The Best Pizzeria Sign in Italy
Wifi access in Puglia has been sporadic and/or slow, but hopefully I will be able to upload bits and pieces of the last week’s adventures when I get home this weekend. In the meantime, I shall leave you with what is certainly the Best Named Pizzeria in Italy.
Aren’t you glad for proper internet?
Travel Note: Puglia Stage
An administrative note from the powers that be: we are traveling to Apulia for a stage (the Italian word for field trip) and will be staying there for the rest of the week. The UNISG program includes about a week’s worth of travel every month or so, where we go to another region of Italy or another country, and spend time learning about local products, meeting producers and sampling the specialties of the region. Puglia is well known for its olive oil, beaches and aggressive men. Ah, my first stint in southern Italy.
Odyssey to Italy: Results
My first Italian sunset, right before I realized I was hilariously lost.
It was going perfectly, until it wasn’t. I managed to navigate through London, catch my connecting flight in another airport, and got through Turin before making a mistake. At the Turin Porta Nuova train station, I asked for a ticket to Bra, and it was printed with the destination as “Bra.” Thus, I assumed that the train led directly to Bra, especially since the clerk didn’t mention any sort of transfer. An hour too late, and after some fitful dozing on the train, I panicked when I realized that this line didn’t directly go to Bra, and I should have transferred trains at Carmagnola. Luckily, the first person I asked for help was ludicrously well-prepared and whipped out a complete book of train timetables, and helped me figure out a new itinerary to get “home.” With palpable relief, I stepped off the bus at 22.37, about two hours later than planned. My flatmates came to pick me up in a car, and were overjoyed that I hadn’t inadvertently ended up in France or something. All in all, I have taken 10 planes/trains/buses to trek from New York to Bra, Italy in the last 24 hours, while lugging about 3/4 of my weight in luggage, up and down stairs, through traffic, across bumpy cobblestones. Heathrow might be my new favorite airport now because they offer the free usage of luggage carts. This has been one of the most draining days of my life.
Leavin’ on a Jet Plane
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xJWVHIWOoI&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
Plan for the next 24 hours:
9:35 pm flight from JFK to Heathrow
Bus fro Heathrow to Gatwick
Fly from Gatwick to Turin
Bus from Turin airport to train station
Train from Turin to Bra
Get picked up by new flatmate Valeria at the train station at ~20:30 on Monday 5/24.
I am currently lugging about 80% of my body mass in luggage. NOTHING CAN GO WRONG. See ya’ll six hours in the future.