What a morning! After possibly accidentally ordering permium TV in Italian last night, I got ready to go, rushed by the front desk, dropping off my key on the way, and was out the door before they could say anything. Luckily, I had prepaid in cash, so there’s nothing they can do now. Hahaha!
Next, I decided to go try again at the train station. I had seen yesterday that they would be open at 6:30… So why was everything except one small travel agency closed when I arrived at 8? I waited half an hour to find out. When I finally got to the front, the lady saw my Eurail pass and shouted out, “Strike today. Everything’s closed. Go to terminal five for information.” Boy was I shocked. I promised Gemma that I’d be in Florence by 12:30.
At Terminal Five, I had to queue up again. I was starting to feel very British, so I started a conversation with the English student in line ahead of me. He was also trying to get to Florence. Together we scoured the train listings… Suppresso. Suppresso. Suppresso. I would have taken a picture, but my camera was buried in my bag and it was rather busy at the terminal. Finally, we spied a 9:45 train that seemed to still be running at terminal seve.
Even though we had Eurail passes, the only way to get on this train was by buying a ticket at the self-service kiasks. Strangely, today they did not require a Fidelity Card. So, even though I thought it would be full from people with cancelled tickets, I was able to get on. The first thing I did was board the wrong car. Thinking the 2 meant second class, I grabbed a seat. Turns out it just meant car number two. I helped some Japanese women lift their heavy luggage to the overhead compartment, and they helped me realize I was in the wrong place. I had to go to car 8, seat 31.
Now, here I am, travelling through the Italian countryside, about an hour from Florence.
