4:15am comes early when you finish up your evening at Harry's Bar. I did drag myself out of bed by 4:30, squeezed into the teeny shower, and presented myself at the front desk to check out. I had been told that the night girl would have a "to go" breakfast bag for me to eat on the train. When I arrived at the front the the "night girl" turned out to be a curmudgeonly old man who obviously did not check people out much. Given I only had a half hour before my train left, the speed at which checkout proceeded was alarming! When finally that was over and I started to leave, he informed me that he needed to go down and open the door for me. Oh no. Reception was on the second floor, a long narrow steep stairway ran down to the hotel front door. The man had a bad leg and used a crutch to walk, leaving the crutch at the top of the steep stairs and lowering himself slowly to the ground floor. Smiling, I thanked him and walked swiftly off in the direction of the train station.
I had minutes to spare and even had time to be scolded for putting my shoes up on the opposite seat. Being yelled at in words you do not understand is somewhat frustrating, especially when you are half asleep. Conductors seem particularly grumpy at 5am.
It is a three and a half hour train ride when you take the "slow" train from Venice to Milan. Perfect for napping as the Italian countryside rolls by in the dark... Unless you are awakened every so often by a new conductor demanding to see your ticket... Especially when they seem annoyed you are sleeping and that you are taking too long answering whatever question they asked using words you would not understand even if you were not just awakened from a deep sleep. The train eventually pulled into the Milano Centrale station precisely on time at 8:45 am. I had heard that the railway companies have to pay back fares if they are late, each train I have ridden has been very much on time.
