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We needed to have an early start today, the trip was long. I got up early, not by default, but because I was feeling real crook. Bali belly, I think. I put it down to food poisoning, but Cheryl reckons I pigged out on too many half ripe nectarines. Whatever, it wasn't nice. Eventually the others made their way to the surface. Not a pretty site. I think I will go back to my old habit and get out of bed last.
The planning was good, and we got away by 8am. Mind you it took us about 10 mins to work out the GPS. It would be much simpler if they used English. Cheryl took over the navigator's role today and I sat in the back to keep an eye on the driver alert. When you're in close proximity it is much easier to address the malfunctions that occur from time to time.
It was only about a 35 min drive to Pisa airport to drop off the car. All was going well until a van came around the corner about 10 minutes into the trip. The driver alert, and the back up system went off! But we made it, Brian soldiered on. We stopped at a fuel station to fill the car up, but looked like proper dummies, as we put the nozzle in the fuel line, but nothing happened? I mean how hard is it? I went into the servo to ask somebody, but there was not a bloody soul in there. Any way after a lot of AusTalian, we worked out that you had to prepay for your fuel. By that time half of Italy was waiting to use the bowser.
We made our way to the airport, and the Brian seemed to have more faith in the relief navigator than the original version. ☹ (you know who your friends are).
We got to Pisa airport without much trouble, only to stumble by turning to soon just at the end. That was simply rectified, and we arrived at Europe Car without too much hassle.
We handed the car back, the lady did her inspection, and voila! A clean bill of health. Brians layer of white dust did the trick!
We caught the shuttle bus from the airport to the central train station. Soon we were on the train to Florence. The trains are very good, though in this case it was a little crowded, made worse by the fact that many people take up 2 seats by putting their bags on the seat next to them, rather than in the racks provided above them. Rather than step aside like we have done in previous trips, we asked them for the seat. They got a bit grumpy, but we did get a seat.
Our train trip took us to Florence, then Faenza, and then finally to Ancona. We arrived in Ancona about 4.30pm. We could not board the ferry till 8pm. So, we went to this nice little restaurant and had a great pizza and a couple of beers. (see Cheryl's picture) We then waited in the departure lounge until we could board the ferry.
By the time we got on the ferry, the long day was starting to take effect. You do not lose any sense of the occasion though. These ferries are huge, taking on people, cars, and very large trucks. You see these ferries on TV etc, but until you are next to one, it is difficult to understand their size.
Once on board, we went upstairs to the restaurant to have a meal. Cheryl and I retired early, Brian and Di stayed up a bit longer. I must have nodded off straight away, and it didn't seem that long before the porters were knocking on the door to advise us we were arriving in port.
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