We have ridden a night train in Europe. Was it everything we ever dreamed it would be?
Mia, Terra, and Myra shared a sleeper cabin—a private room with our own bathroom—luxuries of luxuries. That should have skewed our opinion in a positive order.
Sadly, a train of unfortunate events plagued the experience. Due to "technical difficulties" the train was delayed first 15 minutes, then 45, then 5, then 10... for a total of about an hour and a quarter. Instead of 9:30, we were in our cabins after 10:30 and very tired and cold from standing around the platform for so long. Chen and Maria shared a room with 4 others, the rest of us had the upgraded room.
But the private bathroom was not in order. We waited up about an hour until finally we were told it just wasn't going to work. Not only did it not work, it had backed up, so even opening the door made the whole room smell horribly. Which as you may imagine ruined the experience.
Then the conductor made up for the lost time by going super fast the first few hours (at least) which was not the most comfortable sleeping environment. The beds were hard anyway, and the pillows, as Mia described it, "little torture devices".
We were served breakfast in the morning. Enough to get us started before we arrived.
Lounge access + private cabin + private bathroom + breakfast + juice and wine and goodie bags - private bathroom - comfort - pleasant smells - enough sleep = an overall miserable experience. Mia says "I'm not giving up on sleeper trains." Myra says "Never again will I subject myself to such torture."
On to better things... we should mention we are now in Venice, Italy. Buon Giorno!
Our train pulled in around 8:30am (on schedule), and (after checking our luggage) from the train station we trekked through the maze that is the island of Venezia. Unable to pick up the key to our apartment until 2, we had 5 hours to wander aimlessly. And wander aimlessly we did, through streets and alleys and plaza after plaza, over canal after canal, marveling at the impressive sights and the worn-out condition of the city. A little wayward cafe served us cappuccino and croissants and hot chocolate, to our delight. They were the best chocolate croissants ever, and the snack kept us going through the day.
Following the wandering, we picked up our luggage, already worn out from lack of sleep and much walking, then lugged the bags across the city... over just about every canal bridge and probably hundreds of stairs. It took an hour. This is not recommended.
Our apartment is cute but old-fashioned, with no dishwasher, an ancient washing machine, lots of windows, and mirrors on the shutters to provide a view of the canals.
Once we cleverly figured out how to start the washing machine and keep the gas stove lit it turned into a comfortable place to stay!
Adventures to find a supermarket were followed by some naps and general laziness until Myra decided to kick people into gear with a snack of coffee and apples, then for dinner we made steak and red sauce with beautiful coral pasta. With this we served, in shot glasses, one of the mini bottles of sparkling white wine given to us by the train.
Dessert was tea and strawberries with melted chocolate.
We live the luxury.
Your train ride sounds very much like how I felt after Thailand. Never again!! Venice is gorgeous, though, isn't it? And you've got a very cute flat! I love that picture of the canal with the cathedral (San Marcos?) at the end. We went clear across the grand canal to an island, and had a fabulous meal at a nice restaurant while looking across at Plaza San Marcos.
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