July 31, 2014
It was another early morning mad dash to the airport. We got up at 5 a.m. and walked to Toscolana train station. Google maps said we could do it, and taxi drivers wanted an arm and a leg to take us on a five minute ride at that hour. We did what most Romans do, walk. You can not carry much baggage on a scooter.
The route takes us along one of Rome’s ancient aqueducts. There are houses tucked in between the arches, or the entry to their yards and gardens, anyway. We were looking for a path but found a bar instead. “Buon giorno. Stazione Tuscolana e per la?” I asked. He understood, I understood I hoped, and we continued along the aqueduct until we came across a ‘destra,’ a right hand turn. Cars were moving along, a few anyway, and the direction seemed right, but after a bit I chatted with another friendly pedestrian, who said we were to take the right fork just ahead- now you know why I stopped to ask- and go ‘diretto’ – straight on. She did not say, “You can’t miss it,” which is always a bad sign.
Maybe 1o minutes on we came upon a large avenue; we were out of the boonies finally. Traffic increased, another good omen, and in a few minutes we were on Tuscolana the avenue, and in sight of the station. Now to find a ticket.
Peg went off while I hauled the baggage to the proper quay, returned a few minutes later. No ticket. No people. The machine only takes credit cards that require a pin, and the cash portion was not working. We’ll buy on the train. You can do that. The train arrived as scheduled for which we were thankful, for this is vacation time, and our landlords told us that this train sometimes just does not show up and to allow plenty of time; thus our super early walk.
As I said, this is Italy, although the same could be said for any country over here, so no one showed up to check our tickets, and the ride to Leonardo Da Vinci airport in Fiumicino was totally free, easy, and relaxing as well, after the somewhat tense 20 minute hike in the dawn.
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