We took the night train to and from Venice on the weekend we just had, which was a day or two longer than normal. We did this so we could sleep on the train and save a night or two in a hotel. Plus it’s something different. We thought we had the compartment to ourselves one way, but the ticket guy had lied to us because we had to share it both ways. At least we didn’t wake up to a guy going through our stuff like last time, crazy fucker. You know how when you take a sleeper train somewhere, when you have to share it, it’s always some person who snores, or some kid that coughs and falls out of her bunk in the middle of the night, or are otherwise noisy? This time, we were that family. To the two quiet, polite young women from Korea traveling from Vienna to Venice, and the nice, quiet, polite mom and young son traveling from Venice to Wels in Austria, I apologize.

The cake shop was closed. Everything else turned out well. There was a George-Clooney-looking guy on one of the boats with us, who had less hair than I do, for now. Gamma ate gelato three times a day. When she wanted spaghetti, all the restaurants served only pizza. When she wanted pizza, they served only the wrong kind, or when they served the right kind, she wanted only spaghetti, which they didn’t serve. But she survived. She complained very little.

We stayed in a hotel on the Lido. It had been sort of our habitual hotel for trips there, but next time I think we’ll try a different one. They messed up our reservation, the bathtub drain malfunctioned, and the breakfast buffet wasn’t what it used to be, among other minor things. It was fine, I just guess we’ll look around next time.

We rented a little four-seater pedal car while at the Lido. I highly recommend doing this if you ever go there. Seriously. Trust me. We rented it for an hour. We’ll just pedal for a half hour in one direction, then turn around and pedal back and be there in plenty of time, I figured. At the end, of course, we were sprinting to make it back in time in order to avoid paying another 12 euro for the second hour. Pedestrians were leaping out of the way at crosswalks, baby carriages went tumbling down steps Battleship Potemkin style etc.

But we made it. Getting out at the end, I half expected an endless line of clowns to emerge from the car.

We really lucked out with the weather. It was cold and rainy in Austria while we were gone. It was warm and sunny in Venice while we were there. As we left, clouds started moving in, though. Now we’re back in the drizzle, but it’s okay.

Seriously, though, rent one of those pedal cars when you go to the Lido.