Wait a second that's not...
Yep, sitting from a McDonald's in the beautiful and wonderful city of VENICE, Italy, I wonder how I got here.
Oh right - it wasn't supposed to be this way.
So that train ticket I had reserved for Barcelona, yesterday? Yeah...when I went to reserve it I told the woman "19:00" for "7:00 p.m." She responded by saying, "So 7:00?" and I, of course, answered, "Yes."
Big mistake.
I arrived at the airport around 3 pm and went to get my ticket a 4 pm, knowing that I had plenty of time because, I, like a good traveler, had arrived at the airport with three hours to spare even though I only needed like thirty minutes.
Good thing I did, because they promptly told me that I had missed my train for Barcelona, which had left at 7 a.m. that morning.
DUH!
I did what any good American tourist would do and held up that window for a good thirty minutes trying to explain my situation and get onto another train to Barcelona. The poor ticket attendant, he was scheduled to be off in five minutes when I approached him, but I held him up that long. He explained to me that to take the night train would cost 150 Euros and that my Europass could not be used for it (but he had already marked it before he told me I had missed my train, which means that the fifteen-day use period had now started).
I tried everything, but there were no other night trains available that weren't an exorbitant price.
Also, there were no more trains leaving tomorrow for Barcelona, so I would waste effectively three days if I didn't leave that night.
I decided then that I would go to Italy instead. I walked to the other train station attendant, who handles Italy departures, and he gave me a seat to Venice for 100 Euros, overnight.
At that point, I would have taken anything.
So I was off to Venice! Sometimes I think the Lord truly sets us up to do what he has in mind for us, because I ended up having one of my favorite encounters on that train, plus the best sleep I've had all trip.
When I got to my four-person cabin (six seats, including two beds, but only four people showed up) I met a man from Africa, who lives in Milan and was travelling home (the train stopped by Milan on the way). In his slightly uncertain English, he asked me lots of questions about food, New York and just the United States in general. The whole time he referred to me as "Georgia", since I had told him I was from Atlanta, Georgia.
We even talked about the European Union and its failures compared to the U.S. system, the "American dream", dinner portions in Italy and in the U.S. and why the alcohol prices in French restaurants were so expensive!
Everyone in our cabin went to sleep around 11:00 and it was by far the best I've slept all trip long - every other night, I couldn't fall asleep until around 3:00 a.m.
Around 3 a.m. we arrived at the Milan stop and we had to say our goodbyes. "Milan" put out his hand and said, "It was nice to meet you. My name is Bobs." Of course, I know I misheard or mispronounced his name, but that was okay. I shook his hand and said, "It was nice to meet you too. My name is Nick." He nods sagely, and says, "Mick." I don't bother correcting him :)
When I woke up again, I had arrived in Venice and we were at the train stop. I got all my stuff and stepped out to a place that was completely foreign to me - plus, I know even less Italian than I do French! So far I've managed to say "Escusi", "Bon Giourno," and "Gracie!"
At first, I thought Venice was really, really lame. But then I went to buy a map at a gas station and the owner of the place said, "Do you need a bus ticket to Venice?"
Of course, I was like, "Wait...do I need to take the bus to get to Venice."
He shrugged, and said, "Yes."
So I bought the tickets and finally found Venice, which is actually the island part and not the part I was on...DUH!
And that's how I got to Venice and I (hopefully) will be going to Florence from here and then spend two days hiking the beautiful region called "Cinque Terra", which are five cities that dot the Italian coast.
Here are some pictures for now, but I will have more when I post for the DEC 21st post.
To my family, I love you guys and I can't wait to see you all at the end of the trip! I can't believe it's only been six days!!!
- Nick
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