I got up early and took a shower, finished packing, put everything away that needed to be put away and left the Nice apartment.

I walked to the train station and was about 50 minutes early. The departure track was supposed to be posted about 20 minutes prior to departure. So I sat down for a while and waited. I noticed several other trains were running late, including the previous one to Ventigmilia (which was my first stop and train change.)

At about 15 minutes to departure, I stood up and went to the track entry area and stood looking at the departure board along with everyone else. The two departures before mine finally went off the board, but my track was still not posted. Finally, at 5 minutes prior to departure, it came up. Everyone took off for the train. Down stairs, up stairs, dragging my heavy bag with me. I got on the train and went to the top level, thinking I would get a better view.

No sooner had I sat down and got situated but I hear 2 American girls in their early 20’s talking. One talked with that low voice affectation and was fairly loud. After a few minutes of hearing her guttural voice (it is called vocal fry. I heard a whole thing a few years ago on NPR about it) I knew it was time for my headphones!

I listened to a book on tape and looked out the windows. The Mediterranean was to my right and, at first, mostly steep hills with lots of houses on the left.

Just past Monaco

We got into Ventigmilia, it had taken about 50 minutes, and I just had a few minutes to board the train to Milan. I managed to find the train and got on but was in the 2nd Class section. I had booked 1st from here to Florence. So, I got back off again and showed my ticket to an agent and he told me I was in the #2 car which was further away, of course. So I took off and found the right car, and the right seat.

There was a man in the car and there were six seats in my section. He started talking at me and I finally figured out that he was in a window seat but was supposed to be by the door across from mine. Once we figured out I didn’t have the window seat, we both sat down and the train took off.

There were a lot of stops from Nice to Milan. At one point, another man came and sat in the middle seat between me and the other guy. He got off a while later, then a couple got on with the biggest suitcases I have ever seen! They left them in the hallway since they wouldn’t fit in the overhead racks and people had to shuffle by them. They too got off after a while.

One of the things I noticed as we were still going along the coast was that there were a lot of terraced farms and greenhouses. Some were on the hills but there were also some greenhouses right along the tracks.

The Coastal Farmbelt

The train started along the coast again, then we went into one town, Genovo, for a stop and then started going back the way we had just come. It eventually switched tracks and started moving away from the coast and up into the middle of Italy.

This portion of the trip was 4 hours. The original man was still there. Shortly before we got to Milano, he started talking at me again and I had no idea what he was saying. I think he was speaking French, but I am still not exactly sure. He seemed to be worried about where I was going or something, so I showed him my ticket again. He read it out loud (I had noticed he moved his lips when he was reading his magazines. At one point, he also pulled out a rosary and said that, lips moving.) I never figured out what he was trying to say.

I had about 15 minutes to figure out where to go in Milano. I looked at the departure board as soon as I got off the train but it didn’t say Firenze anywhere. I went to the main part of the station and looked at the bigger board there. No Firenze. I then pulled out my ticket again and looked at the route number. I found it but it said it was going to Salerno. I figured it had to be the one so found the track and, of course, my car was way down at the beginning of the train.

This train was much newer and the interior was more like an airplane. One seat on the left of the aisle and two on the right. I was in a two-seater but no one was seated next to me the whole 2 hour trip.

This portion of the trip seemed to be in tunnels more than out so I wasn’t able to see much of the countryside. But, when i did, it was mostly farmlands.

There were stewards who came by with drinks and snacks. Free prosecco! Guess what I had? There was also an overhead TV display that showed the route, speed of train, and a camera view from the front of the train of things rushing by. It was interspersed with ads for their dining car, pickpocket warnings, and train ads. The top speed I saw was 294 km.hr. Needless to say this trip was shorter but probably much further distance over all than the previous two.

After arriving in Florence, I found a taxi. The woman I am renting from had said to take one since it would be difficult to drag my suitcase along the cobbled streets.

I was absolutely amazed at the number of people on the streets of Florence. I thought there were a lot in Nice but it was nothing compared to here. Lots of narrow little streets full of people with cars going through them.

The taxi driver had trouble finding the address and ended up dropping me off and pointing down a narrow little street and telling me to go to second street and turn left. Okaaay.

So, off I go pulling my bag over the terribly, holey, cobbled streets. I go to the second street and it wasn’t Rue dei Cerchi. I wandered around a little then went further on and finally found it.

Someone was supposed to be in the apartment waiting for me to show me around and give me the keys. I rang the buzzer and it buzzed back so I went in. It is a dimly lit entry and there were 4 people just leaving. One of the guys saw me and asked me if I wanted help with my bag. I had looked up the narrow flights of stairs and promptly said yes! But another man was coming down and he said he would take it. Must be Paolo.

He took me up to the apartment and showed me around and how to work things, in very limited English, but I got the gist. Then he left.

The apartment is in a 12th century building, if you can imagine that. We can’t even build a viaduct in Seattle that lasts more than 50 years! It has ceilings that are probaby 25 feet high and walls that are about 2 feet thick. I will do a photo tour of the place in the future.

I have to say that after seeing all the people on the streets and going down the narrow little streets around the apartment, I was a little intimidated. It wasn’t like arriving in Nice mid-day, in the sun, and with Don and Frankie waiting for me!

It was around 6:00 pm and almost dark. I certainly didn’t feel like wandering around the dark little alleys to find a restaurant, especially when I hadn’t had a chance to get oriented to the area. So, I went to a small market very close to here and bought some cheese, bread, wine, coffee, and came back to the apartment and made a sandwich.

One thing that was definitely misleading about the apartment was the location on the ‘first’ floor, up a three “short” flights of stairs.

First flight from foyer

Second flight after a landing

Third flight up to apartment

Oh, well, guess I will get my stair-master workout along with my walking.

Arrevederci!