La Spezia

Tonight, as I write this, I am sitting on my balcony, drinking coke and watching all the people in the piazza socializing the Italian way. Jen is crunching a sugar dough cookie in my ear, as we both watch kids kick a soccer ball and the edge of the modern looking fountain filling with people who are just sitting and enjoying the night.

This was our third straight day of travel and we are really enjoying the slowness of the moment. We are settled in to La Spezia for 2 nights so we don't feel any pressure to do more.

This morning started off slow with everyone sleeping in. Our train didn't leave until noon so we took advantage of the respite to catch up on some rest and just approach the day with no sense of urgency. After all... this is Italy....

We once again got to the train station early enough to get some breakfast and prepare for the journey to La Spezia. The train was only 3 hours but by now the traveling was getting monotonous. We arrived without incident, except for the Italians and their weird mask rules. Nobody wore masks on the train, until we were just coming in to La Spezia. Then a guy came through the cabin and had every put on masks. We kept them on until the train stopped, we got off, and then everyone took their masks off. Very weird. And it wasn't that we took them off and we weren't supposed to. Hardly anyone in the whole station was wearing a mask. I guess they wanted to be extra careful for when people exit the train. I am not sure.

Jen knocked it out of the park again with our accommodations. It is perfect for our needs and right near the action. After we got settled we went for a walk down by the Mediterranean. We wandered a bit, ate some Gelato, got groceries, and headed back to our place to cook our own food and just relax. Tomorrow we are wanting to have a really early start to see as much of the Cinque Terre as we can. It will be a long hot day but we are sooooo looking forward to it.

So, with that I will bid you good night.Les mer