Legally Blonde's Proceedings

On Thursday, December 16th we had an 8:15 train from Milano Centrale to Venice San Lucia, but as I mentioned in my last post, there was a bit of suspense about whether it would really happen due to the planned general strike.  After waking up extra early in case we had to walk to the train station, we walked down to find at least 4 taxis lined up in front of the hotel.   Breakfast options in Italy are often something sweet, and neither of us wanted that, so we opted for the exotic train station breakfast location of McDonalds.  After an egg McMuffin, we headed to look at the departure board again and our train was still scheduled to leave at 8:15.  While we saw a few cancellations on the board, it seemed like most things were running. Our train left on time (and we had drink service on board despite being told the night before that we wouldn't) and pulled into the Venice station at about 10:45 a.m.  After dropping our bags at the hotel (more on that later), we h...

The last full day of my vacation was on January 5th.   I spent a few hours in Venice before my 10:50 train out of Venezia San Lucia to Milano Centrale.  I went to St. Mark's Square first thing just to take in the sights of Venice one last time without crowds... A classic Venice scene... The day before I made sure I could find the taxi dock where I arrived, and I even walked down there to make sure taxis were available.  The day before there were 4 or 5 docked there.   That morning when I needed one, there were none.  Of course! I went to the end of the dock and tried to flag down some that I saw driving by.  I guess they don't do that?  Because they all looked at me like I was deranged.   I yelled over at some Gondoliers and asked how to get a taxi.  They suggested I walk to San Mark's Square dock.  I could do that, but I had luggage, and the streets are not great for rolling luggage, plus you factor in all the ...