| December 26 | Contents | December 28 |
There was no "sightseeing" today. In the morning I went to the train station to
take the train to Venice -- Venizia. I had the "Cisalpino" express train, and
of course it was late in arriving -- thats Italian trains for ya!
By the time it finally did arrive -- 1 hour late -- there was already another
"Intercity" train scheduled to depart for The City of Enchantment (that's
not an official nickname, I just made it up right now. My thanks to New Mexico
for the inspiration.) I was seriously considering taking that inter-city train,
but the Cisalpino finally arrived and I got on that one. Well -- almost!
A little bit of background before I continue any further. It was a COLD day in
Milano! My guesstimate is just a little below freezing. There were several hundred
people waiting for this train to arrive, and I know that I was running out of
patience. Well, I was not the only one. When the train arrived, we all rushed to
the platform and hurriedly got inside the cars -- a mistake, since the people
inside hadn't even gotten out yet!
I'm as guilty of this anyone else.... so I'm not blaming anyone else here...
In my car, it just so happened that all the incoming passengers were blocking the
only door out, and the people inside who were trying to get out were trapped. To
make matters worse, there was a guy (roughly my age) behind me, and I dont know
what his problem was! First he said softly "permiso"... nobody budged. Then again,
"PERMISO!" ... Again, nobody budged. Again.... "PERMISSSSSO!" and that was followed by
him squeezing his way through everybody, along with the big suitcase he was carrying!
At the same time there was an elderly couple in front of me trying to get out and the
guy behind me literally ran right into the lady, who unfortunately had a walking stick...
Well, needless to say they both fell over, which prompted the husband to start yelling
at (understandable) and then punching this guy! Now THAT was too much! The conductor
was finally called and the kid was thrown off the train, after which they continued
arguing and yelling at each other on the platform... well, I think something like
that can only happen in Italy or India! I took my seat, and the train left a few more
minutes late...
By the time it arrived in Venice it was dark.. I took the Vaparetto to Piazza San Marco
and then walked from there to my motel. No pictures taken today--everything was dark
and foggy, and I didn't really feel like going out anywhere. My motel didn't have
internet access available so I'm writing this directly into my webpage -- no email.
| December 26 | Contents | December 28 |