Saluti! We're back in Perugia now after our very busy weekend. As planned, it was a very early start with our 6:39am train. This meant that we had only one available bus to catch to the station so we were there in plenty of time. Plus, we witnessed a party bus disgorging its passengers after what was obviously a hard night out, making a racket as they found their way home at 6am. As Julianne observed, you could have become drunk just on the fumes that rolled out of the bus as they left. Our local bus, of course, was much more orderly! Once at the station I was very happy to see that the bar was open as I was clearly in need of a restorative/wake-up coffee, and then it was time for us to board what was, as I had hoped, a Harry Potter train to Bologna. Everyone except Nancy and I were in two compartments, and while it was exciting and novel at first, it wasn't long before people started snoozing, missing the beautiful sunrise over Lake Trasimeno as the train sped us north. We were entertained by the antics of a dog in the next compartment who just wanted to look out the window, while we valiantly tried to avoid contracting the colds that our fellow passengers were clearly happy to share. Luckily, all is still well.
Everything was going smoothly until there was an elongated stop in Florence due to a techical problem. This meant a half hour delay - and we only had half an hour in Bologna to make our next train. Things looked a bit dicey and I was anticipating a prolonged argument trying to sort out new train tickets, but luckily for us, our next train connection ended up being delayed for ten mintutes so all was well. I say luckily for us, because according to Xena, I would have been VERY grouchy if we hadn't made it. I did point out that we were not at fault and Trenitalia would have to fix our tickets, but apparently my assurances about my prolonged good mood were not credible. Hmmm.
Our next train was a very fast one, so after another hour we were pulling into the station in Verona. Leaving the bags in the Luggage Deposit, we set off for the historic centre and an early lunch, since everyone was a little bit peckish. Our walk around Verona took us to the Arena, Verona's answer to the Colosseum but still used today for concerts etc, and on to Juliet's house, with her famous statue. Legend has it that if you touch her statue on the very shiny bits, you will find true love. Lots of our students of course lined up for the guarantee. Not so surprisingly, after this the students felt the irresistable lure of new shops and this occupied the next hour, including stops for the odd
gelato or three along the way. Our final stop was the Scaligeri Tower and crenellated bridge over the Adige River (and more food sampling from the stalls which happened to be there for the weekend) before we headed back to the station. Here we encountered another problem - a strike of FS workers which meant the ticket office was shut for the afternoon. A swift change of plans made us take a regional train to Venice, which should have taken just under two hours but instead took closer to three. Frustrating since we had over a 30 minute delay between our penulitmate stop and Venice itself. Still, we made it eventually and the first views of Venice in the sunset as we approached over the causeway (no swimming required) made it all worth it.
Saluti! We're back in Perugia now after our very busy weekend. As planned, it was a very early start with our 6:39am train. This meant that we had only one available bus to catch to the station so we were there in plenty of time. Plus, we witnessed a party bus disgorging its passengers after what was obviously a hard night out, making a racket as they found their way home at 6am. As Julianne observed, you could have become drunk just on the fumes that rolled out of the bus as they left. Our local bus, of course, was much more orderly! Once at the station I was very happy to see that the bar was open as I was clearly in need of a restorative/wake-up coffee, and then it was time for us to board what was, as I had hoped, a Harry Potter train to Bologna. Everyone except Nancy and I were in two compartments, and while it was exciting and novel at first, it wasn't long before people started snoozing, missing the beautiful sunrise over Lake Trasimeno as the train sped us north. We were entertained by the antics of a dog in the next compartment who just wanted to look out the window, while we valiantly tried to avoid contracting the colds that our fellow passengers were clearly happy to share. Luckily, all is still well. 
Everything was going smoothly until there was an elongated stop in Florence due to a techical problem. This meant a half hour delay - and we only had half an hour in Bologna to make our next train. Things looked a bit dicey and I was anticipating a prolonged argument trying to sort out new train tickets, but luckily for us, our next train connection ended up being delayed for ten mintutes so all was well. I say luckily for us, because according to Xena, I would have been VERY grouchy if we hadn't made it. I did point out that we were not at fault and Trenitalia would have to fix our tickets, but apparently my assurances about my prolonged good mood were not credible. Hmmm.
Our next train was a very fast one, so after another hour we were pulling into the station in Verona. Leaving the bags in the Luggage Deposit, we set off for the historic centre and an early lunch, since everyone was a little bit peckish. Our walk around Verona took us to the Arena, Verona's answer to the Colosseum but still used today for concerts etc, and on to Juliet's house, with her famous statue. Legend has it that if you touch her statue on the very shiny bits, you will find true love. Lots of our students of course lined up for the guarantee. Not so surprisingly, after this the students felt the irresistable lure of new shops and this occupied the next hour, including stops for the odd gelato or three along the way. Our final stop was the Scaligeri Tower and crenellated bridge over the Adige River (and more food sampling from the stalls which happened to be there for the weekend) before we headed back to the station. Here we encountered another problem - a strike of FS workers which meant the ticket office was shut for the afternoon. A swift change of plans made us take a regional train to Venice, which should have taken just under two hours but instead took closer to three. Frustrating since we had over a 30 minute delay between our penulitmate stop and Venice itself. Still, we made it eventually and the first views of Venice in the sunset as we approached over the causeway (no swimming required) made it all worth it.
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