Vita è Bella!

What a weekend, Part II

Day 3: Sunday, Florence/Pisa/Viareggio

Sunday morning I woke up, on my own, at 7 AM. Unless I'm exhausted beyond belief, I can't usually sleep longer than about 8 hours, so when I heard the birds chirping in the courtyard, I woke up fairly quickly. I showered (and our shower was actually quite nice!) then just sat and wrote for a little while, waiting for the other girls to wake up. Once everyone was up, we got some breakfast with the sweet hotel owner, an older lady who didn't speak any English. We had rolls with Nuttella and jam, tea, and crackers. After that, we had our first of several stressful moments, because there was confusion over the payment. Kelly thought she'd booked it for a cheaper price than we ended up paying, and she felt really bad because she didn't want us to pay more. Plus, it was really hard to communicate with the woman! So that was mildly upsetting, but it worked out alright. It ended up being about 20 euro per night, and the hotel was pretty nice... so we didn't mind. More stressful moments emerged at the train station, and we ended up getting split up on the train, which was pretty full. I wound up sitting by myself across from an Asian couple, but it was nice to have the alone time. I love all the girls who were with us, but trips like that can be a little much because you always have to be together. Always. So there's not much room for alone time if you need it, and this weekend I was in need of a little at various points. The train ride was about an hour long, and peaceful. I just stared out the window, deep in thought...

We arrived in Pisa, still rather stressed. I think train stations in general create an atmosphere of panic and chaos, plus we were all tired and rather crabby. On our way back from the bathroom, Theresa stopped and said, "Look. I think we could all use a pick-me-up, and there's a McDonald's right here. I'm buying." So we stopped and got some food from McDonalds. Let me tell you, french fries have NEVER tasted so good. I got a little fruit and yogurt thing and some fries, and it definitely did the trick. It was a little taste of home!

Energized by our little mini-meals, we started to book it over to the Leaning Tower. It was definitely worth the stop! Pisa doesn't have many other attractions, but the Tower was really cool. I was highly amused by the lines of people struggling to set up the classic "pushing the tower up" shots. In normal circumstances, we would have felt ridiculous standing there with our arms up, but as it was, we fit right in. I didn't want to take the standard picture, so I did one leaning against it, one hugging it, and one kicking it, with Ellen crouched in fear below it. That one was SO HARD to set up! I had to stand on one leg on a rounded stone post, balancing my foot at the proper angle. It doesn't really look like I'm kicking it... more just pushing it down with the top of my foot. But it was a good effort, nonetheless. You'll see the rest of those in my WebShots, whenever I get them put up.

After seeing the Tower, we hurried back to the train station and set out for Viareggio, a coastal city about twenty minutes from Pisa. We were a little hesitant about whether or not it would be worth the trip, becaues we knew we could only stay for a few hours, but we decided it was worth a shot.

Best decision in the world!

Every year for Carnivale, Viareggio hosts a huge festival and parade that's very popular among Italians. The majority of the crowds were Italian, and it was one of the most fun experiences of my life. Everyone was wearing costumes, or crazy hats, and we kind of stood out by NOT having a costume on! Some of them were hilarious, and some costumes were just adorable, especially the little kids'. There were families everywhere, and lots of parents dressed in matching outfits with their kids. It felt like one huge party! And it felt safe for all ages. In America, if we tried to do something on that scale, I would be more skeptical of people being drunk there, kind of like what happens during the Fourth of July celebration downtown. But this was unlike anything I've been to before, and I wish I could convey how much fun it was. There were huge floats (eight of them could hold 200 people!) and they were all quirky and unique and brightly colored... there was smoke, and so much confetti, and people dancing, and music, and food, and candy, and silly string! The highlight of the parade was when one float came by blasting, "Hey Baby". We all got really excited, because it was the only song we could sing along to, so we stood there shouting the words out and dancing while handful after handful of confetti was thrown into the air above us. It shimmered down wildly, and got in our hair, down our coats, in our backpacks, even in our mouths! It was crazy. We still had confetti in our hair when we got back to Rome. :-) The parade was really interesting, because most of the floats held huge caricatures and political figures. The parade is supposed to be political in nature, so I was intrigued by what each float represented. One of the displays had a bunch of evil TV's, and another had a big caricature of a man (presumably a politician) in a ballet tutu. There was one with a huge Elvis though, which made me think of Mickey right away! I took a lot of pictures of it. It was just a blast!





The only bad thing that happened was when Ellen got accidentally sprayed right in the eye with some odd, shaving cream type of substance. We all felt bad, but she ended up being okay. We doctored her up with some tissues and eye drops I had in my purse, and moved away from the man (who continued to spray the awful substance every couple minutes, in spite of Ellen's death glares). We were there for a couple marvelous hours, then set off down the street, grabbed some ONE EURO PIZZA(!!), and went back to the train station.

I had to go to the bathroom pretty badly, so we got in line right away. Little did I know it, but I was standing in line for one of the scariest things I think I'll ever see in my life! We had to pay 20 cents just to get in these things, which is scary enough on it's own. Paying just to pee?? It seems ridiculous. They were self-cleaning bathrooms, apparently, and quite confusing. So there we stood, watching the whole bathroom process in confusion. The way it worked was as follows:

First, you would pay the machine. Then the big, mechanical door would open automatically, and let you into a little square room with a gray floor that was soaking wet. You would look around you in confusion, then glance back out at the line of people and shrug while you waited for the door to close again. Then, you would have to either leave your belongings on the wet floor or HOLD THEM while you tried to go to the bathroom. For traveling girls such as myself, this presents a problem. There was absolutely no way I was going to my let backpack touch that floor... but I couldn't leave it on, because the little tail part could've gotten in the toilet. So I took it half off and held it while I went to the bathroom. There was no seat, not that I would have actually sat down had there been one, so it was another quad workout. (Sorry if this is a little too detailed! I want to give you the full experience.) At this point, I began to realize that, given how wet everything around me was, there was simply no way that a normal roll of toilet paper could be left out. There was, however, a button on the wall that you had to press in order to get your pre-rationed 10 sheets of toilet paper. Some people, I overheard, couldn't quite grasp this concept. There were panicked echoes of, "I have no toilet paper!" coming from the stall next to me. I hope they found it eventually. Anyway, so you would press this button and get your toilet paper and then head over to a little station to wash your hands. Unfortunately, the soap was essentially just water with a few bubbles, and the dryer was incredibly weak. You would then look around in frustration, unable to find a way to flush the toilet, then walk over to the door and press a button. It would open on its own, then close behind you and start spraying down the walls with hisses of water. It was, all in all, quite terrifying.

I can only imagine the look on my face when I stepped out of that bathroom. The poor Italians in line behind us began to drill me with questions about it, which I could only answer with random words and lots of shrugs. What an awful bathroom!

We stood outside waiting for the train as the temperatures dropped. We were determined to get seats, but the crowds kept growing... when we finally got in, we soon discovered that most of the cars were already full. I ended up standing in the aisles for the first half hour or so, then got a seat with some of the other girls for the remaining three hours. It was a mild ride, and it felt great to get back home.

Rome really does feel like home now, officially. Yesterday on my way to class, I stood on the streetcorner and listened to the traffic and bustle around me, quite peaceful in the heart of my chaotic city. It's amazing how after just a weekend of unfamiliar landmarks and sleeping in a different (and rock hard) bed can make you appreciate the city you live in! I really love Rome, and I'm glad to be back. Next weekend I'm not going anywhere! We're going to stay here and study for midterms. Then on Tuesday, at 6 AM, we leave for our Northern Trip.

I wince at the thought of how long that post will be.

Thanks for staying with me this long.

Naptime! :-)

posted by Sarah @ 1:14 PM