My first Train trip from Florence

By Tammy H. – Guestblogger from Florence
Last Sunday I ventured to Pisa by train all by myself to see one of the 7 wonders of the world: The Leaning Tower of Pisa.
I left home at 7:45 am and spent 30 minutes walking to the Florence train station. With a ticket bought the day before in my hand, I knew the train would leave at 8:30 am, but from what binario (track), I didn't know. It wasn't marked on the ticket…
By the time I saw that my 8:30 train for Pisa would leave from track 1, I only had 5 minutes to run there. But before boarding the train, I was supposed to validate the ticket first, or risk getting a hefty fine, per my Let's Go Guidebook. I looked around. Where was the validating machine and what did it look like? By the time I found one (with the help of another traveler) and had my ticket validated, I turned around to see the train slowly leaving without me…
My first lesson: Get to the station in plenty of time, at least half an hour early, for a smooth ride.
Oh well, the next train was only an hour away and the validation was good for 6 hours. I had time to walk back to the shops area for a simple breakfast–a small bag of grapes and apple slices–and a coffee at McDonalds for 2 euro.
Then I followed the sign to the restroom area. Although my Italian was still limited, I knew enough to read the sign that you have to pay to go there. Other tourists seemed to be confused. There were about 5 turnstiles like at the Washington area metro and I had to insert 1 euro to get in the toilet area. At least it was clean with a good supply of toilet paper and liquid soap.
My second lesson: Make sure to have change for emergencies!
I'm leaving Florence for Venice by train this Sunday and I sure will know what to do!