Day 13

Breakfast in my Siena B&B is a cramped but friendly affair. I then confirm that I can leave my bike and bags with them whilst I travel by train to Venice where I shall meet up with Danielle and Rowan who are arriving by train from Munich. All very exciting. I walk through town again, and down the very long escalator that takes you to the station. The first train to Florence is slow slow slow, meandering through Tuscany. Florence station is awash with inter-railers and attendant hawkers. I am glad to get away on the fast train to Venice. A smooth journey of just over two hours.

When I visited Venice last [if you discount going to the "Venice" hotel in Vegas, which I reluctantly will do] in 1976 I was in the Beetle with a Polish-British bloke I was travelling with. We just drove across the causeway, parked and walked into the city for a day of wandering around. Those days are long gone - everything is much more regulated, with the world's largest carpark [if you don't count the M25] people-movers and so on.
For train travellers it is still easy though, and I just walk through the streets and over the bridges to my hotel. It takes 20 minutes, and every step is an experience. The hotel is fine, and it is soon time to head back to meet D&R at the station. I always like meeting people off trains, and this is a special meeting. All is well. Danielle, being an organised tourist, has some river-boat tickets to take her and Rowan to the hotel they are in [far away from mine], so we plod along the grand canal, past all those amazing buildings and arrive at the Arsenale boat stop. We eat near their hotel then I walk back to my hotel [about four times as quick as the boat]. We shall explore Venice tomorrow. It is a beautiful place to look at and walk though - all those tourists are going to be a challenge though.