Couple of pictures form our last day in Rome.
We left our hostel in Rome at about 945 AM, ironically the same time the express train to Pisa was rolling out of the train station. We didn’t bother to get our tickets the day before our departure, so when we arrived at the train station we were stuck with one option- take a 4 hour train, which departed at 1008 AM, and pray to God that we get to the airport in Pisa by 230. When we arrived in Pisa is was teeming outside, totally raining cats and dogs. I was distraught because I knew there was no way I could shield my new shoes. I contemplated taking them off and running barefoot, but we didn’t have enough time. Just a side note; for having been what they’ve been through, my shoes are still looking rather new. You see, part of the shoe is suede and if that gets wet, you’re in trouble cause it always makes it look like crap. Anyway, I’m rambling. We ran off the train as soon as it stopped and ran through the train station. The eight of us ran in full sprint to the front of the train station to hail a taxi. One went by, two went by and we started to lose all hope of making it to the airport. Suddenly, like a van sent from heaven, a taxi pulled up in front of us. We piled in as quickly as possible and sped off. In true Italian fashion, the taxi driver drove us at dangerous speeds towards the airport. When we arrived we through the money at him and once again started to sprint.
The good news was we made it to the airport by 230! The bad news was we made it to the airport at 230. They wouldn’t let us check in for our flight. We had told ourselves, that if they were to turn us away we would complain and cause a scene until they gave into us. We hardly put up a fight. We had to find ourselves a new way to get back to Konstanz. These were our options:
1. Take a train to Rome (yeah, like we were going to do that) where we could pay a 75 euro charge for changing our flight. Being that I only paid 30 euro for the original ticket, this was not an option.
2. Rent a car and drive back to Konstanz. I can only imagine how long it would take us to do this, plus none of us have ever driven outside of our own countries before. So that wasn’t feasible.
3. Take a train from Pisa to Florence and then a train from Florence to Munich and then a train from Munich to Konstanz. All told, we would be spending about 15 hours on a train. We had no other choice. By train it was.
Our way home. Red represents the original plan, blue represents what
we had to do instead.
We managed to entertain ourselves pretty well on the train rides. I taught everyone how to play the Movie Game, the Picnic Game, and Asshole, which is a card game. The overnight train from Florence to Munich was actually really pleasant. We had our own cabin and the train wasn’t full so we were able to move to other cabins to sleep as well. I won two euros playing poker and caught a couple of winks. We were all so tired from traveling that we started to become giddy and anything said would send someone into a fit of delirious laughter. It turned out to be a very enjoyable leg of the trip.
Brian having the time of his life on a train in Italy.
Hanna at a the train station in Florence.
I was ecstatic when we arrived in Munich. I love that city and it was also nice to be able to read the signs and understand what people were saying.
I am a bit indecisive when it comes to my final thoughts of Italy. I found the cities within Italy to be a bit disorganized and dirty. After being in Germany, where every train arrives on time and where waste management is of top priority, Italy’s infrastructure just seemed to be inadequate. I also found the constant begging to be annoying. Everywhere you went there were people begging for money or begging you to buy something or begging you to eat in their restaurant. I could put up with it for a while, but it became old very quickly. However, what the cities lack in organization, the country makes up for in it’s beauty. I would be hard pressed to find a more beautiful countryside then that which I viewed during my train rides through Italy. The most magnificent scenery in the world could be seen just by strolling through the plateaus of the Italian countryside.
I saw many incredible places on my trip to Italy; places which I believed I would never get the chance to see. However, the times I remember most, the best times, were sitting in the hostels at night, chitchatting with my travel mates, or riding on the trains playing cards. These are the moments I will look back upon in years. I will reminisce the mistakes we made, what went wrong, and the funny situations which came from these events, and I‘ll smile. Those will be the times I remember.
After traveling for 26 hours, we finally arrived at the train station in Konstanz. As we were about to go our separate ways Topher turned to the group and said, “I really hate you guys. I just don’t feel like I’ve said that enough.”. What a trip.
jlk
