This is a picture from my bunk in the overnight train. If you zoom in on the metal part with the belt coming out of it, it looks like a face with a long tongue. Give me a break: I was tired and have been stuck with myself for two weeks! :)
This is the only picture I took with my phone in Florence. Hopefully I took a few more with my real camera but I really couldn't tell you.
Sorry it's been a few days, but the last two blogs wore my thumbs out!!
Yesterday was the Vatican City tour. I had a lovely plan for today: take the early train to Siena and walk around for 1-2 hours, take a train to Firenze and do the same thing, catch the train to Milan to grab my passport before taking the 7pm overnight train to Milan. Ambitious, right? I agree, that's why I skipped Siena. :) The Italian train system can be a little funky. It's on time for the most part, but there are occassional worker strikes (enough to where guidebooks mention it; there was one while I was in Paris) and can sometimes run behind schedule I didn't want to push it too close to the night train to where I would have a hard time getting my passport. So Firenze it was!
Now, let me take a second to remind everyone that I didn't exactly do my travelling homework before coming here. I "planned" this whole thing in less than 3 weeks and only had a guidebook about Spain and a general overview of Europe when I left. Ok, I think that covers me. Firenze= Florence. I did not know this. I was very confused. :( Here I was going to a place that I couldn't find in my guidebooks or find on a map (It's English dummy!!) and disappointed I wouldn't make it to Florence. The crazy part is, Florence wasn't even listed as having a train station in my train pass book. That was my first clue. Second clue, on at least two occassions while in Rome I mentioned that I would be stopping in Siena and Firenze today, and both responded along the lines of "oh I'm goin to Florence____ (fill in the day)." I would say I don't think I'll make it to Florence. They give me a confused look and we move on to the next topic. Third clue/confirmation: when I got to the train station there were maps in English and Italian with the names Florence/Firenze. Damn. Doing a little homework, besides reading up on a city on the train ride over or once I'm actually in the hostel, might be a good idea for the next trip. Not for this one though!!!! :)
So I hopped off the train in Florence with four hours to burn at 11am. All the train times are listed in military time (ex: my train to Milan leaves at 15:10) and that has been confusing me. I get it in my head that my train leaves at 3, then turn that back into military time with the 3, now 13:00, and end up planning my time like I have much less time. I keep tricking myself, and today was no exception. After going into a few shops I started to feel a little rushed. It was only 1 1/2 hours until 13:00 so I better hurry up and eat so I can get back in time. I really hate it when I trick myself the same way....repeatedly!!
On my way to find lunch I stumbled around Florence, which is quite beautiful. I made my way to the river and the bridge that has all the houses built on it. I would include a picture but I didn't take one with my phone. I'm pretty sure I got it on video, and maybe with my camera, but you can't blame me for missing the photo-op. My train would leave soon, remember?!? :)
I sat outside at a cafe near the waterand ordered a sandwich and glass of their house wine. The language barrier resulted in them bringing out a small pitcher of wine. She was a little upset when I tried to explian I only wanted a glass but I tried to ease the tension by asking her how I can ask for just a glass the next time. She told me and the words floated right over my head. I finished my meal and went to pay. I'm pretty sure they overcharged me, 16€ for a glass of the house wine and a panini???, but again I didn't have time to argue because I only had 45 minutes until 13:00 and didn't want to miss my train. I made the walk back to the train station, retrieved my bag from the luggage check( the best service ever!!!!!) and double checked my ticket. This is when I realized I tricked myself again and still had 2 1/2 hours until my train left, plus I had my backpack so walking around Florence was out. So I grabbed a snack, threw my bag on the ground, and watched movies on my phone.
I know this is borderline blasphemy considering there was a beautiful city mere steps away that I didn't fully explore, but really everything after the Pantheon/Coloseum/Sistine Chapel/St. Peters/birthplace of modern civilization seems a little...optional I guess. I haven't taken as many pictures and haven't felt as pressured to see all the sights, so thelast week of the trip might just be a time to chill. Sorry if it's not as exciting for y'all....not really. :) It's nice to slow down.
Look at me! It's nice to slow down! I say that about the day, two days really, where I took three different trains across three different countries. Slow down....someone needs to sock me for that one! Not literally though, ok?
Back to the train station! I caught the train to Milan with plenty of time to spare and said goodbye to the city that has two different names, ripped me off and lunch, and tricked me into thinking my train left earlier than it did. Goodbye Florence, ya jerk! Lol. Actually, it was very nice and would love to go back to explore more another day.
As the train approached Milan my heart started to race. They would hold my passport on the overnight train tonight. What if I don't get it? What if I get lost? Crap! What's the metro station I take to walk to the hotel. I sent a text to my mom, I waited a full 30 minutes before sending because it would have woken her up (blasted time difference!!), to ask her to look up the nearsst metro station to the hotel address. No response for 3 whole minutes, so I sent the same text to Maria. Then mom comes back wig: is it Lambrate? Yeeeesss!! Of course it's Lambrate! The one that is fun to say. Linea dos to Lambrate. I repeated this over and over in my best Italian/French/Spanish accent. I know they are three distinct, totally different languages, but that doesn't matter. It was ny best Italian/French/Spanish pronunciation ever!
My train arrived and the adrenaline was pumping. I booked it for the metro, looking like a ral local minus the hat and huge backpack, dead giveaways that you're a tourist. I made it into the station and heard what sounded like a symphony. Four guys were playing violin in the metro station for money. It was beautiful and out of place and caugt meat such a rushed time I almost cried. It was that beautiful! Instead I recorded some of it my my voice recorder and kept heading to retrieve my passport. I didn't realize I missed it until I got close to getting it back. I emerged from the station and didn't recognize a thing. Seriously?!? I got this far and now I'm lost because I went out a different exit. Crap! I looked around then dawa street sign I recognized and quickly found where I was headed.
I turned onto Via Astolfo so excited I almost danced my way down the street; no easy feat when wearing a 40+ pound backpack. I made it to the door, couldn't open it, so I rang the bell. No answer. No way!! They are not closed!! I ran it again and started to look around...maybe I'll check with the sister hotel across the street...oh wait here comes someone up the stairs.
The woman looked a little irritated and was repeating something over and over again. What is she saying? Ah, abierto. Abierto, abierto, abierto. I get it lady, the door was open. My bad. :) I went downstairs and there it was. My lovely little blue passport with it's one stamp!!
As for the one stamp thing. I'm a little disappointed. I thought I would get a new stamp every time I went into a new country. Nope. Only one when I got in. Dang European Union with their super powerful currency and stingy stamp giving!!!
So with my passport in hand I headed back to the train station, and may have done a mini victory dance along the way, but you'll never know for sure. I got back to the train station, with the whole side trip taking less than 40 minutes. Surelythis was some sort of record. I had a little over an hour before my train, for real this time, so I did the unthinkable. I headed to McDonalds.
Now before you judge me for going to eat America fastfood in Italy, hear me out. When I was stranded in Nice all the guys said I should try McDonalds because they heard it was better than what we have in the States. Also, I needed some place to cool off and clean up. It had air conditioning and a bathroom that let me take a poor boy shower before getting into an enclosed space with people for the next 14 hours. What am I doing justifying my actions to you people?!? I went to McDonalds. It's true!! Get over it. ;) They had a few menu items that were different, but that happens as you travel to different parts of the US too. The cheeseburger and fries I ordered tasted pretty much the same and sat in my stomach like a rock, making me feel slightly sick. Just like home!! The restaurant itself was very nice though. It had three stories and different seatin sections set up. It looked more like a nice cafe or actual restaurant instead of being filled with the cheap uncomfortable chairs we get.
After eating I headed to the train station and made my way onto my second trainhotel of the trip. I shared a room with two sisters from Korea and an Italian woman who didn't speak to any of us, except when she wanted to claim a bottom bunk. The sisters were cool though. They had both recently quit their jobs and decided to travel. They were on week 4 of their 7-week trip. The sister who spike English said her favorite places so far were Switzerland and Turkey where the church is carved into the rocks. Guess I'll just have to add those to my list! We talked for about an hour then the porter came to pull the beds down. It was still early, maybe only 9pm but we all got into bed and I crashed out. I slept much better this time around, probably because I am more tired than the first overnight train and am less self conscious.
We pulled into the station a little after 9am. Barcelona here I come!!
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