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May. 31st, 2007 11:40 amOh, my kingdom for a browser that supported tabs ...
I spent most of this morning wandering through Florence, after arriving at 7 am and a night on a shaking train.
My excursions towards Italy yesterday went pretty well -- I walked down the beach one last time, and was shocked to see two figures partially obscured by the sand, and it took me a good minute to realize they were made of stone.
Yes, I'm a weirdo, but my first thought was that some evil scifi-genre wizard had punished them for their Beach Sloth and turned them to stone. And then I saw the plaque saying it was a sculpture.
It was still Weird.
The train to Nice was easy, and I've found that if I squeal like a Helpless Girl, men will inevitably come and carry my suitcase up stairs and into train cars and into otherwise grossly-annoying places and travel spots. I had about 5 hours to kill in Nice, so I checked my overly-heavy luggage into the lockers and wandered around. I literally walked by this shop again! And took another picture!
Nice feels really really... crowded. Not like Cannes at all. Plus, the beach is full of rocks. It's FAMOUS for its rocks.
Anyway, I wandered around for a good 3 hours, some of which I sat in a big park. I marveled at my last few French idiosyncrasies -- For example... I don't know what "TAMPON ET RECHARGE" is, but I can tell you I *don't* want it.
The sleeper train car was smaller than I'd remembered -- 4 beds instead of 3. 2 American kids from University of Arizona (a couple) came in and we all had a grand time speaking English. We were eventually accompanied by a very old lady who spoke NO French and NO English and seemed very ornery.
I had a tough time falling asleep -- there are apparently Americans everywhere and they're noisy and don't seem to be aware that a sleeper car was for sleeping. But eventually, I nodded off, careful not to also FALL off (I was in the top bunk).
I've got to say, though, that I sort of love being in a confined little bunk. I had all my stuff within arm's reach, or on this little shelf, and I felt very enclosed and comforted.
We were awoken with a jolt and packed up. It turned out that Andrew and Tracy (the Arizona couple) had a hotel near mine, so we resolved to mosey together. However, the sleeper train had let us off at Campo Di Statto -- a train station nowhere near the center of Florence.
Of course, I didn't realize it, and neither did they. Matteo, the owner of the B&B we're all staying at told me he was a 2 minute walk from the train station -- just not which one!
After fruitlessly searching for a taxi in the middle of nowhere Andrew discovered that there was a quickie train to the other train station, so I used the automatic machine and away we went!
The hotel was, in fact, very close to the train station but I've gotta say that my hands and raw and chapped from lugging that beastly heavy suitcase. But Matteo took care of me, gave me a DELICIOUS croissant and some breakfasty food (I'll mention too that the croissant here was better than ANY of the croissants I'd had in France) and sent me a-wandering until our apartment was ready.
And here I am, internetted and a bit sleepy and dazed and realizing that my Italian is hopelessly rusty. But tomorrow, everyone will get here and we will have lovely lovely fun.
And in the interim, I'm off to have some lovely fun, and FOOD, by myself. I've taken so many photos already!
I spent most of this morning wandering through Florence, after arriving at 7 am and a night on a shaking train.
My excursions towards Italy yesterday went pretty well -- I walked down the beach one last time, and was shocked to see two figures partially obscured by the sand, and it took me a good minute to realize they were made of stone.
Yes, I'm a weirdo, but my first thought was that some evil scifi-genre wizard had punished them for their Beach Sloth and turned them to stone. And then I saw the plaque saying it was a sculpture.
It was still Weird.
The train to Nice was easy, and I've found that if I squeal like a Helpless Girl, men will inevitably come and carry my suitcase up stairs and into train cars and into otherwise grossly-annoying places and travel spots. I had about 5 hours to kill in Nice, so I checked my overly-heavy luggage into the lockers and wandered around. I literally walked by this shop again! And took another picture!
Nice feels really really... crowded. Not like Cannes at all. Plus, the beach is full of rocks. It's FAMOUS for its rocks.
Anyway, I wandered around for a good 3 hours, some of which I sat in a big park. I marveled at my last few French idiosyncrasies -- For example... I don't know what "TAMPON ET RECHARGE" is, but I can tell you I *don't* want it.
The sleeper train car was smaller than I'd remembered -- 4 beds instead of 3. 2 American kids from University of Arizona (a couple) came in and we all had a grand time speaking English. We were eventually accompanied by a very old lady who spoke NO French and NO English and seemed very ornery.
I had a tough time falling asleep -- there are apparently Americans everywhere and they're noisy and don't seem to be aware that a sleeper car was for sleeping. But eventually, I nodded off, careful not to also FALL off (I was in the top bunk).
I've got to say, though, that I sort of love being in a confined little bunk. I had all my stuff within arm's reach, or on this little shelf, and I felt very enclosed and comforted.
We were awoken with a jolt and packed up. It turned out that Andrew and Tracy (the Arizona couple) had a hotel near mine, so we resolved to mosey together. However, the sleeper train had let us off at Campo Di Statto -- a train station nowhere near the center of Florence.
Of course, I didn't realize it, and neither did they. Matteo, the owner of the B&B we're all staying at told me he was a 2 minute walk from the train station -- just not which one!
After fruitlessly searching for a taxi in the middle of nowhere Andrew discovered that there was a quickie train to the other train station, so I used the automatic machine and away we went!
The hotel was, in fact, very close to the train station but I've gotta say that my hands and raw and chapped from lugging that beastly heavy suitcase. But Matteo took care of me, gave me a DELICIOUS croissant and some breakfasty food (I'll mention too that the croissant here was better than ANY of the croissants I'd had in France) and sent me a-wandering until our apartment was ready.
And here I am, internetted and a bit sleepy and dazed and realizing that my Italian is hopelessly rusty. But tomorrow, everyone will get here and we will have lovely lovely fun.
And in the interim, I'm off to have some lovely fun, and FOOD, by myself. I've taken so many photos already!
