Here we are, on another train, yet again. This morning, I tossed and turned for several hours until the alarm went off at 7:00. It’s like my subconscious just wants to remind me “hey, you’re taking a train today, get nervous!” It wasn’t pleasant. Oh well.
I got ready for the day, got everything packed up, and we went to the café for breakfast. We ate, returned our keys, and made sure our room was clear of all of our things. Then we made the trek to the train station with our bags. It seems that the Italians like to stay up late and sleep in late. Thus, the shuttle was not running when we needed it this morning. So down the 365 stairs it was. Take about a work out.
The ticket machine was working (Thank goodness!) so we bought our tickets and headed out. We took a train from Corniglia to La Spezia, then from La Spezia to Pisa. The second train was headed to Rome, so it was packed. The cars had carts in them, like in Harry Potter. So we ended up sitting on the bucket seats in the hallway. At least it was a short ride!
Once in Pisa, we checked our bags at the luggage deposit (such a saving grace!) We could not have made it carrying those around! Then we bought bus tickets, hopped on the red line, and went to Pisa! We got there, and there were tourists everywhere! And they all were trying to do the silly pictures where you hold the Leaning Tower or kick it over. We may or may not have participated in this tradition as well ;)
The Cathedral and Baptistery next to the tower are incredible and HUGE! The tower was quite hilarious actually. Pictures don’t do it justice. They just can’t show how far it does lean. After walking around a bit we grabbed lunch and ended up getting some fries for McDonald’s, in order to use their Wi-Fi. Sadly, the Wi-Fi didn’t work. But they were crinkle cut fries!
We took the bus back to the train station and searched for Wi-Fi everywhere. We finally got on to it at a café and were able to tell Kaitlyn and Julia our train information just in the nick of time. We raced back to the station, grabbed our bags, had to PAY to use the bathroom, and got on our 4-hour train to Rome.
The ride has been good, with lots of crazy sites to see! We watched ‘Divergent’ and now are working on uploading pictures to our computers and writing our prospective blogs and emails.
Kaitlyn and Julia are going to meet us at the McDonald’s in the train station, once we arrive in Rome. I am excited to be with them, have them be our tour guides, and to see Bernardi! Plus, we get to celebrate Julia’s birthday tonight!
Tomorrow we will go to mass (IN ROME!!!!) and then head to our hotel to meet our class! So crazy!
Here’s to a day full of heavy lifting, trains, and beautiful sites!
