Then there was Italy

After all the glowing excitement of our first class trip through Switzerland, we crossed into Italy. 

We had a 24 minute transfer time at Milan and we made it to the correct platform in plenty of time, but for the first time during this trip the train was late. The previous train was full but comfortable so we weren’t so concerned but as this train pulled up it was an entirely different story. 

The train was two levels and held a lot more people yet it was already packed. There were no empty seats and people were already standing in the isles. Another 20 people piled in the car along with us so by then people were almost stacked on top of each other. None of us had a seat. This was definitely not 1st class, it was more like a 3rd class subway during rush hour.

Up to this point we somehow overlooked  the fact that the next and final transfer only provided us a 5 minute transfer time. It would have been the tightest connection yet; however, when the train arrived to pick us up it was already 5 minutes late and at each successive stop even more people piled in and our arrival time got farther and farther behind. 

The trend continued and at each stop the train lost several more minutes. By the time the train made it to the transfer point it was over an hour behind schedule and our next train was long gone. 

About 20 minutes into the journey, as people were coming and going at each stop, we all managed to nab a seat and eventually we were able to move to sit together. Three of us sat in an area for awhile with Lorenzo, a local that was just coming home from working in Milan and was planning to get off at Brescia, his hometown. He was interesting to talk with and knew pretty good English. We spoke about various things including a little about U.S. politics. He said that it’s a general consensus among people here that Trump was crazy and bad for our country and for the whole World but also that they were very worried about Kamala getting into office, not because of her bad policies so much but because they didn’t know anything about her and they didn’t trust her. They said at least with Trump we know where he stands. 

The train eventually arrived and we started figuring out what to do since we missed our train. We found out there were several more trains going to Venice, so we just jumped on the next available.

These cars were way more spacious and more like a 2nd class car. We were all able to sit together and finally able to relax a little bit and pay attention again to the countryside. 

We heard there were steep fines having incorrect tickets and each time a conductor walked I eyed them nervously. Surely we would be ok considering the situation but I literally watched her check someone’s ticket and escorted him off at the next stop. 

We were able to stay on to our destination and arrived an hour and a half late, but we did make it, our final train ride of the trip was now completed and we arrived safely in Venice, just after dark.

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