A day of training, ugh!

Today we awoke to an early am wake up call from Diana. Yeah, just like at home. :) We packed and dressed and met them for our final breakfast in Siena at our hotel. Then we were off to the Wednesday Central Market. Let's put it this way, imagine the biggest swap meet you have been to, then at least double it. And everyone and his mother was there. Little old Italian ladies are so cute walking down the street arm in arm, but get them in this market and they can push and shove with the best of them!

While we were there Michelle and Diana picked up a few shirts. Diana bought an apron and some cheese, and Michelle bought a new laundry basket for Zander. It is a pop up kind that has a chicken design on the top. Even Tim thought it was cute. Getting it home will be fun, but we think it will fit in one of our packs. Tim also picked up some olives, which look delicious. 

By the end we were all a little exhausted and needed to rest our feet. We left the Central Market in search of food and found a little cafe that sold pizza. We intended to get 4 pieces, but somewhere in the translation we ended up with 6. Which ended up being fine as we needed some food for the train to go along with our olives.

After our market expedition we headed back to the hotel to pick up our bags and slowly make our way to the train station. Michelle and Tim's backpacks have already gained considerable weight. We figured out how to board the closest bus and which stop to get off on. When we got onto the bus, which was about the size of the shorter school busses, there were 3-4 people already there. At the first stop we added another 15 people. At the next stop, around 20, then 2-3 at the next two. So by the time we started leaving the city for the train station (which is a steep downhill slope) we were packed in tighter than sardines. Michelle was wedged up against at least 3 older gentleman, who all laughed at her facial expressions every time the bus jolted forward or to a stop. Once we reached the station, one of them looked at her and said "Sazione" with an empathetic expression, to which she replied "Si, Si Si" with a grateful face.

At the station, we booked our tickets for Venice, and found ourselves with about an hour to wait. We enjoyed the time with a bit of people watching, then determined that our train was already in the station, so we could board early and find some good seats. Unfortunetly, this particular train was running late, so we ended up sitting at the track with 20 of our closest friends who were in our compartment until we were almost 25 minutes late. And since our connecting train in Florence leaves 30 minutes after our train is supposed to arrive, we are guaranteed to miss that connection and need to rebook our tickets. We don't know what it is with planes and trains and making our connections but we just can't seem to do it. Grrrrrr!

So, it is official, we missed the connecting train. Both because our original train leaving Siena was late, but then also because the train broke down in Empoli. So we hopped off one train, then boarded the next train through Empoli. The only problem was, so did everyone else on our very full original train. And we all boarded a train that was already packed and about half of the original trains size. So yet again we were sandwiched tighter than sardines with about 100 of our closest friends. :) This time, for a longer period and with our packs on. Thankfully we were able to find a seat for Ed, which made the trip a little less painful. 

Once in Florence we were able to visit the red ticket booth where missed trains are rescheduled. We arrived with just enough time to change the ticket, take a quick bathroom break and jump on. The nice thing is, this leg of our trip has reserved seating, so we were not stressed about finding our seats, only about getting our luggage in their very small overhead bins. Once settled we realized that we had three of the four seats in a shared seating area, and one seat was in an adjacent area. We were easily able to ask a young woman to switch seats with us, which she was gracious enough to do. 

And we thought we were off and running at that point, having gone through one train delay and come out on the end only one hour behind. And then the real fun began. About an hour into our final train to Venice, there was a rapid announcement in Italian that had all of the people around us groaning and hitting their heads. We asked someone what happened, and they said there would be an hour or more delay, with no details given. We all looked at each other and rolled our eyes, score one more for the Italian train system! But what can we do? So we made the best of it. Michelle pulled out a book and bought a water on board, Ed and Diana began watching a movie on our Ipad and Tim took a nap. So all in all, instead of arriving at 6 pm, we arrived in Venice exhausted and starving at 9:30 pm. We found our hotel (finally) and by 11 we were out to grab a quick bite. Back in the rooms at 11:30 and off to bed. Tomorrow we will all be sleeping in a little. :)

So there you have it, we are safe and sound and in Venice for the next two days. See you tomorrow!