Day 13 – Arrivederci Roma… Heading to Venezia… and “Buon Compleano a Sweetie”

After getting up at 1am again and being greeted with warm, damp laundry in the dryer again, I brought it to the room and set it on the radiator.  I will not miss this.  Unfortunately, the radiator wasn’t on, so I opened a window in the hopes that it would chill down our room enough that the radiator would come on and dry the clothes.  I’m not sure it came on for long, but it made enough of a difference that I could pack the last bit of clothes in the suitcase without too much of a problem.

Through all of it, it’s Sweetie’s birthday.  It’s hard to believe she’s really 11 years old, but as I look at her I realize how much she’s really growing up right before our eyes.  She’s excited about getting to Venice… so we have little time to celebrate right now.

Lots of chaos, trying to get cleaned up, breakfast, everything taken down 4 flights of stairs to wait for the taxis (2 large 8 passenger vans).  They arrive at 7:40am, the apartment manager arrives at 8am and “We’re Off”!!

Navigating 12 people plus lots of luggage through a Roman train station is interesting, but we make it up 2 escalators, down another one and we’re on the platform half an hour early!  WOW!  We all decide we wish March were warmer, but we’re happy to be on the next leg of our adventure.  It appears the rain is behind us and Venice is ahead.

The Principal was able to get everybody 1^st class tickets on one of the new high speed trains, so we head northeast across the countryside at speeds of 200-250 kph (about 150 mph) topping out at 300 for some of the trip.  The kids love it, the men seem to love it, too (all railway fans).  The trains ARE very nice… airlines could take a lesson in the seats, aisle space, restrooms, etc… although I guess when you ALSO have to defy gravity it adds another variable into the mix.  Perhaps the airlines are doing pretty well, all things considered.

Once the train gets underway, we pull out our carry-on piece of luggage that Franka had essentially filled for us with various items and have a little ‘mini party’ for our own Sweetie.  Singing ensues in both English and Italian, and the Train Steward even brings her a box of goodies.

The Italian countryside is really pastoral with small clusters of homes amongst the sheep herds, vineyards, and olive groves.  We pause in all the major cities along the way (we’ll only get back to Florence).