With our bags in hand we waved goodbye to Hotel Fortuna at 7:15am Saturday morning. Somehow we managed to leave Elly's laptop's power cord plugged into the wall, which is where it will stay until Monday evening. Doh. Each of us had a bag in each hand and a backpack on our backs. The two of us and all that heavy luggage had a long journey ahead of us.
We rode a bus down the hill to the train station, where we had breakfast. Breakfast was a chocolate croissant each, a cappucino for me and a hot chocolate for Elly. The croissants and Elly's hot chocolate were considerably lesser quality than we had become acustomed to at the pasticceria near Fortuna, but were still VERY good. The croissants were filled with chocolate mousse and even train-station, powdered hot chocolate is better here than in the US. And only 5 Euro for the whole breakfast. For the few of you who know what I mean by this: the chocolate croissants in the train station rival Jean Pierre's in Durango for deliciousness.
We bought two tickets to La Spezia, but neglected an important detail. Here is a bit of advice that I wish someone had told me: always know your transfers in advance! We made it okay, but it was pretty hairy there for a bit.
From Perugia we caught a train to Terontolo, from Terontolo to Firenze (Florence), Firenze to Pisa, Pisa to La Spezia. From La Spezia we took a taxi to Biassa. All told, the day consisted of four train rides, a bus, and a taxi, and took 5 hours. Except for Firenze to Pisa all of the transfers went pretty smoothly. When our train got to the end of the line in Terontolo we found a train destined for Firenze and hopped on. Same for the La Spezia train. The Pisa train was a different story. In Fierenze we got off the train and couldn't find ANY trains destined for Pisa. This is because the trains are named after their final destination, and Pisa is just a stop along the way. We couldn't find anyone to ask and the line to the ticket booth was too long to risk it. Elly and I each took 5 of the departure tickers and watched for "Pisa" in the list of stops. I didn't see any on my five, and Elly didn't see any on hers. As a last ditch effort, Elly got in the long line for the ticket booth and I double checked the the departure tickers. PISA. There it was. Platform 3, with only 2 minutes to make the transfer. I grabbed Elly out of line and we ran to the far side of the station. If the trains in Italy ran on time we'd have missed it. As it was, we had only JUST gotten our bags onto the train with us when the train pulled out of the station. LOOK UP YOUR TRANSFERS IN ADVANCE, you'll thank me later.
The cab ride to Biassa was another exciting story, though it is one you've heard many times before. Cab drivers are maniacs! The highlight of the ride was when the cab driver took a blind turn too quickly and nearly rear-ended a police car in his lane. He responded by cussing out the cop, shaking his fist, passing the cop in a no-passing lane, and speeding off many kilometers over the speed limit. The cop just watched it happen, too, I dunno WTF.
At the end of that harrowing ride, we wound up in the tiny mountain town of Biassa. Biassa is this super small, adorable little town laid out on a switchback on the side of the mountain. It has one hostel, one restaurant, one market, one church, and one B&B. We stayed in the hostel, but somehow wound up landing a private room though we didn't request one. Pretty freakin sweet.
We got to Biassa between pausa and dinner, so despite having not eaten since breakfast, Elly and I had to wait another two hours to eat. We laid out a plastic bag as a picnic blanket and ate some of our snacks. Our meal was comprised of kiwis, mozzerella, and crustini with pesto. We took a short walk, then napped until the ristorante opened. Another delicious italian meal and then straight to bed with us.
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