Xena 'helping' with the packing of the raspberry bag.
It seems like I spend a fair amount of my time in European rail stations catching up on my journal. Jonathan and I are sitting on the mezzanine level of Roma Termini in a restaurant watching the people go by below. We just finished “I-don’t-know-what” meal of caprese sandwiches. They fed us a light breakfast on the plane but after navigating through passport control, customs, and the train from the airport to the city, we were both in the mood for a snack. Granted, restaurants in train stations are usually nothing to write home or journal about. The hour of the day (and perhaps the fact that it’s Sunday) makes the choices somewhat limited – i.e. I see some restaurants across the street but they aren’t open that I can tell.
The trip so far has been fairly uneventful. SuperShuttle picked us up a few minutes early to take us to LAX. The flight to Newark was uneventful, as was the flight to Rome. The train from the airport into Rome took its time going only about 35-40 mph, but still delivered us to Rome in about 30 minutes. The scenery was pleasant leaving the airport, which is outside the city. Bright red poppies were abundant along the track as was oleander and other wildflowers. As we approached the city, the scenery turned more urban – typical of railroad vistas. Our train to Venice leaves at 1250, getting into Venice’s Santa Lucia Station at about 1717. The hotel I reserved should be an easy walk from the station – that’s why I picked it – so we shouldn’t have the schlep our bags too far.
This vacation was supposed to be the initial Country Walkers experience that was interrupted by Jonathan’s bypass surgery back in 2002. Our walk this year is “Classic Tuscany” and will be the second week of this vacation. The first week is split between Venice and Florence, with a day trip to Ravenna added in. I have never been to Venice (Jonathan has), and our interest in visiting Ravenna was piqued by another Guy Gavriel Kay book Sailing to Sarantium which featured mosaic art prominently in the plot. So we’d like to see those mosaics that inspired the work. Florence I visited 35 years ago with my high school art class. It is also the meeting point for the tour.
Xena 'helping' with the packing of the raspberry bag.
Jonathan working on his journal on the flight to Rome.
Giving me a funny look on the train from the airport.
Digging through his bag.
Some of the scenery between the airport and Rome.
Some of the ubiquitous poppies along the side of the rails.
Three peaks between Rome and Venice.
More railside scenery between Rome and Venice.
A hill town between Rome and Venice.
Railside scenery between Rome and Venice.
A view of the bell tower from our hotel room in Venice.
The courtyard of the hotel.
The back of the church next to the hotel.
The train ride to Venice was aboard a EuroStar – a very smooth-riding train that only made stops in Florence, Bologna, Padua, Mestre, and Venice. We sat beside another American couple from California and chatted a bit. However, both Jonathan and I were exhausted as we hadn’t really had any sleep on the flight over to Rome, so we kept nodding off at each other.
Once in Venice, we dragged our bags over to the Hotel Abbazia that I had selected for its proximity to the station. [I reserved our hotel rooms in Venice and Rome through venere.com which worked out very well. I would/will use them again.] The hotel was not hard to find, although the Google Earth map I brought along was helpful too. The hotel appears to be a former abbey – one of the common rooms has a pulpit and a rather large plaque that celebrates a visit by Pope Pius X in 1906. Our room is comfortable, with a Murano glass chandelier.
We immediately took showers and took a nap to refresh ourselves before seeking dinner. We asked for a recommendation from the hotel desk staff that sent us not to far around the corner to a place called Trattoria Povoledo. Upon entering the restaurant, we were taken through the interior seating to the back terrace, which overlooked the Grand Canal. I hadn’t realized upon entering the restaurant that it extended all the way back.
The meal was quite pleasant – we both started with caprese and an initial dish of gnocchi with scallops (and other shellfish). The gnocchi was a bit to “fishy” for my taste, but the sea bass was very nicely done. Jonathan’s main course was cuttlefish cooked in its own ink, which could be described as “visually interesting.” It was a mound of black glop on the plate served with triangles of yellow polenta. Jonathan ate it with a fair amount of gusto, but sitting across the table, the visual effects continued as that black ink made it look like Jonathan’s teeth were rotting and his lips stained black – very Halloween-y. Fortunately, wiping his lips and a swig of water removed most of the ink from view. Sitting on the canal as the sun set was nice, watching the vaporettos and water taxis go by. After dark, there were not many lights in the buildings lining the canal, suggesting that there weren’t many housing units on the thoroughfare.