I cant believe it

07/16/2005, 18:49 PM

15th July, 2005 about 11:15am
So, politics of a train station; Don't get in the ticket line if you have a question. You will get your head bit off by the people behind you. No. this was not us, but we were about to yell at the lady. it was 15 minutes before our train left and she was asking a million and one questions. Most of us in line didn't want to miss our train so, the lined yelled at her. it was hilarious. The lady got so offended that she got red in the face and everything. The funny part is, there was a sign right in front of her face saying "Customers buying tickets only, if you have a question, go to the customer service counter." I think she did it just to make people mad. I hate people like that.

So now we are on a train to Rome. I know what you are thinking. How can you ride a train and go into a city where they just arrested 174 people on suspicion of terroristic involvement? Easy. You buy a ticket and go. If I wanted to be afraid of things like that I never would have gotten to Italy. By the way, this is my first time every riding a train, so I am going to watch the scenery go by.

Later that day...or evening. 10:40pm

Ok, so the train ride to Rome was wonderful. Great scenery, a really cute buy sitting next to me, and air conditioning! Then, we arrive in Rome to find that all the city buses are on strike. Just our luck, although we have no problem getting a taxi. We get to IKEA and eat some Swedish meatballs. They actually tasted better than the MN IKEA's did. Although mom didn't get ice to have with her drink. (She figured since the IKEA in MN had ice, so would this one.) We then walked around IKEA for about and hour to find that we had spent 140 euros! Actually, that is not so bad, even if we couldn't find fans:( We then call to get a taxi. Good luck. We have 2 strikes going against us. 1. the bus strike, its giving taxi co. a lot of business, 2. We don't speak Italian so the taxi companies hang up on us! So we try for almost 2 hours to get a taxi with no avail. As hard as it was for us, we asked the supervisor at IKEA for help. He had 3 people helping and it took an hour to get a taxi. But we got one, along with a nice tan. Thanks Bruno, Barbara and Daniel at Rome Anagnina IKEA! So, we get to the train station and buy 2 First class tickets for the 10:40pm train to Perugia, only to find out that the train, although an express, doesn't go to Perugia. We have to get off at Terontola and have 10 minutes to catch a bus that will take us to Perugia. We will get home at about 1:45am! Mind you, we've been out of the flat since 10am, so our cats will be so hungry. They do have dry food, but they like their wet food too.

So here we are sitting at the train station, its 10:56pm and our train still hasn't left. Its hot in here because the air conditioning doesn't turn on until the train is moving. Yucky, sweatiness is all we have known lately. A nice luke warm shower sounds like heaven right about now.

So, I met the cutest Australian guy names Sam while we were waiting at the train station. He has been in Rome for 2 days, is going down to Nice tomorrow, and then up to London where he wants to take Italian lessons. I was just shocked that a cute guy with a hot accent even want to talk to me. I mean, besides the pizza guy, Sam is the only other guy to talk to me so far. But then again, I have only been here about 2 weeks.

Next time we come to Rome, we want to visit the zoo, the Vatican (of course), and the really big cemetery we saw. We also plan to take one of those double decker tour buses. It will be so much easier than trying to navigate our way around Rome in a car.

Mom is so happy just because we bought a few ice cube trays from IKEA. Now she will be content with out ice from the shops. ( 11:08pm, still haven't moved from the train station)

I was just reminded of a really cool thing that Italy yellow pages does. You call the number, tell them what you are looking for, (i.e.: taxis), then, they text message you all the numbers that they have. That way you don't need to have a writing utensil and paper to jot down a hundred numbers. now only if 411 in America would do that. What a time saver. America could learn a thing or 2 from the EY.

So, at school ( no, we still haven't been to class yet) we discovered a cool book called, "The little blue what to do, strangers guide to Perugia". It is a heaven sent. It had places to go, emergency numbers, people to beware of, and its funny. Like this one part on fast food, "Perugia does have one notable fast food restaurant where the French fries have approximately the same taste as the cardboard holder they are served in. If you want to eat that junk, why didn't you stay home?" *LOL* Its so true though. If you are going to another country, try the food. what's the point of a vacation/adventure if you just eat and do the same ol' same ol'? try different things like the local specialty. it might even be cheaper.

11:29pm. The train did some jerking but not much else. WHAT IS GOING ON??? Ah, just found out that they are changing engines. Great, now we will be sleeping at some train station for sure. Couldn't they have thought about the engine before they posted the time of departure? Just how I wanted to spend my time in Italy. Well, think of the positive right? As mom says, "Its such an adventure, just be glad we aren't in the middle of Africa with killer bugs eating us alive." True, but I think the bugs could get us home faster than the train right now. We also haven't really eaten all day long, other than the small amount of food from IKEA at 11am. So our stomachs are growling. The only thing I can think of right now is that at midnight, harry potter 6 will be out. And maybe by the time we get to Perugia, I can buy the English version of it. But sleep is the first thing we want to do when we get home. I don't even want to bother with a shower at this point. Just flop into bed and go from there.

So, mom and I have a plan for what we want to do if we get to stay in Italy. When we can save up a bit of money, we are going to move out to the "country", get a bigger place with a yard, get a small dog and maybe some chickens, and find jobs we can get to by train. We think we want to get jobs in a tourist town that needs people who speak English. this seems to be the easiest plan so far. But, give us a week or two and I'm sure we will come up with another.

11:33pm. We are moving!!! Finally! Moving at 3 miles per hour never felt so good.

The train we are riding on is like the one you see in the Harry Potter movies. It has cabins and on one side there is a hallway. Since we are if first class, there are 6 not 8 seats to a cabin. the seats fall down into sleeper sofas so you can maybe sleep 3 people comfortably. Its a nice change from the regular style train we took this morning.

I am feeling a bit better about riding trains, but, i am living proof that one shouldn't watch "Seconds from disaster" about horrible train wrecks, because every weird bump I didn't feel on the first train ride makes me jump.

Not only did we only get to see IKEA today, but we didn't even take any pictures of the trip there and back. GRRRRR. So much for us playing the tourist part today. Other than the fact that we don't know how to get a taxi and we don't know how to get home part. But that happens to everyone right???

11:57pm. We are 20 minutes into our ride and there are 2 people going back and for down the aisle. We don't know what they are doing. Are you lost, drunk, stupid, or worst of all, terrorists? Its making mom a bit nervous. I mean, after London, wouldn't you be? Although they blow things up more during rush hour rather than at midnight. ok, good, they found a place to sit. thank heavens. People are trying to zone out here!

It seems as though they shut off the air conditioning on this train. Big surprise! no worries . We are able to open the cabin window and a wonderful breeze is flowing in. If only we could get this kind of breeze in our flat. Tomorrow we are going to accost a taxi driver and make him drive around until we can find fans! We are getting desperate. Now watch, we get fans and cool weather will set in. Again, no problem. We like air moving no matter what the temp is. Or, "As long as its Italian air" mom would say.

I am exhausted. We didn't get our daily nap today and let me tell you, once you get use to getting a daily nap, not taking one wipes you out. Especially when you are on a train at 12:30am. In America we are use to long days and little to no sleep. here in Italy, sleep is a normal and more than once daily occurrence. Without it, I'm sure Italians would go crazy.

Saturday: 6:45pm

Ok, so we didn't get stuck at a train station. Tranitalia paid for us to get a taxi home. We walked into our flat at around 3:30am and just went to sleep. And boy did we sleep. We slept til 3pm. And no we didn't accost any taxi driver, we are too tired to bother at this point. We walked down to a local book store to see if they had Harry Potter, but no luck, all sold out. so I just ordered rush delivery from amazon.co.uk. 1-2 business days! Yeah! We then walked home. on the way we bought 2 kilos of fresh purple grapes from a local ma and pop produce store. I have never tasted grapes so good in my life. yummy. Well, tonight we are going to take it easy. just lounge around, eat some home cooked food,(eggs and pastas) and then back to sleep. Hope all of you had a better day yesterday than I did. But as mom says "Its such an adventure...". Ciào

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