Florence
We found our hostel in Florence without too much trouble; Derek managed to find it despite my constant pestering. Our hostel was decent. We had wifi (though with another annoying log in system) and no bed bugs, unlike in Nice. Yes people bed bugs are real, and we have dozens of bite marks to prove it. Our room in Florence had twenty-two beds in it, giving it the feel of a military bunker.
Our first day in Florence actually consisted of a day-trip out of Florence. We travelled to Pisa to find the legendary leaning tower. Unfortunately the train station is on the complete opposite side of Pisa as the tower, so it took us a while to get there. We were accompanied by our Vietnamese roommate, Bing. Bing likes taking pictures. The tower is next to a few other historic buildings I didn't bother to get the names of.
The Leaning Towemof Pisa really does look like it's about to fall over. The top edge is 5 meters offcenter, which is pretty significant for a 56 meter tall building. It cost 15 euro to go up, which was a bit pricey but well worth it. Climbing up a slanted building is truly an interesting experience. You follow a staircase around the tower that varies from being angled slightly uphill to slightly downhill. The view from the top is excellent, revealing then enitirety of Pisa. Bing had made it very clear he would not be climbing the tower (I suspect a fear of hieghts) so Derek and I tried unseccesfully to get his attention fron the top, though I believe we succesfully pissed off the security guards who were working up there.
For the first time in my life I paid to use the bathroom. 30 cents down the drain... Well at least they were clean...
In Pisa we also had some fantastic and cheap pizza, though to be honest I prefer Bertucci's. In Italy we have yet traverse a block without seeing at least one pizzeria.
The next day we explored Florence a bit. We saw Brunellecshi's Dome, which really stood out when we found it. Derek went in to take pictures, but as I was wearing shorts I was apperantly indecent and not allowed in. We explored Florence a bit longer and took a train out later that day.
Getting to Rome
Despite being an hour early for the train, we somehow only managed to board within 10 seconds of the doors closing. We seemed to be taking an extra long time at one stop, which I suspect had something to do with the strong smell of smoke we detected at this time. The train ended up arriving over an hour late. When it arrived, the few other passangers in sight took off quickly. Derek and I grabbed our bags and tried to leave the train. The doors wouln't open.
We tried multiple doors and pushed every button. They wouldn't open. There didn't seem to be anybody else on the train. For all we knew we'd be stuck there till morning, as our stop was last on the line. We spotted someone else moving towards the front of the train, and were soon let out by a conductor on the platform. As we headed out I noticed somebody sleeping in one of the trains compartments. I knocked on the glass to wake him up as Derek and I got off the train. I said "termini" to the drowsy guy, trying to communicate that this was the last stop. He grumbled and went back to sleep.
As we got off the conductor spotted the sleeping guy and went inside the train to get him out. Derek and I were assembling our bags on the platform when the guy I'd woken up starts asking if I was the one who woke him up. He was speaking itilian so I only got the gist of what he said.
When he understood that it was me that woke him up, he started freaking out and yelling. He was going on and on, saying something like I can take care of myself and he'll take care of himself blah blah blah. All I did was wake him up so he didn't get stuck on the train. I guess he was a bum who wanted to be stuck on the train, but me waking him up hardly had an affect on the conductor finding him and kicking him out.
Since Derek and I were the only people on the platform besides the clearly unstable bum, I decided to be nonconfrontational. I did the smile and nod thing, ready to smash his nose with the heel of my hand if he came to close. After a while he stomped off. Derek and I shouldered our packs.
Thus began the most annoying hostel search ever concieved. We had directions to the hostel courtesy of the costumer service email we'd recieved. We boarded the correct metro then the correct bus. That's when the trouble began.
The directions told us to get off at a stop called Basilino or something. We discovered there were 7 stops called Basilino. The directions said to look out for a restaurant called Le Papere. We did not see it, but since I hadn't realized there were 7 Basilino stops we got off at stop number 2. We realized it was the wrong one, and since we hadn't seen the restaurant we got back on the next bus that passed and searched diligently for the landmark. (we found the restaurant in question the next day, and it is nearly impossible to identify it before you have passed it, and even then it is only possible only if you are looking backwards.)
When we reached the last Basilino stop the driver called us to the front. It was the last stop and we were the only ones left on the bus. He asked where we were trying to go. I told him and he laughed. He knew where it was alright. When I asked he pointed the way we had come. His was the last bust for the night. We got out and walked two miles all the way back to the very first stop.
Well in the end we found the place. It was dirt cheap for a reason. It's not very nice. Cheap beds, flat out scary neighborhood, way out of the way. Oh well. It's good enough for us, but I wouldn't reccomend it to others.
Rome
I like Rome. Today we saw this truly enormous fountain, which was pretty cool. We wandered around Rome until we found what we had been searching for: Segway rentals!!
Segway are awesome!!!!! Leaning forward and back to move is confusing at first but we quickly got the hang of it. The segways plowed along at a decent 8 miles an hour, when you could avoid the crowds that is. Derek was able to disable "turtle mode" on his and his max speed doubled. "turtle mode" would not turn off on mine :(
Despite getting completely lost we found ourselves at the Pantheon. We locked the segways and had a quick look around. It was pretty cool to look around inside and imagine the real history that happened there.
We hghtailed it back to return the segways so we didn't get charged for another half hour, then made our way to plaza de spagna. We saw the Spanish Steppes I think... Honestly I'm not sure if those were them or not but the area was cool anyway.
The steps or whatever it was tha we saw led up to an area that towered over the city. You could literally step from the steps onto the rooftops of the buildings below. I guess that's why they like to film action movies in Italy; you can't get those rooftop chases back home.
The ancient Egyptians were well known for building giant stone obelisks covered in hieroglyphs. It seems the Italians have become famous for stealing them. In the few hours we spent wondering around Rome, Derek and I saw 5 of them.
I have a brief warning for those planning to use the metro in Rome. Our roommate put it this way; it's nice to see that when the government can't afford to paint their trains, the community steps in to do it for them. If that sarcasm was too subtle for you, it means the trains were completely and utterly covered in graffiti. Also there only two lines; A and B. Sounds simple right? Well it is. Too simple. It means that stations are very far apart, and that every train is crammed to bursting. Not a metro I enjoyed.
When we got back to our Hostel we discovered the battery charger we left during the day was missing. It seems to have been stolen, which is extremely annoying and odd. The adapter was left behind, which would make the charger useless here anyway. It's just annoying that we'll need to buy a new one. Well it's the only thing that has been taken so far, so it could be worse.
We found out that the dungeons of the coliseum are opening for the first time in over forty years the day after tomorrow! We're going to try to get tickets!!
Ok I've got to go!
David out!
We found our hostel in Florence without too much trouble; Derek managed to find it despite my constant pestering. Our hostel was decent. We had wifi (though with another annoying log in system) and no bed bugs, unlike in Nice. Yes people bed bugs are real, and we have dozens of bite marks to prove it. Our room in Florence had twenty-two beds in it, giving it the feel of a military bunker.
Our first day in Florence actually consisted of a day-trip out of Florence. We travelled to Pisa to find the legendary leaning tower. Unfortunately the train station is on the complete opposite side of Pisa as the tower, so it took us a while to get there. We were accompanied by our Vietnamese roommate, Bing. Bing likes taking pictures. The tower is next to a few other historic buildings I didn't bother to get the names of.
The Leaning Towemof Pisa really does look like it's about to fall over. The top edge is 5 meters offcenter, which is pretty significant for a 56 meter tall building. It cost 15 euro to go up, which was a bit pricey but well worth it. Climbing up a slanted building is truly an interesting experience. You follow a staircase around the tower that varies from being angled slightly uphill to slightly downhill. The view from the top is excellent, revealing then enitirety of Pisa. Bing had made it very clear he would not be climbing the tower (I suspect a fear of hieghts) so Derek and I tried unseccesfully to get his attention fron the top, though I believe we succesfully pissed off the security guards who were working up there.
For the first time in my life I paid to use the bathroom. 30 cents down the drain... Well at least they were clean...
In Pisa we also had some fantastic and cheap pizza, though to be honest I prefer Bertucci's. In Italy we have yet traverse a block without seeing at least one pizzeria.
The next day we explored Florence a bit. We saw Brunellecshi's Dome, which really stood out when we found it. Derek went in to take pictures, but as I was wearing shorts I was apperantly indecent and not allowed in. We explored Florence a bit longer and took a train out later that day.
Getting to Rome
Despite being an hour early for the train, we somehow only managed to board within 10 seconds of the doors closing. We seemed to be taking an extra long time at one stop, which I suspect had something to do with the strong smell of smoke we detected at this time. The train ended up arriving over an hour late. When it arrived, the few other passangers in sight took off quickly. Derek and I grabbed our bags and tried to leave the train. The doors wouln't open.
We tried multiple doors and pushed every button. They wouldn't open. There didn't seem to be anybody else on the train. For all we knew we'd be stuck there till morning, as our stop was last on the line. We spotted someone else moving towards the front of the train, and were soon let out by a conductor on the platform. As we headed out I noticed somebody sleeping in one of the trains compartments. I knocked on the glass to wake him up as Derek and I got off the train. I said "termini" to the drowsy guy, trying to communicate that this was the last stop. He grumbled and went back to sleep.
As we got off the conductor spotted the sleeping guy and went inside the train to get him out. Derek and I were assembling our bags on the platform when the guy I'd woken up starts asking if I was the one who woke him up. He was speaking itilian so I only got the gist of what he said.
When he understood that it was me that woke him up, he started freaking out and yelling. He was going on and on, saying something like I can take care of myself and he'll take care of himself blah blah blah. All I did was wake him up so he didn't get stuck on the train. I guess he was a bum who wanted to be stuck on the train, but me waking him up hardly had an affect on the conductor finding him and kicking him out.
Since Derek and I were the only people on the platform besides the clearly unstable bum, I decided to be nonconfrontational. I did the smile and nod thing, ready to smash his nose with the heel of my hand if he came to close. After a while he stomped off. Derek and I shouldered our packs.
Thus began the most annoying hostel search ever concieved. We had directions to the hostel courtesy of the costumer service email we'd recieved. We boarded the correct metro then the correct bus. That's when the trouble began.
The directions told us to get off at a stop called Basilino or something. We discovered there were 7 stops called Basilino. The directions said to look out for a restaurant called Le Papere. We did not see it, but since I hadn't realized there were 7 Basilino stops we got off at stop number 2. We realized it was the wrong one, and since we hadn't seen the restaurant we got back on the next bus that passed and searched diligently for the landmark. (we found the restaurant in question the next day, and it is nearly impossible to identify it before you have passed it, and even then it is only possible only if you are looking backwards.)
When we reached the last Basilino stop the driver called us to the front. It was the last stop and we were the only ones left on the bus. He asked where we were trying to go. I told him and he laughed. He knew where it was alright. When I asked he pointed the way we had come. His was the last bust for the night. We got out and walked two miles all the way back to the very first stop.
Well in the end we found the place. It was dirt cheap for a reason. It's not very nice. Cheap beds, flat out scary neighborhood, way out of the way. Oh well. It's good enough for us, but I wouldn't reccomend it to others.
Rome
I like Rome. Today we saw this truly enormous fountain, which was pretty cool. We wandered around Rome until we found what we had been searching for: Segway rentals!!
Segway are awesome!!!!! Leaning forward and back to move is confusing at first but we quickly got the hang of it. The segways plowed along at a decent 8 miles an hour, when you could avoid the crowds that is. Derek was able to disable "turtle mode" on his and his max speed doubled. "turtle mode" would not turn off on mine :(
Despite getting completely lost we found ourselves at the Pantheon. We locked the segways and had a quick look around. It was pretty cool to look around inside and imagine the real history that happened there.
We hghtailed it back to return the segways so we didn't get charged for another half hour, then made our way to plaza de spagna. We saw the Spanish Steppes I think... Honestly I'm not sure if those were them or not but the area was cool anyway.
The steps or whatever it was tha we saw led up to an area that towered over the city. You could literally step from the steps onto the rooftops of the buildings below. I guess that's why they like to film action movies in Italy; you can't get those rooftop chases back home.
The ancient Egyptians were well known for building giant stone obelisks covered in hieroglyphs. It seems the Italians have become famous for stealing them. In the few hours we spent wondering around Rome, Derek and I saw 5 of them.
I have a brief warning for those planning to use the metro in Rome. Our roommate put it this way; it's nice to see that when the government can't afford to paint their trains, the community steps in to do it for them. If that sarcasm was too subtle for you, it means the trains were completely and utterly covered in graffiti. Also there only two lines; A and B. Sounds simple right? Well it is. Too simple. It means that stations are very far apart, and that every train is crammed to bursting. Not a metro I enjoyed.
When we got back to our Hostel we discovered the battery charger we left during the day was missing. It seems to have been stolen, which is extremely annoying and odd. The adapter was left behind, which would make the charger useless here anyway. It's just annoying that we'll need to buy a new one. Well it's the only thing that has been taken so far, so it could be worse.
We found out that the dungeons of the coliseum are opening for the first time in over forty years the day after tomorrow! We're going to try to get tickets!!
Ok I've got to go!
David out!
What adventures! Did you like Florence? I want to see the leaning tower of Pisa and Seqways in Rome! I can't believe everything you are doing!
ReplyDeleteHi David!
ReplyDeleteYou guys have me lmao!! I love how your both telling your own version of the events.
It sounds like you guys have had some "scary & challenging moments" there, however, your handling them very well. Wow, I couldn't believe you had to walk 2 miles to the hostel in Rome, only to find it is very run down. I think it is amazing that the coliseum is opening while your there!! Wow, that should be a once in a lifetime event. - The leaning tower of Pisa sounds quite interesting as well. I wonder if I could climb it as I'm also terrified of heights. :-/
$.30 cents to use the bathroom? #%$*&# What is that about? Was that at the tower itself?
Your funny, you describe your experiences in such a detailed way; the dry humor is great. I also enjoy your valiantly strong efforts to save money. haha You guys are comedic to follow.
Excellent post, one that I thoroughly enjoyed. I like how organized and detailed it was. You guys had such adventures! Oh my goodness.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I'm a fan of Bing. :D