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07/08/2004: "Sienna...not. Then to Rome - July 6"

On to Sienna....here's where our first "bad" travel day began!

We got onto our train (early for once!), and started onto Sienna. About 15 minutes into the trip, the train broke down. It was about 100 degrees in the Tuscan area, so we were baking on the broken down train. After about 20-30 minutes, and train came by to pick us up and take us back to Florence :( The new train was already totally full, so we squished ourselves onto the new train (again, in the baking heat). When we got back to Florence we discovered that there wouldn't be a train leaving for Sienna for a couple of hours, so we took a different train to a city "on the way" to Sienna. From there, we caught a smaller train to Sienna. The smaller train was OLD - it was very small (only 2-3 cars), diesel, and was of course not air conditioned, so it was extremely HOT. It felt like our eyes were going to bleed! If only it would be a short ride to Sienna....but it wasn't....it took about 1.5 hours. When we got there, we tried to check our bags at the station, but no....the machines were broken. So we were pretty much out of luck - our bags had gotten pretty heavy with the wine, etc, that we had bought in Florence for gifts, so instead of seeing Sienna (which we had travelled several hours to see), we got on a train for Rome. Actually it wasn't to Rome, it was to a larger city, then we had to switch trains before getting to Rome. Again, we travelled on the "ghetto" train in 100+ degree heat. The views of the Tuscan countryside were beautiful though, but it was HOOOT. We finally got to Rome....sweaty and gross...around 7pm, just in time for dinner!

We checked into the Beehive, this time in the dorm - it was a room of 8, 4 bunk beds. For dinner we went to "our place" - great food/pizza, cheap wine, nice outdoor seating. Mike had a calzone, and I had tortellini, and of course, bruschetta, house wine, and acqua minerale naturale. After dinner we went to my favorite gelateria for our last gelato :( Neither one of us wanted to go to bed, so we went to another restaurant for even more food, drink, and people watching. Late into the night, we went to bed.

We are not sure if there were MANY mosquitoes in the room, or mites in the bed, but after sleeping in the dorm, we awoke early the next morning with bug bites. I had about 10, Mike had at least 30 and was not too happy about it. We had our last "breakfast" in Rome - coffee and croissant, I bought a Lemonsoda to take home, and we got onto the train for the last time. Goodbye, Rome, sweet Rome! We were sad to leave, but very happy to be going home. It is amazing how much more appreciatiative you are of your own home after travelling abroad!