two backpacks and a diaper bag

Sunday, April 22nd. Ljubljana-Venice. Sleep last night was better but it wasn’t the long stretch that he gave us a couple of days ago. I woke up feeling so tired and exhausted. At 7, he was still asleep, but as I made my way to the bathroom, he started to wake. I thought he would sleep longer, but oh well.

We left the apartment at 9:05. We debated between walking to the bus station or getting into a taxi. We decided to walk. It was only going to take us 15-20 minutes, and I had put Arthur to sleep before we left so the probability of him waking up as we walk is lower than him waking up when we move him from the stroller to the car.

We got to the bus station at 9:25. By the time we found the platform for Flix Bus, it was 9:30. I checked my phone. I had received a message 25 minutes ago saying that the bus would be 15 minutes late. So we waited. There was no cover or shelter at the bus stop. If it was raining, we’d definitely be soaked.

We waited in line, but it seemed like there was no line. At first there was, but after a while, people just waited right by us on the pavement. Some waited further down. There was no real system to this. Perhaps it’s because Flixbus seating is a first-come, first-serve, so people will definitely try to get on the bus first.

A lime green bus with Flixbus written on the side arrived. We waited right by the luggage compartment, ready to put our bags in. Arthur started to wake up at this time. Unfortunately, it wasn’t our bus. This bus was going to Zagreb.

We waited another 10 minutes before our bus arrived. Good thing Arthur didn’t mind being in the car seat. He was cool with just waiting and chilling with us.

When the bus arrived, the mayhem started. I pushed the stroller next to the luggage compartment and took out the car seat. I waited behind some people to get on the bus. Sean was taking care of our bags, making sure that each one, including the stroller, made it to the belly of the bus. He had to place the bags by himself. The conductor wasn’t checking. No luggage tags nor checks to make sure we have the right number of luggages.

Due to the lack of proper queue, once Sean finished loading the bags and the stroller, he was able to join me as I pushed my way through to get on the bus.

We finally got to the door. The conductor scanned our QR code, glanced at our passports, and allowed us to board the bus. I entered first and I made my way all the way to the back. There were five seats on the last row of the bus. I placed Arthur/the car seat next to the window and I sat next to him. Sean took the seat on the opposite side and placed the diaper bag next to the window.

There were plenty of seats on the bus. We had the last row to ourselves.

The bus finally left and Arthur wanted to be taken out of the car seat. I obliged.

When we reached the Italian border, an Italian police came on board to do a documentation check. He took a while checking the front of the bus. When he got to us, he only saw the three passports Sean was holding and he nodded. He didn’t even take a look at whether or not the passports were actually ours. I guess it didn’t really matter that much for him.

We only stopped for maybe 10-15 minutes and we were on our way again.

The bus stopped in Trieste, and the approached to Trieste from the border was beautiful! We were at the top of the mountain making our way down to the coast.

It was good that we took the bus. Not only was it a straight shot to Venice, but we also got to see Trieste coast. So many people sunbathing!

Arthur took two naps of thirty minutes each on the bus.

When we got to Venice Mestre, Sean got off the bus first. He took our bags from the belly of the bus while I took care of Arthur.

The bus ride turned out to be pretty good. Other than the lack of order and the terrible bathroom on board, the ride was comfortable.

After we got our things sorted, we went inside the train station, got train tickets to Venice Santa Lucia, validated the tickets, and waited for the train. There were many trains heading to the island, but we chose the one on Platform 1 so we didn’t have to go up and down the stairs to the other platforms.

The train didn’t take long to arrive. Sean and I decided to carry the whole stroller up. He had the front while I had the back. The train was higher than we would have liked but we had committed to the plan, so we went with it.

On the train, we decided to stand and stay by the door. It was only going to be a 12-minute ride, and we wanted to keep Arthur in his car seat.

We reached Santa Lucia at 2:50pm. We walked straight to our hotel, which was only around the corner from the train station.

The check in process at Hotel Florida was straightforward. We got the key, went up to first floor to our super small room, and put our things down.

Then we fed and changed Arthur, unpacked slightly, and went out to do a quick exploration of the city and to get some food. We were starving.

We were looking for a restaurant that was highly recommended on Trip Advisor, but when we got there, they were closed and would be opened again at 5:30. We couldn’t wait that long, and most restaurants are closed on Sunday.

After a quick check again on Trip Advisor, we ended up at Ristorante Pizzeria Dolfin.

We ordered bruschetta to start and two pizzas. The bruschetta was really nice, and the Quattro Formagi and shrimp+rucola are soooo good. The portions were big as well. And the prosecco and house wine are only 2.50 Euro per glass! At the end of the meal, they even gave us limoncello. I was expecting an expensive dinner, but this turned out to be surprisingly reasonable and the food was really good.

Arthur slept for 30 minutes during our meal.

When we were done, we decided to walk towards Rialto Bridge. We got some gelato along the way.

On the way back, I told Sean that I could take us back without using a map.

We ended up in interesting places. You could get lost in Venice but not really lost. You can turn the corner and find a dead-end or a canal and you’d have to go back and walk through a super small alley.

At one point, we ended up at a square here kids were playing soccer. Sean joined in for a bit.

When Arthur grew tired and impatient, I asked Sean to pull up the map and guide us home. Roaming around was no longer an option.

We took one more selfie at the bridge to the train station and then head home.

We gave Arthur a bath and headed to bed.

It was slightly warm inside the room. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to turn on the air conditioner because the municipality wouldn’t allow it. The hotel could only allow guests to turn on the air conditioners after May 1st.

We could have opened the windows but it was loud outside. We decided to accept the warmth. As it turned out, it got cold after 2am.

Today was a long day. Can’t wait to see what awaits us tomorrow.