Today was full of every emotion possible. I taught seminary, and then we had about 1 hour to get ready to leave before the van was coming to take us to the train station. At 8 a.m. we took the luggage down, and the driver was already there for us. This ride was organized through a member of the church in Rome who works with a transit company. The driver helped load up our luggage and drove us to the Rome Tiburtina train station. We bought our train tickets to Vicenza. We had to make one stop in Padova where we needed to change trains, so we had tickets to Padova and other tickets from Padova to Vicenza. Our first train was delayed 50 minutes, so we went to the platform and waited for quite a while. 
When the train finally came, the cars in front of us were all business class so we had to rush to get to the second class cars and get on quickly. It was a mad rush. The train was so far behind schedule, they were not going to waste any time with a family and their suitcases and backpacks. When the ticket man came to check our tickets, he said that we were in the wrong car. We were in car 7, and we needed to be in car 10. I didn't even know that there were assigned seats. We began moving our luggage at the next stop and tried to find our seats. Some other people were sitting in our assigned seats, and it ended up that there were three different people all assigned to the same seats. We fortunately found some open seats and visited with a couple from Australia who were there touring around Europe.
When we were getting close to Padova, I asked Brian when he wanted to move the suitcases to the door, but he wanted to wait until we got to the stop. At the last train station, we had waited at the station for 10 minutes, so we were sure we would have time. When the train got to the station we collected our things and took them and everyone to the door, but the door wouldn't open. All of a sudden, the train started moving again. We had not been fast enough and missed the stop! Frustration, fear, and disappointment were all part of the feelings that our family was experiencing. Some of the kids were scared and crying. We left the suitcases by the door, and Brian ran to the front of the train to try to figure out what we should do. I had the kids go sit down in the seat. He came back and the conductor had contacted a train at the next station that was heading back to the Podova stop only minutes after we were going to arrive. At the next stop which was Venezia Mestre, we jumped off the train got all of our things off and tried to rush to the right platform. It was slow going with 7 people, 9 suitcases, and 8 backpacks. The train was there, but we didn't make it in time; it was leaving right when we got there. We sat on the platform, feeling defeated, while Brian went to figure out what we should do. He ended up buying tickets back to Podova for each of us, and we went to find the right platform.
In the meantime, we realized that we had lost our bag of dirty clothes. It's not so bad to lose dirty clothes because I guess you don't have to wash them except that they had some of Courtney's new clothes and are grocery bags in them. At least we can replace those, and we didn't lose any kids or our passports.
The train came, and we got on, but this time we just stayed with our suitcases by the door and didn't sit down. We arrived at the Padova station and tried to figure out what train to take to Vicenza. The original tickets we had purchased in the morning were for a train much earlier in the day. Because our original train was so late, we wouldn't have even made that in time. Brian went to the office, and we sat on the platform and waited and waited while many people left for Torino and Milan, and we continue to wait. Eventually I decided to take Preston with me to go find Brian. I was afraid he had forgotten where we were. I found him at the train ticket office, and there was a line outside, so I imagine he had to wait a while to even get in there. The lady was helping him get some tickets from Padova to Vicenza. Fortunately, she just reissued those, and we didn't have to pay for them again. We had a little time to wait for that train, so Preston and I went into the grocery store and got some little Lunchables for the kids. There were some with little sandwiches in a juice box or meat slices and breadsticks and a juice box. Everyone was grateful for the food.
The train arrived and again we just stood by the door with our suitcases while the kids sat down in some seats nearby. The conductors on the train realized that there were some people without tickets. They brought them to the door and the ticket lady called the next station to tell them that there were people without tickets. One of the guys tried to go up the stairs to a different door, but the two workers followed him and kept him at the next door. The fine for riding a train without a ticket is €200, and I'm sure they didn't have that kind of money. They were probably going to get in a lot of trouble. When we got to the station, the escorted them off the train. We got everyone and all of our belongings off the train and walked out of the station.
It was so exciting to be in my birthplace! I didn't ever really imagine coming back to this place, but I'm so glad we finally made it after such a long and difficult journey.We found the right bus which was bus #1. The trouble was finding the correct #1 bus. The route one bus goes the direction we needed to go, except there were three different route 1 buses that all stop at the same stops except at the very end of the line where they break off to 4 different little towns. We got on the bus that was heading the right direction except it was the wrong ending town to get to our final destination. We got off at a church and waited there for about a half hour until the next bus came to the right end destination: Bertasina. Preston was playing in a pile of leaves, and a lady came by and told us that it was not good for him to play in the leaves because the leaves are dirty; that was very true, but I really didn't care; We had been travelling for 9 hours when it should have only taken 5 or 6. He's a dirty kid anyway. She told Brian to take him over to the water to wash his hands. She waited until Brian did; Preston was not happy.
The right bus came, we got on, and, fortunately, it drove us right to our stopping place. I forgot to mention that one of the first things that happened in the morning was that my big suitcase lost a wheel, and I was dragging the big suitcase through the train stations and the roads like a dead piece of meat; it was such a pain. We looked for the right address and walked right past a big castle looking place to a little door next to it. We rang the bell and the man told us to go to the big gates at the castle. There was a lady driving her car in the gates and she let us in. This was a place we were staying! It is so amazing and beautiful. It looks like a manor from the Pride and Prejudice movie. We met Claudia (the wife of the owner) and Franca (a lady who works there). Claudia showed us around and got us settled.
We decided to go get some food and started walking to see if we could find a grocery store, but I decided we needed to turn back to the pizzeria and just get some food there. It looked like a party was going on. They had food out on tables, balloons, and lots of people there. Brian went in and asked them about the party. They were celebrating that they were voted number one as the best pizzeria in the whole province of Vicenza. What an awesome honor! They were celebrating with samples of free food and drinks. We loaded up and enjoyed the pizza, rice dishes, mozzarella and tomatoes, and all kinds of food. They also had some water and some kinda orange drink. Hayley said that has tasted weird, but Brian said it was ok. Brian ordered us two pizzas, and we brought them home to eat for breakfast tomorrow.
Brian, Courtney, Nathan, Hailey, and I decided to walk and try to find a gelato place that someone told Brian about. We walked for so long and could never find anything. I was so tired from a long day of walking and mishaps anyway, that this just added to the disappointment. We went back to the pizzeria, and Brian ordered some deserts. I think that was one of the best parts of the day. I got some more orange drink, but this time I tasted really weird. It looks the same as the orange drink I had earlier, and it was out of the same pitcher, but Hailey smelled it and said it smells exactly the same as hers. I tried it, and it tasted weird too. Brian came out and smelled it and said it was alcoholic. Blah! I even drank some of Nathan's yucky fizzy water to take the taste out of my mouth. Brian said that I wasn't a bad person in that it was just a mistake. We came back to the castle and slept so well.
