Breakfast at 8am… for most of us … We have only a 1/2 left in Florence... some of the parents (and players are going to go to some of the museums and or shopping, others are going to do a walking / shopping tour. We depart at about 3pm today..
First let me say the hotel that we are staying in is the best so far… not that the others have been bad… just that this one is the better… Larger breakfasts, more choices, and colder air… I heard some of the girls actually had to turn their air conditioner OFF last night…
Most of us have never been on a train so it will be a new
experience. We arrive to the train
station (only about 2 blocks from our hotel) at 2:30pm. John explained how to read the “reader board”
so that we would know which track our train would come into… There were 18
platforms at the SMN (Florence) train station.
Some of us picked up snacks for the trip others just sat on the floor
and slept. About 20 minutes before the train was
scheduled to depart the reader board flashed #8 #8 #8…. We all grabbed our
luggage (and ever growing issue)… and like lemmings headed toward track
#8. We quickly found our assigned car
(or Wagon as it is called) and started to board…. (Boarding the train … for the
experienced train riders….. there is an art to boarding… It was obvious that we
were not experienced…) We were divided
into 3 train cars #9, #10 and #11 which made it easier to get everyone on board
quickly. NOW…. We understand about the
luggage…. Those who packed lighter… could move more nimble… those who have
larger heaver suitcases… struggled….
Everyone settled into travel mode… headsets… video games…
books.. and sleep… The train rolled through the country side doing over 300 km which is 187.5 miles per hour… but it did not “feel” like it as the train ride was so
smooth… A quick 2 hours later we arrive
into Venice….
The weather was not so hot and not as humid as expected. We
quickly got checked into our accommodations, relaxed for a few minutes… and
then it was our walkabout trek
I have never experienced anything like Venice… the
buildings, the canals, the narrow walking streets and NO CARS…. As we walked our way through the streets (none
of them are perpendicular… that is to say there is no… perpendicular corners…
just varying degrees of angles ) Our walk took us to the Rialto Bridge …one of
4 bridges that cross the Grand Canal.
The Rialto is sort of in the middle of the island … so we knew we were ½
way to our destination. We continued
toward St. Marco’s square and just when you
think the streets could not get any
smaller….. they DID….!!! Soon we forgot
all about where we were going and like mindless rats we were going through a
maze looking for cheese…. Then…. All of a sudden….. there it was….. ST. MARCO’S
Square….. Nothing like we have ever seen before. Just stood there with our eyes wide open and
… our mouths open too…. Thinking ….. WOW….
We took our group photos… a few individual photos…. And then
John showed us were we need to go tomorrow to take our boat tour of the Lagoon
and visit the other Islands.
Everyone was getting
hungry, some people ate near St Marco .. others came back to our accommodations
before eating… Most everyone was tired
from the train ride… the walk to St Marco and back… and from the consecutive
days of the trip….
Everyone was in by the 11:30pm curfew
Tomorrow … The final competitions of the tour.
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