As the title suggests....our train from main stn was at 5:09 to frankfurt. our local train from feuerbach was at 4:56 and had to reach main stn by 5:02, so 7 mins is always more than enough to just go to the main platform and board. we were anxiously waiting for our train and min by min passed by and finally it arrived at around 5:01. we never really bother about these one or two mins when we tell the time to someone in real life. we just round it to the next 5 mins. but first time in life in understood the value of every min that was passing by. we reached at around 5:08, and we ran out our lives to catch our train. and the result....obviously shocking for us. the train left just a min before we arrived. we just did not know what to do. waited for the ticket counter to open. i said we had missed the train, and i explained to him how our local train cheated us :P but some more bad luck came our way. if we had to get another ticket without paying anything extra, the computer had to show that the lead time from feuerbach to main stn as 13min, and it showed 15!!! so he explained us how our planning was wrong, and we had to pay another extra 85 euro to get ourselves two tickets. a great start to a loooong tour.
all along the trip i found hari's expressions the most hilarious. you will find out slowly.......................
we took a ryan air flight(for 5.99 euro) to pisa. as we rode through the streets of pisa, the disgusted look on hari's face was wonderful. he was frustrated to see the dusty roads, a village like environment, and really after you have been in belguim and germany, italy known for its historical importance and tourism is not so advanced. so we reached our youth hostel to find no body there. the place looked a bit mysterious to us, so took a hotel nearby. we forgot to cancel the hostel booking and never really bothered about it, and we knew that they had billed us only after we had completed our full trip and came back home.
we saw the leaning tower of pisa and a couple of monuments beside it. there was a free tour that was planned by the hotel, and at 9.30 the next day we had a meet a lady at a clock tower. when we asked how we could recognise her...there came a very comical answer. the lady would have a sunflower pinned to her shirt, and we had to find her out by that. truly unvelievable. and of course the next day we did not find her even though we waited a long 20mins.
we then took a train to florence. even this is a small place same like pisa, and we can just walk from one end of a city to the other. all the monuments are so close by. we became experts in seeing the map and finding our way. we saw so many places in florence. i just dont remember their names to mention, but the beauty of the place is worth mentioning.
almost the whole week we had either beer or wine, with sphagetti or pizza, of course they are the specials of italy. da vince and michael angelo belong to this place, and so you can find so many artists and sculptors everywhere in the place. art is something which is given due respect, and that is a really positive sign for the future to come. the meuseums were also very good, informative and the paintings..just mind boggling.
i appreciated both pisa and florence, if not hari :) but venice was my best. shocked to come out of the station and find a pool of water, and i had to take a boat and not a bus or a train to reach my hostel...which was on another island called Lido...can you believe that!!!
i love water, right from my childhood i admired the vizag beach more than anthing else, and when i joined the aqua swimming pool, my love for water grew more and more. and i cherished my stay in venice. the love for water is now tooooo much.
we took a daily pass and took boats to everywhere and anywhere. we were there for a couple of days, and did not see the sun even for a second!!! water water water everywhere. boat taxis, boat ambulances, police on boats......just amazing how people there manage everything.
it was getting dark that day and we had to cover there ilands, murano, burano and torcello. by the time we reached burano, we did not find a single inhabitant, it was like a place ram gopal varma would love to direct a nerve shattering thriller. but it was a place famous for its glass factories and we visited a few shops where there were beautiful glass made articles...but of course far far away for our budget. so after the window shopping, it was time to go to torcello. this time we were the only people on the boat too.hari's expressions were worth seeing when we reached the island to find water and trees everywhere...and a black cat just passing by. he was ultimately frightened. on the board we could see a toll free no which we could call and ask for help...and to increase his curiosity, it did not work. he tried asking the boat driver for the isd code, but there was of course a communication problem, and the result, a big zero. i was laughing away at the sight of his face with lots and lots of tension. and he got info from somewhere that the last boat was at 8pm, and it was already 7.55pm. he rushed to the driver and persuaded him to take us back. he just could not imagine the scenario where we would be left alone on the uninhabited island...and then anything could happen!!!
the boat took us to burano, where we saw the boat timings. to ease a lotttttt of internal pressure, we found that the boats run all through the night :)
we came back to the Lido and had the same old italian dinner. next day hari was to leave early. so after seeing some more places, it was time for hari to go. and it was time for me to pass hours and hours just aloneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
i had lunch for 2 hrs, dont be afraid, i ate very less but just sat for a long time. then took to bus to the airport where i waited another 2 hrs. then the flight and the bus to frankfurt main stn were also ok, then started struggle. 2hr wait at the frankfurt airport, in the extremely cold weather....narakam kanipinchindi!!!
to add to the woes, it was a break journey...and the break was just unbearable. i got down from the train at Bruchsal at 3:30am, and had to board my train to stuttgart at 6:21am. 3hrs at a village, no one in the station, no where to go, nothing to eat or drink, very cold weather................if u know something more than hell, pls let me know, i can use this term exactly here.
as the time got near, i became happier...but suddenly nature started calling me...and for 30mins i had to oppose nature in all the ways possible..........and as soon as i boarded the train, the ticket checking woman greeted me and was about to ask for a ticket when i fleed to the WC and that was a moment of my life. i came out extremely satisfied to show her the ticket and went home safely.
this weekend has been targeted only to take rest......i have been travelling too much, and of course my body needs some rest. so after two days of very good sleep, i feel wonderful to start afresh.