Pisa-Florence

After a long day of travelling, I slept extremely well last night. I woke up to a dim room that immediately brightened as I drew back the shutters. I eventually got up and ready to get my bearings in Pisa, which wasn't really too difficult, as the city itself seems to be rather small. The owner of the hostel had given me a map printed on a business card, and I left the hostel in search of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the cathedral, and any other monuments the city is known for. Orienting myself to this tiny map, I eventually made my way down the correct street and happened to glance over to my right, at which point my first thought was: 'Oh, there's the Leaning Tower and... OH! That's the Leaning Tower!' My second thought was immediately: 'Beuf.' This isn't to say that it wasn't spectacular or anything, but more that this famous landmark just happened to be sitting (and leaning) just a few metres away from me. In any event, I made my way over to the rectangle o' monuments (the Piazza dei Miracoli (the Miracle Square) and soon found out that every site had an entry fee. (Going up the Leaning Tower was 15 €.) Deciding that I'll eventually get my exercise elsewhere, I settled for photos of the tower (which, just like Eiffel's, are free). I did go inside the Cathedral and amidst the paintings and statues, I also saw some relics (yeah Art History 318!) of two saints (one of which I believe is the patron saint of Pisa, though I'll have to check again when I look through my photos).

I made my way back to the hostel (+ also stopping by Pisa Point, the football stadium), got my bag, and waited for the bus, the stop of which was just outside. I apparently failed at getting the first bus's attention, so I had to wait for the next one and when I got on it, I was utterly confused as to wheter or not I had to pay, or what I had to do, as some people had tickets and others didn't. In any case, I made it to the train station, got my ticket to Florence, and had some Italian Mc-food (ps/ Europe wins when it comes to fast food, at least for now it does.) The train was scheduled to leave at 13.01, and at 12.58, someone thought it must've been hilarious to switch train tracks; all of a sudden, the Firenze (Florence) group headed en masse to the new track, and after playing one round of musical tracks, we got on board. I briefly spoke to the guy across from me. I had noticed he had an Italian lesson book, written in French. For all of you who know me well enough will know that I am ready to test out my French and every opportunity, though I end up failing and regret not doing so after the fact. So, courage in hand, I asked him if it's easy to learn Italian, at which point he shot right back with not at all. After a few weeks in France, this French exchange would be easy to do. However, we have never practiced speaking to native French speakers from outside of France (or Canada). The guy was from Senegal and his French was very quick (quicker than anyone I had ever heard before) and almost slurred, a combination of which usually results in head nods. The conversation ended before I could get to that point.

I arrived at the train station after an hour or so of sleep, though I kept waking up for fear that I kept missing the stop. After navigating out of the station, I made the easy walk directly to my current hostel which happens to be amazing (2 for 2, so far! My Safrican luck must still be carrying over from last semester.). In any case, I'm here now, once again safe and sound.

It's only a bit past 16.00 over here and I'm hungry once again. I think I'm going to profiter du soleil (not quite sure how to easily translate that to English) and read the French-English guidebook I bought at the train station. I also saw multiple pizzerias so maybe I'll stop in for dinner. In any case, tonight'll be a night to rest up. Tomorrow, I'm planning on meeting up with one of my high school classmates and I'm hoping to get in a full day of tourism, before my train ride to Rome on Wednesday.