Love Born in Florence Ch. 01

To falling in love

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I graduated from the University of Washington in 2012, with a B. S. in Political Science and a minor in Music. Weird minor for PolySci, but I started as a Music major in performance piano, because I had been playing since I was 6 years old and loved the piano. Then I decided I didn't want to hate piano and changed to a major with which I might actually earn a living.

A few months before graduation, I was accepted to the law school there at UW, with a full tuition scholarship.

My parents surprised me with a graduation gift: a round-trip ticket to Europe and a Eurail Pass for 30 days. I decided to fly into Rome on June 15th and work my way north, flying out of Vienna on July 19th. Since my train trip into Vienna would be on or before July 15th, I could stay a few days longer in Vienna and get the most out of my rail pass.

Although my parents had included $3,000 for lodging and meals, I planned to stay in hostels to keep the cost down, plus I would meet other students that way. I had a backpack, my phone, and a small flexible binder into which I had put important information in case I had trouble with internet access. Things like names and addresses of hostels and a photocopy of my passport.

I was in Rome for five days, but it was hotter than hell! I understood immediately when I learned the popes maintained a summer residence in a cooler location. I had done a couple of smart things before I left, including buying a ticket to the Vatican Museum. Dad had warned me about the lines for those without pre-purchased tickets.

I was glad to leave Rome. I loved it, but it was exhausting and too hot in the hostel at night. My next stop was Florence. The hostel there was a big improvement and was only about $30 per night. As is common in hostels, there was an area with chairs, tables and sofas for people to relax and hang out with others.

I used my first day to walk all over Florence and get a handle on where everything was, and sampling several gelato stores. That night, I was sitting in the common area studying my Florence guide book, when a girl sat down on the same side of the table.

"Hi, I'm Paige."

"Logan."

"Where are you from, Logan?"

"Originally Spokane, but I just graduated from the University of Washington, so I guess now I'm from Seattle. How about you?"

"I just finished at Boston College, but I'm originally from a small town in Connecticut. What are your plans this Fall?"

"I'm starting law school there at UW."

"Nice. I'm doing law at Georgetown."

"And here we are in Florence, a last gasp before law school."

"No vacation until we finish, probably."

I learned Paige had flown into Paris about a week before my flight to Rome but had left Paris immediately for the south of France. She arrived in Florence the day we met, and was headed to Rome next.

I explained my planned route, heading north through Austria, spending several days each in Innsbruck and Salzburg before heading to Vienna. I asked whether she had a ticket for the Vatican Museum. She didn't, so I warned her about the long lines, mostly in the sun.

"Logan, since we're overlapping our trips here, how would you like to see Florence together?"

"That's a great idea. We can pool our lists of what we want to see, and see it together."

For the next three days, we explored Florence. We climbed the Duomo, had a cheap lunch in the Mercato Centrale and, based on a tip from another student, had sandwiches at All'Antico Vinaio, a legendary sandwich shop.

As we walked and talked, I learned she had also gotten her degree in political science, but with a minor in art history. We debated whether her minor was weirder than mine--art history versus music--for law students.

At the top of the Duomo, with that unparalleled view over the whole region, Paige took a selfie of the two of us. I put my arm around her as she took several shots.

On our second evening, we took a bus to Piazzale Michelangelo, where a couple of thousand people gather every night for the best view of the sunset and Florence. As we stood there taking in the beauty of the sunset reflected on the Arno River, Paige put her arms through mine and put her head on my shoulder.

"This is one of the most romantic things I've ever seen."

"I agree." I looked down at her and we kissed. We were holding each other tightly as we kissed for a long time. We weren't the only young people kissing there that night, and there might have been hotter first kisses, but not many.

The next day, Paige insisted we visit the Brancacci Chapel. As we walked, she gave me a introductory lesson on the development of perspective and the influential role Masaccio played with frescoes he did for this chapel.

"Thanks for taking me to see that. I would have missed it entirely without you to guide me."

"My art history minor finally paid off. Now we have to see the Uffizi."

"At least I know what that is, but feel free to educate me about any of the paintings."

"This is the Holy Grail of Renaissance art. Probably the greatest collection in the world, since this is where the Renaissance really got rolling."

"Paige, I just had a thought. My dad told me I had to splurge and have a Bistecca Fiorentino for dinner. He said if I rejected any other suggestion, he understood, but if I missed this I would regret it. Would you like to go with me? My treat?"

"It's a steak?"

"Dad said it was a life-changing experience for him the first time. The best steak he's ever eaten."

"I'm willing to pay my half."

"I'm asking you out for dinner."

She stopped, stepped in front of me and kissed me again.

"I have to say yes to a man whose kisses set me on fire."

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We spent two hours in the Uffizi, which had an amazing collection of paintings and a total lack of anyplace to sit and rest. We were both exhausted, so we found some steps to sit on and consulted sources on the internet with restaurant ratings. We found one on the south bank of the river, away from the main tourist areas. We called and made a reservation for 8 pm.

We walked to Piazza della Signoria and sat on a step at the Loggia to people watch.

"Do you mind if I lie down for a few minutes?"

"Of course, not. Put your head on my lap. I'll try to resist giving you a wet willy."

Paige fell asleep. She was tired, but so was I. We had earned that fatigue.

About a half hour later, Paige woke up and stretched.

"Thanks for that rest. No wet willy?"

"I don't know you well enough."

"Really? Our tongues have met."

We kissed again and verified that assertion. Then we hung out at the hostel and relaxed before dinner.

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The Bistecca Fiorentino was everything Dad promised it would be! Paige agreed, it was the finest steak she had ever eaten. It looks like the biggest T-bone steak one could imagine, and at least two inches thick.

As we walked slowly back to the hostel, Paige stopped me and wanted to sit on a bench and talk.

"Logan, I'm really on a fence about something. I planned to go to Rome next, but I'm not excited about the heat. I'm also really interested in where you're headed, especially Salzburg and Vienna. Would you mind terribly if I traveled with you until you fly home? I'd then take the train to Paris and fly home from there."

"I'd love to travel together. Are you sure I won't drive you crazy?"

She kissed me again. Hard.

"Your kisses are driving me crazy, but that's in a good way. I'm not ready to say goodbye."

"Neither am I. Let's go sit in the common area and go over what I had planned. Feel free to make any suggestions you want."

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We logged onto the Eurail website and purchased our tickets. The only cost to us was the seat reservation on the first train, one of Italy's fast trains, only about $13 each. We planned to travel to Innsbruck first, spend three full days there, and then take a two-hour train ride to Salzburg.

Once we got there, we would book our tickets to Vienna.

Paige was obviously excited about the trip. She kissed me on the cheek twice while I was working on the train reservations.

"If we ever take another trip to Europe, hopefully we'll be successful lawyers and can rent a car."

"I'd like that, Logan. It's a deal."

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The short trip on the Frecciarossa (I learned that means 'red arrow') to Bologna was only about 40 minutes. Then 20 minutes to change trains and a little under 5 hours to Innsbruck.

That first train only got up to about 225 kph (it's maximum is something like 300 kph), but it was still a thrill. While we were on the train to Innsbruck, I researched hotels.

"Hey, Paige, let me bounce an idea off you. There's a great hostel just across the river to the north of the main tourist area. It's 35 euros per person. There's also a hotel, with breakfast, right by the train station, and it's 75 euros per night for a double room. It's also closer to the tourist area and has the advantage of a private bath.

"However, it means sharing a room, and that might mean a double bed as well. I can always sleep on the floor if you feel more secure that way. I can do either the hotel or the hostel, but do you have a preference?"

Paige hesitated a minute.

"I'm leaning towards the hotel, but I need to tell you something. Logan, you and I ... well, we might have a chance at something special. Let's not rush things."

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When we got to the Innsbruck train station, we checked into the hotel. I asked whether they had a room made up with two twin beds--surprise, they did.

When I opened the door and Paige walked in, she turned around and kissed me.

"I kinda hope someday you and I will want that one bed, but thank you for getting this. It's perfect."

Innsbruck was a lot of fun. It has the advantage of having a compact old city. Paige got us into the chapel on the side of the cathedral, the one containing the tomb made for Maximilian I, featuring a couple dozen life-size statues of famous people. He wasn't even buried there! She had studied about this for some class and knew most of the figures standing silent around the room.

We also found several gelato stores and had a great dinner at a little out of the way place the clerk at the hotel told us about. The highlight was taking the tram from the convention center, north across the river to the base station of a gondola climbing to just below the Hafelekar peak. That was one of the most incredible sights I've ever seen. It was late afternoon and Paige and I stood up there looking over Innsbruck to the towering peaks on the south. I held her in my arms.

That night, after we had turned out the lights, we talked.

"What your two favorite things today?"

"I loved that gondola, but especially having you hold me as we stood at that viewpoint. The other for me was Maximilian's tomb. What about you?"

"The viewpoint, for sure. I loved dinner. That was one of the best I've had, except for the steak in Florence."

"Why didn't you kiss me when we were at that viewpoint?"

"I guess I don't know for sure what not rushing things means."

"Come here."

I walked over to her bed and she stood and kissed me. It was a long kiss, with our tongues busy.

"Paige, can I change my answer?"

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The next day we spent part of the day walking along the Inn River. I learned that Innsbruck means "Inn bridge." The city grew up on one of the two main trade routes coming up from Italy. The other one led to Vienna.

On the opposite side of the river is a picturesque row of homes, painted in different colors. It reminded me of the "painted ladies," the row of Victorian homes in San Francisco.

In the afternoon we took the gondola on the south of Innsbruck, ending up on a mountain named Patscherkofel. This is the general area where many events of the 1976 Winter Olympics were held,. I kissed Paige at the viewpoint. That was her best memory for the day when we talked about it later.

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The next day we were on the train to Salzburg. We waited for a train closer to midday, so we wouldn't arrive in Salzburg too early.

I had emailed a place before we left Florence and we stayed in a room with two twin beds and a shower. The cost was about $30 per night, but the breakfast option was overpriced. We decided to walk into the old part of the city and find breakfast.

We spent five nights in Salzburg and fell in love with the city. The city and its surroundings are stunning. We rode a tram up to the castle and took the tour so we could stand on the high point of the castle and take in the view. More selfies, of course.

There was so much to see, including the house where Mozart was born. They later moved across the river, so there's nothing in the house that belonged to the family, but it was fun to see.

One day we took a train south about 30 minutes and went to an amazing castle. It sat on a hill in a valley between towering jagged peaks. There was a tour of the castle that ended up in the watchtower at the highest point of the castle. There was also a raptor show--eagles, hawks, falcons and buzzards--that the handlers let loose one at a time to fly from one handler to another. The largest birds often landed on the grass around us. One took off again and the wing hit my head.

Paige and I had a lot of fun at that castle and took several selfies of the two of us. She slept with her head on my lap on the train ride back.

We took a bus tour of the places seen in The Sound of Music. I thought it might be a little cheesy, but it was a lot of fun. There were people on that tour from all over the world, but they all knew the words--in English--to all the songs, which were playing on the bus as we drove.

The last place we visited on the tour was the town of Mondsee. It was in the cathedral there that the wedding scene in the film was shot. The best part, though, was visiting a pastry shop across the street and having apple strudel with warm vanilla sauce.

Based on a tip from other students we encountered, we took a train to Hallstatt, or rather to a station on the other side of the lake, followed by a boat ride to the town. I lack the words to adequately capture the beauty of Hallstatt. It's a small village, perched precariously on the side of a mountain, seemingly in danger of sliding into the dark water of the lake.

One day, we took a bus to the town of Obertraun, where a river flows into the lake at the southeast corner. From there, we took a gondola up to some massive ice caves, and nearly froze to death. One fun thing, though--Paige's nipples were on high alert.

We spent three nights in Hallstatt and then took the boat across the lake to begin our train journey to Vienna.

We had a few days to use up, so first we stopped in Dürnstein. My guidebook said the ruined castle way up high was where Richard the Lionhearted, who was King of England but lived in France, was held prisoner by a duke of Austria in 1191. The town is supposed to be a beautiful place to visit and rover cruise ships all stop there.

We hiked up to the castle and the view over the Danube was incredible. Selfie time again. The town was a lot of fun to explore. We were able to rent bicycles and ride along the Danube. We headed upstream because we could tell from the map we were almost out of the nicest stretch of the river.

Weissenkirchen was only about a 20 minute ride. Well, it would have been if we hadn't stopped half way to sit on a bench by the river and kiss. The town itself was another fun one to explore.

The next day we hopped a train for Vienna. This side of the river was the milk run, but very scenic. When we got to the train station, we walked to a subway station and purchased 72-hour passes for all subways, busses and streetcars. It was only about $11 and we got our money's worth. When those ran out, we each bought a 48-hour pass.

We had also made a reservation at a small hotel, the Walzerstadt, which was located right on a streetcar line running a short distance out from the Inner City. This time there was only a double bed. I looked at Paige, she nodded to go ahead and take it. The cost was only about $35 each, but that included breakfast, so it was a great price.

Once we dumped our things in the room, and armed with our passes, we took the #49 streetcar and began our Vienna adventure. Again, it's hard to capture the feelings we had in a city where we were consciously surrounded by a sense of history. It felt to me like a place where there had been a great empire, but the empire had ended, leaving behind all of the buildings in memory of what once was.

That makes it sound as if Vienna is a dead and boring city, but it was lively and fun, especially in the evening. Paige took me to see the Imperial Treasury and the Fine Art Museum. I took her on a tour of the State Opera House and to a concert of Mozart Music. We took the subway to Schönbrunn Palace and spent about six hours there. The best part of our visit was exploring all the little streets in the Inner City, with historical markers on many of the buildings.

We visited Belvedere Palace and Karlskirche by streetcar. We loved the evenings on Graben and near St. Stephens. The street musicians were out and as one who loves music, I was amazed at the musical talent.

We even climbed the 343 steps to the top of the South Tower of St. Stephen's Cathedral. Incredible views over the city made it worthwhile.

Someone told us to find >em>The Third Man online and view it. Orson Welles in one of his most famous roles. Then we went and rode the Giant Ferris Wheel which was featured in the film's most famous scene.

We ate Wienerschnitzel at Figlmueller Restaurant and Tafelspitz at Plachutta, plus some amazing salads, and ran out of time long before we ran out of things to see.

On our last night together, we packed, both of us aware I was flying home and she was taking the train to Paris.

We stood in our room and kissed. Paige started to unbutton my shirt.

"Logan, I love you. I'd like to make love tonight. Is that ok with you? I'm on the pill."

I undressed her and we fell into bed, kissing and caressing, twenty-some days of desire expressed for the first time in the physical act of love. When I entered her for the first time, she cried out and held me tightly, urging me on, deeper and faster until we both came.

We slept naked, although not through the night. We made love again, but this time Paige wanted me to take her doggy style. I went down on her first until she came, then entered her as she waited on her hands and knees. As my climax hit, I thrust deeply into her, ending up resting on her back..

The next morning, after an early breakfast, we held each other and cried.

We had exchanged phone numbers and email addresses, but we also knew it might be tough to get together anytime soon. We promised, as lovers do, what might not happen.

I left for the airport, unsure of when I would see Paige again. Or whether.