For Immediate Release

If I were forced to encapsulate my experience in Italy in one phrase, it would most likely be: The train is late.

Don't get me wrong, I loved Italy, but the unifying factor -- and as far as I could tell -- the solidifyier of national identity in Italy was the train delays.

I am pretty sure every train we rode was at least fifteen minutes late -- most were hours. But, it is Italy, so if you count on the train delays, you have more time to experience the rest of the culture.

The first stop in Italy was in Ventimiglia, a town on the French/Italien border. We were there to change trains, but thanks to the Miracle of Delay, we were able to look around the town. As far as I can tell, it is famous for one thing: the world's largest ball of mold. It was enormous.

After that, we rode to Genoa, the birthplace of Christopher Columbus. We ate pizza in the shadow of a giant Columbus statue while waiting for the train.

From Genoa, we rode the train down the coast past the beautiful Cinqueterre and the marble mountains of Carrara to Pisa. The leaning tower of Pisa is Italy's greatest tourist trap.

We spent one hour in Pisa and hopped on a slightly delayed train. Our goal was the hilltop town of Siena, but thanks to the wonders of Italien mass transit and sleep deprivation, we ended up in Florence.

We waited for the train to Siena in a tiny town in central Italy. We went to the platform where it was listed. Oddly, the train arrived on time. Oh how foolish we were. We hopped on the train and away we went -- in the wrong direction. You see, we climbed on the delayed train that should have been on that platform 20 minutes earlier.

Florence was beautiful, though, so I have no regrets. We saw the famous Duomo and walked past the museums where the David and Medici collections are kept. It was like Disneyland on spring break. The lines were too long for our meager time budget, so we just waved and walked on. We also walked across the famous Ponte Vecchio.

From Florence, we tried to go to Rome. We reserved seats on a fancy high-speed train. My earlier statement about all the trains in Italy was not entirely accurate. This train arrived in Florence and departed on time. However, 30 kilometers from Rome, it broke down on the tracks. We baked under the Tuscan sun (maybe we weren't quite still in Tuscany, but close enough) for three hours before the train backed up to the last station and we rode another, slower, more crowded train for the remaining distance.

But while we were standing in the aisles, we met some Canadian kids with whom we would tour Rome.

I liked Rome, but it was hot and dry. The first night, we walked around seeing the sights in the dark. The big ones were lit up, but some of the smaller ruins were dark. I think they all looked a little better that way. The darkness let the imagination fill in the details and I could almost picture their former splendor. In the day light, they looked like piles of stones and weeds. Here are some pictures of the Colosseum, the Mouth of Truth (which bit me), the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain.

After seeing Rome, we spent a day in the tiny Vatican City, which is quite large if you spend a day wandering the endless museums and churches. The Sistine Chapel was spectacular, although the Judgement wall was a bit disturbing. After the museums, we wandered through St. Peter's Basilica. It was big enough, I think.

Our last stop in Italy was Venice. We took on of the boat busses down the Grand Canal to Piazza San Marco then wandered through the tiny streets past dozens of tiny canals back to the train station. We only spent a few hours there, but I truly enjoyed the city, which surprised me.

We boarded a train to Austria, which was late and the air conditioning did not work until we crossed the Austrian border.

Please choose another country

Germany

France

Spain

Austria

Switzerland

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