The pin had landed on Venice on our map with a quick stopover at Innsbruck. We are starting to live dangerously and didn’t book the train until we went to the station in the morning and then booked accommodation when on the train. The train took us through the stunning snow covered alps of Austria. Not long after we crossed the border, the snow dissipated and we were seeing the winter dormant vineyards of Northern Italy. A nice little sojourn in the Restaurant Carriage passed some of the time nicely. The legs have really enjoyed the day off. Ruthie delivered on the accommodation. Wow! Right on the Grand Canal in Venice! Ah, the advantages of travelling off peak and enjoying the cold weather.

Venice is fantastic and again historic. It’s quite easy to walk around or you can catch water taxis to island hop. You’ve got to love the passion of the Italians and their talking hands. All the traders have stories to tell. Even though we were captive on the island, prices were quite reasonable. It was hard to believe the area we were in was under water a month ago. Rising sea levels and the island sinking probably means Venice won’t exist in time to come according to some experts. The sun was out and we were enjoying exploring all the nooks and crannies. The Gondolas were also out and about but there was no singing. We opted to not fork out 100 Euro’s to do this. We did it at the Venetian in Macau and didn’t think that could be beaten. Some of the tourists aboard the gondolas shrieked when in the Grand Canal amid all the other boat traffic and wake.

When we got to St Marks Square the area opened up. There was plenty to see around here and again we were crowdless. Light rain fell in the afternoon and over dinner, we would decide what would be our next port of call. It was pizza for dinner and as Ruthie dropped some on our Eurail map, it was decided Pisa it would be! We had found out that we had missed going up in the lift to the top of the bell tower in Venice. So, early the next morning, before leaving, we made the effort and it was certainly worth it. The 360 degree view was fantastic. There were snow covered peaks in the distance, you could see the mainland as well as all the islands of Venice, and it was wonderful seeing over all the roofs of the local houses . It was simply stunning. Catching a train to Pisa via Florence by was easy BUT wifi was a problem both at the station and on the train and we still didn’t have accommodation booked! Italy has been the only place where the trains have run late, changed platforms at the last minute without notice or lacked wifi!

Eventually the wifi worked and we weren’t homeless for the night. After we booked in at our Pisa hotel, we strode out to the leaning tower. It was weird and striking when we encountered it. Our cameras were working double time as we tried all different angles and special effects. Somehow, some of our pics made the tower lean the other way or even straighten it. Problem solved!

Guess what? Pizza and red wine for dinner. That plus pasta has been our diet while in Italy but as they say, when in Italy….. We grabbed a couple of big beers to have back in our room as a nightcap. The next day Ruthie complained about feeling a bit hungover. No wonder, the alcohol % of the beers was 8.4%!

If it didn’t have a leaning tower, I don’t know if I would bother coming to Pisa. It’s the first place on this journey where I haven’t felt totally safe. At the station there were heavily armed SWAT police as well as normal police. Apparently there have been terrorist threats to destroy the leaning tower of Pisa in the past. So Wednesday, January 30 we were out of there! Our train along the coast was taking us for a stopover at Genoa. We were now seeing front yard vegetable gardens, hot houses, washing hung from balconies of Tuscan hued apartments, olive trees and so much graffiti. There were many tunnels and glimpses of ocean in between. After changing trains in Genoa, we were heading to another country, Monaco!