Thursday, August 19, 2010

June 13 - Cinque Terre to Florence

One last day in Cinque Terre... lunch at a nondescript cafe provided some of the yummiest sandwiches I've ever eaten... and I'm not a sandwich fan!  Ciabatta bread, cheese and salted meat... one salami and the other prosciutto, with a side of caprese salad.  A fine example of letting the ingredients speak for themselves!  We crossed over to the gelato cafe on the other side of the square for a final cappuccinio - some of the best of the trip.  At 1€30, we'd order them in twos and threes a couple times a day!

Florence was calling, so we said goodbye to half our travelling crew, and hopped on the train to La Spezia. We had heard rumors of yet another train strike, but of course couldn't get a straight answer from any of the Italians!  Once we reached La Spezia, we found out that that there was indeed a 24 hour train strike for the entire Tuscan area.  We needed to get a train to Pisa to connect to Florence, but no trains were running.  There was, however, a high speed train that was going to Rome via Pisa, so we grabbed that.  Once in Pisa, we found out that the trains might be running to Florence, but we'd have to go to the platform and wait to find out.  Lucky for us, the Florence train pulled in, so we wouldn't have to bus/carpool the rest of the way to Florence.  We didn't lose any time, but certainly a whole lot of patience!  The Italian train system is nothing if not entertaining.

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