Returning back to Rome {Day 12}

I woke up at 7 am hoping that I could stay a little longer.  I didn’t get a chance to change my reservation at Alessandro Palace back in Rome, so I couldn’t extend my stay in Florence.  Feeling the hunger pang, I went down to the diner to get some food.  Mmm.. cereal and coffee!

By 9:10 am, I checked out and left for Rome.  I hope I have some cool or nice roommates back at Rome.  I am going to be there for three more nights, what am I going to do for three more nights?  I should have planned my last days better.  When I booked my ticked back to Roma Termini it was 51 euros.  ouch!  It wasn’t that much when I left Rome to Florence!  :(

Oh well.  The train was filthy too.  Well I have a two hour train ride so time to charge the gear and download the CF cards.  I started thinking about my boudoir clients that I had and will shoot in a couple weeks.  This is going to be fun, especially building the albums!

Three more nights and then I will be flying back home.  Very depressing!

I am glad that I opted to go to Italy this time around.  I listened to U2’s “I still haven’t found what I am looking for” live from milan and it got me curious enough to want to come here.  He was talking about the Duomo’s in Milan and then he slipped an “Excusi Moi” in French, instead of Italian.  I was talking about this with Giovanni and he mentions that Milan being closer to France and also being a fashionista city, French is used very often.  Oh.  Before going to Ireland I was listening to “Bad” and like that I decided to go to Ireland.  :)  In any case I am glad that I went to Italy, so much great food, great memories, and gelato!

I got back to Rome and checked into Palace Alessandro at about 12.  The heat seemed to have up’d the ante!  It was really hot!  So I stayed inside to sleep.  When 1 pm rolled around, I attempted to go out.

I went out to do some city shots and to go back to Termini to buy water and bananas.

By 3 pm my room was ready, from what I was told, so I went up to go sleep.  But the cleaning ladies went back to clean again.  What?  Whatever, back out I go to get some nail clippers.  I need to remember to bring nail clippers from home next time.  argh!

When I came back, the cleaners were done and I clipped my nails when my new roommates started to stroll in .  Melissa and Jessica from Chicago came in first and then about 20 minutes later, Danny, Chris, and Cody from Colorado came in.  We spoke for a little while to introduce ourselves and got settled in.

Not sure what I would do for dinner, might as well go for the free pizza that the hostel offers.  But then I recalled the taste of it before and changed my mind to go out to look for dinner.  I went to this place Luke and Jaclyn recommended earlier.  It was pretty good, decent portions, started me off with a huge bruschetta, lots of bread, and nice wine.  I really liked the pasta with its mixture of vegetables and light marinara sauce!

Afterwards I went to get some gelato and headed back to the hostel.  When I got back, the pub crawler folk started to come out to get people to go on their pub crawl.  But that really didn’t sound like fun.  So I went back to go to bed.

Tasting wine in Florence {Day 11}

:: grumble ::

I had to check out and stash my stuff in the storage hold today.  Hopefully, hopefully, they will have a room for me.  After I checked out, I got ready for my wine tour in Florence.  First time having wine and a wine tour!  I thought it would be a very interesting experience.

I grabbed my journal and camera gear and sat down in the lobby to write and relax a bit when I met Catherine, Amy, and Louisa.  Louisa and Catherine were from Melbourne and Amy was from New Zealand.  So I had to ask, after being told by three individuals from Perth, “Are the real Australians from Perth?”

Catherine and Amy were traveling for five weeks and Lousia is on a 6 month journey.  Long voyages… I am somewhat envious!  As much as I love traveling, I am not sure I would be able to take more than 2 months of traveling at one time.  Well money – wise definitely not! haha!  But I would get home sick.  Maybe.

Well the tour guide all guided us to our bus, which was pretty far away from the hostel.  So we took a hike across the city to the bus, to board into a large tour bus.  And we boarded.

Our first stop was a wine tasting spot to try 3 vintages of wine – supertuscan, (I love this name!) and the rest I don’t remember.  All from the local Chianti Classico region.  They taught us how to taste the wine. Uhm .. lift, swirl, look at alcohol content, sip, swoosh, swallow, repeat.  hmmm.. maybe there is a trick that I am missing.  Oh well.  Sip.

The symbol of the area, the rooster!

After about half an hour of wine tasting, the tipsy-ness came in.  We stopped by a small town to look around and shop.  Did my post card shopping here!

Afterwards was lunch!  We went to a really nice place that was a little out of the way, but it was definitely a gorgeous place!  I hoped we could have stayed there longer.

I had a bruschetta, bread, and cheese, but seemed to forget to bring the pasta! They brought that out a little later.

By 3 – 4 pm, we headed towards our last drinking site.  Grappa.  It was a really high alcoholic content drink.  And it burned, I should add!

When we got back to the hostel, I was able to get a room!  I would later be meeting Louisa, Amy, and Catherine for a night out at 7:30 PM.  We bought some wine and went over the bridge to watch the sun set with some snacks.

After drinking three glasses of wine, the sun finally set.  I was sad that today was my last full day in the city that I love.  Well we stayed there till about 9 pm and headed back to the hostel.

We got some drinks at the hostel and chatted till midnight when we all left to go back to our rooms.

And then parted ways.

Playing the switch from Bologna back to Florence {Day 10}

I woke up at 7 am, because I really wanted to leave.  I went to brush my teeth, while I charged my iPod and camera batteries.  I found an electrical socket by the sinks of all places.

I came back to my tent and packed, which was relatively easy since I packed light!  It feels good leaving this place.  It isn’t like I dislike the place, it’s just that three days was good enough for me.

By 8:05 am, all my stuff was ready and I was set to check out.  The price of the site was thirty nine euros for three nights, a tent, mat, and blanket. Not bad!

The bus arrived at 8:43 and the bus sped its way to the train station.  Maybe I should have slept in a bit or waited, because my train wouldn’t leave till 11 am.  argh. Well the view was interesting to say the least.  The teens ahead of me were going “at” it.

The train arrived and the number one car had issues with its AC unit.  So there was a delay.  ….

I arrived in Bologna and I already disliked it.  A subjective feeling came over me, it was like entering Cork in Ireland.  I hopped onto the bus, which was packed like sardines and what made it worse was that I had all my gear!

I got to my B&B, which was located in a shady spot.  BIG QUESTION MARK popped into my head as I pressed the door bell.  It was a bed in a family’s bedroom.  A bed in a family’s house?  Whoa!  The website sounded like it was  a hostel!  I have a personal distaste of staying in another family’s home, like this.  Really weirded me out, so I told the guy that I didn’t want to be here and paid my supposed night, apologized, and left.

Back at the train station again, I thought about looking for a real hostel in this area.  I checked it all out and they were well over a hundred euros a night.  Well back to Florence it was for me!  That was my decision, I called Plus Florence and they told me they have some rooms for me and booked my train ticket back.

Ugh!  Worst decision ever to go to Bologna and booking that place!  I mean the couple sounded extremely nice and gracious, but that was really unexpected, at least from the web-ad.  But I am really uncomfortable in staying with an unknown family.

I made it back to Plus Florence.  I really love Florence!  They let me stay one night, but were unsure for the following.  I would have to check again tomorrow.  But that was ok!  Once everything was straightened out, I went to the laundry room immediately to wash my clothes!  Whew!

Those clothes were so full of sweat and grime and now they are being washed! And, now I can have fresh clean clothes!

And while that was being cleaned, I was off for my gelato run!  On that run, I bought Vincent a t shirt and a Venice mask for 5 Euros!!  hehe!  I also have a rock for him to from Cinque Terre.  Every journey I take, I bring a rock back for him!

When I came back, I tossed my newly washed clothes into the dryer.    Fresh clothing!  And dinner was here!

I had a nice vegetarian pizza!  Mmm! I devoured that pizza!  By now my clothes were all done and I brought them all back to my room.

With my clothes fresh and clean I went up to the terrace to get something to drink and then off to bed.  I have a wine tour tomorrow to go to!  Excited!

Seeing Five Coastal Towns in One Day {Day 6}

I woke up at 6 AM, but dozed off till 6:30 AM.  A funny thing happened on the way to the bathroom, someone was asleep in it!  I don’t drink till I am obliviously drunk, but this was really irritatingly annoying!

I went straight to the train station after I went to the lobby bathroom to brush and piss.  The local train will take a while to get to the first town, Riomaggiore.  So about 7:35 am I arrived and looked for my train.  They really do not write or label train numbers anywhere, so finding the train was a pain in the ass.  Thankfully I stumbled upon it at station 6 when the train just arrived and the switch board labeled it for La Spazia.

I also found other travelers heading to La Spazia, which was neat.

Taking about 2 and a half hours to get to Cinque Terre, I took a quick snooze until I woke up to discover that I had to quickly change trains!

I finally arrived at Riomaggiore.  It started out like an easy platform hike, which saddened me a little.  Which I will soon regret saying.  I quickly looked for off the beaten trails, which I eventually found for that part of the region, but I found myself back on the original trail.  That trail led me towards Manarola.  The trails quickly became dirt, gravel, hilly, and a ton of steps!

Yours, Truly!

Today did not have titillating blue skies, instead it was dreary grey overcast.  Still what a day to hike and take photographs. 

Man I love these views!

I was walking and this couple replied when i looked at this hat, courtesy of the Americans. What?

Regardless of the weather outlook, the entire trail and locale was absolutely gorgeous!  It would have been even greater if it had that awesome blue sky, but the hike and sights were breathtaking!

I continued to hike and take photographs with intermittent breaks to eat some trail mix, fruit, and quench my thirst with water.

By 2 pm, I felt my legs and lower back cramping up.  Still I kept on going, even when I got the next town.  The reason I had to burn through Cinque Terre, sadly, was because the only train back to Florence was at 5:41 pm so I had to finish by 4 pm.  If I had my gear with me and stayed at a nearby hostel, then I could have taken my time.

By 3 PM I entered Vernazza, the trails to and from Vernazza were probably the harshest of all the trails.  Not just because they were slippery from the light rain fall, but because they were tight with steep inclines and declines.  So by the time I got to Monteressa, I was so tired that I thought I was already at the end!

I went around Vernazza to look for a toilet, I had to go.  Like real bad!  I finally found a small deli/snack bar to buy a coca cola (not the best drink to drink when hiking, but it was the only thing they had) so I could use the bathroom.  Geez, the person inside was severely constipated.  At least that was what if felt like waiting.

It was finally my turn and it felt good to relieve myself.  Washed my hands and went back out to pick up the trail again to get to Monteressa.  And the trails seemed tighter and steeper than Vernazza.  By the time I got to the middle of the hike, my knees were not functioning right.  They wanted to cave in and I formed these huge blisters on my feet.  Every decline, the pressure stabbed its painful daggers into my knees.  But I had to press on because of time.

By 4 pm, I made it to Monteressa!  Seeing people in the beach I joined in!  Only deep enough to my knees.  The people inside the water were from New Zealand and were staying relatively close by whereas I had to return back to Florence.  2 hour train ride while being wet wasn’t something I wanted to experience.

And off I went to book my ticket to La Spazia and to Florence.

One of the things that I dislike about Italy is the smoking and the disorganized train system!  When I booked, there were no markings for what train I had to take and the monitors did not give accurate details either.  Asking around, I eventually found the train I had to go on and met a nice couple from Seattle.  Telling me the best time to see Seattle was from July to September.  Definitely not November, I know what Seattle looks like in November haha!  And I met another traveler from Perth telling us that was where true Australians are from.

An hour passed and then a bunch of friggin smokers kept jumping in and out at the stop which eventually damaged one of the doors.  The door malfunctioned so much that we were delayed by forty to fifty minutes because of those retards trying to get their fix!  Then what is worse, one of the guys went to the rear intersection to smoke!  GAHHHH!!  I stood up, banged on the door and yelled at the guy to put his freaking cigarette out.  Too bad I couldn’t curse in Italian..

The couple from Seattle and myself were seriously pissed because of the delays and this crappy smoker in the back.

When we finally started we got to Florence at about 7:55 pm.  And we stopped in front of the Firenze SMN sign.  Which was about a mile away from the station.

Grrrrrr!!!

When we finally arrived to Firenze SMN it was 8:06 PM.  Said my byes and went back to my hostel to find some dinner.

I ordered some pasta and then headed up to the terrace to see if Marco (that’s his name!), Steve, and Lizzie were there.  They weren’t and I went back to my room to shower.

That shower felt seriously good!  Especially after that long and sweaty hike.  Feeling refreshed, I went back up to the terrace to chill out and write in the journal.  Marco and Steve was talking to this lame Argentinian dude.  I joined only to chat with Marco and Steve, but they left me with the dude from Argentina.  Bastards!  Thinking of departure words, I just said I gotta go and went back to the bar.

There were these two girls who were getting their drinks with red bull.  In physiological terms, mixing red bull (and other caffeine stimulant goods) with alcohol is not a good thing to do.  Yeah.  I don’t really care much about those two, but they left and took a glance with a ciao and see you in a little bit.  Ok.  Don’t get me wrong, I love women, but they just seemed … loose.

Back to bed it was for me.

Finding Home in Florence {Day 5}

Before I left for Italy, I was talking to Nicole over Facebook about the pending adventure.  She had a lot of good word on Florence and today, I was really stoked and excited to go to Florence!  Of course I would have enjoyed staying in Rome a little longer to spend more time with Glenda, Joanna, and Nadya, but my train ticket has already been bought.  I repacked all my gear by 7:40 AM and hung around till 8:50.  I chatted a bit with a groggy Joanna and parted ways towards Florence.  Glenda left before I did so I wasn’t able to say bye.

At the Termini station I waited for 9:15 to roll around so I could board the Eurostar train towards Florence.  It was a nice one hour train ride where I caught up a bit on my journal, CF downloads, and rest.

When I arrived, I went to find the hostel Plus Florence.  This time I didn’t get too lost and found it within twenty minutes of leaving the train.  Couple descriptions to describe Plus Florence’s awesomeness- indoor jacuzzi and pool, roof top bar and terrace, and, best of all, FREE WI-FI!  I think I am in love!

I checked in and dropped my luggage off so I could go back out to look for s0mething to eat and do some exploring.  I adventured around Florence, climbing up a really high duomo (which I didn’t actually go to the top top because I made a wrong turn …. ) and found some really really really great gelato!

haha! Game over!

I was behind this thick pexiglass panel..

Piaget? Like Jean Piaget?

I went back to my hostel two hours later to find my room and inquire about trains to Cinque Terre.  I was supposed to see Michaelangelo’s David the next day, but since today and tomorrow are my only days in Florence, I opted to go to Cinque Terre instead of seeing the David in the Ufuzi.  I pre-paid for my ticket too.  Oh well.  I prefer hiking adventures over museums.  The dude with spikey hair at the front desk of Plus Florence told me that I need to be at the Station at 7 AM for La Spazia, a local train.

Found my room and before I set back out, I asked where I could find the best gelato in Florence.  Another employee directed me towards across the city, really was across the city, to a spot where it was affordable and delectable!  It was  a hike, but it was definitely worth it.

With so many flavors to try, I tried a caramel dolce and a strawberry mixture.  Mmm!  I have definitely been spending more money on gelato than anything else here!

Mmm...gelato...

Drooooool!

Dinner consisted of cold pizza and marinara pasta.  By 6 or 7 PM I headed up towards the Terrace to write in my journal.  I never tried a Strawberry Daiquiri before and I really didn’t like the beer choice there, so I had a couple strawberry daiquiries.  This Australian girl named Lizzie and two Australians from Perth, named Steve and his friend (who’s name I don’t remember), and the bartender Lorenzo and I were at the bar chatted and laughed it up till about 9:30 when Nora joined us.

Somehow we got into a discussion of religion and Nora spilled some of her white wine onto my pants.  Usually that would be an interesting pick up moment, but I don’t think I liked her.

I gave Lizzie my ticket to the Ufuzi since I was heading off to Cinque Terre instead and we all drank and were merry till I went to bed at 11:40 PM to get ready for Cinque Terre.