maravillosa madrid: ♥ firenze

Day 3

May 7th, 2012

This was my favorite day out of the whole trip to Italy, although it started out a little rocky.

So Alim, Ariel, and I were going to make a day trip to Florence because the tickets were relatively cheap. I absolutely love Florence, but I feel like last time I didn't get to enjoy it because when I went before it was deathly hot and I ended up having a bad nose bleed. Also, I knew I wouldn't get to go to Venice (sad face), so I seized the opportunity to go to Florence. We had bought the tickets the day before, and our train was set to leave at 8:12am or some random time like that.We got up early (well I got up early and then woke them up), they got breakfast at the cafe down the street, and we bought a few bananas and oranges for the train ride there. We walked to the bus stop and waited. And waited. And waited.

Our bus was the 44, and for some reason it wasn't coming. Two 870 buses passed by (which would have taken us to the Vatican), but we needed the one to take us to Piazza Venezia. We probably waited for at least 30 minutes for our bus, which meant we were running out of time. Soon it was 45 minutes until our train left. In short, I was starting to sweat. I was NOT about to waste that much money. We decided that we'd take a cab to Termini station. Then we realized we were in Trastevere, which means no tourists. No tourists means no taxis. Not one taxi passed by. FINALLY, our bus came, but of course it was going slow. We made a plan B. We decided that when we got to Piazza Venezia, we'd hail a cab and take it to Termini from there. We got there, and guess what? NO TAXIS. I think we passed by at least 20 taxis, but none of them stopped. They were all taken, and none of them would stop. We had 10 minutes until our train left, and we still had to walk a couple blocks towards the Colosseum and then climb up a hill for a few blocks before getting to Termini at the top. Alim starts bolting at a full-on sprint towards Termini, and I start sprinting after him with my purse on my shoulder and a bag of oranges in my hand. I must have looked like a crazy person. I was pretty proud of myself because for the most part, I kept up with Alim, but then I noticed that Ariel was far behind, walking. I slowed down and walked with him to make sure everything was okay. We caught up to Alim who had stopped . We were just at the bottom of the hill. We caught up to Alim. We literally had 5-7 minutes left. Alim said we had to try and started bolting up the hill again. I kind of sighed and started running after him. When I looked back, Ariel wasn't even in sight. I caught up to Alim who had stopped. Even if we had run up there, we couldn't leave Ariel. I texted him but didn't get a response. We doubled back and looked for him. No Ariel. We decided to go to Termini and hope he was there. Turns out, we had forgotten to make a turn and we ended up getting there after Ariel.

But yes, we missed our train. Terrific. I was already regretting going, and now I was livid. I hate hate being late - probably got that from my dad. I was frustrated that Alim and I were running at full sprints while Ariel lagged behind and he STILL beat us. At the train station Alim and I were sweating like crazy, while Ariel was all calm. I was mad because I didn't want to spend money to buy another ticket, and I was mad because the whole time I was thinking, Should have gone with Nikki, should have gone with Nikki. We got in line at customer service, and turns out that the tickets have a 6 hour window, so we could go on the next train without paying another cent. I was relieved. We wouldn't have as much time in Florence as we would have liked, but at least we were still going and didn't have to buy all new tickets.

We still had an hour until we had to board, so we were American and went to the McDonald's across the street. The cool thing about the McDonald's in Europe is that they all have a McCafe, so they sell delicious coffees, espressos, muffins, and pastries. I got a "cafe americano," and let me tell you McDonald's coffee is pretty good for a fast food place. We knew the train ride to Florence would be 3 hours long, so we bought burgers from the "euro menu" to have a snack on the train. That way we wouldn't have to spend money on lunch and dinner in Florence.

An interesting thing about the McDonald's is that the men's restrooms were broken so everyone had to use the women's restrooms. It was interesting because I was standing in line behind a younger guy, and behind me was an older businessman. In my mind I was like, Aaaaawkward. Plus, the bathroom was small with 2 sinks and 2 stalls, and at the same time a lady was trying to clean it even though there was a long line for the bathrooms. It was a sardine can. I started to say excuse me to get past people, and that was when I realized that I was very linguistically confused. I would say excuse me in Italian to find out that they spoke English. I would be caught off guard and then answer in Spanish because I'm used to speaking Spanish. Also, I'd combine the words for "excuse me" and "I'm sorry," so that most of the time with that confusion plus the language thing I'd say "Me discusi." Then I'd realize that what I said was nonsense and then kind of slap my forehead and walk away quickly. It was fun :)

It was finally time to go, so we found the train and hey look - the boys need to use the bathroom now. We went to the McDonald's in the station, but there were none. We followed the signs to the bathrooms downstairs but there were turnstiles at the entrance. It would cost 1 euro to enter the bathroom. We had to walk outside to the McDonald's outside the station again where the boys had to wait in line at the same bathroom I had just left. Moral of the story: APPRECIATE FREE, PUBLIC RESTROOMS.

Alim in our Harry Potter compartment

After the bathroom, we walked a long time down the platform to get to our train because we were taking the cheap one. The cool thing is that even though from the outside it looked kind of janky, the inside was pretty nice and we could sit wherever we wanted. We found a free compartment with 6 seats that's closed off by glass walls, so it's kind of private. There weren't that many people on the train, so we had it all to ourselves. We called it our Harry Potter compartment :) Obviously I was Hermione, but there was still some debate as to who was Harry Potter. No one wanted to be Ron. Sad day.

Because the compartment had 3 seats on one side and 3 on the other, we were able to stagger ourselves so we could stretch out our legs and have a comfortable 3-hour ride to Florence. We took naps, I wrote in my notebook, and we ate our burgers and fruit. We took turns reading the guidebook on Florence so that we knew exactly what we wanted to do when we got there. It was cool because I there were 2 things that I really wanted to do - the Iglesia di San Lorenzo and go into the Duomo, since I didn't get to do that last time. When Ariel looked at the guidebook, he wanted to see the exact same thing so it worked out really well! It was such a relaxing ride there - inside we got to eat and relax while looking at the Tuscan countryside passing by outside. Plus, I think the 3 of us get along pretty well. I loved it.

Finally, we arrived in Florence. Once we got off the train and started walking towards the exit, I realized that everything looked familiar. I was SO excited, they're probably thought I was crazy. They had to go to the bathroom, and I was like, "If I remember correctly, there should be a McDonald's right outside the train station across the street." We exited the station, and BAM there it was. I remember eating lunch there with Noelle Mueller, Kassi, and Chelsea from high school (for those of you who know who they are). After the restroom, we exited and started walking towards the general direction of the center because I remembered it! Seriously, I was so excited, I couldn't stop smiling the entire time.

We went into a hotel, got a map, and headed towards the Iglesia di San Lorenzo. What I love about Florence is that it's so pedestrian-friendly. In Rome, you're constantly afraid you're going to be hit by a car and die. In Florence, there are no cars where the main touristy things are so you're free to walk at your own pace and stop and take pictures. It was super easy to find the church, even though the street signs in Italy are really tiny and hard to find sometimes.

We didn't have too much time in Florence, so we decided to eat really quickly and then do what we wanted to do. We ate outside right next to the church. Alim and I literally got the cheapest thing on the menu, which was a Margherita pizza. The wonderful thing about pizzas in Italy is that they're fairly cheap and they're huge. Ariel ordered a ham and cheese calzone, which was gigantic and looked amazing. Right outside of the restaurant there was the flea market, so while waiting for the food we took turns looking around. Ariel collects magnets, and he got a bunch of them for 1 euro. Flea markets = cheap = YES. I looked around for a journal for Nikki because that last time I was here, I had bought an amazing leather journal that I absolutely love that I haven't even written in yet because it's so beautiful. I know she journals too, so I figured it would be a perfect gift for her birthday the next day. Plus, I knew she was sad that she couldn't go to Florence :/ I literally looked at about every stand in the flea market that sold journals and finally found the perfect one at a fair price. I also bought a mini carpet tapestry thing of Venice because she wouldn't get to go there either. I hoped she would like them.

When I was looking at journals, I was really excited because the guy at the first stand starting speaking to me in Italian, and I answered him in Italian. Then he spoke in Spanish, and I answered him automatically in Spanish. It even took me a minute to realize that he had switched languages because I'm so used to hearing Spanish all the time. Then he asked me, "Are you from California?" I laughed and answered in English. I wondered how he knew that, but I guess Ariel had gone to that stand right before me and knew there were a few of us. I was super excited because I was able to communicate in 3 languages! Yay!

After shopping, I came back to the restaurant and my food was there waiting. The guys were extremely hungry I guess because even though they told me that the food had come five minutes ago, they were almost done. I scarfed my pizza down and was immediately full. Time was ticking, so we paid and headed to the church. We had to pay to get in (which is wrong in my opinion), so we just took pictures of the outside. We walked then towards the Duomo. I knew it was amazing, but when we turned that corner and I saw it again, I forgot how magnificent it really was. It really is incredible. I was SO happy.

We took tons of pictures. The one thing that I wanted to do - NEEDED to do - was go inside. There was a line, but it was fairly short. The guys wanted to do that, but they also really wanted to see the David. I had already seen it, but they only had time for one more thing, especially since the David was a bit of a walk from there. I told them that they could go see the David if they wanted and that I could just go to the Duomo by myself. Bottom line: I WAS GOING INSIDE. I was not spending 15 euros to see something I had already seen. Plus to do the Duomo it would only cost 8 euros. Alim didn't want to get separated, even though our phones worked and I had tested them in line. They decided to just to the Duomo too. I was sad that they went all the way to Florence and wouldn't get to see the David, but in the end, it was worth it.

After waiting in line for like 15-20 minutes, we entered through the cathedral and climbed and climbed and climbed. We went up hundreds of steps. They were the kind where you go in a circle, like you're climbing up a tower so it's a little dizzying. Finally we got to the middle portion and oh my goodness, it was amazing. We were on a ledge built around the inside edges of the building where we could look up at the inside of the dome. It was absolutely gorgeous. For us, just seeing that was worth the 8 euros to climb. But it wasn't over yet.

We climbed even higher, and we found ourselves in a place that reminded me of a dungeon. The passage got narrower, and the ceiling got lower. It was dark, except for the random windows where we could get a glimpse of the outside world. Finally, we climbed one last mini flight of stairs and found ourselves outside. We were literally on the very tippy top of the Duomo. The view was absolutely breathtaking. All I could do was sigh and say "wow" over and over. I didn't cry, but when I first saw the view I wanted to. There's a picture to your left of the view, but it does not do it justice. We could literally see all of Florence, and we could circle around the top to see a 360 degree view. We spent most of our time there, taking pictures and just marveling at the view. We all were saying the same thing, that the 8 euros and climbing all those stairs were totally worth it. We could have spent all day there, at least I could have. We stayed there for as long as we could before we knew we had to leave. We climbed down and found ourselves under the Dome again, except this time we were on a ledge higher up and closer to the ceiling - close enough that if we jumped high enough we could touch it. Amazing.

We climbed down and went to the flea market one more time, and Alim ended up getting this really nice white belt made out of buffalo. I bought myself a small 1 euro brown leather bracelet with pretty designs on it to remember that perfect day. I bought it from that first guy with the journals. It was funny because when I went up to him, he said in Spanish, "Hey! It's the girl who speaks 5 languages." That made me smile from ear to ear. Anyways, I absolutely love my bracelet. I never take it off - except when I shower of course. After that, we bought some gelato and water and rested for a bit. We made one last pit stop at McDonald's so that the guys could get their euro burgers, and we were on our way.

Our train back was a little nicer from the outside, and we got another Harry Potter compartment. The train was fuller coming back, so 3 more people shared with us. There was an Italian guy and a Russian girl who ended up leaving partway through the train ride. The last one was a Chinese woman from New York who was there visiting Europe with her husband and son. We all started talking, and turns out that she was a doctor. She asked us what we were studying in school. Ariel studies film and public health, and he actually started the Global Brigades chapter at UC Riverside and is the boss man and everything. They make trips to Honduras every year and kind of do what I did on my trek to Mexico City last summer, except they don't have the religion part. Well that sparked a long conversation between him and the woman because her husband is a medical missionary in Guatemala, she does things like that herself. Alim studies environmental science, and she asked him what he wanted to do with that and stuff. When I told her that I study English and Spanish, her response was a nod and "that's nice." Then she continued talking with Ariel again. Typical response. I have the "stupid" major. Sorry if I don't have a fancy schmancy title, but I think I'm more creative than scientific. Oh well.

It was funny because after a while, Alim and I stopped paying attention because clearly she wasn't interested in us. I started writing a birthday letter to Nikki, half wishing her happy birthday, half apologizing because I felt so, so, SO guilty for leaving her. Then the lady said something about God, and my head snapped up because she said it in such a way that only a Christian would say. She was talking about her work, and she started saying words like "blessing," "miracle," and "by His grace." I knew then for sure that she was a Christian. I thought it was absolutely hilarious because she was explaining to them about something that happened to her and was "preaching" to them in a way. I saw Ariel's and Alim's eyes go blank. I could tell that they stopped listening. They were doing that thing where they politely nod and smile at the appropriate times. I was sitting there laughing to myself because I know they're not religious, and here we were, on the train back from Florence, with a random Christian doctor from New York. She was telling us about her son in the compartment next to us who liked to get drunk and didn't want to talk to us because he had too much beer and wine. Apparently he had failed out of college or something, but then he ended up going to medical school and now makes more than her. At one point, Ariel had said something like, "It's amazing to see how what we're doing is actually working," and she responded, "You mean what God is doing." Inside, I was like, Preach it, girl, PREACH IT!

After a while, I asked her about her organization because she mentioned that she went on mission trips. I forgot the name now, but I was telling her about InterVarsity, and she said that she knows it and said that it's a very large organization that she's heard a lot of good things about. She and Ariel exchanged information, and she went back to her compartment where there was space now for her to sit down. We were saying how if Ariel and I were combined into one person, we would be her because she likes to go on missions trips to other countries, except that she has the medical part that Global Brigades does. I think the guys were glad that she went away because, face it, no one likes getting preached at. I mean, they know that I'm a Christian, but I don't slap them with my Bible. In the end, it was a pleasure getting to talk to her, and we were all glad to meet her.

We all fell asleep then, and after a while we finally got back to Termini in Rome. We got off the train, and okay normally the guys walk slowly. I wouldn't even call it a walk, I'd call it an amble. For some reason, they were walking super super fast, so fast that I had to jog at some point to keep up with their long-legged strides. Then I realized that they were trying to get away from the Christian lady. Part of me was very amused, while the other part was like sad day. We started walking back to Piazza Venezia and decided to buy a bottle of wine for Nikki. The next day was her 21st birthday, and she's Italian and hadn't had a chance to try the wine there. We decided to spit the cost and make a toast to her at midnight. We found a place open that was pretty cheap. We got their best wine from Sicily, and we were excited to surprise her. We made a quick stop at the Colosseum to take pictures of it at night. It was really pretty, especially with the almost full moon in the background. We took the bus back home, and Angela let us in.

To OUR surprise, Nikki was already asleep. She had gone to the Vatican that day and I guess was dead tired. We were sad and put the wine on the counter next to some tiramisu and a fruit white chocolate parfait thing that Angela had bought her. I put my gifts for her on the table too. Because I'm the closest to her, they told me to wake her up because it was midnight by then. Now I know that Nikki can be cranky when she wakes up, so I was seriously afraid that she would give me a surprise punch in the face. I shook her and said her name, but she wouldn't wake up. They told me to shake her harder, so I did, but she STILL wouldn't wake up. Shiesh, she must have been exhausted. They told me to shake her even harder, but I was seriously scared. Cranky Nikki = scary Nikki. Finally, Angela turned on the light and shook her again. Then Ariel and Alim jumped on the bed, and Ariel said happy birthday really loudly. She finally woke up, rubbed her eyes, and asked what was happening. I'm pretty sure she was still drowsy because she had no idea what was going on. I felt super bad that we woke her up, but we gave her the presents and the desserts. She said we were really sweet. Turns out, she LOVED the journal which made me happy. She got up and gave me a hug and asked if she could go to sleep now. We laughed and let her sleep.

We put the desserts in the fridge and left the wine on the counter for her. The rest of us talked for a little while, but we were all exhausted. I realized then the my feet were hurting from the hundreds of stairs I had climbed in my boots. I slept pretty well that night.

It was a crazy, crazy day. Even though we had missed our train in the morning, I'm kind of glad we did because now, we have an insane story to tell people. Also, because we didn't have as much time, it kicked the guys into high gear, and I had been afraid that they would "amble" around Florence. Turns out, they were the ones that wanted to do everything. It was an unexpected, random, amazing day. I love Florence, and I love Italy, and I am SO blessed that I had the chance to go back there once again.

You can never have enough of Dean Martin :)