| Glenn's Cinque Terre Journals 5-27-02 Monday morning was checkout day. We had to pack in preparation for not getting to our next "real" bed until Tuesday morning where we were due to arrive around 9:30 am, Checkout was at 10:30 am so we showered, had breakfast, and packed. We were not allowed to leave our packs behind as that required a key to get in and she did not know when she would be around. Our first train of the day was not until 3:30 pm so we had a half day to use up while we waited. We spent some of the morning sitting in the plaza reading our books. Today was more overcast than yesterday and even the owner of the last boat pulled it into the plaza this morning. We even wore our sweaters as it was that cool. The waves were breaking even higher over the retaining wall in the port to the point that the area had been taped off as to not allow anyone to go there. Of course some of the tourists could not resist so we watched as they got soaked when a big wave would break over the wall when they weren't ready. We didnt know exactly when Jana and Ray were arriving but they had guessed around 1:00 pm. We headed up to the train station around noon just to make sure we didn't miss them. They arrived on the 1:15 pm train and we were there waiting to greet them. We determined that they didn't have a place to stay yet so we quickly headed off to the hotel that we had stayed at and, sure enough, the room that we had was still available. Jana and Ray took the room, which also provided a place for us to leave our bags, and we headed off to lunch before we had to catch our train. We grabbed lunch at the local panini shop and ate on steps located across from the shop while we chatted about our adventures. The day continued to be overcast but we hoped for Jana and Ray that the weather would improve for their stay in Vernazza. After lunch we grabbed our bags from there room and headed out to start our journey to Barcelona. The first section of our trek was to Sestri Levante where we transfered on to a train that went to Genova. From Genova we then transferred to a train to Ventimiglia, on the border of Italy and France. We had enough time in Ventimiglia to have dinner at a local pizzeria. After dinner we caught our fourth train from Ventimiglia to Port Bou, which is on the France and Spain border. This train was the night train from 9:45 pm until 6:15 am. so we slept most of the way, as much as you can sleep on a train that stops through most of the night with people getting on and off. Once we arrived into Port Bou we then transferred to our last train of the day into Barcelona. We arrived into Barcelona as scheduled around 9:45 am. |
| Erin and Jana posing for photos in Vernazza. |
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