Bad.
It's a little after midnight and I'm in the middle of nowhere. (I had just left a wonderful sushi dinner at Casa Trastevere, where I made sushi for the first time! Homemade sushi, miso soup, sitting on cushions using the most chic sushi tableware with dim lighting.) Memories of a delightful meal fade after chasing down the "H" Bus, flagging down the angry old driver, and banging on the doors until they are opened against their will. Turns out I didn't want to be on that bus anyway. I had taken the bus in the opposite direction. Oops. The driver tries his best to communicate to me that the bus line has finished for the evening and to exit. "Niente!" Trying not to panic, I call Maria to find out my location. The night buses aren't running in my location so I flag down a taxi. I only have 10 euros on me and that's how much it is to get back to where I started. I'm about to get out of the taxi and he asks me where I actually need to go and he drives me all the way to the exact location of my apartment. I kissed him on the cheek to thank him and was reminded how much I love people in this world.
Good.
Maria and I, each having about two hours of sleep, embark on the train to Cinque Terre. I ask everyone that I meet here the same question: "What's the one thing I have to do in Italy?" Everyone says the same thing: the grand hike along the coast of the Italian riviera through the five towns. We arrive only to find out from a mean woman that most of the trail is closed off due to the danger caused by the past week of constant rain. We don't let that "rain" on our parade because hey, life could be worse...our job could be that mean woman's who has to tell everyone the parts that are closed. It just so happens that this day is one of the most beautiful, sunny days that I've seen in all my time here. Caffeine and morning pastries to fuel us, we begin the hike. Each town is more picturesque than the next. We find our own paths, one leading down, step after step, to the sea. The waves crash upon a jetty and I played a game running back and forth trying not to get wet. Vernazza was the best town filled with the first sign of sand, collections of boats, cute art galleries, great views. Instead of paying overpriced meals at sit down restaurants, we got the most delicious pesto pasta with focaccia bread for a STEAL at a great little place that probably gets overlooked due to the giant photo of a hot dog outside their store window. We got our food to "take away" and sat on the rocks looking out into the water. The last town is the beach with rocks so precious I wanted to fill my bag with them. We take off our shoes and soak our feet in the water that is still a little too cold to swim in but perfect to dip in after a long day of walking. There's a giant rock that screams for us to climb it. We make some friends from the US at the top. A quick stop for gelato, of course. It's almost required being at the beach!
Our train home had a 30 minute layover in Pisa. I could not have stayed in the Pisa train station knowing that I didn't even try to see the leaning tower. In a split second decision, we picked up our bags and sprinted through the streets of Pisa, across the bridge, in search of the famous monument. I kid you not, we must have looked like we were running from a robbery. We get there, snap pictures for about 48 seconds then start our run back to the train station. I kept shouting back how much time we had left to Maria. 8 MINUTES. I offered a woman 5 euros to drive us but she didn't have enough room and at one point, we jumped onto a bus and jumped off at the next stop. I get into the train station knowing that the train has already left, throw up my hands in the air and scream to the train station, "WHERE'S TRACK 12???" Standing there on the track, the train had clearly left. Plan B: Maria and I spend an extra hour sitting on a bench in a piazza in Pisa watching a fountain and drinking beers. At least I can put THAT on my resume.
No comments:
Post a Comment