Florence - train to La SpeziaSep 13, 2011
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| What a day!! Today was a day of almost disasters! Getting on the train to La Spezia was too easy - we're getting good at this - big mistake, the travel gods don't like it when you get too confident! We had to make a train change at Pisa and only had 15 mins, which is enough time if you know which platform to get onto - we didn't. We decided that our suitcases were very heavy after going up and down numerous steps to numerous incorrect platforms. It looks like we missed our train but,'it doesn't hurt to ask someone does it?' And when someone doesn't 'Parla Englaise?' just show them the ticket - platyform 5 in due minuto - all I have to do is find Treen, get to platform five and get on the train in due minuto - done but only just! La Spezia train station was another story - walking to the stairs (more stairs) we came across a lift that no one was using but there were no signs - feeling adventurous we said, 'Let's take a chance.' As soon as we got into the lift an alarm started, not particularly loud but enough to draw everyone's attention (did I mention it was a glass elevator?). Normally, when you step into an elevator and the alarm goes off you step out quickly? But if you're tired you close the door and hope that that will stop the alarm -oops! that just locked the door so we couldn't get out. I don't know what everyone looking at us found so funny? Did any buttons work? No. Just when we thought we were doomed to spend the rest of our holiday in a lift, like some game show victims, a man in a train uniform arrived. 'Which button,' we signed, he just signed back that he was holding a cake in each hand - you know two palms face up, the universal sign for I haven't got a clue either. Fortunately my analytical brain kicked in just before the hysterical one did, and I pressed each button systematically until finally I was convinced that pressing any button wouldn't work so then I turned the big red button with an arrow on it (the one I didn't want to touch because it was 'big and red'! Success, the door unlocked, we got out as fast as we could and shared the little joke (crisis) with the onlookers! Lesson learned - never assume anything when travelling. |
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