ohh marcello!
There are so many different titles I could have used for this blog entry, it's a blogger's dream! 'when in rome...', 'la dolce vita', 'roman holiday'... basically all related to very romantic movies. I've been in Rome for two days and me and my fellow travellors have spent a lot of time pinching ourselves to remind us that we're in the eternal city! This is it, this is THE city, no where else has as much importance or history in Western culture.
Back to the last entry - I had a hellish but interesting day making my way to Florence, spent all day waiting to leave Vienna, carrying my pack around in the rain and just waiting to get there. I was not possible to find anywhere in Venice and I knew it would be so expensive so I had to go to lovely Florence again. The man that sold me the train ticket in Vienna was determined to give me the wrong one even after I stated my preferred time 3 times, so I got on the train at 7pm, knowing that meant arriving in Florence while it was still dark. It worked out pretty cool though, at first I thought I was going to spend my night sleeping in between the 30 suitcases of a very loud Italian family with a little italian kid kicking me constantly, but they eventually went into their own compartment and made room for me and two Nigerian guys that spoke very good English. I will never forget that train trip, we were up till 3 in the morning in detailed conversation about everything from religion and politics to why Austrians are so rude and how we can be better people. It was excellent! I arrived in Florence at 6 in the morning and dumped my pack, determined to take some photos of florence at sunrise. Italy is a very scary place for a girl by herself after dark. Italians sleep in every day, the markets don't start until 8 or 9 in the morning, so Florence is dead quiet at dawn. I had to do lots of laps of blocks to find the safest possible way to get down to the ponte vecchio, and even then men were making that discusting kissing noises and stopping their cars when they drove past, so I went and sat at the Uffizi art gallery where I knew there would be an eager lineup of tourists waiting with guidebooks reading about da Vinci and Botticelli.
Eventually the sun finally came up and I took all my photos (not so good) and then went back to the coffee bar near the train station where I consumed a very strong espresso and a custard crossiant (the best of my life) at the bar with all the other florentines. They very rarely sit down and relax with their coffee in the morning, it's a matter of paying for your coffee, giving a docket to the coffee maker, then swiftly drinking it right there at the counter. Hmmm writing about it is making me hungry... I think it's time for my late morning coffee and pastry!
Next installment... the rest of Florence, some backtracking to Vienna, and ROMA!
Back to the last entry - I had a hellish but interesting day making my way to Florence, spent all day waiting to leave Vienna, carrying my pack around in the rain and just waiting to get there. I was not possible to find anywhere in Venice and I knew it would be so expensive so I had to go to lovely Florence again. The man that sold me the train ticket in Vienna was determined to give me the wrong one even after I stated my preferred time 3 times, so I got on the train at 7pm, knowing that meant arriving in Florence while it was still dark. It worked out pretty cool though, at first I thought I was going to spend my night sleeping in between the 30 suitcases of a very loud Italian family with a little italian kid kicking me constantly, but they eventually went into their own compartment and made room for me and two Nigerian guys that spoke very good English. I will never forget that train trip, we were up till 3 in the morning in detailed conversation about everything from religion and politics to why Austrians are so rude and how we can be better people. It was excellent! I arrived in Florence at 6 in the morning and dumped my pack, determined to take some photos of florence at sunrise. Italy is a very scary place for a girl by herself after dark. Italians sleep in every day, the markets don't start until 8 or 9 in the morning, so Florence is dead quiet at dawn. I had to do lots of laps of blocks to find the safest possible way to get down to the ponte vecchio, and even then men were making that discusting kissing noises and stopping their cars when they drove past, so I went and sat at the Uffizi art gallery where I knew there would be an eager lineup of tourists waiting with guidebooks reading about da Vinci and Botticelli.
Eventually the sun finally came up and I took all my photos (not so good) and then went back to the coffee bar near the train station where I consumed a very strong espresso and a custard crossiant (the best of my life) at the bar with all the other florentines. They very rarely sit down and relax with their coffee in the morning, it's a matter of paying for your coffee, giving a docket to the coffee maker, then swiftly drinking it right there at the counter. Hmmm writing about it is making me hungry... I think it's time for my late morning coffee and pastry!
Next installment... the rest of Florence, some backtracking to Vienna, and ROMA!
1 Comments:
wow becky. i am so jealous.
almost have my own blog up and running- i will tell you when there is anything of note on there!
did u get my email re the hostel?
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