Our journey to Florence was still continued even though the luggages were not with us and still in Rome. We booked a taxi to Santa Lucia train station before departing to Florence. The fare was 25 euro per taxi. Considering the distance from PLUS Camping Jolly and Piazza de la Roma, the fare was reasonable and affordable. The taxi driver is Muslim and he talked much about Muslims in Venice.
At the train station, we met the Japanese newlywed Yoshi and Yumi again. They too were going to Florence without the suitcases. Yoshi seemed to wear the same jumper while Yumi already changed her top attire. We boarded the same train but in different coaches. Yoshi actually pointed out that we were in first class cabin. I even forgot about it as Aqiedah and me had booked it long time ago. Alhamdulillah we were given juices and traditional Greek snacks during the journey.
The journey took about 3 hours. Upon arrival, we took a bus trip to Michelangelo camp for 30 minutes. Sesampainya di front desk camp site tersebut, we straight away explained our problem to the staff on duty. Julie, a black italian woman was ready to help us sorting out the luggage problem. She asked us to not worry about it and have fun visiting Florence.
With assurance from Julie, we checked in our tents. Ammar was located in front of our tent together with other 2 Columbian sisters.
Actually, before departing ke Rome, kawan Atikah yakni Izan mentioned a few travel tips. From her suggestion, the place where we can get cheaper souvenirs is at Piazza Michelangelo. Rupa- rupanya our camp site is located nearby that square. So, we walked in the medium heavy rain while the sun radiated strong rays to the earth. At the plaza, there is one big stand-alone statue picturing naked 'abang david' bak kata Ammar. Tapi, peniaga-peniaga cenderamata di situ sangatlah unfriendly. We were chased out from his place because we refused to buy umbrellas from him. Duhhhh??? Mentang-mentang kau orang tempatan, sombong pulak kan... Then we headed to kedai abang 'b' untuk berteduh dari hujan. Sambil-sambil tu, we chose some souvenirs to buy. Konon-konon beli kat abang 'b' boleh la dapat murah, tapi, haram... Kedekut gila. Tak boleh nak berdiskaun langsung. Akhirnya, apabila hujan reda, kitorang pon just bergambar kat tebing bukit. Piazza Michelangelo tu terletak di atas bukit, kira macam view point jugak lah. From there, we can see the whole Florence yang padat dengan bangunan.
Since Piazza Michelangelo tu berbukit, nak pergi ke Piazza Vechio, kena la turun bukit kan? Sambil turun bukit, sempat la jugak kitorang masuk taman bunga orang kaya mana entah kat lereng bukit tu. Perut pon boleh tahan lapar juga masa itu. Alhamdulillah, kitorang nampak one restaurant halal on our way to Piazza Vechio. Dah namanya berjalan di Italy, tak kan nak makan kebab pula kan? Bantai la pasta ke spaghetti ke. I ordered olio olio? Damn, tak ingat nama. Tapi dengan olive oil and herb sprinkles la. My friends ada je yang order briyani, just to stuff the tummy more la. When we were done eating, the restaurant owner tunjuk gambar Yang Di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Kedah selalu makan kat situ. Rupa-rupanya kitorang makan kat restaurant favouite YDPA. He also mentioned that the Sultan would be coming again next two months.
We walked through Piti Palace and Plaza Vechio. There are a lot of jewellery shops in that area. And, seperti kebiasaan mana-mana bridge dekat tourist area, mesti ada love-lock. Aku pon tak paham dengan budaya ni. Kononnya, lepas lock, baling kunci ke bawah, so masuk dalam sungai and non-retrievable, so, nanti lock tu unopen forever, cinta diorang pon last forever. LOL. Apa-apa je la dengan budaya korang. Nampak sweet, tapi nahhh, not my thing I guess. Pemandangan pon indah, cuaca pon elok, tak berapa panas, tak berapa sejuk. Orang kata suam-suam kuku je.
Dah sampai Florence, kalau tak singgah the main attraction, nanti orang kata tak de bukti pulak dah sampai situ. So, we went to Plaza del Duomo. Yang ada kubah besar nampak dari atas bukit Michelangelo tu. Dalam kesempatan bergambar di sekitar church yang super besar tu, kitorang jumpa la abang Bangladeshi yang jual souvenirs. Kitorang kan luggage-less, so kena la beli baju baru. Tawar punya tawar, dapat lah diskaun. Walaupun tak terlalu murah, rembat je la kan? Kalau tak, nak pakai baju apa pula. Tak kan nak repeat baju waktu summer. Ewwwwwww.
Selesai mundar mandir, we had to head back to the bus station nak balik campsite. Tak tahu lah rezeki ke dugaan, kitorang terrrr lalu pulak jalan yang ada market on our way tu. Apa lagi, jom singgah! This market is famous with leather goods. Aku yang memang nak cari bag kulit triangle warna kuning ni mula la rambang mata. Harga? Boleh tahan murah la kalau pandai bargain. Penjualnya memang rata-rata foreigners i.e. Bangladeshi la. So, kalau nak murah, singgah kedai diorang. Kalau singgah kedai Italian, confirm mahal. Kebetulan, ada seorang Bangladeshi ni pernak duduk di Sungai Petani and was quite fluent in Malay. Usha punya usha, mata terpaut ke satu bag. Kitorang tawar dari 60 ke 45 ke 30. Dapat lah beli dua buah warna hijau and oren. Siapa yang membeli? Aku dan Atikah. Siapa yang paling gembira? Obviously la aku! Muka senyum-senyum, hati gembira berbunga-bunga bagaikan bulan jatuh ke riba, walaupun sebenarnya kitorang lepas tu memang kehabisan cash bayar bag-bag tu. Tapi demi bag cap Florence, gagahkan juga nafsu tu. Ish ish ish...
So, dari train station Florence, you have to get on bus no. 13 heading to the campsite. Nanti, bas tu akan stop di Piaza Michelangelo. Memang tepat lah masa kitorang sampai atas bukit tu. Dapat la menikmati pemandangan waktu senja. Ramai jugak la yang lepas atas bukit tu for sunset photography. Sebab tak nak ambil gambar typical, aku dan Aqiedah pon dengan gigihnya ambil gambar bentok love. Lepas tu, orang sebelah kitorang tiru.
Eee, tiru! Tiru! Lame ah kau.
Nobody could understand apa kitorang ejek kat orang sebelah. Well, siapa pulak la yang faham Malay kat situ selain kitorang kan?
We walked back to our campsite and terus pergi the main counter to check on our missing luggage status. The on-duty manager at that time was not that helpful as the one in the morning. Macam acuh tak acuh je melayan dan membantu. Hati Ammar pon apa lagi, panas dan terkilan la dengan treatment pak cik tu. Though pak cik tu macam nak mintak penampar, dia tetap membantu dapatkan info the missing bag and confirm kan yang bag akan sampai pukul 1045 pagi on the next day at Florence airport.
Malam itu berlalu seperti biasa. First time Ammar jumpa dormates adik beradik from Columbia tu. Kalau summer, siang nya panas tak berawan. Tapi, bila tiada awan, malam nya akan jadi extra sejuk. Berselubung lah masing-masing dalam selimut, tidur dalam cuaca yang sedikit sejuk dari biasa di dalam bilik kem masing-masing.
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