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The Ultimate Goal
View of San Gimignano from my hotel.I have just added quite a few new people to my subscriber list so I figured I should give some pointers for using the site. Even though you've been sent a link for this entry only, you can read all of my other entries by clicking on Previous Entry or Journals by MaryMPool at the bottow of the page. Also, you can add a comment (everyone can see these) or click the Contact MaryMPool icon at the bottom and send me a message (these come directly to my email inbox and no one else can see them). I look forward to talking hearing from everyone!
P.S. I've also added pictures for my previous Italy entries if you want to go back and look. :-)
The bus returned me safely and without incident to the Santa Maria Novella station in Florence. I was again (as perpetually) early for my train. Now, a question for you: There are two trains headed for Roma Termini, each departing at the same time--5:09pm, but from two different platforms so you know it is not just a typo and they have not just listed the same train twice. Which one do you take?
Cortona
Cortona is the home of Bramasole. (Does anyone see where this is going?)
Being the responsible traveller that I am, I head off to ask station personnel which binario (platform) I need to be on--5 or 16--for the train listed on my ticket which I show him. Granted, my ability to "converse" in Italian has improved and is still no where near "fluent," but I can understand the difference between
cinque and
sedici when accompanied by staff holding up five fingers and saying
cinque. He definitely said I needed to be on platform five. (He was wrong and I should have tracked him down when I returned through Florence about three hours later.)
I found a great seat on the train and opened my book--Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes--which my friend Amy gave me during her trip to London a few weeks ago. It took me a little bit to get the movie out of my head (both the movie and book are equally good in their own ways) and I was about halfway through the book. Knowing that my stop was supposed to occur about 6:11pm, I settled in for a good read glancing out the window as I imagined how
Arezzo
My only view of Arezzo. From the street just outside the station. I hear the city is gorgeous as some of Roberto Benigni filmed a lot of the scenes of Oscar-winning Life is Beautiful here. great life would be if I just up and moved house to Italy.
Now, my parents will probably laugh a little when I say that I would like to dabble in a bit of gardening as I grew to hate it so much as a child, but I would like to grow some flowers and herbs and berries to start with. Not full on gardening by any shot. Graduate to some lettuce and peas in a couple of years if the berries are still living.
I could seriously get into some renovation and building works as I can swing a hammer with the best of them (thanks Dad). I already have a well-stocked tool box. Then after the structural projects were "completed," I could work on curtains and bedding and little other sewing projects (I really want to learn how to hand embroider so that I can monogram anything and everything). My mom is thinking about getting a new sewing machine and I am hoping that she will hang onto the one I learned to sew on even if it is only to do buttonholes (I cannot figure out how to do them on my machine so
if I need buttonholes, I go to Ohio and have Mom do it--thanks Mom).
I know that I can do all these things eventually without moving to Tuscany but I think I would make more time to do the things I enjoy doing if I was ensconced in the Italian culture. I do not think they have different clocks here, but time seems to move at a slower, more languid pace. One of my Italian friends in London said that Italy was about relaxing and enjoying. I completely agree.
This is exactly what I was doing on the train. The compartment had very welcome AC, I had a good book, the Tuscan countryside was beautiful. I was the epitome of relaxing and enjoying.
My Rough Guide is good, but the one thing I would add to their book is a more complex train map. I had sort of been paying attention to stations as we passed through them, but none of the names meant anything to me as they were not on my basic map, it was not 6:11pm, and it was not my stop at Poggibonsi-San Gimignano.
Around 5:55pm I stowed my book and
readied myself for disembarking. We stopped somewhere just after 6 and then did not stop again until Arezzo. No idea where Arezzo is but I know it is not right because it is now almost 6:30. I sit back down and figure out where Arezzo is--it is on the train line parallel to the one I need, but now I have missed my chance to turn around and head back to Florence. Bugger! The next stop is something very little with a big name. Since it is Sunday night I decide to hold out for a slightly bigger station with a better chance of getting myself sorted. That station was Cortona.
For those of you who have not seen or read Under the Tuscan Sun, Cortona is the place Frances buys Bramasole, her house. If I had not been trying to get somewhere else, if it was not almost 7pm on a Sunday, I would have struck out into the town to explore and find Bramasole and taken it all in stride as part of travelling. As it was, my hotel was to be picking me up from the San Gimignano bus station--30 minutes from the train station in
Poggibonsi--at about 7. Not good. Not good at all.
The other part of the story I forgot to mention is that basically I have been travelling this whole way with a valid ticket, but not for the journey I am making. My sister was given a stiff €45 fine for riding the bus with a non-validated ticket. So, in Cortona I hoped to rectify the ticket situation by purchasing a new ticket from Cortona all the way through to Poggibonsi. The ticket window was closed and the ticket machine only gave tickets for Arezzo, Rome, and Florence. I got one to Arezzo because I know that it is a big station and I really wanted to make sure I got the right ticket and knew about any and all changes I needed to make.
I get myself sorted and head off to the platform. Train is delayed. Story of my life. I used the time to call the hotel and let them know that I was running late--understatement--but that I would call when I got to Poggibonsi so that they know to be in San Gimignano about 30 minutes later to meet the bus. Just as a
I made it
This is along the edge of the city looking out into the surrounding countryside. wrench in the works, the last bus from Poggibonsi leaves at 9:10pm. I do not know how long my journey is, but I am guessing that I will not make it in time especially with a delated train.
My train finally comes and I am off to Arezzo. Upon arrival to Arezzo, I queue for the ticket window which thankfully is still open. As I am standing in line I can see that the time when the train I should be on is getting closer and closer and the line is not moving nearly fast enough. And then a 60-65 year old woman tries to queue jump.
I yelled at her. In Italian. I was quite impressed with myself. I only have complete mastery of four words and I used three of them and she got the point. (I think the non-verbal cues helped a bit as well. Nothing like a point to the end of the line while using my teacher voice.) She sort of said something in a long Italian sentence that I did not understand, but her tone implied that she said, "Oh, well, I just had a quick question, won't take but a minute
Towers and Buildings
in the Piazza della Cisterna. dear." I pointed to the end of the line and said
grazie, no.
I step to the window and the lady helps me get a ticket and my journey is now going to be Arezzo to Florence (AGAIN!!!), Florence to Empoli, and then Empoli to Poggibonsi. I figure this will be well organized and all will be well. Every time I have to change trains, the next one does not leave until almost an hour after I arrived at the station.
At this point, I am guessing that you are thinking, "Give up. Start over in the morning!" but I cannot. The place I am staying is a very smart place that cost quite a bit, but it was all I could find. Rough Guide even said finding a place to stay in this little burg was like trying to find room at the inn. And even if I do not show up, they'll still charge me for the night. AND I would end up playing for somewhere else in addition. So I read a bit (ha!) more of my book and get more enamored with wanting to move to Italy, a hilltop village in Tuscany in particular.
Being artistic
This is the Cisterna with some of the towers of San Gimignano. I arrive. (I have kept the sentence short to mirror the great feat that it was such as in the shortest verse in the Bible. Fewer words equal greater meaning which I otherwise lack based on the length of this entry.) Next jobs are to find a payphone to call the hotel and make sure that there really are no buses. Definitely no buses. No taxis either. And no phones that work anywhere around the station. Well, there was one, but you had to have a card, not coins, to operate it.
Now I am stuck with no place to go, no idea where in Poggibonsi anything is (the town did not make the Rough Guide--for good reason), it is almost midnight, and I have nothing. So I start wandering. I will either come across a phone that works or an acceptable place to sleep for the night. Even if I come across a phone, I will probably need to still be on the lookout for a place to sleep as I cannot get to the place at which the hotel is meeting me. Neither phone nor place to sleep is looking promising.
I should have
From the top
Climbed the steps to the top of La Torre Grosse (the big tower) to see the city. just left my pack hidden behind a big plant because it became quite heavy on my walk. But I finally found a phone. And it worked. With coins! By this time I had a good cry and felt sorry for myself enough that I was able to have a conversation sans sobbing. I explained that there were no buses and no taxis and then after a bit of conversing with someone in the background, they said they would meet me at the station in about 30 minutes. They came, they loaded me in, and they delivered me...to the hotel and from a night of sleeping under the stars. The hotel was well worth the price I paid (even including the €25 they ended up charging to act as my taxi) and from there I could see the towers of San Gimignano standing tall on the hill. I headed straight to bed as I was so completely weary from the days touring and travel.
The next morning I awoke and had the most wonderful breakfast of Italian bread and sweet cornbread (I really must acquire a good recipe for this so if you have one, send it to me please!).
The staff then shuttled me the 3km into town and I was happily on my way to go explore the 14 towers and surrounding town of San Gimignano.
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Lauren
non-member comment
Mary, you rock
And honestly, I'm glad we are only going to be traveling to places you are VERY familiar with... I just don't think I could handle all the missed trains and wrong information the way you did. So glad you ended up seeing a beautiful place and the people at the hotel were so kind to you. Anytime you're ready to set up house in Italy, I'm there!! See you soon :)