After Guild business was tied up in Milan it was time for us to continue our tour of chicretreat.com properties, which meant getting a train to Brescia. We had bought our tickets online, which meant our tickets were valid only for the time of the train we had booked – not ideal when there is an hour delay on your train and you cannot get on a different one. After speaking to a few people I have discovered that you don’t make any saving by buying a ticket in advance if it is for the regional service and you lose the flexibility of being able to get on any train departing in a six-hour period after validating a ticket bought at the station.
When our train finally arrived we discovered that there is a bar down the centre of the steps used to board, which makes it impossible to get the double buggy on without either folding it or getting someone already on the train to help you lift it over the rail. The difficulty in boarding made me nervous about disembarking so I asked somebody to tell me the name of the stop before Brescia, so I would have time to get the kids sorted and the buggy ready. I was told it was Rovato and I thanked the man who told me. A girl was also listening and said ‘I will tell you when to get off’. I was grateful as it was dark outside and we weren’t able to see the signs on the platform in the carriage we were in. After a few stops the girl said ‘it’s the next one’. I thanked her and started getting my things together and alighted when the train stopped.
Unfortunately the exit was on the opposite platform, which meant taking our luggage and buggy down one flight of stone steps and up the other one. It was a struggle (my husband’s spinal injury makes it very difficult for him to do luggage and steps) and luckily a man helped me with the big case.
Once out the other side I sent a text to the woman from Palazzo Novello that I was meant to be meeting to say we had arrived. I was at the very end of my phone battery. I got a text back to say that she had also arrived. I walked up and down the row of cars parked by the station smiling at everyone in the hope that someone might be the lady I was meeting. I got no response. I called Kenda. ‘What can you see’ she asked me. I described the Wind shop, the bank, the bar. She sounded confused. It was only then that I realised that the nice girl on the train had told us when to get off at the stop BEFORE Brescia – which is what I had asked for. So we were at Rovato, not Brescia. Thankfully I heard my kind host say that she would come to pick us up and that we should find the nearest bar before my phone died. I don’t think I could have faced negotiating the steps again!