On the Water

cruise boat dwarfs the cathedral and buildings.

view from our hostel over to the church we performed in.

Venice reminded me how much I love being on boats.  Water calms me and gives me a sense of peace.  On my first boat ride in Venice I pushed to the very back of the boat.  Standing outside in the breeze I could take in the panorama of the Grand Canal.  The view was spectacular!

Trip to Venice

breakfast on the train

3 layers of beds

We boarded the train at 8:30pm Thanksgiving night.

I was assigned to a cabin for 6.  It was a bit tricky to get 6 women into the tight little space with our suitcases and purses.   The ladies that chose the top bunks climbed up the ladder. They received the suitcases that we lifted over our heads and lifted them up to the ceiling luggage rack and stowed them. Later they threw down the sheets and bedding for the rest of us.  Those 2 made up their beds and put earplugs in and rested and read books.  I wondered how long till I could make up my bed. But there was a problem with the cabin assignments.  Some Austrians had boarded the train and grabbed some of our reserved cabins.  So for a while we had “homeless” students coming in and sitting with us.  While our leader tried to get our cabins cleared for our students.  Around 10pm every student had a bunk, and was settled. So we could then make up the other 4 beds.

The back part of the bench was slid up then pulled out and rested on two supports to create the middle bunk.

Then the remaining part of the bench was the lower bunk.

We discovered that when we slid our door closed it blocked out a lot of noise! And the door was lockable. 

After brushing my teeth in the wash room down the hall. 

I climbed up into a middle bunk and was soon asleep with my earplugs in.

Though my board was covered with upholstery it wasn’t very soft. And the warmth of the cabin made sleeping uncomfortable.  It was still better than sitting up all night in a chair, like one does on a night flight.

In the morning the Porter brought us breakfast on a tray.  I was very glad that peppermint tea was provided for none coffee drinkers.

We arrived in Venice 8:30 am to find sunny dry conditions.  The light was terrific.