The behind the scene story about the search for Ulf

Here is Guido's inside story about the Florence Adventure. Thanks Guido!

"Florence – The Adventure Team
Here is the story of the 5 left behind in Florence: Leslie (USA), Sascha (Germany), Georg (Austria), Robert (Denmark) and me, Guido (Germany).

I simply want to fill in the missing parts of Margherita’s story.

As the bus stopped in Florence for the second time, our group of five formed to search for Ulf. Now, since Florence could be dangerous for a group of our size, it was recommended that we leave our valuables, especially money, in the bus while we searched ---a very stupid mistake, as we would later find out.

The first group of 5 was already underway and was told to be back in 45 minutes. We were in the second group and were ready to go look, when Bruno Grandi changed his mind. He said that the bus would leave in 3 minutes. We told him that that was impossible since one group was already gone looking. We also wanted to look for Ulf and be back in 45 minutes. Bruno Grandi forbad us from leaving, but we did anyway. What could he do when 10 people were missing? Simply drive away? We didn’t think he could, so we started our search for Ulf…

After 45 minutes we came back to the meeting spot that was prearranged. What did we see? No Ulf, no other group, no bus…ok… this was definitely a joke and Bruno Grandi was going to come around the corner any second, scold us for leaving and then we would all drive back to camp together. After a half an hour in the now very dark Florence, we stopped believing this and knew Bruno Grandi was capable of anything. We were immeasurably disappointed at this point in the camp members on the bus, who we thought had abandoned us.

Quick Supply Check
Who had money? No one!
Who had something to eat? No one!
Who had something to drink? No one!
Who could speak Italian? No one!
Oh, great!

Oh, by the way, on the river banks, where we were waiting for the bus, is a red-light district with street walkers/prostitutes. It is quite interesting to see what all is running around there at night.

We set our hopes on the local police and went off to find a police station.After a while we saw a small police station but there was no light on. We knocked and rang the bell until finally a light went on. A very sleepy police officer with his gun in his hand opened the door. “Hey, hey, it’s ok. We’re not from the mafia!” Apparently the officer also noticed that we were not a threat and tried to talk to us…it did not go well since he spoke no English, German or Danish and we couldn’t speak Italian. Somehow we understood that there was a larger station nearby and which direction we should take, so we left. There must be an Italian policeman who can speak English, right?

Some time later, we found the larger police station, but there too no one spoke English. We waited. Every time an officer came in or out, we asked him if he could speak English or German. Finally after many attempts, an office spoke to us in English. We were so thrilled that we started to cheer, but the policeman had nothing better to do than to slap Leslie, who was closest to him, across the face. It was his way to to tell us to be quiet. We were all shocked and were really very quiet from then on.

We explained to the officer, who we were, where the camp was, that the bus left, that we had no money and needed help. But the policeman was not in the position to help us. His only advice was that there was an American Embassy in Florence and since Leslie was with us, we could go there and get money for the trip back to Bagnone. The only problem was that the Embassy did not open until the afternoon on the following day. Oh, terrific. I wonder if Ulf had such problems too. Probably, we just had bad luck with the night shift.

Next, we decided to go the train station to see about the connection to Bagnone and possibly spend the night there at the station. Once we got there, we saw that there was no intelligent way to get to the camp from Florence. Then we got a really good idea. Sascha and I were with his parents before the camp started and they were still on holiday in Italy. There was a train that would take us close to the town they were in. We decided to go there and ask Sascha’s father to take us to Bagnone with his car.

Said it, did it....
Don’t ask me if we had tickets or if anyone checked us for them, I don’t remember anymore... At some point, while it was still dark, we got to Sascha’s parents and little brother. You could say they were surprised. Sascha’s dad was so nice and drove us back to the camp. Luckily, he drives a big Mercedes S-Class so we all had enough room. Dead tired, we arrived back at camp. I think that the majority of the campers were still asleep but some were there with big friendly greetings and hugs. Please forgive us if our joy was not so enormous, but somehow we were still angry at Bruno Grandi and at you all, and maybe also a little at ourselves….

Later, on the same day, we were informed that we had to leave the camp. Funny enough, this did not apply to Leslie, just for the rest of us. But Bruno Grandi did not consider the power of the solidarity of the campers. It was simply terrific the way the campers supported us and said that if we go, they would go too. Again, thanks so much to you all!! We could have hugged you and probably did. It worked! Again, Bruno Grandi changed his mind; we could stay. But we did not get away unpunished….did you miss us in Pisa????? We were not allowed to go. All five of us? I don’t remember any more but on the day you all were in Pisa, Sascha and I went to the big swimming pool. We had a lot of fun, flirted with the pretty Italian girls and got a huge sunburn. Directly next to the swimming pool was a supermarket that sold ice-cold Beck’s beer-mmmmmmm tasty! At last everything was right with the world.

…and how did our days at camp always come to a close? The day’s program was always ended with “tutti a letto”. I believe it is the only sentence in Italian that I remember, along with “ciao a tutti”!

--- your Guido"