When we last left our intrepid heroine, she was battling the thought of missing her train to blow up a safe. Up in the morning and still sesame no open. But Matthew to the rescue! He made a couple of attempts, and then presto, it swung open. All is right with the world.
We head to the car, picking up some goodies on the way, drop the car off at the rental company, and Matt walks me to the bus that will take me to the Aix TGV station. I get there early, but that’s fine. Board my train and away I go for the first leg of my journey: Nice. Change to a local train there to Ventimiglia, Italy. Then onto a regional train to Genoa, down one stairwell and up another for my final ride to La Spezia.
The view was wonderful as we chugged along the coastline. Past Antibes, where I went to summer school for 5 weeks when I was 15 (thanks, Mom!), past Monte Carlo, where the beautiful people live, past oodles of beaches with people laughing and swimming in picturesque coves, past fishing trawlers heading home in the dusky light, past little towns perched on cliffs and finally into my destination.
I came here only to wake up and take a 4 minute train to Riomaggiore in the morning, then hike through the first 4 towns of Cinque Terre. I found out that there was a big rockslide and I can’t hike between two of the towns, so it’ll be train, walk, train, walk, walk. Then I hope to have a yummy lunch before taking the train back and heading off to Siena.
My modest hotel is conveniently located right across from the train station. And conveniently has a free PC for me to use and bring you up-to-date on my adventures. Stay tuned!