Day 2 started out very early, but as we had all actually slept in a bed we were in pretty good moods. Now, I contend that this day was where we had some of the most fun, even though we had mishaps every step of the way.
We started off early so that we could jet to the train station and grab a train to Assisi. A few of us headed down to the breakfast buffet at the hotel to grab some food to go, but apparently that was r-u-d-e. (Mishaps 1, Us 0) The breakfast man yelled at us, "you sit! you sit!" So we sat for approximately 30 seconds, with the worst table manners you have ever seen gulping down coffee and tearing into croissants.
The day was planned for a stop off in Assisi for a few hours, we could wander around, pay our respects to St. Francis and then head on to Florence. It wasn't too far out of the way and the trains were free, thanks to our Eurail passes.
See? Not too far out of the way!
But, then we missed our train. GAH. (Mishaps 2, Us 0 keep score with me)
We figured it was no big deal, Lisa and I seemed to remember there was a train like an hour or so later. So, we grabbed a better breakfast,a t the train station. Which was actually super enjoyable. Freshly squeezed orange juice, cappuccino and a chocolate croissant for around five U.S. dollars. Wish I could grab that combo every day.
After eating, Lisa and I casually strolled to the train schedule. Where is that later train? Umm, why can't we find the later train? Because there is no later train. Ugh. (Mishaps 3, Us 0) After a few quick, "how are we going to tell everyone else??" exchanges, and trying to find any train that took the same route, we resigned ourselves to the fact that we were just going to head to Florence early. Why not? This actually turned out to be one of our best decisions, so I will give us a point here. (Mishaps 3, Us 1)
Oh, lemon soda, how much I miss you.
Once we got to Florence we went ahead and checked into our hotel. The stored our luggage so that we could wander for a while and come back to get into our rooms in a few hours. Who could be bored with sites like these?
(I think I am going to do a hotel review post after recaps, so stay tuned if you are interested in following in our footsteps!)
After wandering a while and grabbing a fantastic lunch, with 'ice menu' - our combo deal for gelato at the end of the meal, (Mishaps 3, Us 2) we came back to the hotel to find Adam and Jess out on the veranda area - more on that little area later. We were excited to see them and headed in to check in. The room keys got handed out, and we all marched right into the elevator.
Where we promptly got stuck.
No, seriously.
(Mishaps 4, Us 2)
Austin yanked open the doors, and there we were, in between floors.
Lisa and I laughed and laughed...though no one else really did.
You see, there was a happy little sign that clearly said "Limit 4 people" that we paid no attention to until we got stuck. Lesson learned - in America they over compensate for people weighing way more than they actually do. In Europe, they don't.
The poor hotel attendants had to crank us down by hand, how embarrassing.
No one else but me would use those elevators the rest of the trip.
Eventually, we got all safely settled into our rooms.
By the end of the night however, we wound up the day with a beautiful dinner with views like this from our table
So I would say, in the end, we won this round.
More adventures from Florence to come!
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