Men are from Mars, Women are from Venice? - July 11, 2016

Skip this post unless you really want to know the excruciating details of traveling by train from Rome to Venice.  In case you’re like me, I wanted to have a really good idea of what it was like to get to Venice on my own.  So, here are some details about getting from Roma Termini to Venezia St. Lucia by train and Vaporetto.

I bought my tickets on Italo before leaving the states.  I only had my confirmation number and had not yet stepped foot into the train station.  As a result, I arrived WAY too early.  Since my hotel was within walking distance, I walked over about 2 hours before my train was to depart.  I checked in with Italo and they confirmed I really did just need to know my reservation code (and my cabin/seat number) to board the train.  Since I was leaving in the morning, there were no places to sit and relax so I spent two hours standing.  I found a little nook near a kiosk that wasn’t opened so at least I wouldn’t have to worry about someone coming up from behind me without my knowledge.  After about 90 minutes, a couple from Texas stood near me and it was nice to have someone to chat with while waiting.

Finally the track was posted for the train and I found my cabin.  When I tried to push the little green button to open it, a French man informed me in French that they were cleaning inside and we could not yet board.  When I said, “ah,” he asked (in French) if I spoke French.  I said, “un peu” and felt very happy that I knew enough to understand him.  (Okay, truth be told, it was more from how he was gesturing that I got the clue of what was going on but still, it’s communication, right???)

The doors were opened between 5-10 minutes before departure.  There were a couple of steep steps up like in the DC-to-NYC trains) but there was a great handrail (and you know I love me some handrails.)   I found my seat and realized that half the seats were facing one way and half the other.   I sat in my seat (7 in Prima so it was a seat by itself) with my bag overhead.  When we took off (on time which surprised me), I was facing backwards.   The rest of the cabin was full so it wasn’t like I could switch seats especially since they were reserved.  I mumbled to myself  and figured that I would just have to deal with it. 

After waiting so long at the hot train station, I was really dehydrated.  The train attendants served small cups of water, juice or soda and crackers or cookies twice during the trip.  I tried to go to the vending machine and had gathered all my Euro coins but they only took bills of 5 or 10.    There was also free Internet on the train but you need to have your reservation code and email handy.  Sometimes the internet worked fine…other times not so much.  Picky detail—the shades spanned two rows so if you wanted it down and the person in front/behind you wants to have it up—you have a problem.

In Florence, the train pulled into the station but then left the same way.  In other words, the train starts going the other direction and my seat was finally facing forward.  Woohoo!   There were a lot of tunnels during part of the trip but it was still a pleasant ride overall.   In some cases, the speed of the train, time, and temperature was shown on the digital readout above the cabin’s door.

There are two Venice (Venezia) stops.  I had double-checked before leaving that it was St. Lucia that I wanted.  But, it was still a little strange to ignore the first Venice stop. 

Finally, Venice.  Woohoo!  I took my time to get down the steps of the train and then made it outside.  Gorgeous view immediate upon leaving the train station.

There were multiple little ticket booths and Vaporetti areas.  I had no clue where to go so I got into one of the lines.

I knew my hotel was very close to Piazza San Marco and I knew from researching ahead of time that I needed either “1” or “2” but it didn’t quite click that those were essentially the bus line and not a particular stop on the generic all-encompassing line.  (It might seem obvious to you, but I am going to blame not sleeping well the night before.)

It was 7.50Euro for the ticket and the lady pointed in the direction that I needed to go to get to the bus and reminded me that I had to validate my ticket before boarding.  I’d heard a lot about how important that was so I intended to follow directions.  

I headed over to the right stop and watched someone try to validate their ticket but the machine didn’t work.  He went over to the nearby one and it beeped like it was supposed to.  I followed his example but I kept getting a red light.  I ended up walking back to the ticket booth and having them check my ticket.  They said it was already validated and that I could board.  Somehow I had must have got it close enough to the machine that it had validated before I had actually tried to do it.  The correct Vaporetto was just leaving when I finally got back to the area so I had to wait.  It’s probably a good thing too since random conversations with others made me realize that above my head in the dock waiting platform was the stops for Vaporetto 2.  It was kind of like the metro where you could see what was going to be coming up before your stop.  After a couple of Vaporetto came by just to drop people off or saying something implying that they weren’t taking any passengers (no idea why…but no one else moved to board so I didn’t either), another Vaporetto 2 docked.  It was easy to board with my bags (and my general klutziness) due to the way the boat docked and the ramp they had.  The gap between the boat and dock was as small as they could have made it and there was a person there that helped to reassure wimps like me that they wouldn’t just let us fall into the water while boarding.

The ride itself was cool but there were a lot of stops along the way.  It took awhile to figure out which direction the boat was going (both ways would have gotten me to the right place) so I found a seat inside and enjoyed the ride.  Although, the sounds of the motors when the boat was getting out of the way of other boats and when it was pulling up to a dock was a bit disturbing.  Part of me wanted to grab my belongings in case we were having engine troubles and I had to make a dash for the land.  (I chose to ignore that I was only capable of dogging paddling.)

Some of the smaller stops along the way seemed like they were more subject to the waves from passing boats than others.  However, the stop for San Marco was once again very steady and easy to disembark. 

The sun along that stretch of Venice is very strong with no shade.  (The inner walkways have plenty of shade.)  There are a lot of vendors and kiosks.  While some were tempting, I wanted to get to my hotel.  It seemed in either way that I’d have to cross at least one bridge.  The bridges have stairs.  Stairs up.  Curved top.  Stairs down.  With lots of tourists in the area, they were often sitting on the sides where the handrails were.  Really?  I need my handrails! 

So, the hardest part of the trip was going up and down stairs, up and down stairs, up and down stairs with a heavy bag.

Later, I did see that one of the bridges had added some mini ramps on one side of it.  I don’t know if I could have just taken that one and been done with it or not.  Since I didn’t want to think I had gone over more stair-bridges than necessary, I am going to pretend that one didn’t exist but if you go, I encourage you to investigate.

The walkways were easy to roll my heavy bag on considering how old they were.  They were not cobblestones but instead were really flat stones that were relatively level.  Considering how easy it was for me to trip, I actually felt comfortable walking and looking up at the scenery compared to other places I had visited in Italy.  Go Venetians!