Jenna Hossack (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} jayintheuk) wrote,@ 2005-05-03 13:01:00 |
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22 April 2005 - Florence
Interesting day today. Slept through the alarm at 9.30 this morning, but luckily, not by much. Checked e-mail, Mom giving me money, yay, checked out, went to Termini. Left luggage there. Went to San Pietro, Thea took pictures this time because she finally got new batteries for her camera. Sistine Chapel and the dome of the basilica were still closed. The chairs were all put in rows and speakers were set up in the piazza for Benedict XVI's inauguration thing on Sunday.
Went back to Termini and while we were waiting around for our train I realised I'd lost the receipt from the luggage check. So we went down there to ask what to do. They sent me to the police. There, what I wanted to say was translated to the officer through two people: English to Spanish to Italian. There was this American guy there who has been studying in Spain, he translated our English into Spanish for his host sister, who has been studying in Rome, and translated the Spanish into Italian for the officer. Crazy. I had to fill out a declaration of lost items form for my receipt, which I took to the luggage check.
There, the guy sent me down to the luggage room, where a guy who spoke no English led me around the shelves looking for my backpack. Eventually I found it, then I went back upstairs where I had to fill out a form listing the contents of my bag. Presumably this was so they could check that it was mine, but they never did. The guy took the form away before I was done (I seriously remembered everything in there and was writing ALL of it down), and sent me on my way. Never before have I been happy to strap seven kilograms to my back, but then, I was. Thea and I still made our train with ten minutes to spare.
The train ride was almost two hours, during which I read about stuff to do in Florence, ate chocolate, and slept. Found the 'hostel.' Actually, we're in a very nice guest house, very central location, our own room (after the 12-bed hallway in Rome, this is excellent), breakfast in the morning (something we haven't been eating due to sleeping through it and going straight to lunch), no curfew, our own keys, and a really nice guy running the place. We ate tortellini down the street and it was yummy, and then went to the Internet cafe next door (2.80 Euro for half an hour, ech, Rome hostel = 1 Euro/half hour, Nice hostel = free, Geneva = 5 Sfr./hr). Apparently back home there was a SWAT takedown of some guy we don't know; and in an unrelated incident, Bryan Barchard got arrested (not surprising). She put $240 in my account, which should be plenty. Yay money!
Now Thea and I are planning our weekend -- there's a LOT to do here, despite the small size, and unlike Rome, we can't see it all in one day!
Interesting day today. Slept through the alarm at 9.30 this morning, but luckily, not by much. Checked e-mail, Mom giving me money, yay, checked out, went to Termini. Left luggage there. Went to San Pietro, Thea took pictures this time because she finally got new batteries for her camera. Sistine Chapel and the dome of the basilica were still closed. The chairs were all put in rows and speakers were set up in the piazza for Benedict XVI's inauguration thing on Sunday.
Went back to Termini and while we were waiting around for our train I realised I'd lost the receipt from the luggage check. So we went down there to ask what to do. They sent me to the police. There, what I wanted to say was translated to the officer through two people: English to Spanish to Italian. There was this American guy there who has been studying in Spain, he translated our English into Spanish for his host sister, who has been studying in Rome, and translated the Spanish into Italian for the officer. Crazy. I had to fill out a declaration of lost items form for my receipt, which I took to the luggage check.
There, the guy sent me down to the luggage room, where a guy who spoke no English led me around the shelves looking for my backpack. Eventually I found it, then I went back upstairs where I had to fill out a form listing the contents of my bag. Presumably this was so they could check that it was mine, but they never did. The guy took the form away before I was done (I seriously remembered everything in there and was writing ALL of it down), and sent me on my way. Never before have I been happy to strap seven kilograms to my back, but then, I was. Thea and I still made our train with ten minutes to spare.
The train ride was almost two hours, during which I read about stuff to do in Florence, ate chocolate, and slept. Found the 'hostel.' Actually, we're in a very nice guest house, very central location, our own room (after the 12-bed hallway in Rome, this is excellent), breakfast in the morning (something we haven't been eating due to sleeping through it and going straight to lunch), no curfew, our own keys, and a really nice guy running the place. We ate tortellini down the street and it was yummy, and then went to the Internet cafe next door (2.80 Euro for half an hour, ech, Rome hostel = 1 Euro/half hour, Nice hostel = free, Geneva = 5 Sfr./hr). Apparently back home there was a SWAT takedown of some guy we don't know; and in an unrelated incident, Bryan Barchard got arrested (not surprising). She put $240 in my account, which should be plenty. Yay money!
Now Thea and I are planning our weekend -- there's a LOT to do here, despite the small size, and unlike Rome, we can't see it all in one day!
