The day starts with final packing to leave the apartment in Rome. Finished, we order the taxi, throw the keys back into the apartment and head for the Stazione Termini to catch a train to Florence. This is where it starts to go wrong. Instead of typing Firenze into the ticket machine I stupidly type Forenze. Totally oblivious to the mistake I make I dutifully pay for the tickets and we rush to catch the train. I guess the first clue should have been the journey time of 4 hours but I ignore that. The second clue is when Mum mentions that she has just seen a sign that says Napoli, again I ignore that. We arrive in a town called Foggio and are required to change to a regional train which we manage. Of we go only to discover that we are climbing into the mountains and before you know it, there is snow on the platforms of the stations that we pass. OK, now I get that we are not going to Firenze, but where the hell are we?
It turns out we went south of Rome to the east coast and then crossed the Appinine Mountains. We were lucky to have a friendly train staff member help us to get off the train and catch a bus to Naples where we waited 2 hours, then traveled first class by Eurotrain to Florence.
We saw snow, talked about fishing with a man we meet on a train, Mum ran into a glass door (very funny), we glimpsed the Amalfi Coast, Pompeii and the bay of Naples. Our journey had started in Rome at approx. 9am and ended with our arrival in Florence at 10pm. Funny as it seems we both appreciated the day and with the exception of my moment of shear panic when I discovered that Forenze was not Firenze, it was a wonderful journey of exploration.
Anyone that tells you that you can't see most of Italy in one day is lying!
P.S. with the exception of the Duomo bells ringing every 20mins and the renovations going on in an apartment below us, our apartment in Florence is lovely.
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