Day 12 Lake Como to Cinque Terre

What a day it was - up at 6:30am, quick yogurt & pack and our host, Ettore, was there at the door to take us to the bus stop. We hadn’t expected that. The bus was packed - lots of students. Peter ended up standing near the door, I found a seat. Must say it was unnerving as the clock on the bus was wrong - implying we were going to miss our train.

We got there in good time and headed off to Milano on reserved seats. Here the problems began. A 30 something Italian guy was sitting in Peter’s seat. When I asked him to move, he flatly refused saying someone was in his seat, so he was going to sit here. I got ticked off and said “NO” we’d booked that seat, so it was his problem, not ours. He had a total hissy fit calling in me a monster plus more Italian names I’m glad I couldn’t understand. Peter signalled the ticket taker, who made the guy move. YIKES what a way to start.

The train was late arriving in Milano, so we dashed through the station and got on the train to Parma with 1 minute to spare. Again we had reserved seats, but someone was in ours, so we took the ones beside them, then got kicked out of those so kicked the people out of ours. Italy is not at all like Switzerland!!!

Here I encountered another problem - my Eurail pass wouldn’t open. I learned that the wifi on the train wasn’t strong enough to open it so I had to go on G4 . Another lesson learned - I’m getting so wise. . . . .

Train 3 took us from Parma to La Spezia - no reserved seats and what a cattle car. I’m going to have to perfect my elbows out barge ahead technique if we’re going to survive here. Peter stood in the entrance way, I eventually found a seat, and finally we got seats together, but far from our luggage.

Train 4 was a short 15 minutes to Riomaggiore - and the site upon exiting the train made it all worth while - Spectacular. Our place is spacious and aesthetic, and the view from the balcony is great - looking down on Main Street. After scouting out the place, taking pics, stocking up on beer, wine & salad stuff - we finally settled down on our tiny patio, nibbled calamares & shrimp and enjoyed the view.

Looking forward to exploring Cinque Terre tomorrow - weather looks great.Read more