By the Seat of My Pants

Day 95
I woke up refreshed and excited that I had no idea where I would be in the next couple of hours. I seemed to even get to the train station a few minutes earlier than I had the days before. After a few minutes of playing with the ticket machine I found out that I would be heading to Assisi.

Assisi is an adorable little town that Rick Steves highly recommends. Even if I had not known that before going there the huge number of people with his books would have tipped me off.

When I got to Assisi I tried to get on the bus that would take me up the actual hill to the town, however some woman actually pushed me off of the bus. I was so floored that I didn't even react. How the heck did I get pushed off of a bus in Italy when I spent 4 years fighting my way on to the New York subway?

While I was waiting for the next bus I met a group of students from Louisiana who were studying in Florence. By the time we got the bus up to the town it was absolutely pouring. We took shelter in the post office because all of the restaurants were still closed. After a few minutes it began to hail. I doubled checked with everyone, it was in fact June.

After about 20 minutes it finally stopped and after lunch we headed to the church of St. Francis. St. Francis was the son of a very wealthy man. He begun life as a soldier, but had a revelation and gave up his life to god. He was known for preaching to the birds in the fields. I'm not quite sure why. The church was nice and the frescoes were interesting. It all concentrated on St. Francis life. In the basement was a room full of his things. This is pretty impressive considering that he lived 800 years ago. His remains rested in a rugged stone sarcophagus. I liked that he wasn't surrounded by gold as so many of the saints are. One thing that I found interesting is that just like at many churches you could buy a candle, however you couldn't light it yourself. There were only about 6 candles burning at a time and maybe 200 ones in the box. I think that they must recycle them.

When we had finished there Anne and I split off from the other three. I didn't have all day because I needed to do laundry and pack up for my early train the next day. Plus, the weather was really pretty nasty, it was raining on and off and it was cold. Anne and I wandered the streets while the others headed to the castle. Assisi is a really cute little hill town. My only warning would be that the majority of the sites are churches.

By the time Anne and I had gotten back to the train station it was pouring again. The train ride was fabulous though. I really enjoyed talking with Anne. Back in Florence we hit the grocery store together before I had to head back up to the campground for the last time.

I didn't get to sleep as early as I had planned because I met some American girls my age. This is a real rarity on this trip and I was up a bit later than I had planned talking to them.

Like Riding a Bike

Day 94

I was up early again, these early mornings are killing my night life! That's ok though, I'd rather travel.

The plan was to go to Ferarra, a town close to Ravenna with 130,000 people and 160,000 bikes. Not only could I rent a bike here, but visit a fairy tale castle with a moat. I didn't realize that it would take me about 3 hours just to get there. It was a bit far for a day trip and I started out a bit annoyed with myself. It also took some time to find the tourist office as they had some really bad signage going on.

When I did find the tourist office the woman there explained the sites to me, most of them were attractive streets. I had lost interest in the not so attractive castle and really just wanted to rent a bike. She showed me five different places that I could rent one. I went to the first, gone, the second and third also gone. The fourth one was closed and the 6th one was a hotel. Very frustrated and foot sore I decided to just go back to the train station. It was here that I realized that I could actually rent a bike there.

In no time I was getting on a bike for the first time since I don't know when. It was a bit scary getting around in traffic, I sort of wished that I could have also rented a helmet. I had a few close calls. I also don't recommend riding down cobblestoned streets, its kinda uncomfortable.

After an exhilarating hour on the bike I returned it and just made the next train back to Florence via Bologna. I was happy to see that I was once again the only one in the tent. I spent my evening trying to decide what I should do the next day, or rather what city I should go to. In the end I made a list of a few different places and decided to go to whichever one left first. Eurail freedom is fabulous!

Day of Towers

Day 91

The alarm went off early again, but this time I knew that there could be no laying about. I took a shower and got my act together quickly. Once again, I headed off to the train station across a just rising Florence. I was headed to San Gimignano, a hill town in Tuscany.

During the middle ages men were unable to buy big cars. So instead, they built big towers in San Gimignano. At one point there were about 70 towers, now only 14 remain.

While I was in Poggibansi (what kind of name is that) waiting for the bus to San Gimignano I met two Hawaiians. They thought that I knew where I was going and asked if they were waiting for the right bus. I did know where I was going and told them. They asked if I lived there. I said no. I guess that some things are just becoming second nature to me.

The bus ride was really quite wonderful and I took several pictures out of the window. When we got to San Gimignano the Hawaiians and I decided to stick together. We headed straight to the Torre Grossa, the biggest tower. On the way up we passed through a small museum of medieval church art. The climb up wasn't nearly as bad I had thought it would be. The view was fantastic and it was nice to have people to take pictures of me.

After we had seen all we could see from the tower we wandered further down the main, and only slightly large street in San Gimignano. When we got to the end we had to part ways. They were headed to Siena and I had bought a ticket that included a couple other museums in the town.

I took my time checking out the archeology and art museums. Still, it didn't take long. The best part was a different view of the town. I then meandered back towards the bus stop. I contemplated visiting the torture museum but decided against it. I have been to so many of those and they are all pretty much the same. I did manage to pick up some lunch though.

When I had made it back to the bus stop I was surprised to see that the Hawaiians were still waiting for the bus. The ride was once again enjoyable as we took a slightly different route. We said our goodbyes again on the bus as they had to run for the next train.

I on the other hand had about 30 minutes to kill. When I got back to Florence I quickly checked the time and was just able to make the next train by two minutes. From the time I decided to spend this much time in Florence I have known that I wanted to see the leaning tower of Pisa. The thing is that I wasn't about to spend an entire day seeing it. There are so many leaning towers all over Europe, I can't really justify visiting a city just because of one. I also couldn't see what the big deal was. However, with my Eurail and a free afternoon I could come up with no reason not to visit it.

Pisa was dirty, much dirtier than Florence or the other cities I had been in in the last few days. I couldn't see why people came here. Eventually I ended up where all the medieval buildings are. I will confess, the tower is pretty impressive. Not just because it is leaning, but because the architecture and decoration is interesting. It is also surrounded by a bunch of buildings that are around the same age. It was like a park. I didn't have plans to go into any of the buildings (as far as I could tell from my research the outside was the best part), so I simply snapped a few photos. Before I left I made sure to get the cheesy tourists shot required of everyone.

The ride back was only an hour but it seemed long. I was pretty exhausted at this point. Still, I spent some time checking my email before heading back to the campsite. I wasn't feeling very outgoing and simply spent the evening reading in my tent before calling it an early night.

Classic Florence

Day 90

My alarm went off at 6:30 am, I didn't manage to get out of bed though until around 9. I had wanted to be up early to beat the line at the Uffizi, Florence's main art museum. This didn't happen. I ended up standing in line for almost 2 hours. At the front of the line there was a funny sign that said: Due to technical difficulties the length of the line will not be brought up. I have no idea what that meant. Maybe I'm not meant to tell you that it was a long line?

When it was finally my turn I knew immediately that it was worth the wait. The main gallery was full of Roman statues and busts. The was one of Nero out of marble that looked rather potmarked and red. I wanted to give him some clearasil. One room was just full of Botticelli's. The Birth of Venus (1484) out shown all of the other excellent paintings. I spent some time discovering every detail.

The Uffizi begun its life as a palace and one of the room had been left in its 1589 appearance. There were about a dozen or so globes in here. It reminded me of how much was left for me to discover is this big world.

There were also a handful of DaVinci's here. The Adoration of the Magi (1481) was unfinished, but still breathtaking. I really enjoyed the Sacred Allegory (1490) by Bellini with its sightly off balance look. Right at the end of the museum are a few Caravaggio's that reminded me of Malta.

All too soon the museum was over. It's not large, but every piece on display is worth contemplating.

After a bit of wandering I stumbled on the gelaterie that my guidebook had said was the best. It was pretty darn good.

There are tons of museums and cathedrals in Florence. The thing is, they are all excellent, overwhelming, and expensive. I had managed to see the three things that were on my list and didn't want to spend money at places that I hadn't been looking forward to as much. I did however duck into the chapel that Dante was said to have met Beatrice in and where she is buried. I know very little about Dante besides the fact that he wrote the Inferno and Paradiso. I also have no idea who Beatrice was.

When I got back to the campsite I met a couple from Scotland. They told me that I was the first person to not think that they were Irish. They had been scammed earlier in the day into paying €18 for two ice creams! They taught me how to pay a rather complicated card game that I somehow managed to win although I couldn't tell you the name or how to play it.

When I went back to my tent to sleep I was once again happy to see that I was still the only occupant.

Tourist Gouging

Day 89

I was glad that I had had an early night, I was up early to catch a train to Siena.

My guidebook didn't mention that the town is about 2km from the train station. Luckily a German couple filled me in. I was then able to show them where the buses came (they missed the sign) and tell them that they needed to get tickets in advance.

Soon I was able to find del Campo, the main square and the tourist office where I picked up a map. My plan was to climb the big tower and I headed over to it right away. I had to climb about a third of the way up before getting to the ticket office. This is when I found out that it cost €7 (US $11) to climb up the 300 and some steps. The day I pay that kind of money to walk up steps is the day I need to be committed. I asked if there was another museum included or anything like that. There wasn't. This was just insane to me and an example of tourist gouging. The Accadamia had only cost €6.50 and I got to see one of the most important works of art of all time. This was $11 to walk up a bunch of steps and look at another red roofed Tuscan town.

I really don't mind paying for sites that are worth it. I know that the upkeep for these things is very expensive. Some sites just completely take advantage of tourists though and I always do my best to steer clear of those.

I climbed back down and was really sort of irritated with Siena. Stupid town.

I wanted to give Siena another chance though and headed to the Duomo. This is a masterpiece of medieval art and architecture. For €10 I was given access to 5 different museums. The Duomo's floor is unlike anything else that I have ever seen before. That's really saying something too, as half of it was covered up to protect it. It has cartoons on it that are different bible stories and saints. The funerary art was sculptures were also quite impressive. Siena was beginning to redeem itself.

Included in my ticket was the museum of overflow church art. I really do prefer this kind of art in its natural habitat, but still enjoyed checking it out. At the end of this museum I was able to climb up to the top of the Facciatone. Basically, in 1339 they decided to build a new cathedral, but only the facade was finished. Here not only did I have a great view of the city, but also of del Campo Square. I would not have gotten such an amazing view from the big tower itself. Siena had redeemed itself.

The next bit up was the cathedrals crypt. This one didn't have any dead bodies though. The rooms had been filled in with rubble for 800 years. When they were cleared out about 15 years ago amazing and shockingly intact frescoes were found. I really liked the idea of everything being hidden for so long.

Lastly I went to the baptistry. I was getting a bit tired of the church art though and no longer able to fully appreciate it. In fact, I even skipped the last museum on my ticket. I felt that I had gotten my moneys worth.

I got rather lost but eventually made it back to the train station. I thought that I might try and get to Pisa, but by the time I got back to Florence it was too late to go. I simply headed back to the campground.

I was feeling a little bit more social this evening and ended up having a few drinks and playing cards with some Canadians. I wasn't out late though, I was just too tired from all the activity and early hour of the day.

Finding Florence

Day 88

I was up unbelievably early for my train to Florence. I spent most of the time reading Marley and Me, a book about a mans relationship with his dog. I did nod off a few times, despite my best efforts to stay awake.

I didn't have any problems finding my hostel, no, I'm sorry, campground. It was just 15 minutes on a bus up and above the city. The things I do to save money!

Once I had found my tent, which does lock and has one bunk bed and one single bed in it, I headed right down to Florence.

I found an internet cafe first and let everyone know that I had arrived and worked on the blog a bit. I didn't want waste the whole day though. I headed off to the Accadamia.

The Accadamia is where Michaelangelo's David is housed. I waited in line for about 45 minutes to see this and it was worth it. David isn't the only thing to see here, although it is hard to concentrate on the other pieces knowing that he is coming up soon. The first room had a lot of 16^th century church art. Some of it was really misscolored with time and the saints were green. They looked like they had just eaten something bad.

In the hallway leading up to David are four slaves. These are sculptures that Michaelangelo never finished. They look as if they are struggling to get out of the rock. I tried to covertly take a picture. It seemed like the people using flash (huge no-no) were getting away with it so I figured I could do. I was wrong, I got yelled at like I had just tried to steal a cookie from the jar.

David is just amazing. I found it hard to look away. I must have spent about 30 minutes just circling the statue, trying to understand it from every angle. Michaelangelo carved him from a block of marble that had been abandoned in 1502. Since then the base has been struck by lightening in 1512, in 1527 it endured riots, and at some point his left arm was knocked off with a stone. The last one has been repaired and he looks none the worse for all the drama.

When I had finished with David I took a look at the rest of the paintings. I somehow felt that it would be rude not to, but really, they were nothing compared to him. Eventually I just gave up and left.

I really didn't know what to do with myself at this point. I knew that nothing would top what I had just done and I didn't want to take something else fabulous for granted. Eventually I headed to the Santa Croce Cathedral. There were a few notables buried here and I thought that would make me star struck. I was as well, I saw Michaelangelo and Marconi. There was also so pretty fabulous medieval architecture going on here.

I also took a peak into the Duomo, a really fabulous structure. For whatever reason no one was allowed to climb to the dome so I wasn't able to get a very good look at the frescoes.

After walking across the Ponte Vechio, the oldest bridge that has jewelry stores on it, I picked up a sandwich. About halfway up the hill to my campsite it started to pour. Now, when I had left there wasn't a cloud in the sky so I didn't have my umbrella. By the time I reached the top I was a drowned rat.

I was happy to see that I was still the only person in my tent for the night and quickly got myself into some dry clothes. At this point it was not only raining cats and dogs, but also thundering and lightening. Luckily my tent was dry. Still, it was a bit scary. I didn't leave the tent for the rest of the night. I spent the time reading and staying dry.