Got up with good intentions to go see the Vatican. Packed everything,
then went to the station, only to discover that there was a public
transport strike. Queues of hundreds of people waiting for taxis, and
no metro to get us to our destination. At least the main line trains
were running.
Back to the hostel, and we decided to go to Pisa for the day instead.
Got on a slow train, which took 1 1/2 hours longer than the timetable
said it would. Played cards (I did NOT cheat, grrr, silly Kate's paper
diary. I just played very well) and read books.
Pisa has no luggage lockers at the main station, and only one train per
hour to the airport where they do have lockers. Crazy. We took our big
packs up to the Piazza Dei Miracoli where the tower is (by bus - the
strike finished at 5pm, which only left us waiting about 1/2 hour by
that stage).
The tower was... well... leaning. It was also EUR 15 to climb (they've
got it stable enough for that now, and no more wires holding it up), so
we didn't bother. You could only climb every hour anyway, and we would
have missed our train back. The buildings were very nice, and Kate
managed to replace a magnet she had broken after getting it here last
time she came through!
Ate take-away for dinner on the train to Civitavecchia.
Our boat was delayed, so we waited around for hours, playing 'I spy'
and 20 questions, and looking out over the sea and the car park in
which many cars pulled up, the occupants snogged for a while, and then
drove off again. Not enough light to see much detail of what was
happening though.
There was no terminal or anything quite so advanced at the wharf. We
were dumped by the shuttle bus next to a tiny bar, and had to wait for
ages until eventually the accumulated passengers stormed the car entry
(it was raining) and got inside!
We were upgraded from our budget cabin to a quite nice 4 bed cabin all
to ourselves (with our own bathroom and all!) because there were so few
passengers. No extra charge.
Walked around to the bar where they had lots of bread which was a bit
old, but they gave it to us for free.
Slept well.
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