Firenze, Italia

The view from my front door. What a lovely year that was.

Firenze!  I made it! Short and sweet is an understatement for the amount of time I was able to spend here, but I was so thankful none-the-less!  I was the only one of the character cast to make it to Florence.  My manager, David, knew how important it was to me after living here for a year and he made it happen for me.  I hadn't been back since my senior year of college a few years prior.

So here's how it happened.  We ported in a different spot in the La Spezia harbor where we weren't required to tender.  David made sure that I was not scheduled to work that morning and I was off and running the moment crew were allowed on that gangway.  I practically ran the 20 minute walk to the train station to make my train and with that, I was off to Florence.

The strada I called home

Two and a half hours later, when the train approached the station and announced, "Firenze, Santa Maria Novella," it felt and sounded so familiar that I truly felt like I was returning home in a way.  I can't begin to express the joy I felt when I stepped foot back in my city after so long.  I remembered which streets were too crowded, which spots to hold your breath for the smell, which spots I would be "charmed" by the market vendors, and 15 minutes later, I arrived at my front door, where Ilaria, my old roommate, was waiting for me.

Reunited with Ilaria!

It was all so familiar and so surreal all at the same time.  But it was a joyful reunion with Ilaria and with the city.  We ate a quick panino (my favorite spot was closed), caught up on all that we had time for, and then we began walking back to the train station one short hour later.  We stopped for a gelato on the way and then one and a half hours after I had gotten off the train, I was on my way back to the ship once again.

Just in case I needed to be reminded that I really did indeed have a life here in Firenze, I ran into my contemporary teacher, Pietro, from Florence Dance Center.  I rode with him and Valentina (his girlfriend, my classmate) a good portion of my two and a half hours back.  What are the odds?!

By the time I got back to the La Spezia station, I was sweating it (literally and figuratively) to get back to the ship in time for my shift (which David also made graciously late).  I made it with only 15 minutes to spare and I counted the day as a success.  An hour and a half wasn't much time in Florence for two and a half hours on the train each way, but it was worth it to me.