Episode 9: In Which Italy Almost Kills Alex
Jesus Christ, Italy was intense.
As it turns out, there was an awful lot of Italy that we wanted to see, and ended up in four different cities in the course of five days.
Day one brought us to Venice, where we were for less than twenty four hours. Just enough to wander around at night, see the canals, go to bed, get up, wander around some more in the afternoon, and hop on the train out.
It's really cool looking city. Just in the way it's designed, half sunk into the water, made it a blast to wander around aimlessly. Not too many cities can boast that.
Next, it was off to Rome, a city which I will forever associate with tearing-your-hair-out frustration. Our hostel had numerous problems, such as not actually being at the address listed in the booking, "three beds" actually meaning "a double sized bed and a really uncomfortable cot", and "Free internet and breakfast" meaning "no internet and some apples in the fridge."
Aside from that, things were not too bad. We managed to hit the principle Really Old Stuff (Collosseum, palace ruins, vatican, etc.) and grab one fancy Italian dinner before we left.
After two nights, in Rome, I had my Three-City-Day. Woke up in Rome, spent the afternoon in Pompei, and landed at night in Brindisi. I know that may sound like a hip jetset lifestyle, but trust me, it's mostly just a lot of stress. My rail pass expired the day we left Rome, and our ferry to Greece left out of Brindisi, so my only way tto see the ruins of Pompei was to either leave the same day we arrived our spend a hundred or two euro on train tickets. I opted for the former.
Depsite the time crunch, Pompei was enjoyable. As someone who loves Really Old Stuff, it was quite a joy to be able to walk around an entire mostly-preserved city.
I arrived in Brindisi at 11 PM, and, despite not knowing where it was, decided to walk to my hostel. I got some directions along the way, but unfortunately, instead of taking me to the Carpe Diem Youth Hostel, they took me to the Carpe Diem Pizzeria. Fortunately, there was woman there who knew the owner of the hostel, and was able to call him and get me detailed walking directions to my destination. I'm pretty sure she was a Boddhisatva in human form.
I came in right around midnight, after an hour of wandering dark and foreign streets. It was good to be able to rest at last.
As it turns out, there was an awful lot of Italy that we wanted to see, and ended up in four different cities in the course of five days.
Day one brought us to Venice, where we were for less than twenty four hours. Just enough to wander around at night, see the canals, go to bed, get up, wander around some more in the afternoon, and hop on the train out.
It's really cool looking city. Just in the way it's designed, half sunk into the water, made it a blast to wander around aimlessly. Not too many cities can boast that.
Next, it was off to Rome, a city which I will forever associate with tearing-your-hair-out frustration. Our hostel had numerous problems, such as not actually being at the address listed in the booking, "three beds" actually meaning "a double sized bed and a really uncomfortable cot", and "Free internet and breakfast" meaning "no internet and some apples in the fridge."
Aside from that, things were not too bad. We managed to hit the principle Really Old Stuff (Collosseum, palace ruins, vatican, etc.) and grab one fancy Italian dinner before we left.
After two nights, in Rome, I had my Three-City-Day. Woke up in Rome, spent the afternoon in Pompei, and landed at night in Brindisi. I know that may sound like a hip jetset lifestyle, but trust me, it's mostly just a lot of stress. My rail pass expired the day we left Rome, and our ferry to Greece left out of Brindisi, so my only way tto see the ruins of Pompei was to either leave the same day we arrived our spend a hundred or two euro on train tickets. I opted for the former.
Depsite the time crunch, Pompei was enjoyable. As someone who loves Really Old Stuff, it was quite a joy to be able to walk around an entire mostly-preserved city.
I arrived in Brindisi at 11 PM, and, despite not knowing where it was, decided to walk to my hostel. I got some directions along the way, but unfortunately, instead of taking me to the Carpe Diem Youth Hostel, they took me to the Carpe Diem Pizzeria. Fortunately, there was woman there who knew the owner of the hostel, and was able to call him and get me detailed walking directions to my destination. I'm pretty sure she was a Boddhisatva in human form.
I came in right around midnight, after an hour of wandering dark and foreign streets. It was good to be able to rest at last.