We got up around 5.30 – as usual, thanks to how ridiculously early we fell asleep. Unfortunately, Lauren had a pretty bad migraine all morning. We ate breakfast at the hotel again, and them headed off to the train station around. Luckily the cold air got rid of the last of Lauren's migraine. That day there was a subway strike, so they metro was closed down all day. Very luckily for us, the bus near us goes all the way to Termini station, so we were able to avoid the metro, though it was a very long bus ride.
We were able to find our train at the station, but it was a bit of a walk just because of the sheer size of Termini station – there are over 25 sets of tracks all parallel that come in for people to board trains, and they all mesh and crisscross as you leave. Our train was kind of old and crappy looking (especially compared to the new Eurostar train), but it was nice inside and traveled very fast (it just stopped a lot).
The view from the train was very pretty, there was just one really annoying issue. Whenever we would go through tunnels (which was quite often) at such high speeds, it would create some sort of very high pressure inside the train which would very painfully push on your eardrums. It's kind of like changing altitude on an airplane, but very sudden and much more intense. It was not the least bit pleasant, but we got used it to. The other odd thing about the view, is how eerily similar it looked to California. Riding a train up Italy looks almost exactly like riding a train up California, except for all the little towns built on hillsides – California doesn't have those.
After four hours on the train we arrived at the Florence SMN train station, and it was a nice 15 or 20 minute walk to our hotel with our suitcases. Luckily my slightly broken suitcase wheel has been holding out well, and it did fine on the long, cobble-stony walk. When we arrived, worn out and tired, at our hotel, we were greeted by two flights of stairs that led to the reception desk. Luckily there were no stairs to get to our room (I expected there to be more stairs), but on this floor alone, there are lots of little single steps up or down in random places, which I consistently almost fall down. Our room is very tiny, but pretty nice, in a very old fashioned way. The doors all lock with skeleton keys, which took me an hour or so to figure out. They don't teach you how to use those things in college.
After that we went for an evening stroll to track down dinner (yay, our first dinner in Europe, since we kept falling asleep before we could eat for the past couple days). We walked down to the Baptistry, Duomo, and the Campanile, some very impressive structures, and found a little place to eat. I had a calzone, which I assumed wasn't going to be very good (I've just associated “calzone” with “pizza hut”, so I naturally think it will be crap), but it was actually delicious. Great bread filled with mozzarella and prosciutto – mmm. I'm going to get another one tonight. After that we headed back to our hotel, where Lauren passed out by 19.00. I certainly would have as well, but I ended up watching the entire second half of season 4 of Dexter, so I didn't manage to get to sleep until midnight (sounds more like my normal sleep schedule).
Sorry if this post was a little shorter and less picture-ful, but it was a shorter day and I'm more tired as a write this (and the end of day four). Today was much more eventful, so I'll try and write up a better one while I'm on the train to Bologna tomorrow.
View from the Train
Sheep with a hillside town in the background
Inside of the train
Baptistry and Doumo
A plaza at night in Florence
No comments:
Post a Comment