Over the weekend I went to visit some friends at their summer house located in Cervia, Italy. Arriving at the Cervia train station I glanced out of my window and saw the smiling faces of my friends. I filled with delight to finally see familiar faces from home. We walked back to the house and had a light lunch.

I was thrilled to finally see some ocean and to be told that my room would be mosquito free and air conditioned. I was in a situation that had a feeling of family and that made me even more joyful. I was ready to experience a different kind of Italy…the kind of Italy that I had built up in my head the couple months before coming here.

The weekend was full of laughter, bicycle rides, visiting adventure parks with ponies (baby ponies too!), shopping, gelato and a true Italian style BBQ.

My most memorable experience was learning how the train system works in Italy. There was a train strike happening the day I needed to return to Urbino. Since my train was canceled,  my friends hurried to find me an alternate time or way to get back to where I needed to be. They went to the train station to see if they could exchange my train ticket for a new ticket. They returned to the house, told me my options and I agreed to leave early in the morning the following day. We walked back to the station together to exchange my ticket and the lady at the help desk informed us that my train was not canceled and would surely be at the station at 4:57 p.m. With extreme delight we went BACK to the house and got my stuff together and returned to the train station. Waiting on Platform 3 , we hear an announcement broadcast across the train station saying, “The train going to Pesaro has been canceled,” a whole  minute before the train was supposed to arrive. With irritation,  we went back to the help desk to exchange my ticket and came to find  out that to exchange a train ticket takes a whole nine hours and a lot of paper work. It was cheaper just to buy a new ticket. Armed with my new ticket,  we headed home with a feeling of defeat and annoyance. Possibly some profanities were uttered in Italian. Sadly my friends had to leave that night to fly back to California, so I would have the house to myself. Thankfully the next day when I arrived at the train station at 6:30 a.m. ,  my train was running on time. I arrived back in Urbino with no further hurdles or adventures.

All in all my weekend was an amazing experience and no small train strike could ruin my delight.

Here are some photos to enjoy: Photo Album of Cervia