Florence

            Well then it was on to Florence.  Florence was cool.  I mean it was cold and it was smaller.  And really it’s a place for artists.  I, Ladies and Gentlemen, am not an artist.  So, I tried my best to really love this place.  I think it was also because I was actually on my own this time, and because I can’t stare at artwork too long.

            Florence, like I said, is cool.  But it’s small.  And I know Rome.  Everyone knows what to do in Rome, but I didn’t know what I was supposed to do in Florence.  So I did what my good friend, Rick Steve’s, told me to do.  And he told me to go to the Duomo and art museums.  So I did.

            Duomo is nice.  Really the outside is pretty awesome and very different, but then you expect the inside to be even more awesome right?  Well it kind of was.  The dome is what’s interesting…the rest is bare.  The walls don’t have artwork, only the dome.  So look at that and then I guess go on your merry way.

           I then tried to pass the time with gelato and other forms of food, but soon I just wanted to go back to my hostel.  When I was there I met a few of the other guys staying in the hostel and they invited me to go out with them that night.  I did and it was fun.  But this has been my whole mindset with Florence, just ok.

            I started to like Florence once I found a scarf that I ended up wearing the whole rest of my Eurotrip.  Yep shopping, that’s what did it for me.  I got happier about leaving Rome because I like shopping.

            The next day I found myself going to the Academia Museum to take yet another not-approved picture of the real statue of David (there are two replicas in the city) and essentially reading my book.  Yep, strange world we live in now, folks, I chose to read a book.  And it was a good one too, 800 pages long so it lasted me the whole trip.

            Well the second museum I went to that day was the Ufizi Museum.  It was big and interesting.  But it was again, a lot of paintings.  And I feel like I sound completely uneducated when I say this…but there are only so many pictures of Mary and Jesus that I can look at…so I again read my book.  But I didn’t just casually want to leave a museum with no where else to go, so I put in my headphones, turned to my kindle and read for 5 hours straights while making my way through the museum.  I looked at everything on my way, no worries, but I paid for museum time and I was going to use it. 

            And then after the Museum closed on me, I had to wait for my night train to Munich.  That was just one heart attack after another.  I had gone to the train station earlier in my trip and they said that all night train tickets couldn’t be booked on the computer because of some technical difficult.  Ok fine, I didn’t know that was a way of saying, “sucks to suck suckah!” but I was sure going to find out.

            While waiting in McDonald’s for my 23:00 train (yes I got a cheeseburger), this lady was sitting at a table with a dog.  Well she has some mental issues that resulted in her scream like mad and the security and police had to get her out of the McDonald’s.  So solo-Mary was starting to freak out.  And if I didn’t already take that as sign 2, well I guess I’d have to learn the hard way.

            I didn’t have my Eurail pass yet.  I had called Chase/Visa, Eurail and many other places over 15 times in a week trying to figure out how to buy my pass and where to send it.  I now have all my credit card information memorized and many telephone people that hate my sass. (See what I did there?)

            So not only do I not have a reservation, I also do not have a ticket.  Just hope that I can buy one on the train.  As the train arrived, people rushed for the doors.  I tried to talk to many different conductors (the train was going to split on the ride) about my situation.  I talked to each conductor 2 times before they finally let me on the train to Vienna.  That’s right, Vienna, and I needed to go to Munich.  I was going to be taking the train to Vienna and then a train from Vienna to Munich to meet my cousin.  Thank God she was coming around 6pm.  Luckily the ladies I sat down next to urged me to talk to every single worker and push my way for a seat to Munich.  Not one person told me the truth until I started getting frantic.  Every single one told me that there were no seats at all and not nicely either, LIES.  Eventually I got a sleeper car bunk to Munich.  And after one interesting day of reading and cheeseburgers, I was off to meet Katie.