Florence (and Pisa), Italy

10/10/2011 Day 12 – I need a shower
It's funny the things you don't get around to/forget to do when you're backpacking and traveling every other day. Don't judge me. Lol
I set my alarm for 7am, packed up my bag(s) and was on foot to the train station at 8. It took me 30min this time, because I was walking a bit slower with all my crap. I got to the train station at 8:30, caught the 8:41 to VE Mestre station, waited 25 minutes for my connecting train to Florence, and when it arrived found my seat - right next to a nun. When I got off in Florence, I ran into the Chinese boy that had been at my hostel in Venice, who told me we needed to catch the train to the central station in Florence (which I wouldn't have known, had I not run into him). Thanks God for small favors. My hostel's instructions were to take bus #17 and it would drop me right in front of the hostel. Well, not quite. I absentmindedly boarded the bus without a ticket, then realized it and sweat bullets the whole ride, hoping no one would check and fine me €240. One man told me I was going the wrong direction on 17, but I didn't know where or how to get off and switch to the opposite direction, so I just stayed on the bus and hoped that it would eventually loop around to where I needed to go. It did. And I was so happy to get off that bus. My hostel was right around the corner, and I sat down at one of the tables outside (daily lockout from 11am-2pm) to wait the remaining 20 minutes until the lobby was open for business again.

When 2pm came, I let everyone else (who was apparently in a hurry to check in) go ahead of me. I got my room key, dropped off my stuff in my room, and then instead of showering I decided to make the most of the few remaining daylight hours and check out the Duomo. I wasn't going to try and brave the bus again, so I grabbed a map and walked. Took about 45 min, but it was a nice walk and not too warm outside. Because of my limited time (before closing) and the long lines at every door, I opted out of paying to go inside and just marveled at the outside architecture.



I did go inside the museum, but after that decided I couldn't stand any more museums.



From that point forward I vowed to spend all my money on delicious food (cuz hey, you gotta eat, right?). Down the street from the Duomo, I had some wonderful (and extremely filling) gnocchi quattro formaggi (that's four cheese gnocchi for you non-linguists).
When I returned to my hostel, I finally got my shower! Lucky for me, it seemed everyone else was morning shower people, so I had plenty of privacy. Got my internet connected, but still couldn't open my email for some reason. Oh well. Chatted with Flo for a bit, then sent Emilio a message that I'd made it to Florence without too much trouble. Transferred my pics from the day onto my USB, and went to sleep. I was exhausted. (I would've said pooped, but I was worried my non-native English speaking friends might mis-interpret the meaning, lol.)


11/10/2011 Day 13 - "The Scenic Route"
Instead of subjecting myself to the noisy breakfast room full of annoying hostel children, I chose to enjoy a cappuccino in peace at the caffe across the street. I'm glad I did. €4 for chaos < €1.20 for cappuccino perfecto. Mmm... So I took bus 17 to the train station (this time I had a bus ticket), got in line for a ticket to Pisa, and €11.80 later was checking the screens for my platform number. I figured whatever train I was on wasn't terminating in Pisa, so I looked for destinations with trailing stops along the way; "Roma Termini" listed Pisa as one of its stops, so I went to platform 11 and boarded.
An hour later the ticket man finds his way to my seat (and I was a tad worried because I'd forgotten to get my stupid ticket stamp validated before getting on, but that would soon be the least of my worries). I handed him my ticket, and he says,
"Not this one, the other one."
*Red flag*
Me: What other one?
"Where are you going?"
*Panic beginning to set in*
Me: ..Pisa?
"Oh no no, this train is only going to Rome."
Me: Super..so, what can I do?
"You can get off at Rome, and buy a ticket to Pisa."
Me: Sigh..okay :(
"And that'll be €95 for not having a ticket for this train."
*Color draining from my cheeks*
Me: €95?
"€95. Cash only."
FML
I dug in my bag and dejectedly handed the nice man E100. He gave me my piddly change, apologized for the mistake(not sure why; it was my mistake) and told me we'd be in Rome in an hour. Good thing I started my day early.
Arrived at Roma Termini Station, and hurried inside to get a ticket to Pisa. I entered my destination into the machine and the schedules popped up. Now I had a choice to make: I could either pay €18 and ride 4 hours to Pisa, or pay €42 and ride 2 1/2 hours. I really didn't want to pay a bundle more for this ticket, but I also really didn't want to waste all day on trains (time is money, right?). So I sucked it up and shelled out the €42. This time I made sure I matched up the train number, leaving time, everything. Ugh. Life may be an adventure, but you only live once, and that's 4.5 hours of my life I'll never get back. Screw you, Florence. The guy across from me on the train to Pisa shared his pringles with me.
Arrived in Pisa a tad after schedule (which freaked me out that I'd missed my stop). I glanced at the map on my way out of the train station and set a path for the leaning tower.




Honestly? It wasn't as big as I expected. It reminded me of when I first saw the Statue of Liberty - you see it on TV and it looks so huge, and then you see it in person and think, "That's it?" Okay, so it was a good 10 stories or so high, which is still big, but not nearly what I had pictured. I snapped a few pics, then laid out on the lawn for a while, once more soaking in another gorgeous day.

Caught the 6pm train back into Florence, and ate my leftover gnocchi for dinner. Got 3 new roommates - 2 Canadian guys and 1 Italian guy, and while the Italian went to sleep around 8pm, the Canadians and I (and a few others from the hostel) headed out for a night on the town. So Florence didn't end up being a total disaster after all.

Fun Facts:
-My hostel roommate for the first night was great - quiet, kept to herself, went to sleep early, but she left the window open, and the mosquitoes feasted on my arms and the right side of my face. Yeah..I don't think I'll be revisiting Florence anytime soon.
-I did have gelato in Florence (I had read that Florence had the best gelato in Italy), but it was terrible! Kind of like a cup of cold sprinkle paste, the way it coated the top of my mouth with that sugary film. I was very disappointed, and didn't have any more gelato after that. Granted, it may have just been that particular gelateria, but it was too late. Gelato had been ruined for me.

-Though I got to Pisa several hours later than planned, it really only took me a few hours to see everything. It's a small town, and a bit of a college town, at that.

Evacuation

My neighbor knocked on my door today and told me that I should probably leave my apt and go stay with a friend or go up north since they're predicting the flood waters will hit our apts tonight or tomorrow. Maybe. My apt's on the 4th floor, so I wasn't too worried about losing my apt, but I didn't want to get stuck there for who-knows-how-long either. So I packed up all my important documents, my laptop, 4 or 5 changes of clothes, some toiletries, and my pillow, and headed out to my friend Suzy's apt(the same place we'd had the Wii Shenanigans a month or so back) to stay with her for a bit. My pastor and his wife have also offered to take me in if I need it, which I may take them up on if I need to stay more than a week. I am so lucky and blessed to have such a wonderful church community here that looks after me so well.
In other news, as some of you may have read on my facebook status, due to the floods there are around 100 crocodiles loose in Ayutthaya, the old Thai capital! The authorities have offered $33/1000B bounty for every croc caught ALIVE. Time to go Crocodile Hunting!

As far as work/school is concerned, the gov't has ordered the schools closed until Nov 15th, but the Sister at our school doesn't seem to think we'll be able to start back by then, so who knows. So at the moment we're just sitting on paid holidays, and we'll have no Christmas break(though I'll be taking mine unpaid, as I can't get my flights refunded now), and we'll have no break in March; we'll be working straight through til summer school in April, with a week or two off in early May before fall semester starts again. It's depressing, but it is what it is, and there's nothing we can do about it.

Keep us in your prayers.

Venice, Italy

08/10/2011 Day 10 – Amelia and Emilio
After yet another (and thankfully the last) overnight train ride, I arrived in Venice and was relieved to see my very friendly and very Italian host Emilio waiting for me at the end of the platform. He insisted on carrying my bag and right away got me a map of Venice, circling all the “must-sees” over cappuccinos down the street. He had planned to host me at his home, but due to a last minute project (he's completing his master's in architecture) that would require the bulk of his attention for the weekend, he had graciously booked a hostel for me, right in the heart of Venice near the Rialto bridge.



He took me to the hostel, made sure my things were all settled, then gave me a fantastic tour all over the city (which isn't as big as it seems). We walked around St. Mark's Square, across Rialto Bridge, saw the Palazzo Ducale, enjoyed “spritzes”(white wine and orange), and indulged in the best pasta I have ever tasted. I was in love; what in the world am I doing in Thailand eating fried rice when I could be stuffing my face with scrumptious pasta in Italy?! Sigh..Emilio laughed at me when I took a picture of my food, but I plan to spend hours drooling over it later, lol.



Emilio was a wonderful guide, and I have urged him to make sure and visit Thailand next year so I can return the favor. Unfortunately he had to catch a train at 2pm to get back to his project, so with the hopes of catching up and grabbing dinner the following evening, I was left to my own devices, and spent the next hour and a half wandering back to my hostel. Freshened up, grabbed my notepad and my scarf, and found myself a nice spot in the sun on the stone steps along the Canal Grande. Plopped down, snapped a few pictures, then just took it all in. Listened to the water lapping against the steps; watched the gondolas pass by in both directions, some with mushy couples and accordion players, others with groups of 3-5 people taking pictures of themselves, each other, and everything around them.



When the sun went down behind the buildings the temperature dropped (it had been sunny and beautiful all day) so I packed up my things and wandered off in search of food. Got my dinner to-go and found my way back to the hostel to test out the internet. Success! Chatted with my darling Flo for a few hours before calling it a night. A very cold night.

09/10/2011 Day 11 – The Palace, Biennale, and Pizza with Emilio!
Apparently every church bell in Venice rings for a good 5 minutes every day at 9:30am and 6:30pm. Good thing I wasn't planning on sleeping in. I woke up around 8, and was out the door around 9:30. Caught a bit of Sunday morning mass at St. Marco's Basilica; the inside was spectacular, like Notre Dame in Paris, only different. Sorry, “no photos allowed;” you'll just have to go visit it yourself. ;)




Next door is the Ducale Palace, and when the guy at the ticket counter said “€16, please,” I raised an eyebrow, pulled out a 20, and muttered, “hmph, it better be worth it.” He smiled. Was it worth it? I suppose so, though I think it should've been closer to 10.



When I finished there it was nearing lunchtime, but I wanted to go to the Biennale, so I walked along the water out to the entrance of the art exhibition at Biennale, and had lunch in the cafe outside the third exhibit.



There was art from all over the world, and each country had their own building/pavilion to display their art. Each building had their own theme, but I don't think I understood any of them (except Denmark's and France's).








Switzerland's was the most disturbing by far, and after that one I decided I'd seen enough.





Sat on a stone bench by one of the docks for a while, soaking in the sunshine and the pigeons. On the way back to my hostel I treated myself to a scoop of chocolate chip gelato, and savored every last spoonful.

When I returned to my hostel and checked my email, I had a message from Emilio inviting me to join him for pizza near his home, a short train ride away. He gave me the train info, and told me he'd meet me when I arrived, so I grabbed my map and hurried off to catch the train. I was worried that it would take at least 45 minutes to walk to the station the “easy” route through the tourist streets, so I chose to navigate my way through the back streets (a shorter but more confusing route) to the station. Only made one mistake (crossed a bridge I shouldn't have and realized it immediately). Reached the station after only 15 minutes, met a guy in line in front of me from NY, got my ticket and headed to my platform. I was 30 min early, but there was a train already there. I wasn't sure if it was the right one, so I got on and asked this sweet older Italian couple if I was on the train I wanted. They didn't speak any English, but the woman told me to wait while she dug for her glasses in her purse (while her husband rolled his eyes at her), and then looked at my ticket. She didn't recognize my particular stop, but, bless her heart, she got up and took me all the way to the information desk, cut in front of the long line to speak to the woman at the window, and confirmed it for me. She was so sweet. Italians are definitely nicer than Austrians. :)
The train pulled up to Susegana right on time, and Emilio was waiting down the steps from the platform. We drove off to have some real Italian pizza (because, as he insisted, pizza in any other country just isn't good pizza). He was right at least in that the pizza I did have was absolutely wonderful, and it was all mine! Emilio couldn't believe that in the States they slice the pizza for you, and that you have to share with everyone at the table. In Italy (and most European countries, it seems) everyone orders their own pizza. We went out to Treviso city center for a drink, then he drove me all over the hillside; even at night the panoramic view of the valleys surrounding was gorgeous. By then it was too late to catch a train back into Venice, so we drove, and then spent an hour walking through the well-lit but completely empty streets of the city. It was lovely. He walked me most of the way back to my hostel, wished me luck on the rest of my journey, and we said our goodbyes. I will miss him, he was a wonderful start to my week in Italy.


Fun Facts
-Many cafes and restaurants have menus, and then they have tourist menus with much higher prices. Luckily I had a charming Italian man with me, and he made sure that they knew I was “with him” and I didn't have to pay any tourist prices, at least for food.
-I didn't take a single water taxi..I didn't need to. And neither do you, my friend! Just grab yourself a city map and go get lost; it's the only way to really see Venice.
-The gondola drivers remind me a lot of the motorbike taxi drivers in Bangkok; the same laid-back demeanor, the same good-humoured attitudes and helpfulness, the same quirky, wise-cracking personalities, and they're everywhere.
-Quoi means here in Italian (the country I'm in)
Quoi means what in French (the language I'm trying to learn)
Kwah means right (/left) in Thai (the language that I'm used to hearing on a daily basis)
SUPER annoying haha