A small misadventure:
We got to the Bologna train station with time to spare. We carefully studied the departures board, found our train, and went to the appropriate track.
Once on the track, we watched other trains arrive and observed boarding procedures. We had reserved seats and were not worried about finding spots to sit.
A few minutes before our scheduled departure time, a train arrived and we boarded the appropriate car, which was strangely full. When we got to our seats, two students were sitting in them. In fact, most of the train was full of high schoolers. Using sign language and our very limited Italian, we showed the youths our tickets with our seat assignments. They were confused and called a teacher to come over.
The teacher looked at our tickets, confirmed the seat assignments, and also looked confused. Back and forth, until finally, we all figured out the problem: We were on the wrong train. Oops.
We hopped off just before the train departed and looked at each other. What a rookie mistake we’d made.
Later — about 20 minutes after the scheduled departure — our train arrived. We both carefully confirmed the train number a couple of times and boarded. This time our seats were empty and we sat down.
The high-speed train zoomed off so smoothly that we didn’t notice the motion or speed. 35 minutes later we were in Florence.
Refreshing to know, even seasoned travelers can have an “opps”