FLASHBACK: Feet on the ground

Aug. 7 2008. Finally landed in Pisa. It was extremely hot, beyond humid, poor Bear ,still in his carrier was panting like crazy as we waited for the Bus from Pisa Airport to Florence SMN station. The bus took 1 hr 10 minutes cost 8 E, 12 rt FYI and when we got there I hit the ATM because we had to pay cash for our apartment we took for the month.

About the bus. When I fly in or out of Pisa I ALWAYS take the Terravision bus. It's a deal at under 10E and way more reliable and quicker than the train. They run frequently through the day and you can get your ticket right from the guy on the bus, which is always how I do it. During high season there is a chance the bus is sold out so there is also the option to buy your ticket online.
http://www.terravision.eu/florence_pisa.html

I chose an apartment on line for the month of August so when we got here we could find someplace long term. I didn't want to be locked into someplace if it wasn't all it said it would be. Good call on my part. The apartment was in the Oltro Arno on a vicolo. Vicolo meaning a street soooo tiny the car can't get on it and you have to drag all your crap up a hill. For us that meant 6 suitcases, 2 carry ons and the Bear.

So the guy I was dealing with via email, who I will give props to for being attentive ,answering all my questions and always responding in a timely manner sent a young Canadian girl to meet us. I felt bad for this girl because when I saw the place I had a cow. I'm not always diplomatic ( actually rarely so but I am getting better) and after 16 hours door to door travel with no sleep in 24 hours on a 100 degree day in Tuscany with equal humidity I completely lost my shit. Even Robin who is usually beauty pageant diplomatic was not happy.

Reading back on my original writing about this apartment it comes across super harsh so I have decided to just say here the place at THAT moment did not appear to be as represented in the photos I had seen. End point. ( Diplomacy at work)

Robin was leaving in a week to go back to NY and would return for the month of September but I would have to live there the whole month and I wasn't having it. Got the guy on the Canadian's cell and told him so. He had nothing to offer me as August is filled with tourists. The exchange was a bit heated, we were on our own.

Stranded on a vicolo, we couldn't help but laugh. Robin and I had traveled a good amount together and ALWAYS experienced some sort of snag so we could roll with the punches but I had one extremely unhappy cat on my hands here. We dragged all our stuff (which was mostly mine) to and archway by a stairway. It was shaded there, so we set up temporary camp.

                                                                    the archway


So there we sit, each on a luggage trying to shade Bear. Poor cat hadn't eaten except for that little bit on the flight . I opened the large blue wheeled duffle bag to get him some treats. I packed food for a few weeks ( he was finicky) and a disposable litter box for when we first arrived. A gasp! The litter box cracked and exploded and all the litter was now in my shoes and on my linens,it was everywhere!!  UGH! It sucked but no time for that I had to just zip it back up and ignore the situation for now, we were homeless.

Robin starts going thru the emails on her Blackberry that I had sent her for a bunch of different apartments. I had put out a lot of feelers before leaving NY so we did have other people to contact.We decided to take a hotel for 2 nights to give us time to find an apartment which would not be easy with everyone on vacation, it was August. Italy basically shuts down in August unless super tourist geared. I left Robin and Bear at the covered stairs and headed down the hill to find a Taxi.

The street brought me to a taxi stand to the  right of Ponte Vecchio if facing Duomo. There was one taxi. I tell her in my very basic Italian at best that my friend and bags are up the hill. Can she take me there to get them and then to an inexpensive nearby hotel with air conditioning. We had been traveling 16 hrs, it was hotter than Bangkok and I needed an airconditioned room not to mention Bear needed one too.

So in I hopped in and up the hill we go to where the entrance to the stairs were. Or so I thought, she took a street that stopped at the top of the stairs. More lugging. I asked her to stop, I got out and that taxi driver starts laughing at the sight of Robin and Bear and all that luggage. I told her we will bring it up the stairs just to please wait.

Finally, all in the taxi and the driver takes us to a lovely pension in the Oltro Arno. I will not give the name because we had an incident involving Bear and they were so nice and helpful there that I stll feel guilty three years later.

The pensione was really lovely, had a great outdoor area overlooking the Arno our room was huge with a big bedroom area and another smaller one ( did I mention Robin is allergic to Bear) So she takes the small room, me and bear the large, nice big bathroom, free wifi and breakfast and especially a/c all for the bargain basement price of 100E a night. SOLD!

So here's the thing, we smuggled Bear in. I know ,a bit unethical , but we were desperate and couldn't take the chance of them saying no. Plus, the woman driving the taxi had suggested we didn't say anything, so we didn't. But we did door- block that bellguy Mossimo from ever crossing the threshold to room # 51. And that cat who hadn't meowed once in 17 hours held fast, not a peep.

Postnote: Looking back at my reaction to that first apartment I think it was so adverse due to a mixture of things. Yes I was tired and cranky but more than that I had American expectations. I had come from living in an awesome pad for six years, with every modern amenity. A princess I am not, I have traveled bare bones plenty of times, slept on a desert floor, have had to pee in bushes when there was no bathroom, but this wasn't a vacation. Would I live in that apartment now having seen others much worse? Absolutely, if it had A/C  ;)