Day Seventy-One

Florence, Italy

Today Jillian decided to go home :( :(

This morning we got on a train headed to Florence. We neglected to get a reservation for two reasons. 1) We have ballin' Eurail passes, and 2) because we were so used to the German rail system and its fast free (for Eurail holders) trains. Turns out this was a bad idea because you need to get a reservation (they aren't too expensive) for highspeed trains here. Luckily the conductor was pretty nice about it and just kicked us off at the next stop instead of making us pay. This stop turned out to be Bologna, the city where Sarah lived for a semester. It was warm and all we could really do was sit and wait for the next train. The heat was obviously taking its tole on Jillian, and while we were waiting she decided to call her dad and ask for help getting home. He told her to go to the next travel agent we saw and get them to set up a plane home. :( It was pretty sad to hear, but she really isn't feeling well and she will be much happier/healthier in PEI.

The train from Bologna to Florence was slow and extremely warm, but it was breath taking. It was through some sort of national park. There were mountains and valleys, trees and tunnels. Very cool, figuratively speaking of course, because it was so warm, even the breeze was warm.

Tonight we didn't do much other than gt supper and find out where we were staying.
We ate supper at a sweet restaurant down the street from our hostel. It was run by an older couple and it was run semi-under the table so that they didn't have to pay taxes. This meant we had to sign a waiver though, which was alright because it was only 10 euro for an amazing three course meal. There was bread, water, caprese salad, pasta, and delicious chickpeas. The man who ran it called me Mr. Bubbly because I was the only one who got carbonated water at the table haha.

Tomorrow Jillian leaves for home, and we go in search of whatever makes this city cool.

-Pat