Italy 2.0

This morning was absolutely gorgeous. London was all misty and gray, which made all the green seem...greener! I also heard some of the most amazing birds as I walked to the train station. Sadly, I needed this awesome to begin my recovery from last night. First I went for my Indian food, which the place the hostel recommended...eh. I was really rather disappointed overall. Then there was the lack of awesomeness which came from the other people staying at my hostel. While the place itself was rather nice, the people were rather not.
People hung out underneath the dorm windows being loud and drunk until 3 am. This included people leaning out their windows from many different rooms and telling them to "shut up!" repeatedly. Or the couple that decided coming into the room and beginning packing for the next day at 12:30 in the morning was acceptable, and then turned on lights to read. Or the guy that checked in at 2 am and I swear all his belongings were in plastic bags cause all I could hear was "crinklecrinklecrinkle." So essentially I managed to get another cumulative 2 hours of sleep last night. Just to top off my jetlag you know. So I'm a little sleepy today, but that's just going to be how it is.
My train to Gatwick airport had the final destination of Brighton. Being the literary dork I am, all I could really think was weather I'd find myself a militia man like Lydia. Points if you get the reference! The ride was uneventful though, and while I did not find Wickham, I did see whole fields of daffodils along the way. And tons of fabulous little housing areas with all their laundry hanging in the back yards. I love Europe for stuff like that.
Getting into Italy was a little more interesting though...as I signed in, they told me my backpack was considered excess baggage and seemed sure I was going to pitch a fit that I had to pay to check it. This rather made me laugh, since I saw people with whole trolleys overflowing with ginormous suitcases and all I could think was how much it must cost to travel like that if it cost extra to fly my way. Then came passport control in Florence. She looked at my passport for a good several minutes before telling me I was over my 19 days. First off, what 19 days, since I was here 3 months last time and nothing of the sort was ever mentioned to me, and secondly, she was basing this off my Iceland stamp from December. She said it showed that I left Iceland on the 23rd of December. Which I agreed to, while telling her that I left it to go back to the states. Every time I pointed to my return to the US stamp, or my new ones from Iceland/London in the last two days, she would look at me blankly. Finally she understood this was only my 3rd day in Europe this trip, and that I was nowhere near 19 (still don't understand what she was talking about there as those usually apply country by country and I definitely wasn't in Italy that long).
Oh well, I made it in and that's all that matters. That and how stunningly sunny and wonderful it is here now! I'm just sitting in the hostel waiting for my room to be ready so I can ditch my bags and go wander. I've got some train tickets to buy, a city to wander in, and Martha to hang out with! I already stopped and got a sandwich at my favorite focaccia shop and have begun the culinary awesomeness that the next 24 hours will hold.