Assisi

Tuesday 6/23/09

Today we journeyed towards Assisi. Things started out ok, we managed to get breakfast, and get on the train. We found Assisi just as the travel sites described, down to the last detail, we knew where to buy bus tickets, and where to store out luggage for the day, but we couldn’t for see the snags that we would encounter over the course of the day. The snags really started in Florence, we meant to stop at an ATM so we would have cash on hand for our trip to Assisi, as well as cash for our B&B once we got to Rome. Unfortunately we didn’t remember to stop before we got to the train station so we figured we would just use the ATM at the Assisi station… no such machine. So then we thought we’d see a bank on our way to the castle Rocco Maggiore, but there wasn’t one. So we figured we’d get our tickets with credit card, and stop later at an ATM… the castle only takes cash… hmm.. now we’re stuck. So Morgan runs back down the hill in search of an ATM, and I sit down to wait for him, only he came back a different way then we’d originally gone, so my well picked location to see him when he was coming back up the hill resulted in him not being able to find me when he got back, and then worrying that I got lost or hurt or injured. Once we found each other again there were a few sparks of frustration. Once that calmed down we toured the castle. It was amazing, just as I remembered it. The only thing I didn’t remember was exactly the worn down stone stairs can be after 1000 years of use. In my spectacularly clumsy way I managed to slip going down the stairs of a particularly steep and narrow passage. I did manage to stop myself from tumbling down the stairs an potentially breaking my neck, however I stopped myself by throwing out my arms, into the rough stone walls. I now have several lovely abrasions on both forearms, the one on my left forearm is a good 6 inches long, and 2.5 inches wide… great… (nearly 12 hours after the fact and they are still stinging). Unfortunately my arms were not the only thing to get damaged in the fall, my watch took a hit too, shattering the face. So after our fun at the castle we had a great time exploring the rest of Assisi. We saw the Basilica and the tomb of St. Francis. We also visited a little chapel (inside a large basilica) where St. Francis died. After that we went to the train station to board out 5:45 pm train to Rome. A couple trains came and went, we were there early, so it wasn’t concerning. Then 5:45pm came… no train. There was an announcement over the paging system… in very garbled Italian we heard something about Rome, and late. So we figured our train was late, no problem. So it was completely normal when at 6pm our train pulled into the station, we got on, and off we went. Thirty minutes into the ride the conductor comes by asks to see our tickets, I happily whip out our EuroRail Pass. He looks at it, looks at us, and asks for our reservation. Reservation? The 5:45pm train to Rome didn’t require a reservation. He says yes that’s true, but we’re not on the 5:45 train, we’re on the 6:20 train. How is that possible??? The train left the station at 6pm? Do trains leave early for no reason here in Italy?? And What happened to the 5:45 train?? We were sitting in the station at 5:45 and there was no train!! So we go back and forth for a few minutes. His English is good, but not great, and my Italian is poor at best. Finally it hits me… I look at my watch, which we’ve been using to tell time with all along… it seems that after our minor snag at the castle, my watch has managed to loose half an hour of time. I try to explain to the conductor what happened, I even showed him my watch, and my war wounds. He was unsympathetic, and basically told us to get off his train, or pay 30 euro for an ‘on the spot’ reservation. We opted to get off the train and catch the next non- reservation train coming through, which would be at the station in 30 minutes. So we got off, and we waited, and guess what, that train ended up being delayed. So finally... finally we got into Rome at almost 10:30pm and were able to find the B&B, apologize for being late, and scavenge some dinner. Exhausted it’s now time for bed.