Today is Sunday, November 23rd. I have to write that as I'm never quite sure where we are or what day it is. We are in Florence.
After Erin's arrival in Rome on Thursday, we traveled to the Vatican on Friday and marveled at St. Peter's Square and waited in lines. I did buy a pass to the Vatican Museum/Sistine Chapel to bypass all the lines we experienced getting into the Vatican. Paid $36 euros and then walked all the way around to the museum and there were no people in line. Walked right in. Paid double I did. (Yoda)
Had a great pizza dinner across the street and took the underground to Bernadini and walked back to our hotel.
Saturday was to be our Roman excursion. Coliseum, The Forum, The Pantheon ending up at Piazza Navona. It didn't include a trip to the Carabinieri to fill out a form for my stolen wallet. Picked at the train station in Termini. I think back and I knew when it happened but didn't realize it at the time. My concealed fanny pack was safe in the suitcase at the hotel. While filling out the form, a couple from Pennsylvania came in to report their passports stolen. It was like a steady stream in there. Credit cards cancelled, money lost, confidence shattered. we pressed on. Had dinner at Harry's Bar and a drink at the hotel. We actually did see all those sites, by the way. Erin was in awe.
This morning, up early to catch the express train to Florence at 10:55. The cabbie took us to the wrong terminal, so we entered a new cab and paid to go to the correct terminal at Tiburtina. Waited upstairs and saw a train entering our platform so we walked downstairs. We showed our voucher to the conductor and he pointed and said, "this way". Half way there, another conductor came to punch our voucher and informed us we were going in the right direction, but on the wrong train/company. $129 euros later, we got off in Florence and melted down completely.
I named this blog in a amusing comparison to the spaghetti westerns starring Clint Eastwood. "Fistful of Dollars, "For a Few Dollars(Euros) More", etc. (insert music que here)
The Ugly; Losing trust in everyone we saw in Rome and now Italy.
The Bad; Wanting to come home now, screw the costs, just get me on the frickin plane.
The Good; Seeing Erin take charge and become the adult as we crumbled.
It is a sad day when you realize you're not as in control as you want to be. Call it culture shock, old age or a combination of things. I remember going through this with my parents and I'm sure if you are older, you have experienced this as well.
Pressing on, were doing a Chianti Region bus tour on Monday in Sienna and I'm probably going to get drunk.
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1 comment:
Oh my. Brings back memories of having my handbag with $ and passport stolen while switching trains in Milan en route from Florence to Paris. Can now tell the story of that and the consequential experiences without the gut wrenching. You guys are going to have some great stories to tell about all the good, bad & ugly of these 3 months. Looking forward to hearing them in detail when you get back.
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