I'm with Garfield on this one

Not the Monday I was expecting. It started out quite promising, sleeping in a little bit but still up and ready to go at 9am. After checking out I wandered up to the train station ready for the next leg of my trip, taking a few pictures of the building while I was at it.

Making my way toward the ticket office, I noticed a rather long queue coming out of thee door which I joined. Not really in any rush. While waiting, I struck up a conversation with an Aussie couple in front of me - and it was they who dropped the bombshell.

Today there was a country-wide train strike.

Unbelievable! Not really panicking, but concerned about what I was going to do about getting to Venice, I was directed toward one of the workers who was able to help me. The good news was there _was_ a train going to Venice. The bad news was it was at 4pm - more than six hours away.

With no other choice, I bought a ticket and tried to think of ways to spend my time. More Milan sightseeing, obviously - so I headed to the closest Metro station and... oh no, you must be joking. They're on strike too! With my options limited to walking distance around the train station, my first port of call was an Internet cafe to email tonight's hostel to let them know I was going to be a little late.

I desperately wish I had something else to say I did today, but all I did was walk up and down various streets around the station - and they were all dull and boring. I wasn't in the mood for trying some new food (especially after last night) so I found a Burger King and ate there. It's somewhat reassuring to know that these fast food places are disgusting the world over.

After another trip to the Internet cafe, my train was finally ready to leave - so I sat in one seat listening to music for three hours, not really able to see anything out the window as it had become dark. The best thing I can say is the train was kept warm and was quite comfortable.

When I finally arrived I was feeling a little cross, quite sore and a lot tired (it always amazes me how tired you can get doing so little). I was really looking forward to seeing the approach to Venice on the train, but the strike had robbed me of that so I wasn't in the best of moods.

That all changed as soon as I stepped out of the station.

Last year I visited Portmeirion in North Wales, which was one of the highlights of that trip. My first sight of Venice threw me back to that time, but on a much grander scale. I wasn't really able to see much in the dark, but I can already tell I'm going to love it here.

Although my original plan was to spend most of today getting lost in the streets here, it turns out I didn't lose out on this - after arriving I spent the next 45 minutes desperately trying to find my hostel, to no avail! In the end I had to the ring the guy to help me out, and now I'm here ready to crash for a big day tomorrow.