The view from our seats Friday, day 6 We took a vaporetto up the Grand Canal on our way to Venezia Santa Lucia railway station. It took less time than I had allowed and our train didn't arrive until shortly before it was scheduled to depart, so we had time to kill in the station. We couldn't find a comfortable place to wait in the station and just stood around. Second class on the Trenitalia train operated by the Italian Government was quite comfortable and very reasonable - only 9 euros each. The Frecciabianca train which we rode can reach a speed of 125 MPH, but I don't believe it ever approached that speed during our hour and twenty five minute ride. The route was a bit under 80 miles and there were several stops along the way. My only complaint was that we had seats that faced backwards and I was uneasy with the idea of sitting in the other empty seats that faced the correct way. I wish I had done it anyway. It was hard taking photographs when things were at their closest when I first saw them and quickly moving away.
We arrived in Verona a little after noon and took a taxi to the Hotel Milano, which was located just a few dozen feet from the Roman amphitheater in Piazza Bra. I think I would have been very happy with the Hotel Milano during a different year, but they were doing major construction. The elevator was out of service to the upper floors so we had to haul our luggage up the stairs. The construction noise was very loud starting at 8AM. The most annoying thing was that they do not have wifi during the construction. I couldn't check work email and was unable to plan the next part of our trip. It had a major impact on the next two day of our vacation.
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