Friday, September 18, The Joys of Train Travel

Some travel days are more difficult than others; this was one of them.  We were leaving Nice to travel to Monterosso in Italy, one of the five towns in the Cinque Terre.  As Rob suspected, our train tickets that we had purchased on the internet months ago had us leaving out of the "wrong" station in Nice.  Yesterday, when we visited Monte Carlo, we left out of the main train station, which was a zoo -- very crowded.  When the train pulled out, it was already full.  Then at the next station, Nice's Riqier station, there was very little room left on the train for additional passengers.  Today, our tickets had us leaving out of Riqier, so we knew that when the train pulled into the station, it would already be quite full.  Well, the situation was worse that we suspected.  When the train pulled in, it was completely full, and the locals just pushed and pushed to get on.  Rob and I were at a disadvantage since we each had one large and one small suitcase, so by the time we go to the door, there was literally no room, AND YET, we had to get on in order to make our next train connection!

Rob finally was able to get his large suitcase onto the train, but he himself was not.  There was no way I would be able to make it.  I looked up and down the platform and all the entrances were full with people still pushing.  In a split second, I decided to try the next car.  I ran down their and got my suitcase on, then pushed my on.  Then the doors shut.  I was not in a panic, but I was extremely apprehensive.  I didn't know and couldn't find out if Rob were on the train.  I could only hope.  I had the tickets and our passports.  I just had to ride to where we were to change trains (Ventigla, Italy) and hope to see Rob there.  Had I just made a giant mistake?

After several stops, the train pulled into Monaco, and nearly everyone got off the train.  I realized I could get off, too, and go down to where Rob was (hopefully) on the train -- and he was!  As it turned out, he had been watching me to make sure he saw that I got on the train, including stopping the train doors from shutting (while a lot of people were yelling at him in French!), so he knew we were both on the train -- what a relief!  As usual, Rob's instincts were correct on this situation ... he had proposed starting our journey at the main train station, rather than going to Riqier as stated on our tickets, and boy was he right!  We were able to ride on a now relatively empty train to Ventimiglia.  I can add that the views were very nice (when we weren't going through tunnels).

We had an ample layover time in Ventimiglia to catch our next train to Genoa (where we would change trains again).  The next train, operated by the Italian train service, was really nice, and we sat in first class with plenty of room and comfort.  Other than the fact that we had to listen to a loud, blowhard couple from the US tell everyone about all their travels, there was only one small problem with this train:  it ran late.  By the time we pulled into Genoa, we were 40 minutes late and had about 2 minutes to make our next train, so once again we are hustling to find and get to our next platform.  Thankfully, this next train was about 5 minutes late, so we were able to board with no problem.  However, we had had no time to buy anything for lunch, and the sandwich cart never appeared on the last train, so we were pretty hungry!  On this train, the sandwich cart did make an appearance, and we each had a ham and cheese sandwich (on the equivalent of wonder bread -- why would the country with the most delicious bread use tasteless white bread?).  Our seats were next to a very nice couple from Toronto, who were also going to Monterosso and were staying at our hotel.  So we had a nice chat with them.

Thinking that all of our troubles were behind us, the train pulled into Monterosso shortly after 3pm.  The station is mobbed!  We are able to get off the train platform and into the main station, but exiting is next to impossible!  Waves after waves of cruise ship groups are flooding into the station (quite aggressively I might add), pushing us back from the exit. Well, we are determined, and I don't have a problem sending my roller wheels of my suitcase over some toes in flip-flops if necessary (it wasn't), but using my suitcase as a battering ram, we PUSH and get out.  The hotel has sent a cab to bring us to the hotel, but we wait several minutes before we spot the Canadians make it out of the station.  I told the Italian young woman who greeted us, "We're Americans, we push.  They're Canadians, they're nice."  I'm not sure she understood, but she laughed.  The cab took us on an impossibly narrow path up to the hotel, and I was laughing all the way -- this "road" was so preposterous!  When we arrived for check-in, I told the nice lady, "Are you aware that automobiles are driving on your pedestrian walkway?"  She laughed, too.

Our room is lovely, and the views are incredible:

To relieve the stresses of the day, we headed for the pool for a quick swim and wine from the poolside bar -- too wonderful.  Dinner was at the hotel's restaurant with the same view as above, but at night, and fabulous food.  I had pasta with pesto as my primo piatto, then an entree of monkfish.  Rob had pasta with shrimp and tomatoes, then grilled sea bass.  We enjoyed this with a local white wine.  Now off to bed -- tomorrow will be an active day!