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| Erin and Jana reunited at last in Vernazza |
| Erin's Cinque Terre Journals 5-27-02 Monday morning we slowly cleaned up, packed our bags, and prepared to leave Cinque Terre. We had a basic plan on how the day would progress, with the firm point being our first train connection from Vernazza at 3:30pm. Our itinerary for the trip to Spain included 5 train changes throughout the afternoon and night, with arrival in Barcelona the next morning. Sounds like a long, long night, doesn't it? Hence the slow preparation. The day was overcast and a little chilly, so after we thanked our hostess and checked out, we wore jackets as we lounged in the main square to watch the waves. First though, I had to quickly run and check email, as my friend Jana and her fiance Ray were supposed to arrive in Cinque Terre sometime today and we were hoping we'd finally get the chance to rendevous. I didn't know what town they were staying in or what time they'd arrive, but when I checked my email I found they were scheduled to come to Vernazza around 1pm! We would have a couple of hours to chat before we took off! So Glenn and I watched the huge surf crashing over the harbor breakwater boulders which we'd been lounging on just a day before for a couple of hours. It was quite a show! Around noon, we headed toward the train station to confirm that our train was leaving on time, and as we sat there we noticed that several of the scheduled trains were not showing up. We decided that we'd hang out and see if Jana and Ray made it on an earlier train, and to jump on ours when it arrived if they did not. Around quarter to 2, another delayed train pulled up, and out stepped our friends! After hugs and welcomes, we trooped down to the square to show them where we'd stayed, and they ended up renting the same room we'd enjoyed with the ocean view. We had time for lunch, so we hurried off to eat some good focaccia bread and sodas while we chatted about our various travels and gave them tips about Cinque Terre. After lunch it was photo time, so we posed with the colorful boats of the square. All too soon, it was time to head up to the train station again to catch our Spain connection. Jana and Ray accompanied us and saw us off on our next adventure. The 3:30 train took us along the coast north toward France. We made 3 more connections over the next 5 hours, barely making one of them. At Ventimiglia, the last stop before entering France, we had a quick dinner and boarded the overnight train through France to Port Bou, which would connect with a Barcelona-bound train early the next morning. Due to our Eurorail passes, we were booked in 1st class seats for the night, but that didn't help me sleep much as they didn't recline or move at all. And after about 2am, I couldn't sleep anyway, as I had my 2nd bout of stomach sickness of the trip. What a miserable place to feel sick! Finally I got some meds out of my backpack and started to feel a bit better by about 5am, shortly before arriving in Port Bou. Since I was awake, I got to see a glorious sunrise around the mountains and across the shore while we entered Port Bou. No pictures though, as none of the motion shots I've tried came out well. Once in Port Bou, I declined breakfast during the 1 hour wait, so Glenn had a couple of little muffins we'd brought. The train to Barcelona took a couple of hours and picked up the morning work crowd. We dozed on and off until arriving in Barcelona Sanc, the main train station beneath the city. What a long night! |