Vaffanculo
The ride from Napoli to Perugia on Monday was the worst train day of the trip and it was mostly other people's faults. I had finally confirmed meeting up with Scot and Charles in Perugia, but I didn't go to the Napoli train station between confirmation and departure, so the plan was to get up Monday morning, catch the Circumvesuviana (suburban metro) to the station, and get reservations on the first trains possible. The line at the station was long, but moved quickly, so I made it to the ticket window with a couple minutes to spare before the 11:10 Eurostar left for Roma. For whatever reason, my Eurorail pass was somewhere in my bag other than its usual location, so expedited the sale by paying full price. Mistake #1. Booking tickets on the more expensive high-speed trains, mistake #2, especially in retrospect, knowing it long it actually took me to get there, that is, eight hours. It would take less than half that time to drive it.
The clock on the wall next to me as I paid said 11:08, giving me 1-2 minutes to walk around the ticket office to my track. I covered this distance at a fast walk, exhausting no more than 45 seconds, but I only arrived in time to watch that train leave from the cheap seats, the ones I didn't pay for, and wouldn't have needed to. If for some reason a conductor was in the driver's seat at the back of the train and were looking out the back, he could've seen the most appalled look I've ever directed at something several hundred feet long. Either the clock was slow or the train left early. This is Italy. Can't rule out anything, but I'm told and have experienced that the adjective "early" is far less promiscuous than its antonym in Italian railroad circles.
I hopped on the 11:24 regional (and cheap) train to Roma, which left late and arrived later. Total ritard, ~45 minutes, on a two-hour ride. That's 37.5% error, which is almost more amazing than offensive. This improbability caused me to miss the high-speed (and expensive) train to Perugia by several minutes, when by the schedule I should've had half an hour to kill. By this time I had found my Eurorail pass, which would've gotten me onto all the trains I ended up taking, but for free.
Regional service to Perugia changes at Foligno. I got off there to await the connecting train. Looking at the departures board, I saw a train terminating in Perugia leaving in a bit more than an hour. Great, I'll walk around the city. Got some gelato, sat down in a cathedral. Wow sunscreen is expensive in Italy. Bought some. I went back to the station, where the train to Perugia was not listed on the departures board. With an audible groan and rolled eyes, I reconsulted the schedule. The train I saw earlier doesn't run this time of the year. The train I need to catch was the regional train to Terontola, which stops in Perugia. One of those had left in the previous hour. The next was an hour later. I'm an idiot.
This whole time I had been sending text messages to Scot saying, first, "4:00", then "5:00", "6:00", and "7:00" with each successive setback. I finally caught the right train and made it to Perugia, though not without an inexplicable 20-minutes pause at the station before mine.
Yesterday, the Italian train system added injury to the insult of having to ride it by fining me 50 euros for not marking the travel day on my railpass before getting on the train, something nobody else, not even the French and Germans, have minded. And their trains run on time. You have to follow the rules yourself if you're going to punish others for bending them. That train left half an hour late, too.
The clock on the wall next to me as I paid said 11:08, giving me 1-2 minutes to walk around the ticket office to my track. I covered this distance at a fast walk, exhausting no more than 45 seconds, but I only arrived in time to watch that train leave from the cheap seats, the ones I didn't pay for, and wouldn't have needed to. If for some reason a conductor was in the driver's seat at the back of the train and were looking out the back, he could've seen the most appalled look I've ever directed at something several hundred feet long. Either the clock was slow or the train left early. This is Italy. Can't rule out anything, but I'm told and have experienced that the adjective "early" is far less promiscuous than its antonym in Italian railroad circles.
I hopped on the 11:24 regional (and cheap) train to Roma, which left late and arrived later. Total ritard, ~45 minutes, on a two-hour ride. That's 37.5% error, which is almost more amazing than offensive. This improbability caused me to miss the high-speed (and expensive) train to Perugia by several minutes, when by the schedule I should've had half an hour to kill. By this time I had found my Eurorail pass, which would've gotten me onto all the trains I ended up taking, but for free.
Regional service to Perugia changes at Foligno. I got off there to await the connecting train. Looking at the departures board, I saw a train terminating in Perugia leaving in a bit more than an hour. Great, I'll walk around the city. Got some gelato, sat down in a cathedral. Wow sunscreen is expensive in Italy. Bought some. I went back to the station, where the train to Perugia was not listed on the departures board. With an audible groan and rolled eyes, I reconsulted the schedule. The train I saw earlier doesn't run this time of the year. The train I need to catch was the regional train to Terontola, which stops in Perugia. One of those had left in the previous hour. The next was an hour later. I'm an idiot.
This whole time I had been sending text messages to Scot saying, first, "4:00", then "5:00", "6:00", and "7:00" with each successive setback. I finally caught the right train and made it to Perugia, though not without an inexplicable 20-minutes pause at the station before mine.
Yesterday, the Italian train system added injury to the insult of having to ride it by fining me 50 euros for not marking the travel day on my railpass before getting on the train, something nobody else, not even the French and Germans, have minded. And their trains run on time. You have to follow the rules yourself if you're going to punish others for bending them. That train left half an hour late, too.
posted by duke at 11:27
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home