shave ice & gelato

Monday, June 18th
Ciao! I am now in Bologna. I still need to catch up with my days in Venice and also my stay with my friends in Coccaglio. I am only here for one day and have a dinner reservation in an hour but I wanted to at least check in.

I arrived at the train station in Rovato about 15 minutes early. I validated my ticket and I was set to say goodbye to Katia when we saw that my train was 50 minutes delayed! That made my connection in Verona impossible. Rovato is a very small train station with one ticket booth with a man that is not very friendly. After buying a ticket from him a few years ago, I always buy my ticket in advance when taking a train from this station so that I can avoid him. I was not very hopeful that he would be able to help but surprisingly, he was able to suggest an alternate train that should still get me to Verona in time. He told me that I would not have to pay anything more since the train I bought the ticket for was now canceled.

Katia had to leave to go to work and so I sat and waited. This train ended up being 5 minutes late also. I arrived in Brescia and saw that the Eurostar City train was going to Verona and would get me there on time. I told my story about my cancelled train to the conductor but he would not let me on the train. He said I had to wait for the IC train which would get me to Verona in time for my connection.

Buon giorno!

Thursday, June 21st
I arrived in Rome Thursday afternoon. I took the bus, which was 10 minutes "in ritardo" (late), from Cortona to Camucia where I caught the train to Rome. The bus drops you off in the town of Camucia and then I had to walk (about a 10 minute walk) to the train station. I took the bus the day before as a practice run. Because the bus was late, I only had 10 minutes to get to the train station and so I jogged partway, reaching the station in 5 minutes, only to find out that the train was also 10 minutes "in ritardo"!

The train was a newer regional train and was quite comfortable. I had a 1st class ticket. The 1st class section was full but luckily I found a great seat before it filled up at the Terontola station. We arrived in Rome 20 minutes late. I decided to go to the Trastevere station instead of the Termini to avoid the craziness and long taxi lines at the Termini station. This meant a change at the Tiburtina station. I printed out all the train options in case the train was late for my connection.

Saturday June 21 - Monday June 23

I checked in for my flight at home (with only one quick moment of panic after realizing that I initially typed in the wrong passport number). The only line I encountered at the airport was the agriculture screening (where I had to wait for 4 other people to put their check in bags through first). No line at the kiosk where I checked in my bag and amazingly no line at the screening area. In fact, I was the only one there. At first I thought must have been at the wrong place because on one else was there. And, I guess because I was the only one there and they had nothing better to do, I was the lucky recipient of a full pat down in the special pat down area. After collecting my bags, putting my shoes back on, and heading towards my gate, I realized that I forgot my pillow in one of the gray tubs at the screening area. I raced back, retrieved my pillow and then headed back to the gate.

My flight from Honolulu to Newark had to be one of the best flights I have taken in a long time (except of course the few times I flew first class). I sat next to a nice couple from Germany. We chatted a little until the food arrived. I decided on Kosher meals for this trip after having one of the best Kosher airline meals on my last trip from Newark to Honolulu. I always order special meals, since they usually seem to be a little fresher and I get my meal first. On my last trip, they messed up on my order, which is how I got the Kosher meal. Well, on this flight, they messed up royally once again. I was given some sort of sandwich with frozen mystery meat inside. I could have sworn it was ham, which puzzled me since I am pretty sure ham is not Kosher. I ate the bread and left the frozen mystery meat on the plate. My meal also came with a chocolate whipped dessert that looked wonderful, but I could not eat (chocolate = migraines for me).

Continental always gives out free headphones for the flights from Newark to Rome or Milan and back. I have a big collection of them at home. I realized once on the plane that I packed the my regular over the ear headphones which look similar to the airline headphones instead of one of my pairs of airline headphones. Fortunately, I brought a coupon with me for another free pair. After my meal, I watched about 5 minutes of some movie and then fell asleep. I slept for 6 straight hours!

After arriving in Newark, I spent about 5 hours wandering the airport. I love my new rolling bag. It made such a big difference walking around the airport not having to lug a bag on my back. I had a wonderful raspberry and cheese filled pastry at Au Bon Pain and a pretty good espresso at Jakes and later a slice of pizza which was just ok. Once at my gate, I checked in showing my passport to get a special mark on my ticket saying documents were shown and a little security sticker on my passport. I surveyed the area and saw babies and little children! Now I love babies and little children most of the time, just not on planes.

As the boarding process began, I went over to the boarding area to wait since my row was going to be called next. As those in the very back of the plane started to board, it started to hail. Boarding stopped and those on the plane were asked to get off the plane. This was not a good sign. I spoke to this guy sitting nearby and he said that the storm, which caused many flights to be canceled was heading our way. The hail was loud and lasted about 20 minutes. We could see the hail bouncing off of the windows on the ceiling. For some reason, hail is always associated with Italy for me. The only other encounters of hail I have had besides hiking in Colorado many many years ago have been when I have been in Italy. Fortunately the hail at the airport stopped and we were once again allowed to board the plane. As my row was called, a group of Italians started pushing their way through the line. I am always amazed at how waiting orderly in line is something that Italians seem to have missed in school.

On this flight, I sat next to a very nice older Italian man. It looked like it was going to be another peaceful flight...until the two rows of families with their babies sat down. The crying began even before we took off. It continued throughout the flight. The babies took turns so that there would not be more than 15 minutes of silence throughout the flight. I was not able to sleep longer than an hour on this flight. I even tried blasting my iPod to drown out the crying. And to add to the crying, a grown man who sat behind me kicked my seat off and on throughout the flight. The feature movie starring Kate Hudson and Mathew McConaughey was not working. The other choices were pretty bad. I ended up watching a movie called Penelope twice, first in English and then again in Italian. It was a LONG flight.

Although we were delayed for 90 minutes because of the hailstorm we onlyarrived 30 minutes late. We arrived at 8:30, I retrieved my bag by 9:20 and was on a bus heading to Milan at 9:30. We arrived at the train station at 10:30. There was construction blocking the main train station entrance, which meant I had to walk around the building to a entrance on the other side. Again, I was thankful for my new rolling bag. After waiting in line to purchase my ticket (the automatic ticket machines were either blocked off due to the construction or were in a location that was a mystery to me), I headed up to wait for my 12:10 train. I bought a bland eggplant and cheese sandwich and had my first espresso machiato.

My train was one of the newer IC plus trains with comfortable first class seats and plenty of room for luggage. I sat across from a very chatty Italian woman. On any other occasion, I would have been thrilled to practice my Italian, but because of my lack of sleep and it being 12:30 - 2:30 in the morning Hawaii time, I could barely keep my eyes open. Trying to understand Italian requires my full attention, which was quite a challenge and this woman continued to talk to me until she finally departed in Genova. Because my eyelids were heavy and I was nodding off, I got up and stood for the rest of the trip. I chatted with a very kind older Italian couple while waiting at the door for my stop. The man helped me with my second bag as I departed the train.

My hotel was a short walk from the train station, mostly downhill. It was easy to find. When I made my reservation, all of the single rooms were booked for my first night in Santa Margherita Ligure. Because I was going to move into a single room the following day, I only unpacked a few things. The double room was clean and quite large, with a nice bathroom and comfortable bed.

After a wonderful shower, I headed out to explore Santa Margherita Ligure. It was a beautiful day and still quite warm. I walked from one end to the other end of town by the ocean, taking photos along the way. By this time, I was fading fast. I found a bar that served pasta and asked if it was possible to order some dinner early. It was 6:30 and the earliest most restaurants serve dinner is 7:30. The man in the bar told me that the cook would be arriving in 5 minutes if I could wait. I ordered a pesto dish with trofie pasta (a typical Ligurian pasta) which was wonderful! After dinner, I headed back to my hotel and was asleep by 7:30. I did remember to eat some cherries before falling asleep. I woke up at 3:30 in the morning and was finally able to go back to sleep about 4:30 or so and slept until 8am.

I am so happy to be back in Italy once again!!!

Monday, June 30th

After my last wonderful breakfast at Hotel Jolanda in Santa Margherita Ligure and some last minute packing, I gave the front desk the key (I already paid my bill the night before), was refunded for the internet access problems (which really worked out in my favor), and headed to the train station. The walk was not far although there was a steep hill at the end of the walk just before reaching the train station. I figured out a way to hook all my bags together. I have been very happy with my new system of 2 rolling bags (both a bit smaller and lighter) rather than a larger backpack on my back and a larger rolling bag. So far, I have always been offered help when getting on or off a train and it has not been that difficult carrying the bags down and up the stairs in the underpasses at the train stations.

When I arrived at the train station, I was very glad that I purchased my ticket the day before since the ticket window was closed. I read on the monitor that the train would be 5 minutes "in ritardo" (late). I found a nice bench to sit on and waited for the train. A few minutes later an older but very feisty woman sat next to me. As the mystery woman announced that the train we were both taking to Genova would now be 10 minutes late, she started rambling on to me in Italian about how all the trains in the area are always late and that the next announcement will tell us that the train will be 15 and then 20 minutes late. She must have taken the train that was 30 minutes late on Wednesday since she was referring about that train while telling me about the Italian train system.

After a few minutes of train conversation, she asked where I was from and then started talking politics. She wanted to know why the US did not want a woman to be president. Then she wanted to know what I thought of Obama and his wife. She then asked me what the name of the "vecchio" (old) man was that was also running for president. We talked politics until the train arrived. She said it was a miracle that the train was only 10 minutes late. That was perfect for me since I would be able to still catch my connecting train if my first train was only 10 minutes late.

As the train arrived, we both went to board. She boarded first and then grabbed one of my rolling bags for me. I was surprised with her strength. Another kind man grabbed my other rolling bag. I followed the woman into one of the train cars. I debated whether or not to sit with her since I was ready to move on from the converstation about politics. I thought it would be rude though to not sit with here. The train was a regional train and so there are only 2nd class train cars. It was not very full so there was lots of space for luggage to be kept right by your seats which was nice.

I changed the subject to Genova once we sat down. She wanted to know what I did when I visited Genova. The train ride was quite pleasant. As we went by each station, she told me more about that area.

The train gods were looking out for me. We arrived on binario (platform/track) one! I LOVE binario uno because that means no stairs!! My connecting train was at the tronco place - a walk down to the end of binario 1 where two more little tracks were on the left with no stairs! My system of hooking my bags together worked perfectly for the short walk.

As I walked toward the tronco, I saw that there was a train at binario 2. I asked a train person (you can tell who they are by their green and blue outfits) if that was the Acqui train. He seemed to think it was and I figured that it had to be since it was set to leave in 10 minutes. I boarded the trian and found a seat by the entrance inside one of the train cars with a space for my luggage. A woman and her little dog got on board and asked me if this was the train to Acqui. I told her I thought it was and hoped it was. She sat nearby and placed one of those little diaper paper things on the seat and then her dog hopped on. I snuck a cute photo of the dog while she was busy talking on the phone. She probably would have posed for me but I was too shy to ask.

The train ride was very pleasant. I worked on a couple of sudoku puzzles until we arrived. Jan (jgk) called me the day before offering to pick me up at the train station. I was thrilled since I was not sure how to get to the little place where we were both staying. I am still lost today (Wednesday) after being in Acqui Terme for 2 days and so I am sure that it would have made for an interesting time if I had to find the place on my own. I don't remember seeing any taxis at the station when I arrived.

I met Jan at the entrance of the train station when I arrived. We drove to a parking lot near our place. We are staying in rooms above a restaurant called La Loggia. Jan got the single room (booked ahead first) and I have a double room. My room is huge and quite comfortable. There is a great bathroom and a wonderful hairdryer!! Having a good hairdryer is not something that often happens, even in the nicest hotels.

After unpacking a few things, we went out to have a gelato. The gelateria had huge mounds of many flavors, both fruit and creme flavors. I introduced Jan to peach gelato. It was my first time having peach on this trip. We walked around the town some and then headed back to our rooms since everything was closed for the afternoon.

Later in the afternoon, we went out to Diana's for a short visit. I was so impressed with her new kitchen. It was great seeing her again. For dinner, we ate at a place that had a wonderful pesto, pomodoro (tomato) and creme sauce. I ordered spinach and ricotta ravioli with this sauce. I also ordered a caprese salad. This caprese salad was missing the basil. The buffalo mozzarella was one big mound in the middle and the tomato slices surrounded the cheese. It was really a meal in itself. Jan talked me into a glass of white wine. I have not drank any wine fearing a headache. Unfortunately this wine did the trick. I woke up in the middle of the night with a definite wine headache. Luckily I caught it early and my medicine worked after sleeping some more. Jan also woke up with a headache. The wine was a house wine and must not have been very good.

Well, that sums up my first day/night in Acqui Terme. I will write more soon.

Ciao!!