Second strike, you're out...

...of luck for getting home from Florence!

We negotiated our first strike, if you remember, when we were in Rome.  Everything worked out swimmingly.  Not so, this time.

We got to the Florence station, bought tickets, stood around, and -- no!  Our train was cancelled!  So I went to the ticket office, and the line was wrapped around the station.  Ugh.

I went to the automated ticket machine and changed tix to Rome (I figured it was closer), and we managed to get the 10:25 to Termini.  I hoped that we could get to Terni from there. 

At Termini, we found that the next train to Terni was in about an hour.  So we had lunch (I'd packed provisions!) and waited.  And waited.  And then the train was "soppresso."  Turns out, that's another word for "cancellato" -- and I'll bet everyone can figure out what that means.

Next step?  Call Leonardo.  "Yoo hoo!  Leonardo!  Can you come rescue us, please?"  He rearranged his entire schedule and managed to come pick us up -- but we had 3 hours to kill before he could get there. 

We squeezed in a visit to the Diocletian baths -- an incredibly huge complex of which a very small amount remains.  Over 3000 Romans could be accommodated for games, baths, etc.  Quite a spot!

And then.  People talk about Atlanta's traffic.  You have NO IDEA.  It took us 2 HOURS to get out of Rome because of the traffic.  It should take 15 minutes.  Anyway, we have made it to Todi, and have eaten.  Everyone is now happy and rested, and we're watching, "Chi E'?"

Love,

Alexandra