Train Whistle Blowing

Dan

We arrived at Brig train station with plenty of time to spare, unlike the young couple who arrived 5 seconds after the conductor had fiercely blown his whistle and the doors locked in front of their outstretched hands!

We had a lovely last night in Brig, eating Mexican with a few of the locals and with our girls dancing up a storm on the restaurant’s dancefloor; at 7pm in front of the TV screen with the sun still firmly in the sky…

We decided to take a last stroll around town and literally only passed a handful of people, most likely travellers like ourselves taking one last opportunity to view the magnificent skyline before the night set in.

Today it was Daisy’s turn to feel unwell, so we dosed her up with Panadol and settled her into her train seat to enjoy the visual feast that was to come.

We arrived at Milano Centrale to the big city commuter hustle and bustle that we had escaped from these past 6 days.  However, this only added to the excitement that Venzia Mestre was just around the corner (well actually 2 hours away by train!)

When we finally made our way to our new apartment in Mestre, Venice, we were warmly greeted by the host Adrianna, who had prepared a fantastic 3-bedroom abode for us and a bottle of bubbles already chilled in anticipation of our arrival.  Looking forward to the birthday celebrations that are about to begin!

Daisy

A sick day…Today I woke up and had a really bad headache. It hurt so much that I could hardly eat breakfast. Soon after breakfast my stomach started to ache. I’d never felt so bad. Later my throat started to hurt. As we got on the train at 8.45am, mum gave me Panadol. The tablets were so fizzy. Mum made me swallow them. It hurt so much but it did the trick.  It stopped my stomach from aching, my head from hurting and my throat from burning for a couple of hours.

On the train ride, it started hurting again. As we got off the train for a quick break we had morning tea and then got on another train.  I didn’t eat much. The view was really cool. The mountains were beautiful and we went through this reaaaaalllllyyy long tunnel. I started feeling a little bit better as we got off the train at Venice. Yay!  We’re finally here.  This is going to be the best part of the trip as Italy is my favourite place and I’ve always wanted to come to Venice.

Jac

We had another sightseeing treat on our train journey from Brig to Venice today, which Dan captured so well in words and pictures. Once we headed out of Milan, the scenery became more industrial and high rise, so it gave me a chance to catch up on my current read- Sally Field’s autobiography “In Pieces”. For those too young to remember trunk calls, Sally Field was Sister Bertrille in the TV series “The Flying Nun”. She had the habit of getting airborne in strong winds, somehow managing to keep on her cornette. The daily plot was that the good Sister would find herself in trouble, sort it, and then by the end of the show be safely back on her feet ready to pursue higher order duties, with a reminder to check tomorrow’s weather forecast. The autobiographical word is that Sally didn’t really enjoy her Flying Nun role, however just like Nicole Kidman in “BMX Bandits”, every “I wish I hadn’t done it, but I needed the money” role has an Oscar lining!

One of the things I’m looking forward to in Italy is a real cappuccino. In France, I ordered a cappuccino which set me back 6 Euros. It consisted of a shot of expresso and a wispy 10cm turret of froth, which didn’t touch the sides of the cup or me. My relationship with that French cappuccino lasted less than a minute. In Switzerland, my caffeine relationship was more distant. Coffee was dispensed from a multi-function machine, for all manner of hot water/milk consumers, so it didn’t quite have that warm and interactive “cafe culture” ambience. So in Italy, I’m looking for a cappuccino that’s hot, full bodied and keeps me company for at least 10 minutes!

Stella

Ok today was so exciting we had to go on two, two hour trains. On the first one I played and wrote in my scrapbook . I even got to make a fake passport in my scrapbook 🧷✂️We all had a little bit of food 🥘 before we got on to our train 

Daisy was feeling a bit ill   and mum gave Daisy some tablets. They fizzed inside Daisy’s stomach but it did the trick. She still felt a little ill 🤧 but she felt better when we got off in Venice. I asked – Where is the water? and Mum said that we weren’t properly in the watery part of Venice. Mumma Jac had quite a lot of trouble finding the place that we were to stay in, but eventually Mumma found it, phew  ! Today was fun .