Palace Wanderings

The Night Train (An Adventure to Southern Italy)

Following a strenuous day of education, the HUF group embarked on adventures to southern Italy. The first leg of this trip was an overnight couchette. Such trains rides were not new to me, as I had experienced at least one when in Greece. A few things did come as a surprise to me. First of all, I was the only couchette, to be a mixture of guys and girls (I had intense nightmares of being expelled from Harding), secondly, we were joined by a young Italian man. An Italian man, who really spoke little English (I guess that should be expected), but that talked to us for four hours anyhow, even after we tried to sleep. These are the things that I learned (it took all five of us with two dictionaries to interpret), his name was Orezzo, he was 19 years old, and did not go to a university because he is a sponsered cyclist. In fact he claimed to be the champion cyclist of Sicely. My new freind also had two girlfriends, one in Florence, and one in another town. He seemed to have a sense of humor. When asking our ages he discovered that I was at least two years older than every member of the room, at which point he nicknamed me Molto Vecchio, which means very old. He called me that the rest of the night. Other than that, the train ride was rather unadventerous; although, I did discover that I need to attempt not to end up on the bottom bunk in the future, I don't really fit.

On Listening to Mark Twain

At the beginning of my adventures in Italy I posted a Mark Twain quote on this blog. As I travel I have been attempting to follow his advice, and so last Sunday I got lost. Not only did I get lost, but I got lost on purpose. In a small way, it was an attempt by me to explore and discover interesting things in Florence. The following information is the best way I have found to get lost on purpose.

Step One: Get on a bus, any local bus, preferably one of which you know nothing of the destination.

Step Two: Get off said bus, and a random unknown stop, and wander deep into the streets.

Step Three: Hopefully by this time you are lost. Now find your way back to the bus stop home, while enjoying the city around you. Hopefully you will discover, something new and interesting.

The results of this experiment were somewhat mixed for me. I did learn how to get to the train station, that is a good thing. Then I somehow ended up at the Duomo, which was slightly disappointing. I do believe that in the future I would like to have a compass to accompany my map, so that I can get my bearings easier. Although, it would be more of an adventure without one. Sunday roles back around in a few days, I can't wait to get lost in Florence again.