Milan to Bologna

We got to the train station uneventfully and with plenty of time.  We immediately picked out the train bound for Bologna Centrale, and walked over to that platform, got on the train, and started trying to find our way to the right car (since we know now that there are assigned seats).  We couldn't find numbers like were so obvious on the previous train, and we asked a couple of people, but we didn't get any help with English, and my Italian is not yet that good.  So we got off, looking for a conductor, and instead found two teenagers who spoke pretty good English and were all too happy to tell us we were on the the wrong train!  Whoops!!  

Turns out we needed a DIFFERENT train on a DIFFERENT platform leaving five minutes later going to Bologna Centrale.  I guess not only do you have to print out tickets, but you're also supposed to READ them?!  Sheesh.  Lyle was not very pleased with me at this point, but we made it to the right car on the right train without further complications.  The only problem was that the correct train was going to Naples.  I tried to explain to him that it was like a train to NYC going on to Vermont, but given previous events, he lacked confidence in my explanation.  

See the screen in the background here... even that wasn't enough to convince him.

Luckily for me, the train did indeed stop in Bologna, where we got off and found our way to the taxi stand.  As near as we can tell there are four taxis in all of Bologna.  We waited quite a while and we definitely saw some of the drivers come back and pick up more than once.  When we finally got in, our driver punched the hotel name into Google, and then the address into his GPS, not necessarily an auspicious beginning.  

It got a bit worse when he pulled up, asked if we spoke any Italian, and then when we said "not really" proceeded to explain as best he could that he couldn't take us any further because the roads are for pedestrians only so we had to get out, "go straight, turn right, then left".  Okay, let's just get out of the taxi in some city where we don't speak the language, where we don't have a map, in the dark, and hope for the best... well, that's what makes it an adventure!  After following his directions down a dark alley and around a scary looking corner, we found our absolutely gorgeous hotel, got checked in by a front desk guy with impeccable English, and were sent up to our HOLY SHIT ARE YOU KIDDING ME THIS PLACE IS AMAZING hotel room.

Trying to post a video shortly so you can see what we mean.

Marty and Lyle