Sunset at The Cinque Terre

We're watching the sun begin to set from our terrace in Riomaggiore, one of the five towns of the ever-popular Cinque Terre. Booking 'hostels' online is typicaly a gamble, but we've been extremely lucky in almost every case. Our 'hostels' have turned out to be apartments, hotels, B&Bs, etc. The building we're in isn't brand new, but the view from our terrace is spectacular. We're facing westward, so we'll be able to see the sun [appear to] set in about an hour. The town looks like it erupted from the sea straight toward the sky. The buildings are tall, but yield to the ones behind them to share the view.



There have been more English speakers here than in any other place we've visited. We were amazed (and relieved) that so many people in Greece spoke English; now, when we have developed our ability to communicate basically in Italian, we are surrounded by English-speakers. I don't even know if Italians come to Cinque Terre: virtualy every voice I've heard from passers-by is in English. [Unfortunately, most of these voices are coming from the so-called 'ugly Americans.']



These five small towns are gorgeous. It's hard to imagine what kept them going before Rick Steeves alerted The Americas to their presence. The Cinque Terre's chief export, now, must be picturesque postcards.

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Arrived

We've finally arrived. Our travel time from Santa Chiara's front door to our room: 10 hours, 26 minutes.
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Per La Spezia

After some contemplation and a fairly simple calculation, we've determined this trip to be record-breaking.

We've been in-transit since 19:36 yesterday. Previously, our longest journey had been ours to Munchen. No more, though. Our trip to the ever-popular Cinque Terre has taken the prize.

We're on the leg of our trip from Pisa Centrale to La Spezia. There are people asleep in our seats, so we've resorted to using the pull-out seats typically designated for drifters. Confrontng sleeping strangers at 4:30 isn't something I'd like to add to my 'list of things I've done.'

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This Just In

The delay has just increased to 45 minutes. They have apologized for any inconveinence this may cause.
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Ritardo (Deja Vu)

Remember the forty minute delay that threw a wrench in all of our travel plans? Another delay, also forty minutes, has recently reared its ugly head. It looks like we might get the rare opportunity to see the sun rise from the La Spezia Centrale rail station.

Again, I can only hope that those green-jacketed men and women enjoyed a lovely day off.

Another item of note: our last train, from Firenze S.M.N. to Pisa Centrale, was number 6665; today's (yesterday's) date, of course, is (was) Friday the 13th. Coincedence? Almost certainly.
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One might think that after a day of enjoying their strike the train workers might be rejuvinated and ready to help would-be passengers. I have this image in my mind of portly men in green TrenItalia jackets using a slip-n-slide and sipping frozen drinks poolside. But, unfortunately, they're not particularly helpful tonight.

As it turns out, the earliest we'll reach Riomaggiore is 4:58. Should be a fabulous night ahead.
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There Goes the Sun

We're making our way to the Cinque Terre tonight, after a day of waiting for the most recent train strike to end. Today's lasted from 9:00 until 17:00. I don't know why these workers decided to strike, but I'm certain that they've hurt passengers far more than they have the rail company.

So, now, we're ready to go, having learned from the local travel agent that the earliest we'd be able to leave is 19:36. But, the second most irritating event that can happen to a passenger on the Italian rail has occured: delay. Our train from Castiglion Fiorentino for Firenze has been delayed by 40 minutes. This doesn't seem so bad, until you consider that we have a 36 minute layover in Firenze. Do the math; that's right: 4 minutes.

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