Off to Italy

Well, I have two weeks of stories to reconstruct from photos, so bear with me while I sort things out! I just returned a few days ago, and I'm still trying to catch up on things. Our journey began on Friday June 3rd, not counting the weeks of planning that took place beforehand. The itinerary was to spend one week in Fiesole for the first week of the Vespucci Summer Institute, and the second week traveling around Italy. My friend Rhonda had some time to take Sean and I to the Goleta Airbus Station for the ride down to LAX at 10:00am. I was my usual excited self.

Our first adventure started with an unusually demanding woman scheduled to take the same Airbus down to LAX with us. Her behavior was a bit odd from the start which escalated quite a bit along the way. I'm trying to remember where she said she was from... Jerusalem, Bethlehem, or maybe she just said Israel... I can't remember now.

I like to sit in front, and apparently she does too, so when I sat down in her apparent seat, she got a little huffy. It may seem awful that I saw no need to move out of a seat that she decided to claim before she even got on the bus, but trust me, the driver surely preferred that she not sit so close to him with all her demands and aggression.

She was difficult to understand and had some trouble communicating even though her English seemed perfectly fine to me. She just had zero patience with anyone that didn't immediately understand what she wanted or meant by her half constructed utterances spoken at a tempo befitting of an auctioneer.

First she demanded to have her picture taken so she could have it added to some newsletter she was babbling about, but she didn't have a camera. Then she yelled about me taking her seat. Later she asked if I had a phone, to which I said yes, and then she asked to use it to call her relatives. Of course I said no and then she yelled at me. She asked why I would tell her I had a phone if I was not going to let her use it.

Between Goleta and the Santa Barbara stop, she went on and on about her Rolls Royce and limo service company, her husband (which she demanded to speak to which was obviously not possibly), and a bunch of other nonsense. When we got to the Santa Barbara stop, there was a limo in the parking lot. She asked the Airbus driver if she could get off the bus to see if it was her husband's limo. He told her he would leave her if she wasn't back by the time he finished loading the new passengers and she went into a rage and stormed off the bus to talk to the limo driver. I can only imagine the conversation she had with that unsuspecting limo driver.

Luckily, someone at the Santa Barbara stop spoke her language so she ended up moving to the back of the bus to sit with him or her. When it was time to get off the bus, she demanded the driver collect the food she had carried on to the bus and when he refused to carry her stuff she again went into a rage and stormed off. With no phone and terrible communication skills, I can only imagine what happened to her next. Her family was supposed to pick her up there, but LAX is a big place and I highly doubt this woman would stay in one place near the curb to be seen by passing cars.

We were there with plenty of time to spare, so we walked around for awhile. Sean took this cool picture of the list of international flights leaving from terminal four, and I got a cheese burger meal at McDonald's. Yes, that's me piling french fries on top of the patty. No, I don't know why or when I started doing this...

Where's our flight on the board? It's not. We flew out of terminal 2 on Alitalia which was a Delta code share flight direct from Los Angeles to Rome. The twelve hour flight was pretty uneventful. The video system wasn't working until the flight was nearly over and all that could be seen was True Grit filled with interruptions and static. We slept on and off, read books about Italy, and I had several articles to read for the Vespucci Institute. Special meals couldn't be ordered online, so we went with the standard meals instead of dealing with the hassle of calling Alitalia to make special arrangements. I had the veal and although it tasted more like dark meat chicken, it was pretty good! It came with a side of cheesy penne pasta, green beans and cured ham, and a collection of oddly crunchy yet sweet chunks of cantaloupe. I think it may have been soaked in sugar water.

We arrived on time, even a bit early I think, and headed in to the Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport (FCO) only to find that the mobile hot spot we rented from Cellular Abroad did not work. The display read "SMS Only" so we set out to figure out what was wrong by visiting phone stores in the airport hoping someone could help us check the device or the SIM card, but no one was able to help us. Needless to say, this generated quite a bit of stress but I knew we'd find our way. I rented to hot spot specifically for Sean so he'd feel more comfortable getting around during the week while I was attending the Vespucci Institute. If we didn't resolve this Internet issue, I knew it would cause problems, but there was nothing I could do so I though it better to enjoy this new environment the best I could while trying to keep Sean comfortable the best I could. To pass a little time before we had to catch a train to Florence, we visited the tourist information office and took a few photos from right outside of the Termini station. It's Saturday afternoon, and we're in Rome!

Getting to the Termini from FCO was relatively easy although having Internet access to make sure we were going in the right direction would have been beneficial. Here's a picture of someone running to catch their train, and here's a picture of Sean.

We're on the fast train from Rome to Florence. It's Saturday afternoon, and we booked a 2 for 1 deal well in advance. Luckily the train has free wireless so we're able to log in. The scenery from the train is beautiful and so green!

It was a bit rainy and humid as we passed rolling hills and lots of vineyards. When we got to the station, Sean got busy studying the map. This is just one of many "Sean studying the map" photos I have... of him in the green shirt.

Needless to say, I was pretty excited. Sean was more subdued, likely due to the hotspot issues and the lack of help we were able to get with our inability to speak any Italian. There's a church right outside of the Florence train station. It's pretty loud. I liked it.

We decided to try to walk to the bus stop we needed to catch the number seven bus from Florence to Fiesole where we would stay for the next week. Finding your way around a city that isn't on a grid system can be a bit tricky. We stopped at a TIM store to see if someone there could help us understand why our hot spot was reporting "SMS only" and the guy there spent a lot of time trying to help us. He suggested that the device needed to be unlocked and it may not be which would make the TIM SIM card inside unusable. There wasn't much else we could do until I was able to contact Cellular Abroad, so we began snaking our way through Florence to get to the bus stop. Along the way we passed through an incredible street market filled with all kinds of leather goods. I meant to make it back to this market but never did. So many beautiful jackets in styles that are never seen here in the States.

By the time we got to our bus stop it was starting to get dark. The buildings around the bus stop were interesting, and there's a bus waiting for us!

To ride the buses, you have to buy your tickets ahead of time at cigarette shops, news stands, or at the train station. They cost 1.20 Euro and can be used for 75 minutes. You just get it stamped the first time you use it and we were quick to learn that passengers usually wait until the bus starts rolling before stamping their ticket. Our ride up to Fiesole takes about half an hour or so, and affords amazing views of Florence as you climb up into the hills. Here's Sean on the bus (studying the map of course). As we got off the bus in Fiesole, I snapped this photo. Sean will take this bus almost every day while we're in Fiesole. It makes frequent trips down to Florence.


Finally, we're in Fiesole, we're tired, and we must have eaten something, but I can't remember what. The hotel is cute and our room has two twin beds and its own bathroom with a toilet, bidet, and a very small shower stall. The view from the window included olive trees and a narrow road below. I'm so glad we made it!

As soon as we got settled, I connected to the hotel Internet access and contacted Cellular Abroad right way to get assistance with the hotspot I rented. Since it was a Saturday, no tech support was available. The customer service person who did answer was impossible to deal with and had no interest in helping us. I have no idea why they would even have a customer service person available if they can't help customers and feel the need to be rude and unsympathetic. The guy we spoke to said we couldn't get help until 9:00am PST on Monday which for us would be in the evening on Monday. That means we would be without the use of the device we rented for three whole days. It was such a hassle and inconvenience, not to mention frustrating, but with nothing else to do, it's time to rest.

Tomorrow morning we'll ride the number seven bus back down to Florence for the day before we need to return to Fiesole in the evening for the open reception for the Vespucci Institute.