Italy-Unexpected Day 8 in Pisa

Might as well see the Leaning Tower, Cathderal, and Baptistry again!

Too bad the tower had scaffolding on it...

This is what I remember most about Pisa--the lines of cheesy italian gift stalls that go the entire length of the grass where the Tower, Cathedral, and Baptistry are. I kind of liked these masks...haha. Good thing I already had one from Lucca I bought in 2006.

These are more on the cheesy side.

Pisa back street. Not my favorite city in Italy. Definitely not somewhere I would want to have to stay overnight in, but oh well!

So many scooters! And these all look like the same brand...

This is what the train station "Arrivals" board looks like when there is a national strike. Don't know what SOP means, but the only train running is from Pisa Centrale to Pisa airport. It is about a 10 minute walk from the train station to the airport, so I'm glad they kept such a useful train running haha.

My unexpected hostel. Luckily it was clean, cheap, and everyone staying there was extremly nice! Too bad none of the other travelers had heard about the strike yet. I don't know why Trenitalia doesn't post it in huge red letters on their website, but then I guess that would not be the Italian way.

Somewhere in Pisa...

Next door to the last "somewhere"

To continue on from our major revelation at the Florence train station, Tiffany and I waited in line at the TrenItalia office-with about 10 other people- to further ask about the strike. The man confirmed that ALL regional trains were suspended during the strike time. The only trains running would be Eurostar which only occur a few times a day, and stop at only at certain stations-mainly going from Roma Termini, Milano Centrale, and Pisa Centrale-but not from anywhere I could catch them.

So we caught our train from Florence to Castgilion. At this point, I'm freaking out. To top things off, we have to ride the scooter back to Lignano, and we don't think we have enough gas to make it to the top of the mountain. To make matters worse, it's siesta time, meaning everything's closed, including the gas stations where you can get change-we only had large bills and for some reason the automatic machines wouldn't take our Euro coins (they give you no change-so if you use 1 euro 60 cents to fill up your scooter as we likely would have, and you put in 20 Euro, you simply pay 20 Euro...). Not having access to the internet, I had no idea when the last train would be before the strike which was in about 5 hours time. With the train ride taking 2 1/2 hours, we could only hope there was a train that would get me to Pisa before the start of the strike. To our knowledge, with a "planned" strike time like this, most trains will stop where they are at the start time of the strike. Some stop at stations, others don't. It will definitely not take you to your final station if it's past time. So we thought "light" thoughts, and somehow made it up to the top of Lignano with the gas light on most of the way.

On both the family computer and Tiffany's laptop, we frantically searched for solutions that would not result in tons of money or me hopping back on a train after 7 hours of travel and actually going through the station I need to be at now. We confirmed that charter buses and taxis were out of the question ("No, we not running-it's a strike!" says the charter buses- taxi would cost somewhere around 200-300 Euro), and changing my flight would be very costly (good thing I didn't change my flight to Saturday-the tube wasn't running on the Northern line in London to get me from the train station to Bob's-damn planned engineering and strikes!).

So, I had to book a hostel pronto and catch the last train out. I had about an hour to pack everything after finding a hostel and get to the train station. I tried to pack my best for the airport-no liquid in my carry on, clothes on top for tongiht and tomorrow as I wasn't sure what the hostel would be like when I got here, then Alfonso, Elia, and Tiffany took me to the train station. I made the train just in time thanks to a large bus blocking the winding road down from Lignano (really?? anything else Italy?). I got to Pisa Centrale just after 8:30 and walked to the hostel in a not so great part of town-right by the train station which are notoriously not good parts in most towns. Luckily, the hostel was fine, and everyone there seemed nice. I asked about somewhere to get some food (hadn't been able to think about eating yet). A guy who had just arrived from Northern UK went with me to find food and water-luckily, because I got us lost about 6 times, and he got us unlost about 6 times (and I had been here before, and he had never been to Italy).

With the train stirke, the hostel was completely full, and turning people away. Evereyone was trying to get somwehere esle because no one really needs a full day in Pisa-a few hours will do. So he also walked around Pisa with me in the morning-trying to make the most of our time in Pisa. We walked by the train station and of course it was total chaos. People coming in from the airport had no idea they couldn't leave Pisa, taxis' were charging twice their usual astronomical fee to get out of Pisa, and the line for the TrenItalia office was about 40 people long. I got to the airport super early, for a flight that was 20 minutes late, and sat an hour on the tarmac for "engineering" issues. As much as I love Italy, I was a little exhausted at this point and ready to get back to Bob's.