Friday, November 13, 2015

Trains, trains, trains=run, run, run

Right now we are stuck in Genova for an hour, because we believed the hotel man at the front to desk. He gave us bad info....trying to go Rapallo and instead we went right past with no stopping. So here we are waiting to haul all this luggage onto yet another train back to Rapallo. We were feeling pretty smug about being able to run, take the slow elevators to the correct platform and see that the train was 5 minutes late allowing us to make it on the train and then we find out it was not stopping where we thought it would. No worries. Hurry and wait. We just boarded another train back to Rapello. We would have just stayed here tonight but I had already made reservations in Rapallo so another €3.40 for another ticket.
Things are different here, not to mention that not everyone has the decency to speak English! :) I have had to wrap my brain around the fact that the elevators may say floor "0" or "-1"....what is that about??? Some places make you pay to use the toilet, which seems wrong since sometimes there are no paper towels to dry your hands.
Another thing. Every day is laundry day. Sheets, jeans, towels, etc all hanging from people's balconys. And train tunnels everywhere. Wish we had trains in the US like here. Screeching train brakes, short stops making having luggage to deal with a bit difficult. What is with all these shutters? All the buildings seem to have shuttered windows. And old rusty bikes. You hardly see anybody riding a bike to be proud to own!! Such differences in lifestyles. Despite all this, Italy has charm and mostly friendly people. Still enjoying this trip even though we are either running like crazy or twiddling our thumbs while we wait.
First photo shows about all we saw in Genova. Second one is of Sharon waiting for the train with all our luggage. I packed light like we had agreed to do, but Sharon had a harder time sticking to that plan!! Life is an adventure. Overlook the struggles and keep moving forward pushing any worries away. I haven't felt this relaxed in awhile!!

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