Firenze

Today I went to Florence. I woke up at 7 and got to the train station by 8 and bought my tickets on the self service thing, thinking I was a pro after buying tickets to Campobasso. So everything's great, I go to Florence, armed with that 1998 Europe from $50 A Day book. I walked ALL OVER, all day. I saw the Ponte Vecchio, Palazzo Vecchio, David, a couple really cool museums and churches. I climbed all the way to the top of this tower next to the Duomo (whew!) for an amazing view of the city! David was pretty amazing..and in the hallway leading up to him, they had about six unfinished statues of Michaelangelo's. These were really awesome, because you can actually see them taking form and appreciate how hard it is!! Again, we weren't allowed to take pictures (?!) but everyone was doing it and it wasn't strictly enforced, so...when in Florence...

This one museum was inside an old palace and there was this really cool exhibit showing all of the fashion up until the 70s!! It was SO COOL to see how it changed! For the fashion of the 18th century, there was an entire room just about BUTTONS, that's how fashionable they were! Haha. For lunch I bought some fresh fruit and ate by the river! The people in Florence are A LOT nicer than the Romans!! I had only been there a few hours, and two gentlemen on two separate occasions asked me if I needed help finding a building! Anyway, I ate this amazing lasagna-like dish and FOUND this book I've been searching high and low for at this random bookstore! I finished my planned walk about two hours early, so, exhausted, I just hopped on a bus idling at the station and took it all the way around, for a free sightseeing tour of Florence! Muahahaha.

But then, I get to the train station and I notice that my return ticket's time doesn't match any of the times on the departures. So I choose the closest time, 8:45 and get on the train. So the dude comes down the aisle and he takes my ticket and says, "This ticket is invalid." "What?" "It says your train leaves Florence at 8:25 in the morning." "How can I leave Florence at 8:25 when I left Rome at 9:00?" "I don't know. You did a self service?" "Yes..." "I'm sorry, this ticket is invalid." "So what do I do?" "You have to buy another ticket, and since you're on the train already, it'll cost an extra 50 euros." "I have to buy a new ticket because the machine printed me a ticket with an error?" "Yes. I'm sorry, if my boss weren't on the train right now I would let it go." GREAT. So I gave him my credit card to swipe 88 euros away and bawled like a child the rest of the way home. So I get back to Rome and follow signs through a labyrinth of stairs and hallways to get to Metro Line A to find it's closed. GREAT. So I walk allll the way back up and call Amalia. She said Line A closes at 9 for construction and that I can catch a bus but she doesn't know which bus. So I go outside to a plethora of buses and ask this random guy which bus will get me to the Vatican and he tells me 40, so I get on 40 and after a while I see St Peter's fly by. So I get off at th next stop and try to find my way back to the Vatican. I'm going up and down random streets at 10:30 at night, no one else around. Finally I find the freaking piazza and get home. What a day.