Wednesday, July 4th. (Happy Birthday USA!)
For those with “½ empty glass”
tendencies, this travel could be labelled “A trip from Hell ! With the track closure, we now had to catch the first train to Menton, 06:06hrs. I attempted to plan in as much extra time as I could to ensure we would not miss later connections down the line. So, up at 05:00hrs, and over to the station to catch the train. I had purchased our tickets the night before, and we were able to find and board our train easily. At 06:05:59hrs, the conductor was stepping in to close the doors and I noticed he stood holding the door open. He was holding the door for a couple with two large suitcases who came were rushing down the platform to catch the train. They made it on...hats off to the kind conductor for his consideration! As it would turn out to be, this lovely couple, from “Down-under”, Tamara & Andrew, were traveling to Florence and would be on the same trains as Munchie and me for the entire journey! We discussed the situation regarding getting from Menton to Ventimiglia. They had been given advice about talking the short bus ride from Menton to Ventimiglia, this seemed a very good idea, I had attempted to find bus info online the evening before, but hadn't much success. I did find cab fares, ranging from 40 to 80 euro! Tamara and Andrew said the bus was 1.50 euro! The math works, we opted for this option. Upon our arrival in Menton (which appeared to be a smaller, quainter, version of Nice), we were able to get directions from the train station to the bus stop. We even had some time to sit at a little sidewalk cafe and enjoy a coffee “americano” and a wonderful treat, nuts covered in a sweet glaze on a shortbread crust, that my Darling Bride found for me!
The 905 bus was scheduled for 08:00hrs and showed up on time. The ride to Ventimiglia was short and sweet! From the bus stop, the train station was down, up, over, back, up over again and, ta-da! We were there!
At the Ventimiglia train stations we were standing in line to confirm our places on the short train ride to Taggia Arma, about a 20 minute trip. Andrew and I went up to the agent who announced to us the train from Ventimiglia to Taggia was not running because of a strike (this is quite normal for trains in Italy apparently!). We were directed to take the bus, which was out, down, over, around, back and then up again! We headed out from the stations, luggage in tow. About 500 meters from the station, Tamara noticed Andrew was not wearing his backpack! Andrew raced back to the station, but unfortunately, to no avail. The pack was gone! As we had only a few minute window to catch the bus to Taggia, Andrew and Tamara decided they would make a police report about the missing pack at the next opportunity. Thank goodness they did not have any cash, cards, or passports in the pack. Tamara had also just removed their train tickets that morning to have in hand. They did lose all of there electronics, ipads, e-readers and other conveniences that help fill the down time when traveling. What was concerning was they had medications in the pack and they would have to find a way to have these replaced.
We were able to get to the Taggia and on the regional train to Milan without too great an effort. Andrew and Tamara were up in coach 10. We had tickets for coach 4, but were directed to coach 5 initially. The a/c was out in coach 5! We thought the 3.5 hour ride to Milan was going to be brutal as the interior temperature of the coach felt hotter than the +30C outside! Thank goodness the conductor came and announced we could move to our seats in coach 4 and the a/c was working there! Munchie passed some of the time playing 2 handed “spades”. My darling bride had the luck on this leg of the journey and was the overall champ on the train!
We hooked up with Tamara and Andrew again on the platform at the Milan station. They had befriended a wonderful couple from Milan who were kind enough to take the time to show us to our next train. A small gesture on their part, but it helped keep a bit of the stress of us train newbies away. Hats off to the welcoming and friendly spirit of the people from Australia, what a fabulous character trait to have!
Tamara and Andrew were in coach 10 again I believe, and we were in coach 5 this time. This train was with Italotreno, privately run high speed train service. We clipped along at up to 300 kmph on our way to Florence. How smooth this last leg of the journey had progress when compared to the events of the morning, but alas, this was not to be. I think the travel gods just wanted to remind us they were in control. Just outside of Florence, our trained slowed and then came to a full stop! There were problems down the line and we had to wait for a track to open before we could reach our final stop, Firenze Santa Maria Novella. We got into the station about 45 minutes late. Again thanks to our new Aussie mates, I was able to reach our accomodations host and let him know we would be late. I couldn’t reach him from Munchie’s cell.
We exchanged contact information with Andrew and Tamara and we all hoped we could maybe hook up later on.
Our walk from the train station to the apartment was only about 11 minutes. We found it with relatively little effort. Via Dei Servi 31 was just over 100 meters from the Duomo! Stefano was waiting at the door for us. He showed us up to the wonderful apartment on the 1st floor. It was great! Well equipped and very comfortable! For those who prefer a home stay rather than a hotel stay this is the type of place you would like.
Our great friends, Shannon and JT (Jean) Turgeon, were already in Florence, arriving on July 2nd. Shannon is a member of the “Breast Friends” dragon boat team and they had travelled to Florence for the international breast cancer survivors dragon boat races (http://www.florencebcs2018.org/) There were 125 boats of 22 paddlers in each boat entered in this event from Canada, US, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, France, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Taiwan, Singapore, Ireland, Austria, Denmark, South Africa, Spain and Sweden!
JT had already reached us by text to let us know they were on an excursion, now let me quote my good friend JT, “the hike from hell!” I guess it was not quite what he had expected! So anyway he wasn’t expecting to be back to Florence until late, so we said we would see them in the morning.
After getting settled we headed out for our first meal in Firenze. We walked to Piazza Duomo and the first restaurant we came upon was Le Botteghe Di Donatello, which is in Donatello’s (not the ninja turtle) workshop. We sat outside and had a great meal. Munchie noticed they had a dedicated “senza glutine” (gluten free) menu! JT was recently diagnosed with celiacs and so now the GF on a menu means something! Munchie took a pic of the menu and promptly sent it to JT!
After supper, we headed back to the apartment and retired for our first sleep in Florence.
More to come.....
At the Ventimiglia train stations we were standing in line to confirm our places on the short train ride to Taggia Arma, about a 20 minute trip. Andrew and I went up to the agent who announced to us the train from Ventimiglia to Taggia was not running because of a strike (this is quite normal for trains in Italy apparently!). We were directed to take the bus, which was out, down, over, around, back and then up again! We headed out from the stations, luggage in tow. About 500 meters from the station, Tamara noticed Andrew was not wearing his backpack! Andrew raced back to the station, but unfortunately, to no avail. The pack was gone! As we had only a few minute window to catch the bus to Taggia, Andrew and Tamara decided they would make a police report about the missing pack at the next opportunity. Thank goodness they did not have any cash, cards, or passports in the pack. Tamara had also just removed their train tickets that morning to have in hand. They did lose all of there electronics, ipads, e-readers and other conveniences that help fill the down time when traveling. What was concerning was they had medications in the pack and they would have to find a way to have these replaced.
We were able to get to the Taggia and on the regional train to Milan without too great an effort. Andrew and Tamara were up in coach 10. We had tickets for coach 4, but were directed to coach 5 initially. The a/c was out in coach 5! We thought the 3.5 hour ride to Milan was going to be brutal as the interior temperature of the coach felt hotter than the +30C outside! Thank goodness the conductor came and announced we could move to our seats in coach 4 and the a/c was working there! Munchie passed some of the time playing 2 handed “spades”. My darling bride had the luck on this leg of the journey and was the overall champ on the train!
We hooked up with Tamara and Andrew again on the platform at the Milan station. They had befriended a wonderful couple from Milan who were kind enough to take the time to show us to our next train. A small gesture on their part, but it helped keep a bit of the stress of us train newbies away. Hats off to the welcoming and friendly spirit of the people from Australia, what a fabulous character trait to have!
Tamara and Andrew were in coach 10 again I believe, and we were in coach 5 this time. This train was with Italotreno, privately run high speed train service. We clipped along at up to 300 kmph on our way to Florence. How smooth this last leg of the journey had progress when compared to the events of the morning, but alas, this was not to be. I think the travel gods just wanted to remind us they were in control. Just outside of Florence, our trained slowed and then came to a full stop! There were problems down the line and we had to wait for a track to open before we could reach our final stop, Firenze Santa Maria Novella. We got into the station about 45 minutes late. Again thanks to our new Aussie mates, I was able to reach our accomodations host and let him know we would be late. I couldn’t reach him from Munchie’s cell.
We exchanged contact information with Andrew and Tamara and we all hoped we could maybe hook up later on.
Our walk from the train station to the apartment was only about 11 minutes. We found it with relatively little effort. Via Dei Servi 31 was just over 100 meters from the Duomo! Stefano was waiting at the door for us. He showed us up to the wonderful apartment on the 1st floor. It was great! Well equipped and very comfortable! For those who prefer a home stay rather than a hotel stay this is the type of place you would like.
Our great friends, Shannon and JT (Jean) Turgeon, were already in Florence, arriving on July 2nd. Shannon is a member of the “Breast Friends” dragon boat team and they had travelled to Florence for the international breast cancer survivors dragon boat races (http://www.florencebcs2018.org/) There were 125 boats of 22 paddlers in each boat entered in this event from Canada, US, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, France, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Taiwan, Singapore, Ireland, Austria, Denmark, South Africa, Spain and Sweden!
JT had already reached us by text to let us know they were on an excursion, now let me quote my good friend JT, “the hike from hell!” I guess it was not quite what he had expected! So anyway he wasn’t expecting to be back to Florence until late, so we said we would see them in the morning.
After getting settled we headed out for our first meal in Firenze. We walked to Piazza Duomo and the first restaurant we came upon was Le Botteghe Di Donatello, which is in Donatello’s (not the ninja turtle) workshop. We sat outside and had a great meal. Munchie noticed they had a dedicated “senza glutine” (gluten free) menu! JT was recently diagnosed with celiacs and so now the GF on a menu means something! Munchie took a pic of the menu and promptly sent it to JT!
After supper, we headed back to the apartment and retired for our first sleep in Florence.
More to come.....
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