Ok, this will have to be a short one, since the place closes in 30 minutes. Anyway, we've made it to Bologna, and next stop tomorrow is Venice!! But first, let me take you back a few days....
Our trip to San Gimigniano went well...although we ended up having to wait 30 minutes (both ways) to switch buses...no direct bus from Florence! Once there, we got the cumulative ticket and climbed the Torre Grassa, and checked out a few other museums...including the Ornithological Museum which consisted of one room with glass cases full of stuffed birds! Otherwise, though, mostly just walking around.
The next day was pretty hectic...I didn't realize how complicated it was to go to Cinque Terre from Florence! A train to Pisa (but not the one that left first, since that one is a longer train ride -- more stops!), then Pisa to La Spezia, then another train to Manarola! We ended up seeing the tower in Pisa (it DOES lean!), but got lost trying to find the train station to catch our connecting train. Got to Manarola around 2pm, but the hostel was locked and we had to leave our bags at the train station so we wouldn't have to carry them around. Managed to check out Corniglia and Vernazza before heading back to Manarola to check in. Afterwards, a trip to Monterosso so Ariane can do some wading in the water (and I can do some reading in the shade), got some pizza for dinner, then headed back...to do laundry and internet! Laundry took forever, though...their dryer takes 2 hours, and their washers were very tiny...it took us right up until "lights out" at 1am to finish!
Got up late the next day, so the quick trip to Riomaggiore was scrapped, unfortunately. Got to La Spezia, only to read the wrong screen and almost get on the wrong train (got off before it left, though), then missed our real train. So we had to wait 2 hours for the next one, which was our train to Parma, then a connection to Bologna (which luckily, we caught, despite the tight connection). Got to our fancy hotel ok...then got back out to the center for some quick sightseeing and a sit down dinner at Italy's food capital!
Tomorrow: Venice. And hopefully, no more train problems!
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