Got up at 3:20 following a fitful night's sleep - I'm
always like that if I know we have somewhere to go. Had breakfast, cleared out
the fridge, paid Alistair's car tax, unplugged the plugs and loaded up the car.
Arrived at Edinburgh airport for 5:00. Dropped off the bags & wandered
around the duty free shops. It takes me 10 minutes to decide which box of
Molton Brown I want to buy as I'm that tired! We arrive at the gate & board
buses to the aircraft. A woman moans about how rubbish Jet2.com are. I wonder
why, if that's the case, she still uses them!
After an uneventful plane journey (except for the man
with the disabled wife - he waited an hour for airport assistance & no-one
came) we land in Venice. The airport staff are very friendly & sell us
tickets to Venice Mestre station & even tell us what stance we should wait
at. The bus comes, we remember we are not in Britain & swarm on with
everyone else. In approximately 30
minutes we are deposited at the station & ensconce ourselves in the station
cafe, where courtesy of Alistair's pointing & fluent use of Spanish (!) we
have a cheese & ham toastie & an Americano.
Afterwards we venture down a dodgy looking underpass
& Alistair leaves me with all the baggage to find out where the trains
leave from. I feel decidedly uncomfortable, but glean from a small electronic
board that we need the Milan train. Once Alistair returns we venture up to
platform one to get our regional tickets printed. Good job we have plenty of
time! Inntravel advises that it may take 20 minutes to print the tickets, which
probably indicates that they were at some stage in the past, stuck behind the same
American woman I was! First she is perplexed at the limited number of
destinations available, until I point out that if she taps out the name of her
destination using the giant keyboard in front of her then more become
available. Next she doesn't know which of the Bolzano stations she needs &
cancels out of the machine three times. I explain the main station is Bolzano
Bolzen, but she doesn't think it's the right one as there are no changes
mentioned. I then point out the column on the screen that says changes... Some
10 minutes & numerous options later, she gets to the pay screen only to
discover to pay by credit card she needs a PIN, which she doesn't have!! When I
finally get to use the machine, I print all four of my tickets in a couple of
minutes & we're in business.
The Milan train is large, clean & comfortable. There
are luggage racks & seats with plenty of leg room. Firstscotrail please
take note. There are heavy rain showers on the way to Verona, but it's dry by
the time we arrive. There's a bit of panic when we see our next train is on the
platform & the whistle has been blown, but we can't find a working yellow
box to validate our tickets; however finally Alistair does & we board the
train. The journey takes two hours, but
we don't mind, the views are sensational and remind us of why we wanted to come
back to this part of the world. The train runs through the valley & on each
side there are magnificent peaks. We get picked up at Ora station & driven
up to the top of one of them, to the Gasthof Zirmenhof.
The hotel is at 1500 meters above sea level and has the
most amazing views - apparently the snow capped peaks in the very distance are
in Austria. Our room is a suite, with a balcony and commands sight of the very
best of those views. I am glad we decided to go for the upgrade. In the dark,
the lights from the villages sparkle like veins of silver. Our evening meal is
a five course affair - all local dishes. It is very well received, although we
are very tired. Straight after dessert, which is our waitress's grandmother's
recipe, and served with much pomp & ceremony, we go back to our room &
sleep like logs!
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