Onwards to Venice!

And we’re off! After a breakfast of delicious homemade jams and we headed to the train. We got to Chambery with no problem, and then switched to the train to Milan. I’m a bit peeved that they didn’t check our boarding passes for that train until we actually hit Italy because it was the leg we paid full (well, student) fare for. They should check it a lot to make it worth it! Haha. Also the train is perhaps the least desirable of all those we’ve ridden thus far – kinda smelly, kinda dirty. But still beats the R2, according to Peter, and the view was spectacular for the parts we weren’t underground for. Lots of mountains, although there is a distinct difference from mountains purely as landscape and mountains that are recognizable (such as the Laforet’s). But as they passed we played some epic rounds of Crazy Eights and finished off our packed lunch of bread, hard boiled eggs (fresh - only a day old!), and the leftover pear chocolate. Our train change in Milan was a bit less relaxed as the train was ten minutes late, which cut into our 15 minutes we had to change trains. Yikes! But we found it in time and it was a much nicer train, although it too left a bit delayed with some interesting noises. Eh, Italian trains!

In not too long we were finally in Venice, or Venezia as the Italians say. We stood in line a bit to reserve the rest of our Italian trains ( two of them don’t need it, very interesting!) but unfortunately found out that Peter hadn’t written down exactly where the new hotel would be, since he placed the reservation while we were traveling and assumed we’d have net access in Grenoble. Oops. Doubly unfortunately, Italy seems to have a new law against “terrorism and pedophilia” which makes internet access to foreigners expensive (and ID must be collected and scanned before you can log on…hmm). Very strange. But in the end we found the place and the room is very nice, although it couldn’t be much smaller without infringing on the space necessary for a double bed. No matter, it has AC and it’s clean!

The most important part was dinner, though. We went out as the sun was setting and had taken menus from a small place a bit outside Tourist Town when a middle-aged lady waves from a corner and makes faces to make sure we know we shouldn’t eat there. It was kind of touristy and Asian-run (some racial animosity??) so we were confused and a little worried about our impending meal. She had a dog, so we figured she must be a local and thus valid, so we kept walking, telling the restaurant that we were going to catch the sunset over the water first before eating. And then we found another side street to disappear behind. We stumbled upon an actual residential area that was quite pretty, and later we happened upon the lady and an additional friend again. They only spoke Italian, but we got that the food at the other place would be like dog food (which the friend was carrying) and that there were better places up ahead. Thank goodness she stopped us because we chose Osteria Bea Vita, one of the restaurants on the street she recommended, and it was So Good! Peter got the prix fixe, which they told us was mostly fish. They didn’t warn us that the hors d’vours would come with whole, small octopi! That was a great food moment – both of us looking and going “ACK! We don’t know how to eat this!” Fortunately the waitress was very nice when we asked what parts we could eat, and it was certainly tasty (albeit a bit disconcerting, chomping on suckers and the bulbous heads). They were so small that it begs the question – were they the veal of the octopi world, and if so, are there octopi farms? What a setting that would be! The rest of the meal was much less confusing, although my ‘spiny lobster and pasta’ came with all the shells on, so I had to personally peel the spiny things, which was silly. Delicious though! And for dessert I ordered tiramisu, which was great, and Peter got a mint mousse with chocolate, which I thought was amazing. The mousse tasted like it had just been picked off a mint bush. Nomnomnom. A bit pricy but definitely successful meal! (except for the bug bites I got on my face…Peter’s stubble protected him and he posited that wise men grow beards for the same reason. Ah, a mix of prosecco and wine…)

We’ve been looking at the map and there is a lot to do here so I should stop typing. Peter is mumbling ‘weh’ in his sleep (French for yeah more than yes) haha. More tomorrow!