My Favorite Fiasco

I have never in my life had a day go so horribly wrong, yet go so amazingly magnificent. What started out as a simple wish to relax on the beaches of Cinque Terre, turned into an all day, fantastic fiasco.

Already having horrible luck traveling this weekend, my frustrated housemate, Gina, and I decided Saturday night that we would spend Sunday in the acclaimed Cinque Terre. Like the entirety of my trip thus far, I joined in without a hesitation. To start, I didn't really know how to get there - I probably couldn't have even found it on a map. We found the train time, went to bed, and overslept...

We grabbed the next train out of Firenze to La Spezia at 11 o'clock. But, in order to get up the coast to "The Five Cities", you need to take a connecting train from Pisa to La Spezia. This sounds all well and good, so we head on our way. The train ride to Pisa goes smoothly without a hitch, we get off the train, and we find the board of departures. Next to "Destination: La Spezia", Gina and I read "SOP" under delays. What this means, we have no idea. We meander around trying to find a train official to assist us to no avail. Finally, a fellow traveler informs us that "SOP" translates into "CANCELLED". My only thought at this moment is, "If they did this in New York, someone would lose a limb." We find out that the next train is in an hour, so we decide to venture out into the city to see if we can find the Leaning Tower.

Glancing briefly at a map, we decide that we're going to go across the entire city, take the typical "I'm a tourist!" pictures, and come back to make the next train. Much to our surprise, this small city is a lot harder to travel across than one assumes - especially in the afternoon sun. We cross half the city making a few wrong turns, cross the bridge over the sludge green water, and follow the signs and pictograms the rest of the way. Somewhere in the second half of the city, we decide that we're never going to make the next train, and we're already here, so we might as well enjoy our time.

We find the Duomo next to the Tower long before we find the Tower. Smaller than anticipated, the Tower seems to hide behind the new city buildings for protection from casual tourists. However, we were determined to take our wretchedly stereotypical pictures. After a mini-photoshoot, our pictures truly do come out adorable, and we had a fabulous time trying to get that perfect shot. After confirming everyone else's advice that there is nothing else to see, we head back to the station. I buy my latest postcard for my collection and Gina barters with the pushy African vendor for a bow-topped, wide-brimmed, floppy hat. Despite the bartering, we were still handed back counterfeit coin. Apparently, there are fake coins traveling around Europe being pushed on to foreigners who never look at the coin they are given. Needless to say, we learned that lesson.

We make it back to the train station only to find another cancelled train. The tally so far is two cancelled trains and one missed train. We wait another half hour and finally get an outbound train to our desired destination. We're moving along until our train is halted on the tracks right before the next stop. We're sitting there a few moments, and I glance out my window to see smoke emanating from somewhere on the train or train tracks. Not wanting to believe the faint stench or burning rubber, Gina gets up and tries to go to the next car to see what the problem is. Only issue is that as soon as she opened the door, there was no way we could deny the asphyciation-inducing stench of burning rubber. Laughingly, we sit down and wait about 20 minutes until the train begins to move again. In fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants travel, you often have to just laugh at how horribly comedic the situation is.

Sometime after we begin to move again, we hear these American voices coming into our car. Towing two enormous suitcases and dragging duffle bags, our new friends stumble into the seats across from us. We proceed to talk the entire way to La Spezia without pause. During which, they inform us that the issue with the train delays has been strikes. Yes, I said the "s" word. Unbeknownst to us, Gina and I had been attempting to travel to the beach during the infamous Italian practice of striking. Silly Americans.

We finally reach La Spezia, only to be told upon exiting that the beach is not at La Spezia and it is a six hour walk to Monterosso and the beach. It's already around 4 o'clock, we're exhausted, and there is no way we are walking six hours. Amazingly, Kate and Dan, our American friends, are headed to their hotel at Monterosso. Since we've already become acquainted and enjoyed one another's company immensely, we decide to take a train together. We scurry to the ticket booth, buy four tickets, and promptly head to platform three. With our train leaving soon, we look on the board to confirm the exact departure time only to find our destination blinking. In true Italian fashion, the platform was changed. We have three minutes to get to our train. Kate and Dan head to the elevator, not wanting to lug the suitcases down the stairs full of frantic people changing platforms. I sprint to the train to try and hold it while Gina stays behind to make sure Dan and Kate are able to make it. One door closes on me and the conductor behind the door glances up from his paper and points to the opposite end of the train. I'm full out sprinting down to open car. In my broken Italian I tell the nasty, female conductor that we have three people running to make the train. She starts full out yelling at me in Italian to which I can only yell "THEY'RE RUNNINGGGG! THEY'RE RIGHT THERE! GUARDI!" Eyes rolling and breathing exasperatedly, this wretched woman commands me to scream to "RUN!" One after another, Gina, Kate, and Dan are sprinting down the tracks to make this stupid train. They finally make it, seats are found, and luggage stored. We all collapse into our seats and the train begins to inch away from the station about ten minutes later only to STOP about 20 seconds in to departing. We sit there grumbling that the conductor made us sprint for no reason and then the unthinkable happens. The train moves backwards. We return to the platform without any notification of why, when the next train will be, or even to leave the train. No joke. The tally is now: 2 cancelled, 1 missed, 1 stopped and cancelled after we began, and 1 small issue of burning rubber.

Completely exasperated, exhausted, and just plain DONE, Kate and Dan decide to take a taxi. Beyond generously, they offer to take us along. We take a beautifully scenic car ride through the Italian coast line. Despite the beauty, driving through the Italian coast is akin to being stuck in a tire and rolled down a rocky mountain. Ironically, Gina and I had discussed our horrible motion sickness on our way to Pisa and we end up on the road from "Car Sick Hell".

I rolled down the window, stuck my hand out, and proceeded to force myself to forget the roller coaster in my stomach. I frantically tried to take pictures of the endless, bright blue horizon. I wanted to capture every moment of this picturesque paradise. From La Spezia to Monterosso, our cab ride was about an hour long. We were informed that only authorized cars are permitted to travel within this seaside sanctuary, and were dropped off at the closest point to wait for a taxi from Dan and Kate's hotel. Within a few moments, we were picked up and driven about a third of the way up this mountain to the most amazing view of Monterosso. Draped in elegant hibiscus flowers, swooping ivy, quaint light posts, and warm sunlight, their hotel perched upon the cliff.

As if they hadn't already done enough for us, Dan and Kate got situated in the hotel and then took Gina and I out to dinner. We walked down to the shore and stuck our feet in the water. Gina and I were determined to get to the water! We stood knee deep in warm, crystal clear, beautiful water and were interviewed via Flip Camera for Dan and Kate's children. They were capturing every minute of their trip for their children and gave us the honor of being part of their memories.

We cleaned off the sand and sat down to have a drink before our dinner reservation. We sat on this adorable patio overlooking the beach and sunsetting over the water. As our reservation time neared we made our way to the restaurant past the Bocce Ball Tournament.

We had a fantastic meal and even better company and conversation.As the night neared a close, Gina and I said our goodbyes and made our way to the train station. We walked through town to the train station only to find that there were no ticket machines open or people selling tickets at the booth. We decided to just get on the train; if worse came to worse, we would pay the fine to buy the tickets on the train. Forty minutes later, and our train arrived to take us to La Spezia. We reached La Spezia, bought a ticket to Firenze and sprint once more to the train. We got off at Pisa to reach our connecting train to find that there were no more trains for the evening. We would have to wait in Pisa until 1:12 in the morning to take... a bus. Not only that, but our ticket to Firenze would not get us on the bus because it was now the next day and therefore no longer valid. The tally now rests at: 2 cancelled, 1 missed, 1 stopped and cancelled after we began, 1 small issue of burning rubber, 1 non existent train, and 1... bus. After about two hours in the worst neighborhood possible, with a locked bathroom, and no jackets our train arrived and we boarded as fast as possible. We reached the Firenze train station at 2:49 in the morning and flew the few blocks like Hermes put little wings on our ankles.

Our day could not have been written better or worse. It was heaven in a hell. Nothing went right, yet everything fell together into what I know will be one of my favorite stories and most prominent memories. I can never say thank you enough to Dan and Kate for their kindness in their company - no less their generosity in taking care of us. Dan and Kate are phenomenal people and will always be remembered as being part of of my favorite fiasco. Grazie mile!