Bella Italia – 06.18.2011.

06.18.2011

As promised, S. woke me up to get ready for the day trip. Sleepy but happy about it… I just wanted to get some more sleep. I readied myself and out we went – K., Giovanni, S., the baby, A., A.L. and me – for the walk to the train station at 10 a.m. Since I didn’t really get to talk with A.L., we walked & talked together on the way to the station.

Like K., I’d met A.L. online earlier this year, believe it or not, on the same expatriate women’s website. I didn’t correspond with her before the trip as much as I did with K. though. Like K., A.L. is also a native of my hometown (small world!). Also like K., she met her husband online a few years ago. He happens to be a native of Milan. They, too, met face to face and later married. So yes… here was another expatriate, from the same hometown, married & living in Italy. Since Milan is only about 4-5 hours north of Livorno via train, she came for the weekend to meet us.

Before we got to the station, Giovanni wanted to get us all something to eat at a local pasticceria – Pasticceria Cristiani. He and K. swore/swear by it. And I’m proud & hungry enough to confirm it. In addition to selling small sandwiches & breakfast items, it sells

We ate & talked & walked to the station, but Giovanni was so excited about showing us around his hometown that we missed the 11:10 train. The next train wasn’t coming for about another hour. After a bit of debate, K. & A.L. decided to stay around the hotel, since they both visited the new city anyway. That left me, Giovanni, A. and S. I couldn’t access my money, so S. bought my train ticket and I paid him back 2 days later. The time flew by and before we knew it, the train arrived. The ride was about 90 minutes long, nice & scenic. I would’ve taken a nap on the train since I was kinda sleepy, but unfortunately that was impossible, what with the swarm of British tourists buzzing around our train car. I’ve now concluded that British tourists are just as loud & obnoxious as American tourists. On the bright side, at least the view from the train was beautiful, and I looked forward to seeing a new city.

What new city, you ask? Here are a few hints (after leaving the tourist information center).

il Duomo.

Firenze (Florence). We wandered around Piazza di Santa Maria Novella and a few other surrounding piazzas.

We walked around so much that my legs succumbed to excruciating pain. We didn’t get to see the city, but with over 5 hours of wandering around, we saw plenty. And besides, S. was getting antsy, and it showed in his attitude: he kinda snapped at Giovanni, we cut our time in Florence short as a result and, when we got back to Livorno, he walked home instead of taking the quick bus ride to the hotel with us. That’s reason #123456789 why I prefer traveling solo: no worrying about other people’s attitudes, when (or whether or why) they want to come or go, etc.

It’s a beautiful city and I definitely plan to return again to wander around the piazzas that I didn’t get to see. Old World mixed with New World, classic interspersed with modern.

I fell asleep on the train ride home. It was a day well spent in spite of S.‘s attitude… which I told his mother about. (That’s right, I snitch.) We relaxed for the rest of the evening and called it a night.