A Certain Magical Hogwarts

Chapter 496 St. Mark's Basilica hasn't rung its bells yet!

Santa Lucia train station is the only train station on the main island of Venice.

It is a low-rise building, made of gray stone and concrete, exuding a unique elegance.

The train station features a minimalist design, with a beautiful facade that has no signage except for a single symbol.

—The two letters FS, meaning flying.

This is the logo representing the Italian national railway system.

The rain was torrential.

William and Hermione, holding an umbrella, walked out of the train station and entered the misty water city.

First, the strong, salty smell hit him. William instantly sensed... the smell of the sea.

The salty and humid environment isn't found in shallow seas, but rather in deep seas!

Even with such heavy rain, the plaza at the station exit was still filled with all sorts of vendors selling strange and unusual souvenirs.

Like most tourist cities, these items are likely all sourced wholesale from the same place.

The air was thick with the pungent smell of diesel fuel. It was the smell coming from the engines of those boats idling.

They lined up in a long queue on the Grand Canal as the tide rose, just like the taxi drivers at the exit of a train station in my previous life in China.

Even their actions and lines are identical; dozens of captains wave and shout to tourists in Italian and other languages.

The Governor's Mansion is one position short! Hurry, just one more! Hey, get in the car and we're leaving!

Once you get up there, you might find that it's not just one spot short, but that you're the only one left.

It's not like we get on the bus and leave immediately, but rather we wait "one more minute"... and then we leave.

The "one" here is a function word, generally indicating a number greater than ten.

So, even though Venice may not have cars or unlicensed taxi drivers, there are plenty of unlicensed boat captains blocking the waterways.

There were many tourists queuing up; the city's largest population wasn't Venetians, but rather foreign tourists.

Too lazy to wait in the heavy rain, William spent a lot of money to rent a beautifully designed gondola.

A gondola is a black, flat-bottomed boat with elaborate decorations. It has two high, crescent-shaped prows and a hooked bow, which makes it easy to explore the height of the arches.

These distinctive Venetian gondolas have a history of over a thousand years. They have always been the means of transportation for Venetians living on the lagoon.

(End of this chapter)