I was a little nervous as the kids wouldn't have carseats, but I wasn't THAT nervous because since it was so early in the morning there were almost zero other cars on the road. The trip was actually decent to the train station and the cab driver ended up being super honest. The meter read a little under 21E, so I even felt like we scored a deal. I tipped him and he was so grateful. I was very relieved that it was an honest cab driver that picked us up.
We got to Termini station, which if you remember from earlier in the blog, was a named location for a future terrorist threat. Since our train was leaving so early I was a little less worried about a threat. Since we were early for our train, our platform number wasn't on the screen. I asked someone else standing near the monitors and she told me that it would come a little closer to departure time. I was getting a little nervous as we had to wait around for like 30 minutes. I was so happy when our platform number finally appeared because we could board the train.
The train was super nice and we got 4 seats facing each other, how fun!
And then after some breakfast, the kids were out! All three of them! Daniel and I dozed off too!
Our first stop was the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Many people on the travel forum advised against making a stop over in Pisa. They stated that it really wasn't worth it to make a special stop to see. But, for me, we were so close and its sort of been on my bucket list. I just wanted to see that Tower and who knows if we would get the chance again. So we boarded the train and it was pretty cool! It departed at 6:15am and we arrived at 8:26am. We then exited the train and bought bus tickets from the newsstand. There was a really helpful blog about the easiest way to get to the Tower of Pisa. I printed out the directions that included pictures and that was so helpful. We walked across the street to the bus stop and the bus was there in minutes. I confirmed with the driver, "Tower?" to which she replied "yes" and we were on our way. The bus ride was probably only about 10 minutes. Once we got there though it was starting to sprinkle. That was a bit of a bummer, but what could we do? We were already there. So, we walked towards the Tower. It was definitely a sight to see. So very very cool.
We took some snaps and admired the craziness of the Tower. The girls were in shock. They thought it was so cool. It was also cool because we were there with just a handful of people. We practically had the place to ourselves.
So strong Priyana!
Daniel thought the customary pic with the Tower was silly.
After some pictures and admiration, it started raining a bit harder and we were getting pretty wet, so we decided to hit up the McDonalds we saw on the way in for some coffee. We got some pastries too. The McDonalds was similar yet different to the ones in the states. They had a different menu and they had pastries for sale. It was a nice McDonalds.
We were probably in there about 20 minutes and the rain seemed to be almost done. I wanted to go back out to see the Tower one more time before heading back to the train. It was an entirely different scene. Im not sure if in the 20 minutes we were in McDonalds 5 tour buses came or what, but the place was now packed!!! We stayed about 10 more minutes taking more pics and admiring the Tower before walking back to the bus stop. My advice, definitely get there early! Having the place to ourselves practically was so awesome! We didn't walk to the top, even though you could, because kids under 8 can't go up and apparently its a 3 hour wait. We didn't have time for that! It would have been cool to walk up, but I really don't feel like I missed out.
We got back on the bus and confirmed that it was going to the train station. This was such a sweet sight to see on the bus ride back.
We got off at our train station. These were the only tickets we didn't purchase ahead of time for a few reasons. One, the tickets are the same price for Pisa to Florence even if you buy them the day of. Two, we didn't know what time we would be done at the Tower, so this way we didn't have to worry about making a train at a certain time and we didn't have to waste time waiting around in case we got done earlier than expected.
We got our tickets and went to the platform we were told to go to. I think we had to wait around 30 minutes. Luckily we met someone also waiting that spoke English and confirmed we were in the right spot.
Waiting on the platform...
We got on the train to Florence and we had plenty of space! Veena fell asleep waiting for the train, and we were able to leave her in the stroller asleep on the train. She slept the entire way. The girls listened to music and Daniel took a nap.
All our stuff for two days for all of us... two backpacks and two strollers.
Sisters traveling together, listening to music together, and learning how to braid hair.
It felt like we got to Florence pretty quickly. The only bummer was that it was sprinkling hard in Florence too. Since it was raining, we decided to stop in the tourist center. We got a map from the lady at the desk and she informed us that it was supposed to rain all day. Bummer. So, lucky for us (ha!) the vendors were all selling umbrellas. We figured we should get one for Pri since Sariah and Veena had the strollers and were covered. We got one for 3E and I kid you not, we used it for like 3 blocks before the rain stopped for the rest of the day. When we bought the umbrella there was no blue sky in sight and I thought for sure it was going to rain all day. Even though we wasted 3E, we were glad it stopped raining. So first, the Duomo! One word: Incredible. It's massive. And the architecture is gorgeous.
We went inside...
I got pretty choked up once we got inside. My mom used to tell me (actually still does) that whenever you go into a new church you can make three wishes. Well, for the past 2 plus years whenever I went to a new church, I would pray that my cousin Jean would win her battle with cancer. Not being able to have that same wish now that she's gone really hit me. It made me sad to watch Priyana light this candle in honor of her Auntie Jean.
The inside was pretty magnificient as well. We stayed for a bit. Then all of a sudden, on the loud speaker we heard "SILENCIO!... SILENCE!... SILENCIO!... It was loud and mean sounding. In hindsight I know it was a reminder that this was a place of worship and therefore people needed to be respectful. But at the time, there was just something about the voice that scared me. My mind made up this scenario that it was a hostage situation. And that any minute we would be given further instructions. I took one look at Daniel and said, "Lets go" and almost ran out of there. Im sure he saw the look of panic in my eyes, or at least the crazy and followed me out. Jumpy much? Its funny looking back on it now, but at the moment it was just an instinct.
Afterwards, we decided to keep walking. We tried to ask a lady that had a store selling perfume for directions. She was literally standing there with nothing to do, no customers, nothing. But when she saw me walk up with a map, she quickly said, "No directiones!" Fine lady! Maybe someone would buy some of your damn perfume if you were nicer to them. I mean, seriously, your shop is right in front of the Duomo... I think you have to just deal with the fact that people are going to ask you for directions!
Anyways, we walked around the corner and found a cool restaurant to eat lunch at. Pasta and pizza!
The super nice waiter gave the girls free passes to go on the carousel outside. They were sooo excited. They had already asked me on the way in and I said no, so they thought it was their lucky day that they were given a free ride. Veena had her first carousel ride in Italy!
With my girls in Florence! Loved all the statues!
It was so beautiful walking around Florence. I hear its full of great museums too, but we didn't do any of those with three kids and limited time. Plus, Im not all that into museums myself.
Beautiful scenery is right up my alley though...
Another beautiful church...
So about the time we were on the loop back to the train station, I was looking at Daniel's geeky day pack and saw Priyana's lambie. I remembered earlier in the day he said he had Sariah's Mo-Mo too. Im not sure why, but all of a sudden I just asked him, "Where did you put Mo-Mo?" He told me on the other side of the backpack to Lambie. Well, he wasn't there. He looked in his backpack and I looked in mine and Mo-Mo was nowhere to be found. I was pissed (at Daniel). What the heck? Why wouldn't he put the monkey INSIDE his backpack to keep it safe? He's saying things such as, "I told her not to bring him" and "It was really secure, how could one fall out and not the other? The kids must've messed with it." An "Oh well" attitude which got me even more mad. I said lets go back to the restaurant to see if she left him there. It was a long shot, but it was worth a try.
Back story... Pri has had Lambie for awhile, probably since she was 2 or 3. She took him everywhere for awhile. Then right before we went to Grand Cayman, I went and got Sariah a monkey from Party City (where Lambie was from). They had those two little animals by their side the entire trip and have always each loved their little animal. Right before Veena was born, I went back to party city to find her an animal but they no longer had the same type. I ended up finding her something similar, a Giraffe, who Ive been trying to get her to love since Day 1. We are still working on it.
Anyways, it broke my heart that Mo-Mo was lost. It was like a piece of Sariah's childhood. We walked FOREVER, with Daniel really being no help in terms of directions. We probably walked for close to an hour trying to find this restaurant because we didn't know the name of it and it is easy to get lost in Florence. We at least had the landmark, the Carousel, to ask for directions. At one point Daniel was like,"Are we still looking for the restaurant?" Umm, yeah, duh?
We finally got to the restaurant and nope, no Mo-Mo there. I was pretty sad. I told Sariah that I would get her a new animal once we got home and she was super excited. She said, "I never really wanted a monkey anyways." Im sure she was sad, but this kid is always positive. She loved that monkey, there is no doubt about it.
Anyways, we walked back towards the train station. We were about a block away from the train station and Im not sure why, but Daniel checked his pocket and the Monkey was in there?! I really couldn't be mad at him at this point for not checking sooner and making us walk that far because I was just so happy to see that Monkey! Sariah's response? "Will you still buy me a new animal too?"
So, we made it back to the train station with plenty of time to spare. I think we had about an 1, maybe a little more. We went to the little cafe attached to the train station and got some coffee and water. Since we were so early (hey, we didn't want to miss the train!), our platform number was not even ready yet. We sat in the little cafe, in a spot where we could still see the monitors. I was getting a bit nervous once we only had 20 minutes left before our train was supposed to depart, but soon afterwards our platform number came up and we boarded our train.
Pri was tired from all that walking to find the "Missing Mo-Mo."
She felt kind of silly being in a stroller.
The train ride from Florence to Venice was in First class which was really nice. We didn't have the 4 seats facing each other, but that was okay. None of the kids slept at all on this journey, but they did good. It left at 5:30pm and arrived in Venice at 7:35pm.
It was so cool arriving in Venice and seeing the water all around. We left the train station and I had directions with pictures all ready to get to our hotel. Luckily, the hotel was only a few feet away from the train station in a bustling part of town. It was so cool!
In fact, one of the best advice I have gotten from all the travel forums I posted on for this trip was to stay right in Venice. I had planned to stay in Mestre, which is just a short train ride (10 minutes) to Venice. I figure we would be arriving at night, crash at the hotel and then go into Venice in the morning and stay all day until the train left. But someone advised against this. So many people mentioned how staying right in Venice was so worth it. I took the advice and changed our hotel and I am so, so, so glad I did. They were right... it was so worth it, and as probably a once in a lifetime experience for us to be in Venice, I am so glad we spent the extra money to stay right in the center of the activity. It also made many things easier. For one, we went straight to the hotel, checked in, dropped off our stuff, fed Veena and then walked to dinner. We got to stay out late, have a beer and wander around since our hotel was so nearby. The other positive was that we got to leave a bag and one stroller in baggage storage for the entire rest of the next day and we picked it up right before we had to be back at the train. It was perfect and hassle free in so many ways.
Once we got to the hotel, the girls were so excited. Our room literally overlooked the bustling streets of Venice!
Veena was excited too because the rooms were joined by a bathroom and there were two little steps (you can see them if you look closely in the pic below) leading up to the bathroom from one room. This girl loves steps, so she kept going up, down and sitting on it. We let her play for a bit to get out that last bit of energy.
We went out to dinner very close to our hotel. We walked around for a bit to help Veena fall asleep in the stroller. We got to sit outdoors and eat by candlelight. It was perfect!
Daniel was happy he got some beer. Im sure after all that not worrying about losing Mo-Mo he could've used a little relaxation.
We ate dinner slowly and hung out for awhile. While we were waiting for the check, we met a family with three boys from Chicago. We were sharing travel stories and itineraries and such and just enjoying some conversation.
We walked back to the hotel and we were all ready for bed. The kids with their lollipops. If they behaved well during the day, they got a lollipop after dinner on the way back to the hotel. They earned one every night for being so good! Lucky them!
Veena didn't want to wake up and I didn't want to wake her up, so Pri and I slept in this bed and I let Veena sleep in her stroller. She woke up late for a feeding and I kept her in bed with us after that time. The make up of the room was a bit weird.. it was a joined room, meaning there were two separate entrances and one bathroom in the middle connecting. Because there were two main doors, we didn't feel comfortable with the kids sleeping alone together. So, we each took one kid (well, I took two) and called it a night.
Loving Venice already!
No comments:
Post a Comment