I’m finally blogging again after finishing my revision for the day. Italy seems so distant even though I was there till a couple of days ago. This time round, I went to Florence and Pisa, both of which were lovely but charming in different ways.
I met up with one of my closer friends in Florence. I would have to admit that I was excited and anxious to do so since the last time I caught up with him would probably be more than 7 months ago. Furthermore, our meeting point is in Florence, how awesome can that be? And it certainly was… imagine meeting someone in your freshmen year in varsity and suddenly, 30 months later, both of you sitting at a café in Florence, enjoying the cool weather while sipping wine and slowly savouring Parma ham. Absolutely wicked! Fantastic company and great food, what more can one expect (bar a girlfriend!)? One thing’s for sure, food in Italy is so much nicer than in UK and also substantially cheaper. Everything about UK is nice except the food and weather, I’m sure I have said this several times in my other blog entries haha.
Florence didn’t exactly appeal to my senses when I first arrived. It was only through more thorough exploration and a comparison with Pisa that I grew to appreciate Florence as a city. It may not be as enchanting as Paris but it definitely has its own character. To add on, after my friend left Florence, I ended up mixing with the people in my hostel. Goodness gracious, it was such a wonderful experience that I’m contemplating travelling alone during summer for a while. I met 2 Americans, 2 Koreans, 2 Japanese, 1 German, 1 New Zealander and even 1 Kenyan. I think I might have missed out on some of them, since there were so many of them. Speaking to people, from such diverse cultures and backgrounds, is amazing. We ended up touring the city and having dinner together. Unfortunately, I had to leave for Pisa the following day and it was such a shame to not be able to spend more time with them. Oh well, it was a good end to my stay in Florence, I shan’t complain any further…
The journey to Pisa took an hour by train and I was all alone again. Pisa is very different from Florence and it is much smaller as well. But, lo and behold, nothing can prepare you for the sight of the “Square of Miracles” in Pisa. It is extremely captivating and seeing the leaning tower of Pisa and the Duomo with your very own eyes is just dazzling! All my weariness left me and I scurried along to purchase my tickets for all the attractions at the Square of Miracles. My first task was to climb the leaning tower of Pisa. Haha, it was quite tiring, albeit not for me, but for the older folks as they had to stop several times along the way up. Never would I imagine myself to be climbing up one of the Seven Wonders of the Medieval World! I slowly while my time away while exploring just about every inch of the Square of Miracles since I had nothing to do after that except to spend the night at the airport. Even so, I managed to finish my tour of the Square way beforehand, hence I took to the streets of Pisa. Gosh, there really is just nothing to shop for in Pisa. In fact, I found out from a boutique manager that most shops close from about 1 till 3.30pm in Pisa for lunch. As it was a small town, people make their way home for lunch, wow, what a life! Good for the locals but despairing for tourists like myself haha. Besides the Square of Miracles, I doubt there is anything else noteworthy. Furthermore, I felt that the people in Florence were friendlier and more polite as compared to those in Pisa despite both being touristy and Pisa being the smaller town. Perhaps, the shopping industry in Florence is much more dependent on tourists, which may be a reason for their attitude towards tourists. Anyway, shopping is far better in Florence than Pisa which is quite pathetic with respect to shopping. Therefore, with nothing to do, I commenced my way to the airport to spend my final night in Italy.
My last night in Italy was devastatingly horrendous! It all began with my atrocious dinner. Can u imagine eating pasta that seems to be cooked in a microwave? The final pasta that I had was hard and dry, prompting me to suspect that the café just reheated it in a microwave. It was such a letdown especially since I was in Italy. But the tales of horror didn’t end there and then. At about 11.30pm at Pisa airport, I heard the announcement that the airport would be closing at midnight. I immediately knew I was in trouble… I was caught in a dilemma, unsure to brave the cold weather like a man or to act like a pampered kid and hail a taxi to a hotel to spend the night. So, being the tough person that I am, I stupidly chose the former option. You guys have to know that the weather in Italy is just so perfect, but only during the day! I reckon the temperature dipped to below 5 degrees at night and I didn’t have my winter coat with me. Please note that I didn’t expect to spend a night out, in a literal manner, thanks to the airport closing. I could say, on hindsight, that I should have checked such a minute detail before I left for Italy, but I suppose most of us wouldn’t expect a closed airport. As such, from 12 till 2am, I was sitting outside in the freezing cold and there has to be a slight breeze to add to my torturous night. It was a very horrid feeling till I ended up walking about and stationing myself in a staircase of the airport car park. It was only slightly warmer but the place was so dirty that I remained standing from 2 till 4am. I recalled that I was checking my watch every 5 minutes or so, only to see time trickling away. I was despondent… very…
At the magical hour of 4am, the airport reopened and I was thus saved! The rest of my journey back to Durham was just a hazy affair as I spent most of my time catching up on sleep. It was a long journey though as it took 3 hours to fly to Glasgow, another 4 hours by train back to Durham and about 3 hours of waiting time in between. Boy was I wasted at the end of the entire ordeal. What a trip to Italy and BACK!
To end off, a very happy and meaningful Easter to all!
I met up with one of my closer friends in Florence. I would have to admit that I was excited and anxious to do so since the last time I caught up with him would probably be more than 7 months ago. Furthermore, our meeting point is in Florence, how awesome can that be? And it certainly was… imagine meeting someone in your freshmen year in varsity and suddenly, 30 months later, both of you sitting at a café in Florence, enjoying the cool weather while sipping wine and slowly savouring Parma ham. Absolutely wicked! Fantastic company and great food, what more can one expect (bar a girlfriend!)? One thing’s for sure, food in Italy is so much nicer than in UK and also substantially cheaper. Everything about UK is nice except the food and weather, I’m sure I have said this several times in my other blog entries haha.
Florence didn’t exactly appeal to my senses when I first arrived. It was only through more thorough exploration and a comparison with Pisa that I grew to appreciate Florence as a city. It may not be as enchanting as Paris but it definitely has its own character. To add on, after my friend left Florence, I ended up mixing with the people in my hostel. Goodness gracious, it was such a wonderful experience that I’m contemplating travelling alone during summer for a while. I met 2 Americans, 2 Koreans, 2 Japanese, 1 German, 1 New Zealander and even 1 Kenyan. I think I might have missed out on some of them, since there were so many of them. Speaking to people, from such diverse cultures and backgrounds, is amazing. We ended up touring the city and having dinner together. Unfortunately, I had to leave for Pisa the following day and it was such a shame to not be able to spend more time with them. Oh well, it was a good end to my stay in Florence, I shan’t complain any further…
The journey to Pisa took an hour by train and I was all alone again. Pisa is very different from Florence and it is much smaller as well. But, lo and behold, nothing can prepare you for the sight of the “Square of Miracles” in Pisa. It is extremely captivating and seeing the leaning tower of Pisa and the Duomo with your very own eyes is just dazzling! All my weariness left me and I scurried along to purchase my tickets for all the attractions at the Square of Miracles. My first task was to climb the leaning tower of Pisa. Haha, it was quite tiring, albeit not for me, but for the older folks as they had to stop several times along the way up. Never would I imagine myself to be climbing up one of the Seven Wonders of the Medieval World! I slowly while my time away while exploring just about every inch of the Square of Miracles since I had nothing to do after that except to spend the night at the airport. Even so, I managed to finish my tour of the Square way beforehand, hence I took to the streets of Pisa. Gosh, there really is just nothing to shop for in Pisa. In fact, I found out from a boutique manager that most shops close from about 1 till 3.30pm in Pisa for lunch. As it was a small town, people make their way home for lunch, wow, what a life! Good for the locals but despairing for tourists like myself haha. Besides the Square of Miracles, I doubt there is anything else noteworthy. Furthermore, I felt that the people in Florence were friendlier and more polite as compared to those in Pisa despite both being touristy and Pisa being the smaller town. Perhaps, the shopping industry in Florence is much more dependent on tourists, which may be a reason for their attitude towards tourists. Anyway, shopping is far better in Florence than Pisa which is quite pathetic with respect to shopping. Therefore, with nothing to do, I commenced my way to the airport to spend my final night in Italy.
My last night in Italy was devastatingly horrendous! It all began with my atrocious dinner. Can u imagine eating pasta that seems to be cooked in a microwave? The final pasta that I had was hard and dry, prompting me to suspect that the café just reheated it in a microwave. It was such a letdown especially since I was in Italy. But the tales of horror didn’t end there and then. At about 11.30pm at Pisa airport, I heard the announcement that the airport would be closing at midnight. I immediately knew I was in trouble… I was caught in a dilemma, unsure to brave the cold weather like a man or to act like a pampered kid and hail a taxi to a hotel to spend the night. So, being the tough person that I am, I stupidly chose the former option. You guys have to know that the weather in Italy is just so perfect, but only during the day! I reckon the temperature dipped to below 5 degrees at night and I didn’t have my winter coat with me. Please note that I didn’t expect to spend a night out, in a literal manner, thanks to the airport closing. I could say, on hindsight, that I should have checked such a minute detail before I left for Italy, but I suppose most of us wouldn’t expect a closed airport. As such, from 12 till 2am, I was sitting outside in the freezing cold and there has to be a slight breeze to add to my torturous night. It was a very horrid feeling till I ended up walking about and stationing myself in a staircase of the airport car park. It was only slightly warmer but the place was so dirty that I remained standing from 2 till 4am. I recalled that I was checking my watch every 5 minutes or so, only to see time trickling away. I was despondent… very…
At the magical hour of 4am, the airport reopened and I was thus saved! The rest of my journey back to Durham was just a hazy affair as I spent most of my time catching up on sleep. It was a long journey though as it took 3 hours to fly to Glasgow, another 4 hours by train back to Durham and about 3 hours of waiting time in between. Boy was I wasted at the end of the entire ordeal. What a trip to Italy and BACK!
To end off, a very happy and meaningful Easter to all!
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