Well, we saw Pisa. I feel a certain sense of guilt that I really only saw the tower and nothing more. Every other place I've been I feel like I've learned about the history and experienced a certain bit of the culture - taken the time to really pontificate on how each region reached the place that it is. I think on that in America as well as Europe. However in Pisa I committed my ultimate sin of "just" being a tourist. I went, saw the tower, took some PICTURES and went back to the hotel. I'm not one who is prone to just SEEING things. I like to actually learn about it and try to piece it into where it fits in my knowledge of history and the world.
OK - I have to share. I'm actually typing this on my notepad on the train from Pisa to Milano to catch a train for Frankfurt. We're traveling through the Cinque Terre and oh my WORD. The train runs right along the side of the mountain and it's a drop down to the most amazing blue water. It is breathtaking. I'm a bit sad I'm not going to get to spend some time here, but there is something to be said for leaving something in life to discover. It will give me an excuse to return to Italy. Uncle Mick is going to run through it this morning. From the looks of it, this is a place I'd want to stay for a really long time. I mean, we just stopped at a train station called Moterosso and it looks like it was created in a dream.
(Crap - don't plug your computer in on the train. Bad idea. I hope that bit of power surge didn't hurt my computer.)
I am realizing just how big a place the world is. How much more I really want to see but don't have the time to see EVERYTHING on this trip. I need to start with the things that I find pertinent NOW and remember that I have many, many years ahead of me. I fully intend to take the time to return and do more of this. I may never have the chance to travel with such a sense of caprice again, but I certainly expect to have the chance to travel again and am adding places to my list. One thing I will CERTAINLY factor into the equation is weather. I must say that the really hot weather in Rome did cast a bit of a pall over my experience. I'm not a hot weather baby. I have to say that I live in the North in the US on purpose.
Well, August 1st I'm for Australia! I can hardly believe how fast this summer is going by. It's amazing. Day after tomorrow I fly halfway around the world to another continent. That in and of itself is amazing. I wish I could explain how in AWE I am of the whole experience and it's not even over yet. It's not like I'm returning to the US and my trip is over, it's just a new and different leg. Stunning.
P.S. I made it to Frankfurt Offenbach just 14 hours later following some train delays and a snooty Tourist Information office lady who seems to think that 15 KM is a really long way. For American followers - that's about 9 miles. That is NOTHING in our book. Heck, I drive 18 miles to school one way each day. I just had to take a 10 minute DB train to Offenbach from Frankfurth Hauptbahnhoft - you would have thought I was going to Mars. She was FUN. But the Achat Plaza in Frankfurt/Offenbach is seriously one of the nicest places I've stayed. It's very, very modern and very, very new. Plus, it's one of the most affordable places I've stayed - just $67 a night for a full on hotel. That's RARE.
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