TRAIN # 57 – 01:42 Innsbruck to Florence
The fifteen minute connection at Innsbruck onto the ‘Brenner Express’ worked perfectly. The train had seemed to be quite full at first but we eventually found an empty compartment and out came the sleeping bags once more.
Apart from the Italian immigration and customs checks I slept soundly and didn’t wake up properly until Bologna. It was natural that, having passed onto the Italian system, we had picked up a delay. The train was thirty minutes in ritardo arriving at Florence at around 09:45. We jumped off it still wearing our sleeping bags
FLORENCE
After locating the left luggage room and obtaining a map, we walked down to the Santa Maria Cathedral and climbed to the top of the tower for a magnificent view of the whole city.
Then we walked down onto the beautiful Piazza Signoria, with the statue of David, then through the arcade and past plenty of street artists, across the Ponte Vecchio down the Via Santa Caterina and straight into a pizza shop.
We ate delicious pizza as a late breakfast and then walked up the Piazza de’Pitti to the museum, through back streets and across the Ponte alla Carraia. Then we went back along the river bank. Florence was amazing but we couldn’t help noticing the fumes from the traffic which seemed to spoil it a little bit.
We got some wonderful tuna fish sandwiches from a shop on the way back to the station and sat on the concourse eating them. The food in Italy had never disappointed us. We had always eaten well and it had been great value for money.
TRAIN # 58 – 14:23 Florence to Pisa
We set off on the 14:23 stopping train to Pisa. We used the journey, which was just a more than an hour, to take it in turns to wash in the train toilet. As we approached our destination it started to rain. Then it started to thunder and lightning.
PISA
We struggled a bit at Pisa. The left luggage office was pretty difficult to find and then we couldn’t locate any tourist information at the station. We set off trying to find the famous leaning tower without a map. We went over a bridge but we seemed to be going around in circles. There was nobody around to ask either.
Then we suddenly found the thing, surrounded by grass and three other buildings in the city’s Cathedral Square. There were lots of touristy stalls all around the place. We paid the entrance fee and climbed to the third stage. It was actually quite frightening as there was no protection from falling off the lower level galleries.
We climbed right up to the bell chamber at the top. We met a Dutch guy who told us that he was an engineer and he was sure the thing could fall over at any time. He seemed certain that it would not last much longer. We descended quickly.
After examining the other buildings in the square, we rewarded ourselves with cream cakes and chocolate, lemon and vanilla ice cream. On the way back to the station, we spent the last of our Italian lira on bread, cheese, apples, milk and mineral water. We were ready to start to head home.
TRAIN # 59 – 18:38 Pisa to Rome
Now, in order to get some sleep, we needed to gamble on Italian Railways’ punctuality. We planned to board the next train for Rome and, if it arrived at Termini on time at 22:15, we would have 33 minutes to catch the 22:48 to come back north. That train would take us directly to Monaco, arriving before 10:00 the next morning.
The 18:38 to Rome, which had originated in Turin, was coming in to Pisa on time, so we decided to risk it. We got a compartment which was empty apart from one guy reading a newspaper. It was still lightning a bit but there was a gorgeous sunset along the coast as we sped south. It seemed like a good omen.
Yet by the time we stopped at Civitavecchia, the last station before Rome, we were 25 minutes in ritardo and we started to think about aborting the plan. We decided to persevere and with our fingers crossed, we sped south. We were into Termini at 22:40 with just enough time to switch.
TRAIN # 60 – 22:48 Rome to Monaco
We made a frantic dash from one train to the other and managed to board the 22:48, which was an overnight express heading to Ventimiglia and Nice, with still a few minutes to go.
Unfortunately, we boarded it in the wrong position at the back of the train. We were in among the sleeper compartments and couchettes. We struggled down the corridors of several carriages with our rucksacks. People were preparing themselves for bed and we had to squeeze past them making excuses.
The train started moving as we were still walking towards the front. Eventually we reached the end of the sleeping section and found the connecting doors to the seating accommodation locked. A non-too-happy sleeping car attendant tried to stop us shouting at us in Italian.
We somehow convinced him to unlock the door and then, as the train began to thread its way out of Rome heading north, we were off again along more corridors looking in to full compartment after full compartment.
We got to the very front carriage before we spotted a compartment with just one old guy sitting by himself by the window. We noted that he had hardly any luggage and went in to join him. An hour later he got off the train at the first stop. As the train got going again, we congratulated each other. It was ten minutes to midnight and we had the compartment to ourselves.
It was certainly the oldest compartment we had travelled in. There were curtains that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a grandmother’s sitting room and lampshades made out of real glass. It seemed to be riding a little rough too. As we had a little supper of bread, cheese and Fanta, I wondered if I might have nightmares about travelling in the coach to attend a meeting with Mussolini on the subject of train punctuality.
Wednesday, 26th September 1984
Forty years later….
- OBB operates a ‘Nightjet’ service from Innsbruck to Florence.
- Florence has cleaned up. The pollution that used to leave marble monuments blackened has been dealt with.
- The city is suffering from over tourism which brings new pressures
- Between 1993 and 2001, engineers reduced the lean of the leaning tower of Pisa, saving it for the future.
- The tower is open for climbing, but only on the inside. Walking along the lower wrap-around galleries is now prohibited for safety reasons.
- Overnight trains still operate between Rome and Nice, but only in the summer season.
- I have returned to Florence on several business trips and also for leisure. I went back to Pisa in the late 1990s when the tower was temporarily closed.
