I left Rome this morning at 8:30am. I caught a train to Florence where I rendezvoused with 10 others from our group with National Geographic . From Florence we took a chartered bus down to San Quirico (~2 hour trip). Funny story: I had fallen asleep on the train. I was awoken by someone who just boarded claiming I was in their seat. Indeed I was. In fact, I was in the wrong car. As I was making my way to my correct car, I ran across an American women whom I asked how much longer it was until we arrived in Florence. Her reply "Dear….we are in Florence!".
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
<Jeremi jumping from the train with luggage in hand right before the doors closed>
Who knows, had I not been woken up, I could be in Berlin right now. LOL!
In retrospect I should have taken the train into Sienna. By going to Florence I added an additional 4-6 hours of travel to my day. Whatev!
The group on the National Geographic Expedition varies drastically in age and in background. I think I am one of two or three in their 30s. One guy my age, Jason, currently lives with his wife in the South of France where he just finished publishing his second book. There is a 19 year old sophomore undergrad from University of Michigan. She is the youngest in the group. Most of the others are in the mid forties through sixties. California, Michigan, and Florida seem to be the major clusters where everyone is from.
This post is sans any pics as I am on dial up. My gut instinct was correct when I read this place had Internet connectivity in every room. They provided us with a dial in number and username/password when we arrived. Ugh! 24kps!!! I feel like its 1994 again. There is rumor among the group that there is a WIFI hotspot somewhere near by. Believe you me when I say that our first real expedition of the week is uncovering that bandwidth. Until then, expect narrowband posts.
Breath-taking photos! Keep the info flowing…I wait with bated breath for the next post.