Last time on Holy Toledo...
We were hitting the hay in Cinque Terre, full to the brim with delicious food and exhausted from a day of exploring. As we were showering one at a time and getting our bags ready for an early morning departure, we chatted with the Australian girl who shared our room. We apologized in advance for the next morning, because we had to leave extremely early. Our train to Venice left from La Spezia at 7:50. Unfortunately, the morning trains from Riomaggiore to La Spezia are less frequent than the daytime/nighttime trains, and the only one we would be able to catch was at 6:30 am. We also had to return the hostel key to the office at the top of the hill 10 minutes away and then walk to the train station. We planned to leave the hostel at 6 am, meaning we had to wake up around 5:15 or 5:30. Not too bad...could be worse.
Anyway, as we were chatting with our new Aussie friend, she reminded us that the clocks were going to change over night. THANK GOODNESS SHE REMINDED US!!! We had been told about this a few days before, but it had completely slipped our minds. She told us to go ahead and set our clocks forward one hour, just in case our phones didn't do it themselves. That's right...forward. I hesitated for a second. Wait, isn't it "spring forward, fall back?" I was reassured that no, the clocks move forward one hour tonight. Do it or else you will miss the only chance you have to get to Venice. The combination of the insistent Aussie + the thought that maybe they do it different here in Europe + the Cinque Terre wine had me convinced that she was right. So we moved our clocks forward one hour and fell fast asleep, grateful for Aussie friend's helpful reminder and ready to be on time for all our trains the next day.
The next morning, as our alarms went off, the Bike Crew was extra sluggish and tired. The night had seemed way too short. We packed the last of our things into our backpacks and headed out into the rainy morning. As we were walking, we looked at our phones and realized that we only had 5 minutes to get to the train! We sprinted all the way there in the rain and got to the platform only to find it completely empty. We also noticed that the departure screen was broken...it was still displaying trains that had left at 4:50 am and 5:45 am. After waiting 10 minutes for our train (which we thought was running late), Sofia double checked the departure screen.
No.
No way.
You cannot be serious.
THE AUSSIE GIRL TRICKED US!!!!!!! SHE LIIIIIIEEEEEEEDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!
I was right. It IS spring forward, fall back. EVEN IN EUROPE. We had moved our clocks forward an hour so we thought it was 6:40, when in reality it was actually only 4:40. AM. Meaning we WOKE UP AT 4 AM. AHHHHHHHHHHH.
We were furious. But also tired. So we fell asleep on some benches until our train came, then we slept on that train, then we ate breakfast in the train station and fell asleep on the next train. And the next. And by the time we got to Venice we were fully rested...kind of.
We left our bags in storage in the train station and headed out to explore the city of water...in the rain. How appropriate. Luckily it wasn't pouring, just a steady drizzle for most of the afternoon. We hopped on the #1 Vaporetto, or water bus, to take us to the Rialto Bridge. We had planned to find a great restaurant for lunch but instead settled on paninis because we had to save up for our last dinner in Italy.
Lunch menu:
- Sofia and Caitlin - salami and gorgonzola cheese panini
- Elizabeth - proscuitto, tomato, rocket and mozzarella panini
Solid. We wandered around Venice for a while and I was surprised to learn that there are actually streets in Venice (I don't really know why I was surprised about that). But I still wonder how it works if someone who lives further away from the water needs an ambulance or something. The streets are not wide enough to drive on and I never saw a single car. I guess Venice has that figured out...I'm just not privy to the inner workings of their system.
We went to the Piazza di San Marco and saw the Basilica, which was magnificent. The entire ceiling of the church is covered with gold mosaics and it is so incredible. It was amazing. And it was free! Lucky us.
Our tummies were starting to get hungry (if that is even possible) and we didn't want to stand out in the rain, so we went off in search of dinner. We settled on this tiny place on a random side street that was also really empty because it was only 5:30. We had to eat early because we had yet ANOTHER train to catch so we could check in to our next hostel (aka the Milan airport) for the night. Our waiter became smitten with Caitlin which was great because we got free Limoncino out of it after dinner and Caitlin learned a new secret handshake.
Dinner Menu:
- Cheese plate for appetizer, complete with...butter? We thought it was cheese at first but we were sorely mistaken.
- Second cheapest wine on the menu...we were running out of money, but we didn't want to settle!
- Caitlin - Tortellini with cream sauce and ham for first course, spaghetti with pesto for second
- Sofia - Four cheese gnocchi for first course, lasagna (again) for second
- Elizabeth - Spaghetti with spider crab for first course, grilled scampi for second
- Free Limoncino from our waiter friend
After dinner we made our way to the train station, but not before stopping at the nearest crepe stand for one last nutella crepe in Italy! And that was the last thing we ate. The 5 day feast was over...so sad.
I wish I had enjoyed Venice more. We were only there for half a day and it was cold and rainy and crowded and we were all really tired and running out of money. I think if I came back another time I would like it a lot more, but this time around it was definitely lower on the list, especially after all the other amazing places we saw. But I did like it (I just didn't love it) I'm really glad we went!
Unfortunately this post concludes the chronicles of The Best Fall Break Ever. If you read the whole thing, I hope you laughed. And dreamed of food. And started drooling. It's back to the "real world" in Toledo, and I actually have to start working on this Art History paper. Yeah....I still haven't started. I've learned some Things About Spain and Lola in the last few days so I will be updating those lists soon.
So now, it's time to hit the books. Maybe.
Bike Crew out.
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