Europe Bound: Back On The Bus To Florence

Posted by Katrien Vander Straeten Jun 30, 2006

Again we boarded around noon in Antwerp: my ten-month-old daughter, my mom and I. This time we had all the requisite documents on us.

Amie is again on her best behavior. She really is the easiest baby to travel with. She plays on our laps, refrains from kicking and punching the seat in front of her too much, and seems happy enough with the ten minutes of crawling she is allowed at a dirty bus stop in French territory. Before darkness falls, she is out for the night, waking only a couple of times for some food.

Mom and grandmom, however, don't do so well. Amie sleeps on me, so I can't find a comfortable position... But then, on those buses, who can? Certainly not my mom. While the babe snores away, the two of us pass a sleepless night.

Also, the most interesting views along the way, namely the Alps, are passed by at night. But I did manage to catch a glimpse of the Italian Alps in the light of the full moon. Amazing!

At 6 am, in Milan, we have to get off the bus, collect our luggage, and board a new bus, this one driven by two jokers who make a show of their incompetence. They don't even know what their destination is, change their minds a couple of times (Rome? Pisa? Firenze?), and in the process passengers have to board, un-board, and re-board several times.

When we pull out of the Milanese bus station, the bus is overbooked, and we have to relinquish Amie's seat (which we paid for) to another passenger, who would otherwise have to stay behind. To make it worse, the jokers proceed to make lame jokes over the intercom: never have I heard the French language abused so!

About six more hours to go, but baby is still cooperating, and with all those other people on board, each of them smitten with our angel, time goes by relatively quickly.

Until...

Until ten minutes before reaching Florence - it is in sight, right there, we can see it in the distance! - the bus fills with a strong smell and then, smoke!

The driver makes an emergency stop on the side of the highway. We all have to evacuate immediately. There is no breakdown lane so we also need to jump over the guard rail. The midday sun is scorching, and we all cluster together in the small strip of shadow cast by our smouldering bus.

I am still rolling with the punches, though Amie is starting to fuss in the heat. The other passengers help out, amusing her with smiles and tickles. A Dutch student shows us a beautiful yellow crab spider ("krabspinnetje"), and two Bangladeshi boys present Amie with a boucquet of wild flowers... I am thinking: if we hadn't broken down, we wouldn't have seen these beautiful and kind sides of these people.

When it is deemed safe, we very slowly move off to the nearest parking lot, where, in the shade of a tin roof, we wait for a replacement bus. When it finally arrives, it really does only take ten minutes to get to the Santa Maria Novella bus station in Florence!

Luckily my husband is there to meet us and help us to our hotel. There we all crash and take a well-deserved nap. Florence is waiting for us!