Returning the Car and Apartment Tour

Returning the Car...

(I couldn't get the video of our apartment loaded yesterday, so I decided to load it today.)



Back to the car...

So, we left the story yesterday when we had found our apartment finally at about 11 am. We had only slept about 3-4 hours in the last 48 hours, so we were completely exhausted. We slept for a few more hours, and then I needed to get the car returned to Bologna. We knew it was going to be a bit of a drive yet, and my deadline was at 8 pm. I left about 4 or 5 pm (it's all a bit fuzzy now). After such an already frustrating and uncertain trip thus far, it was very difficult to leave Leah in a town we had only been in for a few hours. But, the car had to go back, and we had found the school and people that would help her, and she had a place to stay, so I knew she would be okay. We knew the only problem would be if I was too late to make the bus, I would not make it back to Novafeltria that night, and I didn't know where I would stay.

I made sure I had every map I could, had my computer set up with Google maps, etc., because I knew how ridiculous the roads were.

But maps are no match for the roads in Italy.

Once again, I found myself unsure of which road I'm on. Even though I stopped and asked for directions several times (from people who didn't know English), I was still uncertain. This time, it was not only a war against the roads, it was a race against the clock. If I made it to the rental place one minute past 8pm, they would charge me for another day. Grr.
I noticed one sign in particular that I remembered was a different "state" or "region" of Italy than Novafeltria was in. All of a sudden, the signs became much more clear and regular. Ahh, finally! From this point on, I just followed signs to the main highway, then signs to Bologna, then signs to the airport. I had a little difficulty locating the rental office, but one phone call cleared that up. I made it to the office with plenty of time to spare...8 minutes!

Next step: Get to the train station.
I was getting better at just stopping and asking for information and directions, so it didn't take me more than 10 minutes to figure out where the bus was that takes you to the train station. Pretty rickety bus (and kind of expensive), but it worked. I knew at this point I was going to miss the last bus from Rimini to Novafeltria, but I wanted to get as far as I could yet that evening.

Step #3 (or whatever number we are on, I didn't bother keeping track at this point.): Get a train ticket to Rimini.

This actually was a pretty easy task. They have these cool little automated kiosks that you could select English. Amazing what a little language can do - getting the ticket was a cinch.

Step#4: Get on the train.
I somehow make simple things difficult. When I bought my ticket, the next train to Rimini was leaving in 10 minutes. Nice. I'm in a station I have absolutely no knowledge of where to go, and I have to find where to go and get there in 10 minutes, and I don't understand one blessed thing on my ticket except the time the train leaves. This time, I decided there was no room for being smart and figuring out where to go on my own, so I stopped and asked a janitor (or "technical housekeeping director" for you politically correct-sensitive people) where to go, and he gave me great directions even though he didn't know a lick of English. That got me to the right platform, and then I needed to make sure. I asked another guy on the platform if he spoke English, and lo and behold, he did! And, to top it off, he actually knew where I needed to be, and was very helpful! We chatted for a few minutes, and he explained the train was late, but I was at the right spot. When the train actually came, he made sure I was on the right car, and had found my seat. If you were to ask me about "angels among us," I would probably think of that guy pretty quickly. It was the encouragement and confidence I needed at the moment.

Step #5: Get off the train.
Again, seems simple, but it can be tricky when you aren't sure when you are supposed to get off. Fortunately, the person punching our tickets knew English enough to tell me when the stop was going to be.

Step #6: Get a bus ticket.
The guy at the bus ticket booth was a bit of a snob, but I worked through that, and got a ticket. I had resolved in my mind I was going to have to spend the night somewhere. I didn't want to spend any more money, so I thought I was going to just spend the night in the train station. However, as I started to set up "camp" on seats in an empty hallway, the thought occurred to me they might close the station sometime during the night. I went and checked the schedule, and sure enough, the station closed at around midnight. Great. I need to find someplace to stay.

I walked outside, and started to look around, now dark and about 10 pm. I had no idea if I could even find anything. I was really nervous, because we already had an experience with things closing early in Italy.

Just at this moment, my phone started to ring.

"Hello?"

"David? This is Leah!"

"What?!? How are you calling me?"

"One of the director's let me borrow her phone. Where are you at?"

"Train station in Rimini, looking for a hotel."

"Stay right were you are, we are coming to get you!"

And they did. About 40 minutes later, Leah and the director picked me up and took me back to Novafeltria. As I got in the car, the director said, "No more renting cars for you!" :)

I agreed.

Well, I still need to get some pictures from around town and get those posted. Maybe I'll do that in the next day or two.

God bless,
Dave and Leah