Heia,

First, I'd like to thank Eloise for the help. Without the advice on train travel in Italy the trip would not have turned out that fanastic. We went to Italy for a week and wanted to see Venice and Rome. Thanks to Ryanair we got a real cheap fare to Bergamo (near Milan) and took a train to Venice. On the way to our hotel we got lost several times, but we eventually found it. The problem was how the houses are numbered. I still haven't found out how the order. We dropped off the luggage and then walked to St Marco Square. Absolutely charming.

The next day, we walked and walked and walked as all those little streets were just lovely. It was a little foggy what made the atmosphere misterious. For dinner we went to a little pizza place between St Marco Square and Rialto Bridge. It was more of a coincidence. It looked to cosy and homey from outside and as touristy as most other places in that area. The food came in big portions and was very delicious. It really surprised me because it wasn't expensive at all.

After Venice, we went to Rome. When we arrived it was raining, but the rest of our stay there, it was sunny and pretty warm (15 - 20 degrees Celsius) which allowed us more walking...to Colosseum, Forum Romanum, the Pantheon, Piazza Navona,... . We also went to the Vatikan, which was really impressing. Especially the view from the top of the Cathedral and the queues to get in.

We had booked another train back to Venice as Carnival had started. So we had decided to first see Venice with less crowds than during Carnival and then to go back and enjoy the costumes. Even though it took some more time because of the travelling back and forth, but it was definately worth it. The costumes were just amazing and stunning.

Some of you might argue that a week is not enough to see Rome and Venice and to make those distances by train, but we enjoyed the experience. During the time in the train we had the chance to meet some locals and to talk them. Sometimes it was a little difficult to communicate with a mixture of English, a tiny bit of Italian and hands and feet, but I think that's why I love travelling and it made the trip even more memorable. And it also made wanting to go back!!!

Hi Tasja, Thanks for your report. Regarding traveling to Carnevale, did you book your train tickets in advance or purchase there? Was the train crowded? Just curious, as the question often comes up about which is better.

Hey Donco,

we booked well in advance as we found special discount. The fare Rome-Venice was only 15 Euro per person. But I think Trenitalia also sells tickets with which you can just hopp on the train. Between some stops the train was a little crowded and some people had to sit/stand in the way in front of the compartements as they didn't seem to have reservations. Most of them were locals, so I don't know if it was because of Carnival. It may also depend on the cities you travel to or from as for some connections there are more frequent trains than for others.

Thanks Tasja, As mentioned, the question of buying ahead of time vs. buying at the station is frequently asked. We ran into heavy travel Thursday and Friday before Easter one year in Bologna.
Oh, did you purchase yours through a travel agency or internet?

I chose to do on the internet. The only problem was that I had to print out the tickets at the trainstation that I hadn't known. So we almost missed the train in Milan as I had to run all the way back to the machine which did not work. I'm still not sure if I really had to print them because I checked the ticketless option. At the station everybody seemed to have different information.But in the end worked out well.