Today, I finally catch up on journal-writing since the start of the trip. So much was going on in Rome and just in traveling. I’ll have to work on making this a habit. I catch up, though, sitting on a beach in Monterosso! It is a beautiful day.
We rode the train directly from Massa after we realized we didn’t need to change in La Spezia. Funny, though, as we bought a ticket from Massa to La Spezia. We got away without being checked by the conductor until we were after La Spezia. It was no big deal as we played dumb like we made a mistake. The conductor didn’t seem to care.
Cinque is 5 in Italian, so Cinque Terre is an area that contains 5 towns along the coast. Starting at La Spezia, Monterosso is the last town, the farthest away. It is a small area, though, as you could hike from Monterosso to La Spezia in a matter of hours. We did hear, however, that some of the trail was closed for repair. We didn’t have any desire to do any hiking anyway.
Unfortunately, most of the town is closed down for the winter. It’s still beautiful, but I guess there’s just not enough to sustain the business there. I was really fine with the solitude - it was a nice change from bustling Rome. But apparently James was continuously disappointed with that for some reason.
We found a little cafe with an exterior tent-like shelter with tables to eat in. Oddly enough, at this cafe, three of the four groups eating there (including us) had people from the Pacific Northwest! One group from Snohomish, the other from Oregon and then me from Seattle. Quite a coincidence to run into someone from my part of the US way out there.
After we ate we found the beach and chilled for a while. James wrote a litter and I read and caught up on this. We bought a ticket to Vernazza, the next town, and moved on. Vernazza was a bit more interesting than Monterosso. The town was a bit more concentrated and interesting. I think they had less space to spread out like Monterosso. I remember seeing pictures from Irina of Vernazza, and it was definitely the same place! We didn’t get to the same vantage point as she had when she snapped her photos. It was beautiful all the same. I actually talked to a nice-looking woman from San Diego down by the water. I didn’t catch her name, but she recommended a hostel in Milan.
As we were walking back to the train, we found a great little bar called the Blue Marlin. They had great coffee and more expensive internet access! We paid like 2 Euros for 10 minutes. A rip! But, it came in handy as we checked out the hostel recommendation and had room reservations by the time we left. I also talked to another woman who had a quiet friend. We ended up running into both women a time or two before we left for Milan. I think that was one of the things I liked about the Cinque Terre - it was small-feeling. And, we knew prior to going that lots of english-speaking folks go there. Which makes things easy!
We had our accommodation arrangements completely open. Bern was about 8-9 hours away. I kinda wanted to stay in Monterosso, but we both wanted to get to Bern the next day and the earlier the better. There was a room available at a guest house in Monterosso for 70 Euros. In the end, we decided to head on. Staying in Monterosso was only worth it if we were going to spend the next day there. We weren’t as we were going to catch a very early train to Milan. So, we went on to Milan that evening after arranging for a room for 70 Euros at Hotel Verona near Milano Centrale (the central train station). We figured out the times for the train to Bern, had a bite to eat and were in for the evening.
Milan had been described as “like New York.” I haven’t been to NY, but if it’s like Milan, I’m not raring to go. Milan was ok, what little we saw of it. It was just very big-city-like. Nothing attractive at all about it. We also only saw it in the dark - getting their late and leaving early the next day. So, I can’t totally judge it yet.