When it rains, it pours.
We safely made it home from Scotland, but not before the sweet RyanAir flight attendant tried to charge me £60 to check my bag and the hearing-impaired customs worker in Brussels fought me over my visa (or, rather, lack thereof). For the record, a visa is only required if you are remaining on the continent more than 90 days. We are here 87. Get off me.
Regardless, we made it back to Teikyo and commandeered the laundry rooms to begin repacking. Sometime around midnight, I placed one load of laundry in the dryer, started it, then went to alert the front desk that one of the washers had locked a load of my wet clothes in it. As I walked back in the laundry room with one of the helpless security guards, the fire alarm started going off and it was immediately obvious that it was because of my dryer. Great. So meanwhile the entire building hates me and I have 2 sopping wet loads of laundry, leaving for Pisa in 5 hours, nothing packed.
I left the security guard to figure it out and came back 20 minutes later to find my clothes missing from the dryer, the other load sitting in a relatively deep pool of water, and a sign on the laundry room: "Out of Order." Courtesy of yours truly.
Taylor, Jacob, and I stood in the laundry room and wrung out every single article of soaking wet clothing and carried the whole load upstairs to the other dryers in the plastic trash can. Next up was the frantic search for the entire load of missing whites that had inadvertently started the "fire". We made some sweet new friends at 1am as we knocked on doors looking for our underwear, and eventually found the guy who had taken it thinking it was his sister's? Still a little unclear on that one.
By 3:45, the clothes that had been swimming 3 hours prior were now creating steam inside the dryer but not getting any drier. We split them up between dryers in hopes of at least being able to pack some shorts for our trip, now 2 hours away from departure.
At 4:20, we were both showered, blogged, semi-packed and completely exhausted. We laid down for 20 minutes with an alarm set to leave by 5:25 for our 6:19 train, which was barely going to get us to Brussels in time for our 10:25 flight.
The next thing I remember is opening the door to find Jacob patiently knocking. I looked at my watch and frantically realized it was 6am. I threw the closest 5 items in a suitcase, remembered to change out of my pajama shorts (barely), and quite literally sprinted out the building. We got on the bus and I asked the bus driver to go "fast"- apparently his English was so advanced that he took that to mean "Please drive at a glacial pace and linger at stops where no one is waiting." We ran onto the train platform to watch our train to Liége pulling away.
€80 later a taxi got us to the Liége train station in time for our next train and we somehow made it all the way to the airport by 9:30. I sat down on the plane and opened my Jesus Calling to read this: "When things seem to be going all wrong, stop and affirm your trust in Me. Calmly bring these matters to Me, and leave them in My capable hands. Then, simply do the next thing." Way to go, Jesus.
We landed in Pisa and were met by Texas-style summer temperatures. We took a bus to the leaning tower, took the typical pictures, grabbed lunch, and returned to the train station for our trip to Florence. We had been prepared for a "ghetto train" but were pleasantly surprised by a fully air conditioned and comfortable train. A few hours later I would realize that this lovely train also now had my Eurail pass. Details to come.
Anyway, we arrived in the sweltering city of Florence and started the short walk to our private apartment via my somewhat murky directions. We found it then grabbed some gelato and wifi before meeting our friends back there to get the keys. Due to a few late additions we had 9 people in a 6-person apartment with one bathroom and no air conditioning...cozy.
The apartment was precious though! There was a bedroom with a loft plus a loft above the kitchen, making for 3 double beds and enough floor space for everyone's backpacks and 3 extra people. It was crowded, but for 2 nights it was nice to have our own space that felt a little more homey than the normal hostel.
After dropping off our bags and establishing sleeping arrangements, we set off in search of Gusta Pizza. Brandon and Nick, who had met us in Florence, had travelled there specifically for this place, having been there in May on their first trip to Italy. For the last 3 months they have probably talked about Gusta Pizza at least once a day. You can imagine their heartbreak, then, when we located it only to find a sign on the door saying it was closed from THAT DAY through the end of the month. There might have been tears.
We instead found a different restaurant for dinner, though I'm told the pizza was sub-par. We made our way to the Ponte Vecchio, which was breathtakingly beautiful at sunset, then had some delicious gelato by the Duomo to end our super-Florentine evening before heading back to the apartment.
Wednesday morning also got off to a bit of a late start but was a successful day nonetheless. First stop was the train station where they had miraculously FOUND my Eurail. P.S. Eurails cost €998 and can only be purchased outside of the EU. Miracles do happen.
Next we walked/hiked up to the monastery above the city- hot but worth it! Brennan paid €2.50 for watermelon at a stand at the top, expecting just a slice but instead got an entire quarter of a watermelon. She sweetly shared with all of us and it was DELICIOUS.
We returned to our favorite wifi-equipped restaurant for lunch then headed back to the apartment for a very warm naptime. Paige took us to the leather market to do some souvie-shopping then T and I split off to find her some clothes since the majority of hers had been left in the dryer at Teikyo in our frantic departure.
Wednesday night was probably one of my favorite nights all summer. The rest of the gang purchased groceries and started on Brennan's birthday dinner back at the apartment. We ended up with a DELICIOUS spread, not too bad for a bunch of college kids!
After dinner Taylor, Jacob, and Nick taught me how to play Spades (which, by the way, is either too complicated to learn how to strategize quickly or I'm just dumb. I need a lot more practice, we'll leave it at that.) before we went out for some birthday gelato for Brennan. Back at the apartment Caitlin taught us all King's Cup and everyone was finally in bed by 4am.
One of my sorority sisters is about to embark on the fall 2013 Baylor in Maastricht trip, and as she's asked me questions and tips I have been reminded of how much the people have made this summer what it's been. Supposedly our group has gotten closer than most groups before us, which has been such an unexpected blessing.
Thursday morning was a lot of cleaning up and packing the belongings that had spent the last 48 hours strewn across the apartment but somehow fit into 9 backpacks. We hopped on a train at 11 and made it to Corniglia in Cinque Terre by 2. Our hostel was closed until 3, so we grabbed some lunch and explored a little before checking in for naptime.
We set out on a hike to the next town over- oh goodness. Y'all, I never wanted to leave. Look.
We trained from Vernazza to Riomaggiore for dinner and gelato before going back to the hostel (thanks to their 1.30 curfew...). In a nail biting game, Taylor and Jacob won this night's round of Spades, and were so sweet and gracious about it. Ha.
Friday was beach day! The 6 ladies trained to Monterosso and rented chairs to nap on the beach all day while our 4 manly men (Nate had rejoined us at this point) rented kayaks and paddled from Vernazza all the way to Monterosso. As I write this on Saturday, I am currently sitting on a train with those 4 lobsters. Never underestimate the beauty of SPF >20.
The 6 of us on the beach, however, had a lovely and relaxing day. We slept and swam in the Mediterranean and got to look at this all day:
Once again, never wanted to leave. We were disgusting and salty by 6pm, so showers were in order before dinner, sunset, and night hiking. This place is just as beautiful at night as it is during the day. Pictures just can't do it justice.
We had a 6:30am train to catch on Saturday, so when my alarm rang at 5am I sprung out of my top bunk and made a sweet "splat" of a face plant on the ground. I mean, we're talking full on starfish across the tile. But no worries, my chin broke my fall.
We made all our trains with 9 groggy travelers and got to Venice by 2. After a little directional confusion we found our hostel and got checked in literally an hour later thanks to the less than speedy staff. It was way past lunchtime, so pizza was the next concern, followed by a trip to the Grand Canal, courtesy of our tour guide, Nate Webb.
We walked to St. Mark's and through the streets of Venice, past the hundreds of gondolas and winding canals. We found a gelato place called Gelato Fantasy and sweet goodness did it live up to its name. KIT KAT GELATO. They'll have it in heaven, mark my words.
We had a fancy grocery store dinner and enjoyed some vino by the canal before turning in early.
Sunday morning we split up for half the group to tour Murano Island, home to the famous glass factories. The rest of us walked around the city and sat by the canal and just soaked up Venice. I think it's safe to say I loved this city as much the second time around as I had the first.
We met back up with everyone for an expensive lunch (since they charge you to sit...my butt's comfort cost a pretty penny.) then naptime at the hostel. The boys made us dinner at the hostel that night- the always classic pasta and vino. We played a round of superlatives before heading out for our last gelato all together. We walked to the Rialto to see the Grand Canal at night then settled in to get ready for another early morning.
Monday morning sent the 9 of us in 3 separate directions. Nick and Brandon set out for Maastricht; Maddie, Caitlin, and Nate headed off to Verona; and Brennan, Taylor, Jacob, and I made our way to Rome as our final stop. We arrived in the city around lunch time and were thrilled to find our cozy B&B was so nice! Free wifi and air conditioner- hot commodities at this point.
We took Nate's expert advice and made our first stop at the Trevi Fountain.
Photo credit to my lovely roomie
Next up, the Pantheon. It was surreal to see all of these places a second time. I wish I could find the video, but I was privileged to get to sing in the Pantheon 4 years ago with the JJ Pearce choir- so many great memories from this trip that I loved reliving this time around.
We found the gelato place our friends had raved about and enjoyed that break before making a stop at the Spanish Steps.
We did a little souvenir shopping before returning to see the Trevi Fountain in all its evening glory, which unfortunately doesn't photograph well without a tripod and with the added element of roughly 1500 people. But it was beautiful, nonetheless.
We grabbed some pizza for dinner and some local wine to try at the hotel then headed back to plan out our last day in Italia.
Tuesday we split up again when Brennan couldn't get a ticket into the Vatican Museum. While Jacob and Taylor saw the Sistine Chapel, Brennan and I went to beautiful St. Peter's. I've seen a lot of places this summer, but this is still one of the most impressive and ornate.
St. Peter's Basilica
The Swiss Guard
Michelangelo's Pieta
We met back up later in the afternoon for our last stop at the Colosseum then dinner in Piazza Navona.
Inside the Colosseum
The Roman Forum
Memorial to Vittorio Emmanuel, first king of Italy
Piazza Navona
We had our last gelato before packing up and getting a couple hours of sleep before leaving at 4am on Wednesday morning to catch our flight and trains back to the Stricht.
The packing is mostly finished and we're leaving at 3:30am for Amsterdam then KL Flight 661 direct to Houston. I'll save all my sappy end-of-trip thoughts for a separate post and try to get some sleep before ridiculously late night #2.
Ciao!
