And then I got pooped on.
Monday, February 2nd, 2009Florence, Italy.
It’s been an interesting couple of days. Mostly good, really. I feel like I should go back a bit and sum up our last few days in Thailand…
We spent the rest of our time on Koh Tao laying around and snorkeling. We did a day long snorkeling trip where we went by boat all around the island (and to the little private island just off the main island). It was really fun. We saw a lot more fish, learned about the fish and coral in the area (we took the only tour company on the island that advocates education and sustainability as part of their trips. And they didn’t even cost more. I can’t remember their name…but they’re part of a swanky resort and they advertise all over). It was a good day. I took some more underwater photos, and they turned out okay. It doesn’t do it justice in the least, but what do you expect from a cheap underwater camera?
The ferry and bus ride back to Bangkok was okay. Steve didn’t get sick, and we both sat up on the deck. It was in the morning so I think that made a big difference. Being back in Bangkok, I realized how noisy that city is! Or at least the touristy area we were staying in. It was hard to have a conversation while walking around in the street. I felt like we were screaming to each other just to communicate. We got our last cheap massages, and they were wonderful. Probably the best yet. We didn’t go for the traditional Thai massages since I read that they’re more torture than relaxation. So we got Swedish massages. But they threw in a little Thai flavor at the end. I was all happy and relaxed and then I was told to sit up. My massage lady had me lock my hands behind my head. Then she proceeded to put me in a full nelson, wrap her leg around my lap and break me in half. It was terrifying! To be fair, it felt amazing on the first side because I didn’t know what was happening. But then when she put her other leg onto my lap and started pulling me the other way I got nervous and it wasn’t so fun. It didn’t exactly hurt. It was just a little freaky. Steve, on the other hand, loved his torture ending. So everyone’s different.
On a sad note, my camera broke. The lens cover won’t open when I turn the camera on. I tried fiddling with it with a Qtip and it worked again for about two days. So now I’m basically camera-less. But we’re going to take it to a Panasonic place today in Florence to see if they can fix it. I’m sad. But hopefully it’ll work out okay.
Our flight from Bangkok to Dusseldorf went pretty well. We didn’t have our own tv monitors at our seats, so that was a big disappointment. But they fed us a lot and played movies throughout the 12 hour flight, so it wasn’t too bad. When we got to Dusseldorf at 6 pm we changed into warmer clothes and called our friend Florian who we met in Ecuador. He came and got us at the airport and we had a fun night walking around Dusseldorf freezing cold. We didn’t sleep on the plane, and with the time difference we were very tired. We only slept a few hours at his place before we had to get up to get the train back to the airport. We had a bit of a scare when the online train schedule turned out to be wrong and we had to wait at the tracks for a while for our train. But we ended up arriving at the airport on time and everything was okay.
When we arrived in Milan we got a bus to the central train station and decided just to take the train to Florence instead of trying to figure out the bus. The buses were cheaper, but in the end we were way too tired to try to deal with it. It was nice to arrive in Florence again. I like it just as much as I did when I was here 6 (or 7?) years ago with my friend Joe and his parents. Even though now it’s a lot colder and it’s raining. But the food is delicious, the city is gorgeous and the people are very friendly. We’re having a great time pigging out on bread and cheese and wine. I had the most delicious pumpkin stuffed ravioli in a cream sauce with fresh mint last night. It was a big splurge (which we’re making up for today by eating market food and pizza–so we’re still not suffering) but definitely worth it. There’s a few things trying to rain on my parade, though. The rain, literally, for one. It was clear skies when we got here, but since then there’s been a constant drizzle. And it doesn’t look like it’s going to stop while we’re here. It’s also freezing cold. It’s a nice change, but we had to buy some warm clothing. Luckily we found a secondhand shop and I got a warm hat, a scarf for each of us, a wool turtle neck, and a Woolrich button-up that reminds me of my nana and very much looks like it belongs on a horse farm! I also was pooped on. Stupid pigeons! Only in Florence could I be shat on and still be happy, I think. Luckily I was wearing my raincoat, so it was a pretty easy clean-up. We also got kicked out of our first hotel! We found this cute little hotel for only 24 euros a night. We slept there the first night and then went out the next morning to walk around the city. When we got back to the hotel that night we walked into our room and there were people in our bed watching tv! I think we were all shocked and lots of Italian followed. When I asked the reception guy what was going on, he said that we were supposed to check out that morning because they were all booked for that night. We, obviously, were never told that we had to check out the next morning. The man who checked us in never mentioned it when we checked in, and the same man didn’t mention it when I spoke with him that morning before we left for the day. Check out was at 10 am. We left after 10 am and he said nothing. I was furious. Especially since we were tired and cold from walking around (this was after I bought the new, warmer clothes but before I had a chance to change into them). The man helped us find a new hotel, though, which was nice. And he informed us that it was only that night they were all booked up, so if we wanted to come back…. So stupid. This sort of thing just really annoys me. If they would have just told us, we still would have stayed there and we would have come back. It was a cute place and it was cheap (our new place is 30 euros a night). But now we don’t like them, so we’re not going to go back.
I also have a cold. Which isn’t surprising since the drastic change in weather and temperature, 14 hours on planes, and not sleeping for 48 hours. But otherwise things are good. We’re taking a train to Ancona (on the coast) on Thursday, where we’ll get an overnight ferry to Zadar, Croatia. We’ll spend the night there on Friday and then take a bus to Gospic on Saturday where we’ll meet Bozidar from Linden Tree Retreat. I’ve looked into the Croatian food situation and looks like they have very similar food to Italy. So that’s great! Although all of this bread and cheese after no bread and cheese for so long is a little overwhelming! But I think I’ll get over that! Speaking of bread and cheese, it’s time to go to the farmer’s market and get some yummy food for lunch. Then we need to see about getting my camera fixed and we’re going to buy our wedding rings! We picked rings out the other day on the famous jewelry bridge in Florence. So despite the rain, I think it’ll be a good day (unless the camera man gives me bad news. But I’ll deal with that when it comes).
montarsig