Before I get into today’s blog I just wanted to post a couple of extra photos to close out the Nice section of the holiday…
The Cathedral…
And one more Harbour / Mountain view…
In closing… I’m glad we came to to Nice and visited Monaco… but would have to say that with the beaches we have on our doorstep there is certainly no reason to come here for that experience… but ticked that box.
We were up early to catch one of 3 different trains from Nice to Milan. We booked our train tickets (and yes we had them all with us) on the RailEurope website … and it seems there isn’t a quick train ride from Nice to Milan. Our first segment was from Nice – St Augustin (a suburban station somewhat near the airport… with no breakfast cafe in sight) to Ventamiglia.
Crappy french train…
We took a cab early to get to the train station in plenty of time … decided not to get on the early train because we had tickets for the 8:17 service… which as it turned out didn’t show up. We caught the next one… no longer having the 45 minutes between trains at Ventamiglia. Luckily we did have enough time to run from Platform 3 to Platform 1 and get on our original train … with just a little yelp at the guard… and we were back on track. This train goes all the way along the coast to Genoa… and I looked out the window at the rain all the way.
At the Genoa train station we managed to sneak some food … before boarding our train to Milan. The train goes through the mountains including lots of tunnels before plateauing out to flat farming land. Once arriving in Milan we were given instructions to meet the landlord for the apartment at a bar outside the train station. I have to say … I might not be able to find a golf ball in long grass … but ask me to find a bar in foreign city! The train station has a fashion mall inside and is just an amazing building outside.
Carlo (the landlord) picked us up from the train station and took us back to the apartment… outlined the rules … and then told us all the things to see. He was very helpful… but omitted the one thing we needed to know before heading into the rain. Italy is not France… don’t expect a meal before 7:30 in Italy … similar to Spain. So we went back to the room … had some Italian sparkling wine and headed out to a local ‘Ristorante’ for a magnificent Italian meal…
The entrance to the apartment…
We are looking forward to investigating Milan further tomorrow… assuming the rain stops… and looking forward to a good bed tonight for a good sleep … after 3 nights on the sofa bed (designed for people about 5’6") in Nice.
Until tomorrow
Rob
Rob's "Beats Working" Blog 