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It was another early start to the day we had a few hours before we would be back on the train to our next generation. We were going to walk around Innsbruck. The town was surrounded by beautiful mountains. Depending on where you were in the town you could also see the water falls on the side of the mountain. There was a light rain falling. We had breakfast in a small affordable café. We walked around for about 2 hours on the newer side of town. Next we headed to “old town” . First we stopped at the hotel and asked for a late check out.
The old town was like the villages you see in movies. The building had amazing architecture. We went up in an old tower clock to get a panoramic view of the town. When we came back down there was a crowd forming. The “Aluminum lady” was getting ready to perform. After about 2 hours walking around the old town it was time to check out.
Next it was time to eat. One of the challenges we found was most places only took cash. A few restaurants will take American Express and Master Card. Very few took Visa. I only have Visa. We found a restaurant that would take Visa. I ordered a salad but my kids saw snails on the menu. They ordered it. I tried it…yes it tastes like chicken.
We walked around more before going to the train station. My wife needed to use the rest room in the train station. When she came back she told me she had to pay to use it. We found that paying to use the public restroom was the norm in Europe.
While we waited for the train I felt for a hot drink. There was a vending machine that had drinks in a recreation room for train passengers. I bought a hot drink called “chocolae koffee hell” which I later learned was coffee sugar and crème.
The train was 10 minutes late. Our destination was Venice, Italy.
It was another scenic view from the train. There were many stops on the way to Venice. About half-way through the train ride there was a passport inspection.
We had a connecting stop at Verona Porta Nuov on the way to Venice. The connecting train was late. When we got on the train we were in 2nd class. We had bought 3rd class tickets because it was not a long trip to Venice. We did this for many of our connections to save money when the trip was shorter.
We arrived at Venice very late. Venice is where the most confusing moments of the trip happened. For me it was also funny. To get around Venice there were ferry boats that take passengers to the different islands. The ferry boat station was a few chains away from the train station. There was no information on the ferry would should take us to our hotel. We had a Google print out but it did not seem to match any of the stops we saw at the ferry dock. We walked about and asked questions but everyone gave us different instructions. Normally there were 10 ferries running but at night there were only 2 ferries. Adding to the confusion was the crowd waiting for the ferries on the 2 platforms open.
We finally figured out what ferry to take and went to the electronic ticketing machine. The ticketing machine did not help with the confusion. You could only buy 1 ticket at a time, plus it only took cash. We spend 25 minutes just getting tickets. The ferry took about 20 minutes to get there.
In total we spent almost 2 hours at the ferry station. It was not after midnight. The ferry stopped at every stop. It took us 45 minutes to get to our stop. The island was dark and there was a big building in the distance. We tried do get around the building thinking there was a town on the other side. After trying everything to get around the building we finally gave up. The kids were tired and frustrated. My wife was worried. I was smiling which had everyone wondering if I was crazy. I kept saying this is an incident we will remember and laugh about. On the way back to the ferry docking station we saw 3 people. They asked if we were here to visit the monastery. I almost “burst” out laughing. I asked if there was a hotel here. They mentioned that the monks sometimes rent rooms to travelers. They told us to go to the monastery door and ask the monks for help finding the hotel. We went to the door of the monastery. It was like a scene from the movies. The door was large. The difference is we did not have to knock on the door; there was a doorbell with an intercom. It took a while before a man answered. We told him we were looking for our hotel. He told us we were on the wrong island.
Went back to the ferry dock and waited for the ferry. It came within 10 minutes. By then my youngest was sleeping on me. My wife showed the conductor of the boat the Google maps printing out with the name of the hotel and the location. He did not know where it was. The boat was at the next stop. The conductor took it to the boat driver. The boat driver beckoned us to follow him. He walked us directly to the front of our hotel. We ran the door bell and waiting. No one answered for about 20 minutes. It was now about 1:30 am in the morning. Finally we heard a “half-asleep” gentleman respond through the door bell intercom. He checked us in and walked us outside to a place adjacent to the front of the hotel. The place was very nice plus there was free WIFI. Everyone was relieved. We were finally at our hotel after a long night adventure.
The old town was like the villages you see in movies. The building had amazing architecture. We went up in an old tower clock to get a panoramic view of the town. When we came back down there was a crowd forming. The “Aluminum lady” was getting ready to perform. After about 2 hours walking around the old town it was time to check out.
Next it was time to eat. One of the challenges we found was most places only took cash. A few restaurants will take American Express and Master Card. Very few took Visa. I only have Visa. We found a restaurant that would take Visa. I ordered a salad but my kids saw snails on the menu. They ordered it. I tried it…yes it tastes like chicken.
We walked around more before going to the train station. My wife needed to use the rest room in the train station. When she came back she told me she had to pay to use it. We found that paying to use the public restroom was the norm in Europe.
While we waited for the train I felt for a hot drink. There was a vending machine that had drinks in a recreation room for train passengers. I bought a hot drink called “chocolae koffee hell” which I later learned was coffee sugar and crème.
The train was 10 minutes late. Our destination was Venice, Italy.
It was another scenic view from the train. There were many stops on the way to Venice. About half-way through the train ride there was a passport inspection.
We had a connecting stop at Verona Porta Nuov on the way to Venice. The connecting train was late. When we got on the train we were in 2nd class. We had bought 3rd class tickets because it was not a long trip to Venice. We did this for many of our connections to save money when the trip was shorter.
We arrived at Venice very late. Venice is where the most confusing moments of the trip happened. For me it was also funny. To get around Venice there were ferry boats that take passengers to the different islands. The ferry boat station was a few chains away from the train station. There was no information on the ferry would should take us to our hotel. We had a Google print out but it did not seem to match any of the stops we saw at the ferry dock. We walked about and asked questions but everyone gave us different instructions. Normally there were 10 ferries running but at night there were only 2 ferries. Adding to the confusion was the crowd waiting for the ferries on the 2 platforms open.
We finally figured out what ferry to take and went to the electronic ticketing machine. The ticketing machine did not help with the confusion. You could only buy 1 ticket at a time, plus it only took cash. We spend 25 minutes just getting tickets. The ferry took about 20 minutes to get there.
In total we spent almost 2 hours at the ferry station. It was not after midnight. The ferry stopped at every stop. It took us 45 minutes to get to our stop. The island was dark and there was a big building in the distance. We tried do get around the building thinking there was a town on the other side. After trying everything to get around the building we finally gave up. The kids were tired and frustrated. My wife was worried. I was smiling which had everyone wondering if I was crazy. I kept saying this is an incident we will remember and laugh about. On the way back to the ferry docking station we saw 3 people. They asked if we were here to visit the monastery. I almost “burst” out laughing. I asked if there was a hotel here. They mentioned that the monks sometimes rent rooms to travelers. They told us to go to the monastery door and ask the monks for help finding the hotel. We went to the door of the monastery. It was like a scene from the movies. The door was large. The difference is we did not have to knock on the door; there was a doorbell with an intercom. It took a while before a man answered. We told him we were looking for our hotel. He told us we were on the wrong island.
Went back to the ferry dock and waited for the ferry. It came within 10 minutes. By then my youngest was sleeping on me. My wife showed the conductor of the boat the Google maps printing out with the name of the hotel and the location. He did not know where it was. The boat was at the next stop. The conductor took it to the boat driver. The boat driver beckoned us to follow him. He walked us directly to the front of our hotel. We ran the door bell and waiting. No one answered for about 20 minutes. It was now about 1:30 am in the morning. Finally we heard a “half-asleep” gentleman respond through the door bell intercom. He checked us in and walked us outside to a place adjacent to the front of the hotel. The place was very nice plus there was free WIFI. Everyone was relieved. We were finally at our hotel after a long night adventure.
My bucket list of countries to visit just got a bit longer...
@ Venice
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