Today can best be described as “Find Armani” day. Let me begin at the beginning.
We had the day to ourselves at Milano since our train was only at 3.27 PM to Venezia.We got up at around 7 PM, got dressed and packed our luggage since our check-out time was 12 Noon.We finished our breakfast ( same old croissants and boiled egg and cornflakes and fruits topped with coffee).
One of the rituals we have established during this trip is to take a picture of Sudha in her dress before she dons the sweater and shawl and all the woolen paraphernalia. Actually this one picture helps me establish one day from the next.After the picture was taken, we checked out but kept the luggage in the hotel itself.
We walked the short distance to Milano Centrale ( pronounced Chentraale). Our first stop was at Zara’s in the basement of Milano central where we bought lovely green tops for the beauties in our family.Then we bought our 1.50 Euro tickets and took the green line to Cardano, one station past Lanza. Mistake, since our intention was to get to Cairoli, which was on the Red Line.Anyway, the distance was not much ( or so we thought) and we walked the alleys of Milano.There are a profusion of handbag and shoes shops in these alleys and in short order, Sudha bought two handbags.We walked and walked, went to a trattoria and had some coffee and then walked some more in search of an Armani showroom where I wanted to look for some T Shirts for Sachin and Sandeep.We were directed to via Manzoni which was where the Armani showroom was supposed to be but we couldn’t find it.
Tired, we walked back to Lanza Station and came back to Milano Centrale.It was now around 12 Noon.Sudha was dead tired of all the walking. Just as we were about to come out of the station , we saw an ad for Armani in the station and again went in search of Mr.Armani.We were directed to the Mezzanine, the 1st Floor, the 2nd Floor but no sign .So we gave up the search, went to the hotel, picked up our baggage and walked back to the station. Balaji of Travel Corporation/Thomas Cook had done a pretty good job of choosing our hotels so far. We wanted hotels within walking distance of the railway station in all cities and this was provided to us.
We waited and watched for the platform number to be announced for the train ( 17.30 Hrs departure)to Venezia, found our Coach ( No 5) and seats ( 13 and 15) and went in. As simple as that.On the journey to Venezia, Sudha ordered a cup of expresso and was surprised when she got just a thimbleful. She was so surprised that she asked the steward “ Is that all?”.He gave a wry smile and said yes.
We went past Verona, Padova ( all familiar names to Shakespeare readers) and reached Venezia St.Lucia at 20.02.Venezia Mestre is the previous station and is on the mainland.Venezia St.Lucia Railway Station is on an island.Greeshma had given us the Google maps from the station to the hotel for all places on our tour but Venezia had her stumped.
When we got off, I left Sudha in the station and went outside the station to find the best way to get to our station.Right opposite the station was the Grand canal with boats in the water. There was an information booth nearby and I showed the lady our hotel address.She told me to take Boat No 1 and the nearest Boat Station stop to our hotel was San Stae which was only 4 stops and 8 minutes away.I also bought the tickets ( 6.50 Euro each)there and went back to the station to pick up Sudha and the luggage.
We reached San Stae by 9 PM and walked out of the Boat Station and into an alley.The alley was dark and there were not many people about.I asked for directions in a shop that was open and we were told to go back to the Boat Station and the hotel was right next door.There was a small bridge to cross, a narrow alley to go through and voila!!! there we were.
The receptionist was most friendly.He had been to India earlier and had spent a lot of time in Sivananda Ashram and had travelled all over India.He bemoaned the horrible way Gaddaffi had died and expressed his admiration for Anna Hazare.Sudha asked about an Indian Restaurant in Venezia and he told us about Ganesh Ji Restaurant close to the Railway Station.He also gave us directions to our pick-up point next day for the sight-seeing trip and left us in our room.The hotel name was Palazzo Giovanelli and the room really took our breath away ( see the photos later).
We were really tired and hit the sack straightaway.
End of Day 8.
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