Day 33 Venice to Florence

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After our change of room at the Palazzetto Pisini Grand Canal we slept well. While the room was a bit warmer than the previous room this one afforded the luxury of a glass cubed shower that you could see in to from any point in the room as well a toilet that was also visible from the wobbly old desk that I was blogging from. It was like being watched during a performance, to the point Vicki was waiting for a round of applause.

We checked out of the hotel and bumped in to a German couple that we'd met as we were leaving dinner last night. We walked down a narrow street with them on our way to San Samuelle pier. It was already high 20s and humid so we sat in the shade and caught our breath after bidding farewell to the German couple, lovely people from around Munich.

On to the number 2 boat for 4 stops to the main railway station at Venice. We had a pit stop at a café in the station and was served by Manuel number 3 or 4, to be honest there are quite a few Manuel's' of Fawlty Tower fame in hospitality in France and Italy, on our trip. He liked to fluff around and shew pigeons and unsuspecting tourists who'd bought food and drink in the take away section of the café. After donuts and espresso we also had a bite to eat prior to our 1pm train. The food was pretty ordinary, although Vicki's salad looked far better than Wayne's dodgy burger.

Our train started loading at 12:55 and left at 1:01pm, not a bad effort to load around 400 people at a rough guess. Anyone reading who is unfamiliar with train travel in Europe you load and unload your own luggage but your seats are allocated on the inter city trains. We haven't caught regional trains so we cannot offer any insights on this. Our tip would be to definitely pay the extra for first class as there is plenty of legroom and the carriages looked to us like they are less crowded.

Arrival in Florence was spot on 3:05pm with the train reaching speeds of up to 260km/hr but the ride was extremely smooth and the on board service, from the ticket conductor to the train crew were very friendly. This is more in line with what our expectations had been prior to the way we'd been spoken to in the past few days. Florence was pretty hot on arrival, around 33, but the humidity didn't seem as suffocating as Venice or Nice. We walked from the station to our hotel, The Atlantic Palace, in the heat and was welcomed by air conditioning and a very friendly receptionist.

Check in was simple, scan our passports and away we went with Vasilis the porter. We took a lift, very civilized after Venice, to the 2nd floor and then climbed up and down a few stairs to our room. It is neat and tidy and will serve us well for the three nights we are here. After we got organized and settled in we went in search for a laundromat and found one a couple of hundred metres from the hotel. The laundromat owner is an interesting guy, Bangladeshi born, and he came from his leather bag shop next door and gave us a hand with the machines. The best part of the laundromat was the little bar/café across the pedestrian street. A couple of beers, purely for their hydration, later for Wayne and Aperol for Vicki and our clothes were washed. As is tradition we struck up a conversation with a couple from Sydney, Engadine in fact (see people from the Shire do leave occasionally) at the café/bar. Jo and Adam were on holidays just touring around Italy for a month.

After finishing our drinks, and washing, we headed to a restaurant called Lobs a seafood restaurant. While we were the first patrons there, it was early by Italian standards for dinner around 6:30pm, the place had a good feel to it and staff were warm and welcoming. By the time we'd ordered our meals the place was filling rapidly and we knew we'd made a great choice when the entrée came out. It was a mixed seafood plate for two and it would have normally been enough for a main. By the time mains arrived, mixed fried seafood and vegetable plate for Vicki and a seafood Risotto for Wayne we knew we weren't going to be able to eat it all. Throughout the service was extremely professional but above all friendly and definitely one of our better meals while we've been away.

Tomorrow we are booked for an 8:15am Best of Tuscany tour including Pisa and a three course winery lunch, we're really looking forward to it.

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Photos

Grand Canal Venice
Like Pitt Street at 5pm. Bye Venice it's been "fun",