On Tuesday, October 9th, we took the bus from Lerici back to La Spezia and then got on a train first to Viareggio, then to Prato, then to Venice.  We didn't have any problems at Viareggio but Prato was a different story.  We had no idea where Prato was so we could only watch every stop.  Finally it came so we unloaded as quickly as possible, however we immediately noticed that it was a very small station and was not the right one.  The major Prato stop was the next one.  We were all in a panic because we really didn't have much time before we were supposed to catch the next train in Prato to Venice.  We started looking around for a taxi or something but the town was dead.  We found the guy who sold train tickets but he couldn't speak any English and we obviously couldn't speak much Italian.  But thank goodness we were able to understand enough of what he was saying.  He was trying to tell us that another train would be coming in at 1:36 pm (it was about 1:34 at the time) and was supposed to get into Prato at 1:38 and we would then have 2 minutes to unboard and find our next train which was scheduled to leave at 1:40 pm.  This seemed impossible to do but we gave it a try.  So we waited up at the train stop again hoping we understood this guy correctly and that another train would be coming and would be on time.  The train did come, we boarded, rode to the next stop, unboarded, then in a panic started looking around for which platform our next train was supposed to come in on.  We ran downstairs, over to the other platform and then came back upstairs to find the train pulling in.  We made it.

The last leg of this trip was the worst leg of our travels yet.   A 6 hour ride with no seats, nowhere to put our luggage, we had to split up, and spent most of the ride standing right next to the door of whichever car had room.  I can't believe they sell tickets when they know there's no space.  When we first got on, we were all huddled next to the door and at least had a place to put our luggage.  So then Sarah and Amy walked through a lot of the cars and found 2 seats.  Mom and Dad eventually did the same and found two others seats in the car in front of Sarah and Amy.  Joe was the smart one and went to the food car where there was seats for those ordering.  So he ordered something to drink and was able to sit there with plenty of room.  In the mean time, a bunch of seats opened up so Amy, Sarah, Mom and Dad decided to go for them so that we could sit together.  What we didn't realize was that these seats were reserved... so eventually at one stop the group that had reserved them got on and kicked us out of their seats.  And that point our previous seats had been taken so we had nothing.  So Sarah went back to see what Joe was up to and ended up staying there for a while.  She came back up to get us and Mom went back with her to get some food and Dad and Amy stayed up front with the luggage.  Little did we know that Joe had great seats down in the food area.  Finally, Mom came up to trade places with Dad or Amy (someone still had to watch the luggage) so Amy went up to get some food.  As we neared our destination, Joe, Amy, and Sarah were down in the food area and went to get the luggage that was at that end.  Dad and Mom were up front with their luggage.  Unfortunately some of our luggage got mixed up so we were praying that the other group had the items we didn't.  We all jumped off the train an met up and luckily we had everything.

When we got off the train, we immediately found the water buses - big ferry-like boats that transported people and their luggage around Venice.  We had a map that showed we needed to get off at the San Marco stop.  It didn't take too long to get to our stop and we unloaded and started walking down the streets to our hotel.  There are no cars in Venice - what would be roads were little rivers and instead of cars, boats and Gondolas.  All the sidewalks bridged over the water ways.  Luckily our map showed all the streets and hotels and we found our hotel pretty easily... Hotel Bonvecchiati.  That night we took a walk around the San Marco area.  It was called the San Marco area because we were very close to San Marco plaza and San Marco Basilica and bell tower.  They had all kinds of entertainment in the square at night including pianists, violinists, and orchestras.
On Wednesday, October 10, we walked past a gondola parking area and headed towards San Marco Plaza again.  We found the plaza full of people, artists, vendors, and most of all... pigeons!  The pigeons would flock all around you, especially if you or someone near you had food (they were selling bird seed there to feed them). Then Amy, Mom, and Dad toured the San Marco Basilica - Joe and Sarah had shorts on so were not allowed inside.  Instead they stayed back and fed the pigeons some more. At noon our hotel had set up a complimentary water taxi over to Murano Island to get a tour of a glass blowing factory.  The water taxi's are just small speed boats that can hold small groups of people and of course are much faster than the water buses. The water taxi brought us back to Venice and dropped us off somewhere along the grand canal.  We weren't exactly sure how to get back to our hotel so we ended up wandering around a bit.  Luckily we found our way back pretty easily. That evening as we were walking around Venice, Joe and Sarah found an Internet Point so we stopped in for a few minutes to check our email.
Happy 32nd Anniversay Mom and Dad!!! On Thursday, October 11, we started the day by visiting Santa Maria del Giglio and Santa Mara della Salute.  Then we all decided it was time for a Gondola ride - we had a really nice Gondolier who pointed out numerous buildings throughout our ride. After the Gondola ride, we walked to the opposite end of the island to see the Castello Arsenale.  We couldn't go in because it was still being used by their military. Then we walked back to San Marco plaza and Sarah and Joe fed the pigeons again while Amy, Mom, and Dad went up to the top of the San Marco Bell Tower.
Friday, October 12, was another day of travel.  We checked out of our hotel and caught the water bus back to the train station.  From here we got on a direct train back to Rome.  From Rome we got on a smaller train to get to the airport.  And then from the airport, we had to find the hotel bus to take us to our hotel, Mach II.  Finding that bus was not easy -we wandered around the train station for a while and had to ask several people.  So when we finally found it (or so we thought) the bus passed our hotel and stopped a little ways down the road and we had to walk back to the hotel with all our luggage. The hotel was out in the middle of nowhere with 1 little restaurant and 1 gas station.  So we had a nice relaxing night (since there was nothing else to do) and had a nice dinner at the hotel's cafe.

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ITALY - Unlimited travel with a Trenitalia Pass