the sun set in Paris and rose in Venice this morning

Leaving one country for another always takes a bit of an adjustment; last night the group boarded an over night train from Paris to Venice.

13 hours.

The sun set magnificently on Paris as we chugged out of France June 30th.  We as a group were tired, excited, and ready for a new adventure.  Venice would greet us in the morning and we were all like children on Christmas Eve, eagerly awaiting her arrival.  I laid on my cot in the 6 sleeper car rocking with the roll of the train as she lulled me to sleep, but sleep would not come.  I napped through out the night, but nothing steady and resting.  I would peer out of the window when I woke noticing slight changes in the scenery; the style of housing changed to more of a spacious house, the color changed from white to warm tones of orange and yellow with terra cotta roofs.  The flora changed, the trees were more straight, the crops shifted from wheat to corn, and before I knew it we were at the base of the Italian Alps.

The sun rose and with it a new day, a new country, and a new language.

After de-boarding the train we all gathered to the canal and boarded a chartered water taxi to our hotel; 50 steps from the Plaza St. Marco(!).  Super cool!

I had lunch with 7 classmates and the we all regrouped for an exhibition on glass for the beinnele.  Dinner followed that and a much needed night of restful sleep is hopefully in my future.