In the summer of 2006, I worked in Munich and hungered to see the world. I was able to get 8 days off my summer internship and decided to go to Austria (Vienna) and Italy (Rome, Pisa and Sicily). After that chaotic trip, I wrote an email to my family and friends chronicling my adventures and these are the tales I will share with you for the next few weeks.
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The Vatican was going to be closed for two days due to a national holiday. I left Rome on Tuesday 1346 hrs and got to Pisa at 1657. The journey there basically involved me falling asleep and waking up to more lovely views of the Tyrrhenian Sea (the name of the Meditteranean in the North West of Italy.) The views were spectacular, and I got to enjoy the mountainous countryside of Italy.I had drank lots of water, and decided to venture into the restroom (I usually religiously avoid restrooms in trains.) This restroom was surprisingly very clean, but there was a strange breeze in the room and no windows. So when I was done using the toilet I tried to look for the flush button but could not find any. Then I looked into the toilet and strangely there was nothing there. No tissue. No water. I needed to solve this mystery! I peered further and what do I see………………………….the train tracks!!!!!! Yes you heard me right. All the regional trains I took in Italy also followed in the same fashion. I was soooo totally grossed out. Not only is that like major pollution….I mean all the toilet paper that must be littering the train tracks all over Italy, I vowed never to cross train tracks in Italy. This was just way too disturbing. How can they make a toilet that looks just like a normal toilet but discharges on the train tracks????? Strangely I had seen one of the other bathrooms had a sign that said “Out of order.” I wondered what “out of order” could have meant. There was definitely no plumbing involved in the toilets .In Pisa I walked for half an hour, found the leaning/falling tower of Pisa . I mean that tower is dangerously leaning. It looks like it could fall over any minute now. Pisa was a cute little town though it looked really ancient (not ancient like 1500s, but ancient like stuck in the 1920s.) Maybe it was the town or maybe it was my new sunglasses, but the town had the strange brown color/ sepia that TV had just after black and white and before they got color quite right. I managed to find a cute little dress in Pisa (5 euros.) Stuff was really cheap in Pisa and I wished I had more time to check out the shops. My train was leaving Pisa at 1900 and getting to Rome at 2228 and my train to Sicily would leave Rome at 2300. Yes I know I am very daring. Sooo yes my train from Pisa left ten minutes late, and the whole journey I was holding my breath knowing that if I missed my train to Sicily I would be homeless for the night and really messed. Luckily my train got to Rome at 2248 and I hopped into my train to Palermo , Sicily .
