My trip to Italy

Holy crap, I'm just back from the best 4 days of my life.

The journey begins Friday night, St. Patrick's day here in Ireland. I went to a concert at 9, bands didn't start till 11:30. Left around 1:30. Made it home around 2. Slept till 3:30. Got up, had coffee, breakfast and watched TV (they were showing the Commonwealth Games Triathlon!!!). Went to wait for my taxi, and just sat in the roundabout at the reception building for it. People were still stumbling home from the bar. Cue drunken conversations. Taxi comes, and drives me out to Belfast international (25 pound!! Eeek). EasyJet check in without incident, quick efficient. Wait around 2 hours. Board flight to Bristol.

Bristol airport for about 8 hours. Finally get on our flight for Pisa. Uneventful flight to Pisa, but I couldn't sleep at all!!! It was awful. When we land in Pisa, I find the ticket station and get my train ticket, and go to the train station which was just outside the door. Take a short (hour and a half) train ride from Pisa to Florence. I get off at the train station, whip out my map and start walking...after about 15 minutes, I think I'm nowhere near where I need to be. So I go back to the train station, call my mom and let her know I'm safe, and get a taxi to my hostel.

Hostel Pio X is AWESOME. It's sort of off the beaten path and if you're not looking for it, you'll miss it. But it was in a quiet courtyard in a relatively non-toursity part, but still super close to the city center and museums. Plus it was only 9 euro a night to stay on perhaps the most comforable beds ever. There were two Kiwi's staying in my room...about my mom's age, just taking a year to see the world. I went to go use the washroom, and walked through the common room and said hi to the three guys that were there, 2 swiss and 1 canadian. They were awesome and dealt me in a hand of gin. The two Swiss were just on spring break, the Canadian was taking a year to see the world. All were super cool.

The next morning, I woke up to my alarm and went to the shower. I was supposed to meet my friends at the Galleria Academia (where David is)at 9. I set the alarm for 7 so I could get up, have something to eat and make sure I got there in time. Well, as I'm showering, I looked down at my watch: 8:30!! I had forgotten to set my cell phone alarm ahead an hour when we landed in Pisa! Cue frenzied dressing. Cue very hurried walking through the very confusing streets of Florence. Then cue excited reuniting of friends in an alleyway. It was so great to see everyone...I don't think I've had that many hugs in so short a time before! We saw the statues of David and the musical instrument museum. I might add here that they need to make that "NO PICTURES" sign a wee bit more prominent.

Then we went to the Duomo and the Batistry. We split into 2 groups and went on a guided tour of the city, which took us into the Duomo and what have you. The baptistry we did on our own...but it was so worth it. It is one thing to see pictures of these buildings in text books, but another to see it up close and personal. After the tour, we were sent on our own to explore the city. I ended up with a group of my sisters and a couple of people I sort of knew, but got to know a lot better that day!

The band was holding a concert at their hotel later that night, so I said I'd take a taxi up to see them play. I went back to the hostel and got a pizza. As I was eating my pizza, Cameron the Canadian came back and we talked. I told him of where I was going and he pointed out that I could get there on the train rather than spend close to 50 euro to get there by taxi. He also offered to come with me. So we walked to San Maria Novella and got on what we thought was the right train. Wrong. We went to the wrong Firenze Nord. Actually, we weren't anywhere NEAR Firenze Nord. We ended up walking around this district that was nowhere near where we wanted to be. Dejected and a bit worried we went back to the hostel for the night.

The next morning I decided to go to the center of Florence and just walk around and hope to run into my friends. And luckily, that happened! We spent the day walking around the markets and the gardens (which was a SERIOUS hike! I definitely got some training in that day). We had a nice sit down lunch in a trattoria. They went back to their bus and I went back to my hostel to try to get clean and have a nap. I got dressed up (pictures later) and went to the Mercado Porchino (sp?) to watch my friends perform. They did wonderful, as usual. Saying goodbye that night was really hard. I cried just because it was so nice to see them and so nice to not have to try and make connections, but rely on the connections that I allready had. It was like I hadn't been away.

I really hope that this trip, plus the 2.5 lbs of Jif peanut butter Kayla brought me, will make the next 3 months easier on me. I feel so different now, like I can handle travelling alone in a country that I don't speak the language in...and I'm allright. I met people, I saw as much as I could in 2 days, I traveled allright, and I traveled cheaply. There's so much more I could say, but I'm knackered.

Tomorrow I've got to do my laundry, repack my backpack, and then set off for Galways for my marathon!! w00t