I wrote this on Wednesday ...

... but was not in a position to upload it until now.

Believe it or not, I have been spending a number of very pleasant hours in the Rome train station!

 

There has been a big change here from my younger days.  Back then, you entered this vast building and saw nothing but the interminable windows (some of them with bureaucrats inside) where you stood in line interminably, waiting to be told of various complications.  

 

By contrast: today there is scarcely a window of this sort to be found.  Everything is done with self-service computers.  Before I left for this trip, I paid my fare for Rome-Venice-Rome on the RailEurope website.  All that remained for me to do at the station was to use one of the computers to retrieve my ticket for Venice!  Nothing to it!

 

The space the bureaucrats used to take up is now filled with cafes, restaurants and shops where I have enjoyed myself.  Even the passenger waiting area is less grim.  Besides having a breakfast pastry and a couple of cappuccinos, I am now at the end of my meal at the "Roadhouse" where I had a ribeye and a baked potato, Italian draft beer, fruit salad with vanilla ice cream, and espresso.  

 

The Italian passenger rails used to be known as FS of "Ferrovie dello Stato" (Ironroads of the State).  This name has been abandoned in favor of the breezier "Trenitalia."

 

They tell me that there is wi-fi on the train.  I hope this is true.  I hope there are also electrical outlets, so I can use my iPad all through the nighttime trip.  I chose night trips so I can save a couple of nights of hotel rooms.  

 

I have, of course, been reading up on Venice in my Blue Guide.  They say that Venice can be compared only to itself.  I've been studying the maps so as to figure out how to get from the train station to my hotel.  This should be tricky.