no parlo italiano

I was pondering on what to write here and then I remembered that I had posted quite an accurate depiction of my experiences on my blog after I had returned from the trip. So I figured I'd quote a bit from there. First a little background: This was a trip from Northern Finland to Italy, on a bus. The route was as follows: Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Milan, Genoa, Pisa, Florence, Rome (+ Vatican), Venice, Austria, Germany, Finland.

So now we are in Genoa, Italy. It took us quite a while to get there but I loved the landscapes on the way. The landscapes on these trips are just so beautiful. I honestly dunno where to even look at when everything looks so nice. I couldn't even sleep because there was so much to see, and I was very tired mind you. On the trip we always went to bed pretty late and had to get up ridiculously early, and then walk around a lot. Then there were the long bus rides, but now that we'd gotten to Italy they'd get shorter. Honestly though, that bus had started to feel more like a home than anything else.

So, anyways, it was dark when we finally were in downtown Genoa. I think we possibly got lost or something, because the other bus took a turn and headed somewhere else, and we stayed put, waiting. I think our bus broke. We were there for couple of hours and we were all getting rather anxious. The other bus was gone and our drivers were doing something outside. Suddenly at this point one of my pals goes: "They have gone to a brothel!" Referring to our drivers, jokingly of course.

So we wait some more and finally the other bus returns... oddly enough, soon after, there's a cop car pulling over next to us all. Another cop car arrived few minutes later. Turns out the roads are very narrow and the other bus had gotten stuck. It's doesn't help that people always park on the sides of the roads in Italy. Bloody idiotic if you ask me, but I didn't really spot any parking lots either so I guess I should direct my anger better. Anyways, the cops had helped them out by managing the traffic. And now they would accompany us the rest of the way. It was amusing to have a cop car make the way in front of us and behind us. They even had their siren lights flashing and all. We just laughed about getting a friggin police escort the first night in Italy. Then we hoped we wouldn't end up in local news because we sure held up some traffic - earned a few annoyed glares. The small road was climbing up a steep hill, a mountainside really - the hostel was at the side of the Apennine mountains, I assume. But eventually we made it...it took hours, but we finally were at the hostel. We were simply exhausted at that point. Straight to bed, not much fuzzing.

Not until the next morning did I realize what a beautiful location for a hostel it was. It had been so dark during the night that I had seen nothing. But now I realized how gorgeous the view was. The front yard of the hostel was like a huge patio of cement. We were on very high ground and the view over the city to the ocean was amazing. The view made me forget how crappy breakfast we had (a piece of white bread and one cup od either coffee, tea or hot chocolate, water you could drink how much ever you wanted - this does not constitute as breakfast for anyone who doesn't want to eat again five minutes later, but it seems to be a custom in Italy to have a breakfast like this...)

view from the hostel patio

Beautiful, isn't it (though much more breath taking in person...when no zoom screws up proportions etc)? Gotta say that hostel had the best view so far. Anyways, at 10AM we were ready to go and drive down. The cops were at the hostel waiting for us wanting to know what time 'we were active', as they put it. They would escort us back down again. The road down went alright...better than it had gone during the night.

This trip was a long one. The first proper one I had been on, ever (can't afford traveling). I can't believe how much I saw during those two weeks. Enough to talk about for half a life time, I'm sure. I wish I will be able to visit Firenze and Venice again some day. I loved those places. Hopefully I'm not piss poor some day and can spare some for travel.