Yesterday I rode my first real train. I also bought my first real train tickets and navigated my first real train stations. Trains are fun. Murray, Kiks and I were heading out to Viareggio on the coast for a day at the beach, waking up at 6am and boarding the 7:59 train. We decided to splurge an extra 3euros each on first class (totaling 9euros one way) only to find a train full of 2nd class seats. Adventure! They were comfortable seats at least, and the train was pretty empty.
Once we reached the destination, after a number of stops including two in Pisa (where I think I may have seen the top of the leaning torre), we walked for a good 20 minutes until we hit the coastline. From there, we found a place to buy a beach towel and asked about the free beach options. The woman directed us further south across the marina, and said it would be about a half hour walk. Half an hour later, we were maybe halfway there, so hot and hungry we turned around, found dinner, and decided to splurge on one of the hundreds of private beaches lining the sea.
20euros for the three of us, and an umbrella and 3 chairs wasn’t a bad deal, so we gladly paid and found our spot. Like Lido, the beaches here are nuts… only worse. It was row after row after row.. mile after mile of umbrellas and chairs. I’ve never seen anything like it, and I certainly won’t take our extensive free beaches back home for granted any longer. After a few dips in the Mediterranean, where we saw decent sized fish jumping at about waist-deep water, and a couple hours too many in the sun, we found some cheap gelato and walked back to the station, catching a train less than 10 minutes later. Nicely timed.
The plan was to return to Florence with time to get up the Campanile for sunset – it’s now open Fridays and Saturdays until 10pm. We arrived, found our bikes, and headed over, buying a ticket for the tower and Baptistry (which was also open late) at around 8pm. Crowds passed us as we climbed up, and once we reached the top, we made up 3/5ths of the people there. Once again: magical. We made it at the perfect time for the sunset, and i can’t say I’ve ever seen a sunset like that before, and probably won’t see one like it for many years to come. Once it entered the haze near the mountains on the horizon, it became so red and full I couldn’t take my eyes off it. I poked my head through the cage surrounding the lookout, and enjoyed it. While doing so, a few of the other guys made it up just in time to see the final sliver dip below the mountains, and we all got to share in the moment, as the lights of the city began to sparkle.
Afterwards, we visited the Baptistry then biked towards the Arno to visit our first Alfredo place in Italy, where the waiter was kind enough to give us 10% off after I showed him my international student ID (so that thing DOES work). Brad was a little disappointed his Fettucine Alfredo was the Italian version of Fettucine (not the Tagliatelle that we call Fettucine in Canada) but it was still tasty, and we ended the night off with some more sweet gelato.
As far as today goes, I decided to take a me day. I slept in till 9 or so, worked on some assignments, sorted through some photos, and only left the house to visit the laundromat and grocery store. I figured after my slight burn, it would be a good plan to drink a lot of water and take it easy. Unfortunately, it meant an entire day where I didn’t visit any of the museums I wanted to visit, and the days remaining are dwindling. I have yet to see the Uffizi, the Accademia, the Marino Morini, the Santa Maria del Fiore and museo, among many others. In saying that, it feels as though I haven’t seen anything yet. It’s the same sort of feeling I had in Rome, where I missed many key things due to time constraints, such as the Sistine chapel and Tempietto. But there is simply too much to see. I will visit Florence again,,, I must visit it again. So perhaps I will make a point of visiting the places that will not be the same in the future – the free gems spaced throughout the city. And on that note, I need to get to work on this paper due tomorrow.
Buona Notte,
rob
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Comments ( 2 )
thanks, rob, for a beautiful vacation i am enjoying vicariously from texas! *wow* i can’t wait to go there some day myself…now get to work on that paper!
tdub
tdub68 added these pithy words on
Jul 04 08 at
9:33 am
It looks to me that you’re having a splendid trip! I am envious that you’re getting one of my dream vacations, and I’m stuck back here in the states working. LOL
Hope you continue to have a blast and you’re posting your potos and thoughts of the trip like this so we can all see the world through your lenses.
-C
christopher added these pithy words on
Jul 06 08 at
4:54 am
