Easter

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I'll mention this right off the bat:

My camera is no longer functional. I managed to take only a dozen or so photos of the Grand Place. Very disappointing. I thought it was just low on juice...eh, wrong answer. I now believe the battery is in need of a replacement. So, with that, there will be no more photographs. Kodak Fail.

We left Thursday (04/9th) early in the morning. Took a train at 8:15 to Empoli and then transferred to a train heading toward Pisa Airport. The flight was okay. Was a bit of a rough landing. Thought we were going to slide. Grabbed the shuttle bus to the city center (~45 minutes). We walked around a SHIT load. Checked into our hostel. What else did we do? Hung around the Grand Place for a grand while. It's even more beautiful at night. Bought a waffle. Topped it with strawberry ice-cream. What else...what else. Kept on walkin'. Yadayadayada...we woke up at 4 something in the morning (04/10th). Our bus was at around 6. We ventured through part of the red light district and reached the train station where we would meet our ride. The women in the district each had their own window. They looked like dolls. 40-60 year olds caking on new faces.

Funny story? We got to the train station. We were looking around for where the Eurolines office was. I heard the call of a vending machine. Short story shorter, I lost my way and the reunion occurred 30-40 minutes later. The bus was delayed by an hour. We hopped on, and four hours later we were in Amsterdam. We walked around looking for a place to stay. Every hostel/hotel we checked had extraordinary prices. Eventually we settled into a place that charged us 35/night. We stayed until Sunday. We were all tired that Friday. We grabbed some food at an outdoor restaurant. Walked around a bunch. Explored much of Amsterdam. Yadayadayada...we went back to the hostel at around 5:30 with the plan to take a nap and go out in the evening. Space-The Final Frontier.

(04/11th)

We woke up at 7 the following morning. First things first: A giant breakfast. No Italian cookies. Pancakes and eggs. Bacon and orange juice. Yadayadayada...we met up with a free tour. Half-way through we had to leave. The guide was trying too hard to be a stitch.

Grrr...I had written a lot more but the internet shut down and erased my masterpiece.

Yadayadayada...we went to the Van Gogh Museum (beautiful), Anne Frank Museum (stirring) and the Red Light District at night (red). Yadayadayada...we walked around a lot more. Saw some swans in a canal near the district. It was, at that time, a jaw-dropping spectacle. Those swans were somethin' else. What else did we do? Grabbed some food at a Greek place. Yadayadayada. If I recall anything worth mentioning then I will update the blog. We went to sleep and caught the bus the next morning after walking around the Botanical Gardens.

(4/12)

Met up with two other people from the class who flew to Brussels. Walked around with them. Ate some food. Walked some more. We did do a lot of walking this weekend. Just thought I'd throw this in here: My camera works now! Hannah fixed it. Can't thank her enough. All it took was hitting it in the right places, I suppose. From working to dead to life once more. I'll be glad to have a working camera for when Jeff gets here. The only things I regret not being able to snap were the canals, the colorful amusement park in Amsterdam, the District, Space, the peeing statue in Brussels, the views from up above in Brussels and the church that I eventually peed on. Wow, I guess I regret a lot. I'll be back to Amsterdam though. A swing through Brussels as well, why not? After the Alaskan cruise and my 20th semester of schooling. That night we went to a karaoke bar and did a group song. The Temptations. I forget which song. I didn't pick it. I wanted to sing Star Man with the group, some Floyd and a Dylan song. Too bad we left early. Lame. Other people and their early flight. Yadayadayada...went to sleep.

(4/13)

Group left at around 6ish. I fully awoke at around 9:30. Got dressed and left by 10:20. Oh right, going back to 4/09...thought my HSBC card dicked me over but it turned out to just be the old machine at the airport. Thanks for the assistance dad and the 4 legged-wonder! That was a jolt. More random thoughts. I think I will be having my wisdom pulled from my body this summer. I also might need to see an eye doctor. What the hell, genes? So, I wandered around the Grand Place, grabbed a kebab; bought some chocolates and eventually gave them to my Italian teacher (Vittoria), saw the statue taking a leak; went to the top of a parking structure and got a sweeping view of the city (I could see the Atomium); peed on a church where the community had installed urinals (this was interesting...it had flowing water coming down from the old church wall and you could and can literally take a leak all over the church wall...how funky is that!), walked around some more and later on made my way to the shuttle bus. Got to the airport a little early (my feet held a gun to my toes) and waited for hours. Read a music magazine page to page. That actually ate up a large chunk. Got on my plane (smooth flight) and landed in Pisa at 11:30. Knowing that there wasn't a train and wanting to do something silly, I walked to Pisa Central from the airport (it's not that far...20/25 minutes). I followed the tracks. It was dark though. Silent. An eerie silence. Reached the station and basically waited by the ticket counter with a couple of bums and a handful of Italian travelers. Played solitaire with the deck of cards I had. Some dude walked over and stood near where I was sitting and just watched me play the game. I was too tired to laugh at the oddness of it all. There really wasn't much to do in the station. The next best thing to my amazing card show was staring at the vending machine, figuring out what to buy for the rip-off prices of 1.50 and up. It's even more fun when you don't have any money. Which would you prefer to eat if you could? A chocolate bar or potato chips. Once you get passed that decision the game's over. And then it's back to the magical Kevdini.

Where was I?

I caught a train to Empoli at 4:15 and then waited in Empoli for 2 hours. Jumped on a train after 6 to Siena. When I arrived I took the bus to the center and walked to the school. I brushed my teeth in the bathroom and dealt with class for an hour and 15 minutes. After, I took the bus back to the house and ho fatto una doccia. Poi, sono tornato al scuola e adesso sono qui. I'll make a blog about my complaints later. PEACE.

So tired...

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Comments

[Cuj]

I mentioned the bisque.