Leaving Venice

Wednesday 12th and we leave Venice. We have a mid morning departure by train so no big drama. We prepare at leisure, pack, have breakfast and pay our bill. All goes well. The B's go for a final walk and I stay behind to read. At this point I will tell you my e reader has been brilliant. Love it. Anyway the B's wander off, find some little cafe for coffee and bring me back a small cake for the train. Have I sung their praises before? I must say that being with them has made this trip so much more special. They have been very generous and whilst we do go our separate ways from time to time, I feel very welcome and they share so much information and knowledge that I am sure would be missed on any other tour. And they help with the luggage, find the most delightful locations to eat and drink, sights to see and stories to tell.

On their return we leave for the ferry, this is not too far away and we catch the ferry for the station. It is sad traveling down the canal and knowing you are leaving this beautiful city. On this short journey I see a family moving house and the relocation of furniture by boat is something else to see. Imagine moving furniture without a truck and walls to stack things against. They do it with ease. I see the markets, the Rialto Bridge, the beautiful homes, the history, the continuing need for maintenance, the ice green water and the people going about their business. And of course I see tourists.

We arrive at the station and move through this process with ease. We await the allocation of a platform for our departure and then find our seats. Waiting on the platform is interesting to watch the people - the locals greet each other with apparent joy and break into easy conversation that whilst I cannot understand a single word sounds beautiful.

We find our seats easily and settle for the trip. The conductor accepts our ticket and approves a move to a empty four seated group in the same carriage. So now we have a table and four comfy seats for the journey. Across the aisle is an Australian family. I did not feel comfortable with them and there was no attempt to talk with each other. My discomfort of this family was latter justified with an incident at the taxi where the man of the group was rude, pushy and generally unpleasant.

Back on the train it was interesting to observe the changes as we moved away from Venice. Initially we seemed to go through more industrialized areas. As we left the water it glimmered like silver and we then moved through the industrial area to more agricultural land, hills and our first sights of sunshine and blue sky in a week. Beautiful. We are now on our way to Florence. At the final stop two women get on - a mother and daughter. BJK thinks they are Russian. We were in their seats. The younger woman was fine and they sat at another four seater area in the next group of seats. The mother, however, was less than pleasant and her tone to her daughter suggested some irritation that we were using their allocated seats. Regardless of this the trip went well and we managed not to upset anyone else.