Елена Небритова (Upper-Intermediate)

"All roads lead to Rome" (Short story, 2011)

This happened to me this summer when I was in Italy. Firstly, I would like to say that I had been waiting for this journey for the whole year, so you can imagine how happy I was when at last I saw the country of Vivaldi and Paganini! And, besides, it was the first time I had ever been in Europe. I visited the majority of famous Italian cities like Rome, Florence, Milan, Venice etc.: every of them was unforgettable and extremely beautiful. Actually, my story isn't about any city, but just about a once-happened incident during my first foreign journey. So here you are: read and let's imagine you are on the holiday which you were anticipating so much!

It was Sunday and we were coming back to Florence after our visit to Pisa because our local train to Venice was supposed to leave from Florence. Everything was all right: we picked up our baggage and came to the train station waiting for the arrivals to the city of our dream. But the train was said to have been delayed. We decided to go for a walk and to sit on the grass as all the Europeans did. In half an hour we were at the railway station again. Unfortunately, the time of delay only increased. We really felt ill at ease. The longer we waited, the more we worried. Eventually, after two hours of waiting, we saw at the big electronic screen that our train was coming.

It was A-1 condition train – beautiful, light, with very comfortable seats. The carriage was full of people and only two chairs were vacant –ours. Nobody checked the tickets though – it was really strange. But we didn't worry about this fact: we felt so tired that as soon as we set, we immediately fell asleep. We had been going for several hours when we started to realize that the view out of the window did not seem like area of Venice. We asked the two people next to us: "Is it Venice?", they looked at each other and answered: "Rome". Our hearts sank into our boot: we had to be in the other part of Italy – not there! Apparently, we had missed up the screen "departures" and "arrivals" and had chosen the train which was going from Venice to Rome instead of "Rome-Venice" train.

The news was so shocking that we started laughing straight away, although people around us looked extremely uneasy. The Italians actually have hearts of gold. They always help everyone with everything. Unfortunately, they could do nothing, just sympathized us. It was night and we didn’t know what to do: a little panic was beginning to spread. Luckily, our friends were coming to Rome from their holiday at the same time. The first thing they said when they met us was: "Now you know that old saying "All roads lead to Rome" –is absolutely true!" .Then they helped us to buy new tickets which cost us an arm and a leg. Despite this we got better again: we talked to our friends, had an apartment for sleep and new tickets to Venice.

The rest of our holiday was really perfect, without any negative events. We forgot about our travel experiences as soon as we saw Venice! Venice received us with the sunny weather, wooden gondolas and marvelous romantic atmosphere. Even now I remember the bitter flavor of Venetian coffee which I tasted in the Café Florian in Piazza San Marco! The ancient façades of the old buildings let us feel ourselves as counterparts of the Middle Ages! It's the most breathtaking place imaginable! I will never forget this fantastic city!

To summarize, many people could say they wouldn’t like to be in our shoes. We also thought in the same way at first, but now we are even glad it happened to us! It made our travel more interesting, more exciting and unusual. Furthermore, it stimulated us to be more careful ! In addition, this situation gave us the motivation to learn the cultures, the languages and the habits of different countries. I wouldn’t change it for the world! The most important thing is stop worrying in a difficult situation. Remember that you will be able to deal with every problem quickly and efficiently if you are in a good mood. And, of course, if your destination is Venice, all problems will be forgotten as soon as you see this unforgettable ancient city!

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