An Awful Day!

What a TERRIBLE day! We had planned to leave our luggage at the campsite but they would not let us. So, being the clever little planners we are, we decided to go use the lockers at La Spezia and then explore the rest of Cinque Terre. Unfortunately we got on the wrong train--and ended up in Sestri Levante. Seriously, of EVERY country I have been to Italy had the WORST set up for transportation. The sign on the platform will say one thing...but the train at the platform is actually going to another destination. Anyhow, from Sestri Levante we could go directly to Milan, so we figured to do that. But then we got on the wrong train AGAIN! Actually, I think what happened was that we were suppoed to switch trains at Genoa, but it does not say so on our ticket and the conductor said nothing!!! The ticket checker was the one who told us that there are no direct trains to Milan. OH! And yesterday we got FINED. We bought a ticket but forgot to validate it. The ticket checker was an angry older woman who was already in a bad mood because we had been putting our feet up on the seat across from us. We had to pay 50 euros, and when we tried to reason with her she screamed "YOU PAY NOW!!!"

Anyhow, we had to get off at the next station, which was a pretty town in the middle of no where...Since it was Sunday nothing was open except for this little bakery, so we got gelato, cannolis, fruit tarts and cream puffs. We nearly missed out train to Milan, and I had to jam myself between the doors so Hanna could make it on too. That train was so crowded and there were no seats! People were standing in the aisle, so Hanna and I ended up sitting the hot stuffy area between cars. We were joined by 4 guys from Canada who were very nice to talk to. During the ride I was grateful that 1.) The bathroom was not in our compartments and 2.) The guys were from North America and therefore use deodorant!! They told us that often people purposely give them wrong directions because they dislike foreigners. I do not think that has happened to us, but then again we are girls so perhaps people are nicer.

When we finally arrived in Verona it was 9 pm. Our hostel said to get on bus 73, so we waited at the bus station. We waited 20 minutes before we asked someone and found out that bus 73 does not run on weekends!! A nice person pointed out an alternate route for us. When we got to our hostel the door was locked. We rang the bell but no one answered. Finally a nice waiter saw us and lent us his phone so we could call the owner. The owner was very rude and told us that checkout closes at 5 pm on Sunday!! When making the reservation I specified that we would arrive late at night, like 11 pm. I was so mad because we had no place to stay and we were so tired!! The waiter took us to the restaurant and the owner of the restaurant called a hotel that he knew. They had space but they were so expensive, 130 euro a night! We were so tired though that we just took it :(

For dinner we got a bottle of wine because we were so upset, and we also ate a ton. Really an unlucky day!!!