Today we got up really early to catch our flight from Sardinia to Florence. We packed up the car and checked out of our hotel. Before heading to the airport, we grabbed some breakfast to go from our hotel. For as dingy as the hotel was, it had the most deluxe breakfast spread - fruit, pastries, juice, eggs, meat, etc. During the two minutes we were in the dining room we got a quick glimpse of who the other hotel guests were: about 40 German lumberjacks. And these guys took breakfast seriously - four to five egg and ham sandwiches each!
Our flight to Florence was pretty uneventful. We appreciated that we could board/alight from the front and back of the plane, which is not only efficient, but was convenient for us as we were seated in the last row of the plane. As soon as we stepped off the plane we realized that it was not tee-shirt and shorts weather anymore. The tempurature dropped quite a bit and we're officially in Fall now. Everyone got off the plane and boarded a bus to take us to the terminal. About two seconds later we arrived - the plane was about 15 feet from the terminal. It was like the scene from LA Story where Steve Martin gets in his car to drive down the block.
Our travels for the day were not quite over yet - we still had to take the train to the Cinque Terre. We took a bus from the airport to the main train station. Here we realized that we are not the only people traveling in Italy. The train station was a complete madhouse of tourists - the line to speak to a ticket agent was at least 100 people long. To avoid waiting in line we used the automated ticket machine, where there were only about five people waiting. There was definitely a sense of comradery at the automated machines, everyone supporting each other as they navigated through the computer screens. With our tickets in hand, we made a quick run out of the train station to get some paninis for lunch and then got on our 2.5 hour train ride to La Spezia. There we transfered to another train to Vernazza, one of the Cinque Terre towns where we are staying.The train ride from La Spezia to Vernazza was pretty exciting - every so often the train would emerge from a tunnel and you'd realize the tracks were just on the edge of a cliff next to the sea. When we arrived in Vernazza it was a zoo - there were mobs of people waiting to get on the train at every door. We navigated through the crowds (not so easy with big backpacks), and made it to the main street where we met the person from whom we're renting a room for the next five nights. We settled into the very simple room (with a great view of the main piazza right by the water), and although we wanted to go check out the town, we had a much more important mission: laundry.
We went straight to the town laundromat and got comfortable. A few minutes later, a Canadian couple from Whistler, BC joined us and we spent the next 1.5 hours with them. They had just come from Lucca and Florence and shared some of their experiences, and since they were headed to Sardinia next, we gave them some recommendations and passed along our guidebook. We also bonded as we tried to translate the instructions for the dryers (in German only). I mentioned it might be helpful if my mom was there since she spoke Yiddish, and it turned out that they were both Jewish, spoke Hebrew and the woman's mom lives in Tel Aviv. They told us about a great Jewish bakery in Rome that we'll have to hit up (the best cheesecake she's ever had...).
With clean clothes back in our room, we ventured out to see Vernazza. Its a pretty small town so we saw most of it already - we walked through the quaint main street, climbed up a hill at the back edge of town for some views, and checked out the harbor area. For dinner we went to a local bar where the "hip and young" crowd hangs out. We had some pizza, wine and beer, played cards and listened to music before heading back to our room. It seems that for all the madness at the train station early this afternoon, the town is pretty dead at night (it might just be that its later it in the season and a little chillier out). None of the gelaterias were open, so we made a mental note to make sure we have gelato before dinner from now on.
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