Europe 2012 Day 8, A travel day to Italy

On the flight to Bologna, I was seated next to two young people from New Zealand. As it turned out, they were dance partners who were traveling to Italy for a dance camp and then were participating in dance competitions.  They were going to be in Europe for several weeks.  They exuded all the enthusiasm of youth. At one point the boy got excited because he saw snow on the mountain top.  I told him it was probably the Alps.  He then laughed and said, "Of course! I forget where we are and that some mountains have snow year round.  It is my first big international trip."  As we spoke, he told me how excited he was to travel and can't wait to do more.  He had taken a course in conversational Italian and was determined to learn to speak it during his trip.

The flight passed quickly because we talked the whole time. As we left the plane, they introduced me to two other dancers that they were traveling with. As we waited and waited and waited on baggage I made the comment on how painful it is to go from the excessive efficiency of the Germans to the lax lifestyle of the Italians.  Finally our bags arrived. The four of them got their bags before mine came out. But instead of leaving, they waited for my bag to arrive.

Meeting people like these kids with their excitement for travel and kindness toward others is one of the things that help me to realize that despite how terribly cruel people can treat one another there are also those out there with and open mind who are filled with compassion.  It gives me hope.

As happens with travel, a monkey wrench was thrown into our plans. The Italian train workers were on strike.  So while Bev had planned to meet me at the airport, she couldn't get there in time and I needed to find my way to the train station.  So I went outside and found the ticket machine for the aerobus. I asked the boy, "Dove Bologna Centrale aerobus?" he pointed to the machine and showed me how to get the ticket I wanted.   But the machine didn't take cards or paper money.  A girl told me to just get in the long queue for the bus, but I knew if I waited and couldn't pay on the bus, I was screwed from a timing standpoint.  So, back inside I went and asked a lady at a cafe if she would give me coins for my bill.  She said no.  And I asked "dove?". She pointed to a bank.  And I changed for coins.  I went back to the machine to see the same group of people trying to get the ticket machine to work.  So I just went up, put my money in and got a ticket.  I pointed to the card and said, "No," as I shook my hand.  And pointed to the coin slot. They said "Grazi Mille," as they pulled coins from their purses.  They asked, "Bologna Centrale?" and I said, "si.". The older guy looked at me and used his body to make a train. He bent his elbows such that his forearms were at a right angle to his body, moved them back and forth while shuffling his feet.  I smiled and said, "Si." he smiled back and patted my shoulder.

On the bus to the train station, I ended up sitting facing two gorgeous Italian men. I watched as one got up from his original seat (across the aisle) to give an older lady his seat (it was easier to get into).  So he wasn't only gorgeous but also courteous- what a fantastic combination.  I'm starting to think I have a genetic predisposition to be attracted to Mediterranean men- especially Italians.

I met Bev at the train station. She told me that we needed to catch a private train (they were not on strike like the trenitala trains) to Florence but from there we had to take a bus to Montecatini. On the train, we opened a bottle of wine that Bev had brought to celebrate the beginning of our adventure. We each had a glass as we caught up on out lives since we had last seen each other - over a month earlier.  It felt so good to speak English and converse easily with someone.

When we purchased our bus tickets we saw we had about an hour plus wait for the bus. It was scorching hot, we both had our full bags, And had both been to Florence before, so we had no desire to wander about.  We found a shaded alley way, sat on our bags and pulled out the wine. At that point, we realized we had left our cups on the train.  Bev went out "in search of" and returned with two espresso cups that would suffice. 

Eventually a man came along to enter the residence (hotel room-We think).  We asked if he wanted us to move and he said no and went inside. When he popped back out we offered him some vino, but he declined. When he left again he told us if anyone gave us a hard time about being there, to tell them we were there with our boyfriend and pointed to himself.