 Hours on Rail Jet

Ciao!

It's been a long time since my last blog entry. The reason for this is a badly broken wrist, poorly mended by a Venetian hospital, requiring Hungarian orthopaedic surgery, a prosthetic joint addition, and a good deal of physical therapy. More on that later. I think it's finally time for me to write about Jimmy's and my trip to Venice in early March.

The Budapest to Venice line is a 15 hour one, running through and requiring a stop in, Vienna. Good old Wien Westbahnhof. Pretty funny to think we could have flown across the Atlantic in half the time it took us to get to Venice, but at least the tickets were relatively cheap. The trip was one of crowded train compartments, little sleep, stiff backs, and Jimmy making friends with every Austrian, German, Swiss and God-knows-who else on the train.

The train left Budapest in the afternoon and were quite excited. We were loaded up with sandwiches and pretzels and chocolate bars, as well as Ipods, Faulkner novels, magazines---pretty much everything we thought we would need to be comfortable and enjoy our long ride. Oh we of little patience! By the time we were in Vienna three hours later we were already whining about being ready to get off the train! Some world travellers we are, huh?

Here you can see some of our rather compactly packed luggage (compactly and economically packed considering what we looked like coming home from Romania yesterday, but that's another post).

Our Junk

And here is my trusty Hobo bag that has travelled the world with me, literally. It's about to go to Asia soon.

Well Travelled Hobo

We had a quick meal in the station in Vienna. Jimmy, as I had predicted, ate at Schnitzel Land, I, at Mr. Lee's Noodles. I haven't really had anything that could be called "Chinese food" since I left the States, which is my excuse, as if you need one for figuring out what to eat in an airport or train station. After a hurried meal we were on our way again, sharing our compartment with a young Italian named Christian. Jimmy chatted him up, then drank some Gosser, then made friends with an Austrian man at the layover in Salzburg (which seemed interminable), drank some more Gosser, and watched some episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm on the computer. I drank orange juice and grumpily listened to Jimmy enjoying his new found companions. Sometime in the wee hours we fell asleep, and in what seemed like the even wee-er hours we awoke to watch snow covered mountains drift by in the dark.

The man who ran the dining car was a really cool Austrian man who sold Jimmy Gossers and me orange juice, all through the night, and who then sold us our morning espressos. He helped make the trip tolerable with his bright smile and cheerful attitude. Makes you feel kind of bad about whining about one 15 hour trip to Venice when this guy makes the Vienna to Venice run daily. His espresso helped us brave the bright morning light after about two hours of sleep, and I could actually start to feel excited that we were approaching that low-lying and waterlogged area where the islands that are Venice occupy.

This is Jimmy before coffee.

A Very Sleepy Jimmy

This is how bright the morning sun hit us. Yikes!

Early Morning Train Tracks Somewhere in Italy

In approaching Venice we came to an area that looked like nothing but water dotted with tiny spots of trees here or there. It made me recall crossing the sound or crossing Lake Mattamaskeet, only on a much larger scale.

Approaching Venice

The Land of Water

I must admit that it was pretty exciting. Suddenly before we knew it we were pulling into San Lucia. It is exciting to find yourself somewhere new, and to take in the sights and sounds that greet you upon arrival. I always enjoy even the mundane sights such as the vending machines, or the signage in airports and train stations.

First Sight Upon Arrival

Self Bar!

In a few minutes we had our first glimpse of the outside of San Lucia and the Grand Canal. These photos aren't great, but I love them because they are my first photos of the "streets" of Venice.

Our First Glimpse of the Grand Canal

The Grand Canal Outside San Lucia

Outside San Lucia

From here we hopped on a water taxi and made the long trek down to the Academia Bridge and to our hotel. It was a beautiful ride full of fascinating sights. Keep reading to see more.

Ciao!