¡Bella Venezia!

 

We left Bern yesterday AM on a 9:40 train to Venice.  The ride through Switzerland into Italy took us through the Alps, and it was breathtaking!  We couldn’t get pictures to do it justice, mainly since taking them through a window isn’t ideal, but we attached a couple to show you.

 

We arrived in Venice a bit travel weary (the train ride was about 7 hours total), ears ringing slightly after listening to 3 very chatty Italian women the entire way.  Jason’s friend, Daniele met us as soon as we got out of the station.  Daniele and his family (wife, Gabrielle, daughter Laura, 13 and son Luca, 9) are all wonderful and we enjoyed a fabulous home cooked Italian meal at their home last night.  The boys even had fun playing a game of fusball together!

 

After dinner, Daniele took Jason and I on a wonderful tour of Venice.  Daniele lives in Mestre, which is the town just over the bridge from the island of Venice.  We can walk to the train station from our B&B (picture attached, it is so beautiful and cozy!).  Experiencing Venice at night was almost too much to process!!  I had no idea how big this little island is!  We are headed there again today, as well as possible another of the islands, so we are in for a real treat.  We are too lucky to have a local tour guide!  Daniele knows so much about Venice that it is a cultural experience for us, too!  We’ll write more tomorrow after our experiences today!

 

Pictures attached: Scenes from our train ride from Bern to Milano; Daniele & Jason with a friend of Daniele’s who owns a pizza shop in Venice enjoying a friendly beer last night.

 

¡Ciao!