Sleep Spent

Yesterday, I arrived in Florence (Firenze for all you Italians), and saw the David. I spent a good half hour just gaping. They call Michelangelo “The Master” for a very good reason.

I was anxious to find my hostel, so after an interesting chat with a Hawaiian that asked me for directions, I made my way to the train/bus station. It had begun to rain, and I didn’t have a rain coat (too much extra weight/space to bother with), so I was a bit wet when I finally found the Sita bus I needed to take to get to Tavernelle, the small town 40 minutes from Florence where the hostel is. Perhaps that was the reason I got on the wrong bus.

I only discovered it was the wrong bus when I tried to ask the passengers around me which stop we were at. No one spoke English, so I was in trouble. I gathered that we hadn’t stopped at Tavernelle and, furthermore, we weren’t going to be stopping there. I was mildly concerned. Sure enough, we passed the Tavernelle sign on the freeway. Twenty minutes later, they told me to get off. They said something else — instructions, I’m sure, about what to do next. Turns out I was in Poggibonsi.

I eventually arrived at Tavernelle, and was even able to find the hostel (after half an hour of wandering around; street numbers are not consistent on both sides here).

I’m back in Florence today, and I have a three hour walking tour scheduled for 15:00. Tomorrow I’ll call the hostel in Cinqua Terra and see if they have any room for the likes of me. The Hawaiian said the towns were packed when she was there over the weekend; I hope those were Italian weekenders. If the hostel at Tavernelle is any indication (which it probably isn’t), I won’t have any problems: besides me, there were three other people there last night.

Damn, the hot chocolate at this internet café is incredible! The music is all right, too, and that’s saying a lot — the Italians seem to be fans of American pop/hip-hop. The Boss is a welcome change of pace.

That’s all for now.