So second class seats are supposed to have air condition! On the train ride back from Florence today, we found our seats refreshingly cool. On my first train ride to Florence, we just happened to pick the one car with broken air conditioner. How lucky.
My weekend in Florence was a great success. I learned a lot from traveling on my own. Instead of blindly following professors, it was my job to get on the train, maneuver around the city, and plan the day. Florence was fabulous but much different from Orvieto. I’ll appreciate the next few days in our calm and quiet small town until Venice.
This morning before our train back to Orvieto, we made one last stop at the market. Walking around the city carrying half our luggage quickly made us tired and sweaty. Although, I did make a couple good purchases at the market.
The Florence train station is about ten times as big and twenty times as busy as the Orvieto station. Getting our tickets and getting on the train was more stressful this time around. Stepping on the 13:13 train to Orvieto and feeling a cool breeze made it all better.
Train ride back to Orvieto.
Caroline wasn’t back from her weekend trip to Cinque Terre when I got back to the room, so I took advantage of the emptiness. Showering got first priority then unpacking. I knew I would have to do laundry at least a couple times while in Italy. And by doing laundry, I mean hand washing clothes in the room. I made it up as I went: I filled the bathtub with hot water, put some soap in there (shampoo was all I had), threw some clothes in, and scrubbed. Caroline came home to numerous articles of clothing hanging all over the bathroom. Surprise!
I made a run to the super market after laundry. This was the first time going by myself, and that was obvious when I got lost walking there. I tried to casually turn around when I realized I was going the wrong way. My deli experience was much better. I spoke by few Italian words to order my cheese and was on my way.
Being exhausted from the weekend and craving English, I turned on the TV to CNN when I made it back to the room. CNN is the only English channel we get. I fell asleep to it. After waking up from my nap, I watched an interview with the 22 year old guy that won the US open and anxiously awaited Caroline’s return. Then we shared lots of stories from the weekend. Yay.
Midterms and only a couple class days this week then a full weekend in Venice. More kulture coming your way.
