My last morning in lake como, I am travelling on to Venice today! By this stage I have gotten to know everyone staying in the hotel so it was a bittersweet breakfast together this morning! Ty had baked walnut bread which made an excellent cheese sandwich, and there was also an apple and almond cake to go with the apricots! An excellent last breakfast, then it was time to say goodbye to everyone and hit the road for a long days travel. First up the hour long scenic bus ride to the train station, then waiting for my delayed train to Milan. This was a pain as I saw my connecting eurostar train pull out of the station as I pulled in, trying to get information about whether I could travel on the next train was impossible. I later worked out the trains were all fully booked and there had been delays and cancellations all day, so the conductors let us on board but there were no seats. I staked out the area in front of the out of order toilet, and sat on my suitcase with other people perching on bags and steps, we joked about how much we were all paying for the priviledge. The refreshment guy look pity on us and gave us an unending supply of free drinks and nibbles. It took 2 hours before I found a seat for the final hour of the journey.

It was worth it when I arrived in Venice.... You walk out if the train station and there in front of you is the grand canal! My hotel is at the stop for the accademia bridge - it is an old family owned and run palazzo, with antique furniture, and I am right on the canal. The photo is the view out of my window of the bridge, a trattoria and the canal! I have a great room, big (for Venice) with a double bed, share bathroom and that great view. It is the most expensive hotel of the trip (mind you, location location and nothing comes cheap in Venice). There are a couple of interesting quirks to the hotel (apart from the seriously slanting floors), there is a free communal help yourself minibar and breakfast is served in your room! I arrived much later than I had hoped, and they do aperitif hour early here so I walked the backstreet to orientated myself a little and went straight to dinner. I was recommended a little trattoria that was cheap and cheerful and had a perfectly acceptable meal of roast chicken and vegetables ... Will revisit my Italian menu tomorrow! It was lovely and atmospheric at night so I ended up walking until about midnight!