I thought the adventure was over when we left Avignon.
Oh how very naïve I remain.
The trip to Florence was supposed to be composed of three trains. Yes, three. The first was about five minutes late, which was enough to get our hearts pounding because we only had thirty minutes between trains at the next station. The second came on time, but once we had boarded we waited over thirty minutes to leave because of an accident and there were numerous delays throughout the trip, which came to a total of about an hour delay. We were scheduled to have an hour and 13 minutes between the second and third train, so we were very nervous this time. But then we get to the station and our train to Florence doesn’t even show up on the departures monitor and it is supposed to leave in seven minutes. It turns out, there was no third train.
Through a series of events related to me several times in French, none of which I understood, our train had been cancelled and we were promised instead a bus that would take us to Florence.
Now John is 6’6” and even though the sleeping berths on trains are cramped, they are also horizontal. But, with no other choice, we dutifully waited for the bus. Keep in mind that this is at 9:30 at night. The bus came at 1:30 AM. Right.
There were literally only tow seats left on the bus and they were in the very back row of five seats. Luckily John got the middle, so he had some legroom, but it was still cramped and hot.
About twelve hours later we finally rolled into Florence. The first thing I did at Villa Morghen, where we are staying for the semester, was take a long, long shower.
Our initial nomadic travels are now over, but never fear! I will continue to post my comings and goings, perhaps not as frequently, but hopefully just as faithfully, as I have for the last two weeks. I am in the process of getting all moved in to my room here at the Villa (Hello no more suitcases!) and I will be happy to report on the first day of school tomorrow! Bon nuit!
(I’m going to have to get out of my habit of speaking French!)
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