My bus in Strasbourg departed at 5.15AM on Saturday. Was glad that Lizzie was heading to Rome too so we were bus partners!! We took Flixbus and it was really crowded so we had to find separate seats until like Freiburg or something then many people got off including the lady who was sitting next to me, so I asked Lizzie to come over to the front. It's so weird that it's actually a Germany - Switzerland line but they stop in Strasbourg which is like the only France stop?? But anyway yeah, slept on the bus but kept waking up when it stopped at Basel and Zurich. And I finally found the toilet on the bus omg!!! It was clean but the smell was awful so didn't really want to use it much but at least now I know where it is LOL it's actually like right by the rear exit of the bus but you have to turn the knob and I waited for ages thinking someone was inside when it was empty. But at least there's one, was so awful the last time when I had to hold for hours ......... So we sat in the bus for like maybe 7 hours?? There was no stops between Zurich and Milan but the view in Switzerland was absolutely amazing!!! So much snow woop woop! And we arrived in Milan much earlier like about 12nn instead of 12.45pm so that was great.
Lizzie and I got off the bus and we rushed to find a proper toilet LOL but alas we had to pay 50c for it at the station. Bought metro tickets and got off at the Duomo and weather was great! Super sunny and blue skies and there was some major celebrations going on because there were lots of kids in fancy dress costumes throwing confetti around but I had no idea what it was for. Also got reminded of Big Bang Theory when Sheldon says the singular form of confetti is confetto to which Amy replies why would you ever use the singular form LOL okay random but I found it funny haha. Anyway Lizzie and I went for lunch at this place called Pizza Pane e Companatico near the Duomo. The pasta was cheap and I had an Americano while Lizzie had a juice so was not a bad lunch. Lizzie had a train to catch at 3pm so by the time we finished it was about 2pm so she made her way to Centrale while I went to Brandy.
The sales have unfortunately more or less ended :( Also found this amazingly HUGE Zara and Mango hahaha I need office clothes ... Like just on Friday I bought this really nice navy blazer from Mango at Rivetoile gah I don't know why I didn't go see the sales earlier!! Brandy wasn't having much sales and I regret not buying the Klum skirt when it was 10% off but hopefully can find it in Rome or Florence!! Didn't buy anything at the Duomo Brandy but went to the one at Via Statuto and bought a long sleeve top in burgundy (it looks like the Breanne top but I don't think it is) and a necklace! Meant to go to the other store at San Giovanni too but it was already 4pm by then and didn't want to risk missing my bus so decided to forgo it and made my way to Lampugnano instead.
Caught the bus in good time and (thankfully) found the toilet for the single decker buses too LOL. We had to stop halfway somewhere near Bologna and was so confusing cause the driver only spoke Italian and the people around me only spoke German omg I missed French-speaking places and generally the feeling of knowing the language of the place. But the driver was really nice and he used Google voice translate to translate for us (I didn't know there was such a function!!!) so basically we had to stop the bus and it will leave again at 2020h. Went to the convenience store and bought some Loackers to eat HAHA. The rest of the journey was pretty smooth after that and I had data so at least had some form of entertainment but holy moly I'd spent 14 hours on buses yesterday and including my 5-hour transit that would add up to a 19-hour journey which is even longer than going back to SG LOL?!? But tbh it was so cheap (think €11) and there probably wouldn't be any other alternatives even close to that price so yeah ...
Arrived in Rome at 12 midnight, also earlier than our scheduled time of 1225h so was great. Was glad that I've already been to Rome so knew how the metro works and all so managed to make my way from Tiburtina bus stop to Termini quite easily. I'd made a reservation for a hostel and also made another stupid mistake of not checking reviews until after I'd booked ... Was actually reading reviews on the bus lol and hoping that it wouldn't be as bad as it had sounded.
The hostel that I booked was called Two Ducks Hostel. Something that I also realised about Italy is that hostels / hotels almost never have buildings of their own LOL. It wasn't hard to find but was difficult trying to figure out which apartment the hostel was in. So I went up to the 5th floor where the reception was then there was a guy there who checked in for me and then led me to another building. I'd reserved a bed in a "6-bed female dorm" and he said that all the female rooms were in the other building so okay. It was about 5 min from the main building but we went up and he showed me my room which turned out to be a 4-bed room with only 2 other girls there who were already asleep which is actually better LOL. But it was a really basic room and was only €8 + €3.50 city tax per night (a bit expensive for that standard really) so €11.50 and couldn't really expect much. I was so budget!!! But the toilet wasn't great, was really flooded and wet and smelled and no hot water :( Bed was okay, I took the lower bunk of a double decker bed but saw reviews about bed bugs so didn't change into my sleeping clothes just in case ...
Woke up at 8am when one of the girls got up but stayed in bed until 10am HAHA was so tired out from the bus journey! One girl had already left but there was another girl so we talked a bit. She's from Poland and studying here and I told her it was my first time in a hostel so she looked really surprised then told me I look really young like 17 years old LOL. Then I packed my stuff and walked to the other hotel that YL booked and waiting for her here now as I type!
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Okay she's just arrived so we're leaving now!
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