Night Train, Austria, and Venice

Night Train and Venice

Our night train was pretty eventful. We were in a compartment with six seats that reclined pretty far and we had a plug/ tables. So we were happy. We were supposed to be on that train for 5 hours, have a 2 hour layover in Austria, then catch our train to Florence. Well, while we're sleeping we wake up at a station...we go back to sleep and then we're STILL at that same station. We were there for an hour. Then once we finally got going we went 10 MPH for another 30 minutes or so. Needless to say we missed our connection.

Blogging and stretching.

We went straight to the ticket station in Austria and explained our dilemma. The girl said we had to leave NOW to take a tram to another station in the city. Then just go straight to the conductor to plead our case. Also, the only way to get to Florence now is to go through Venice. Which was hilarious because we decided yesterday to just skip Venice because it was going to be too hard to do all of that. I swear if I write something down in my plans it will just magically come true!

So we ran out in the rain and got on the 18 tram to Westbhf. As we were riding we noticed we were going the wrong direction! We got off at the end of the line and then the driver showed us the way to the right tram...which we couldn't figure out how to get on for a few moments. We got on and when we finally got to Westbhf. We ran around the station only to realize it was all metro trains. We ran out the other side (keep in mind we now have 8 minutes to get on the train). When we came out we saw a big construction site with the name of our station on it, we couldn't help but crack up as we ran in the rain through the half completed train station. There are huge plywood walls surrounding the station so we followed the crowd through the labyrinth of hallways until we finally got inside the station. We quickly found to the platform. Quickly explained our problem to the conductor, who just said, “Yea, okay get on here.” We made it by 2 minutes!

In Austria...lost.

On the train we saw a guy get thrown off and arrested for not paying a fee. From what Greg could translate he had to pay 50 Euros and he didn't want to. The conductor and the guy argued and the conductor said , “okay either 50 Euros or I'm calling the police.” Apparently the guy yelled back, CALL THE POLICE! So we stopped and sure enough we watched him get taken by the police into the station. We had to explain to two different ticket checkers why we didn't have a reservation. The Italian ticket man yelled at us and said that we would have problems when we got to Rome, since we weren't going there anyway we just said okay and took our tickets back. So funny story. In the middle of the night I got up to go to the bathroom. The train was dark and my eyes were not really working yet. I opened our compartment door and two two big steps then WHAM!! Next thing I knew I was plastered to the glass door to the next compartment over. I blinked a few times and got my eyes working (I am still smeared against the glass) only to see six shocked/sleepy faces staring at me. What a way to wake up huh? As we got closer to Venice the train got progressively more congested. We had our compartment of 6 seats filled and people were sitting on these fold out seats in the hall. Finally we got to Venice!

VENICE IS VONDERFUL!

We reserved a train to Florence for two hours after we arrived. We decided to just go walk all around and see what we could with our packs on. Venice is like nothing I've ever seen. We saw a water ambulance where the EMTs all had their collars popped! Actually, everyone had their collars popped. We walked down as many streets as we could, and wound up next to the jail which was really loud. We sat down under a bridge and ate the last of our rations, a banana and pear each with a few sips of PowerAid. Then the gandalas started coming out. It was so crazy to watch all the boat traffic, I would not want to try to navigate that. After breakfast we went and people watched on the train station stairs. This couple behind us fed the birds, they would eat crumbs right out of their hands. Now we are on our way to Florence! We'll post again in a few days. Ciao!!

Update:

It is now 14:09...we are sitting on a stopped train. We were scheduled to arrive in Florence at 13:23 but now we won't leave until they fix the tracks. We walked down to the 'snack car' after they announced the wait, not an original idea apparently and we got a 1 euro tiny tiny tiny bit of espresso to eat with our biscuits/crackers. The food was completely gone except some pineapple cake on juice. They just announced it will be at least 10 minutes more. Lovely, more time to listen to these three American girls yell about what they want or don't want to do in Florence. I have already heard them get in 3 fights, analyze why one's mother is so mean, decide to split up in, decide to stay together, and still they don't know what to do in Florence. Urg. Fingers crossed we'll make it to Florence today.

20 more minutes for rail breakdown.

6:00 and we're finally at our hostel, which is really a campsite! We'll post in a few days...we LOVE TUSCANY!!