Stymied at every turn

I'm back from England now, and the next few posts will cover my peregrinations.  Michael, meanwhile, spent the week getting ready for our ski trip (leaving tomorrow at the crack of dawn!) and making sure the kids didn't party too much.

Getting to Fiumicino is usually pretty straightforward, particularly if you're carrying limited baggage.  You hop on a train at Ponterio, change in Terni, then change again either at Tiburtina or Termini.  No problem, particularly if you allow plenty of time.

This time, however, I thought I'd try Sulga, the bus that goes directly from Todi to Fiumicino -- how convenient is that?  Turns out, well... I'll let you be the judge.

Let me preface the story by saying that the bus schedules here are remarkably difficult to read.  They have "giorni festivi", "giorni feriali" (bear in mind that "ferie" means "vacation" or "holiday"), and often another category which I have forgotten.  So.  Is Sunday a "feast day" or a "giorno feriale" (not being abundantly clear on what exactly that means)?

My best guess was that the bus would leave at 9:40 from "Pian di Porto" (a suburb of Todi just beyond Ponterio, well beyond walking distance, but a perfect Leonardo distance).  So, Leo happily picked me up (but it was early morning for him -- his hair was unbrushed!), and off we went.  Mysteriously, there wasn't a soul in the parking lot.  We got to talking, Leo checked out the schedule with me.  Whoops!  We were supposed to be using the "giorni festivi" column, which means that I was 30 minutes late for a 9:10 bus. By the way, "giorni feriali" means workdays, for no apparent reason.

No problem!  My backup plan was the 9:58 from Ponterio to Terni.  Leo happily dropped me off at the station, dusted off his hands with a job well done, and I went to stand on the platform (after having paid him, of course!).  Hmm.  The signboard had no 9:58.  The soonest train to Terni was at 12:07.  While that would still get me to Fiumicino on time, we're starting to assume a lot about train connections, etc.  Plus, it was annoying not to have the train that I was expecting.

Ring, ring! "Pronto?" says Leonardo.  "Um, you're going to kill me [roughly translated], but I messed up somehow, and there's no 9:58.  Can you come get me & take me to Terni?" "Nessuno problema."  Great.  Fantastic.  Back he comes.  Upon consulting the schedule in the parking lot, he finally realizes that the schedule book I'm using was no longer valid as of the 10th of January or something.  Gah!

We arrive in Terni about 25 minutes later, and we see a brief repetition of the Ponterio dance: I pay him, he unloads my suitcases, we kiss, he hops back in, and I wander over to buy my ticket.  Since we're in a larger station, there's actually a ticket counter open (Ponterio's regional train office is closed on Sunday and you buy your tickets on the train).  Glancing at the board shows that the soonest trains to Rome are delayed by well over an hour.  Strange.

When I arrive at the front of the line, I mention Fiumicino to the clerk.  His face immediately assumes the "I'm not going to be helpful" expression, and he says that everything that direction is delayed by well over an hour, the line is closed, and he has no further information.  I try to enquire as to the nature of the line closure, but wasn't able to understand.

Ring, ring! "Pronto?" says Leonardo.  This is starting to feel a bit like a farce.  "Un, Leo? I give up.  Can you take me to Fiumicino?"

Love,

Alexandra

p.s. While I was waiting for Leo to arrive, I got the updated train schedule at the regional kiosk.  It's good until June.
p.p.s. Turns out the line was closed for a very sad reason: someone had ventured onto the track and been killed, so it was closed for the cleanup and investigation