Saturday 2 November. A day of travel from La Spezia to Lake Como. Checked out of the apartment by Grazias friend, Sandra, and driven to the railway station. Bought tickets (we were in plenty of time, courtesy of Ds organization - read being anal). Trip to Milan was the long leg, of about 3 hours and 20 minutes. That passed comfortably: dozing, watching scenery, observing fellow passengers, particularly in the winner-takes-all struggles to get off or on the train one position better than anyone else. Nonnas and small children get trampled in the rush. Occasionally weve offered to help parents with prams or small kids and have been knocked back, usually with a look of either incredulity or great suspicion about our motives! Another observation: there were 6 reserved seats in our compartment....with 4 people only for the journey, yet lots of folk boarded at various stages and hovered in the corridor on little fold down seats. T commented on how nobody even attempted to occupy the 2 vacant seats in our compartment (she would have!) On arrival in Milan, we had 20 minutes, according to the Trenitalia planning, to change trains. They must have learnt their just-in-time scheduling from Qantas. This is where it almost came unstuck, as our train was a bit late getting in and having found out which platform the next train was leaving from, had to move pronto to get on it pretty much as it was leaving. Our difficulties were compounded by the platform being about as far away from our arrival as possible, and the train we were catching was designated as going to Luzern - no mention of Como whatsoever! Anyway, sorted. Sought advice from the urbane couple, about our age, sitting next to us, that we were on the right train - they assured as that we were in the right seats. T eventually got an admission that this train did in fact stop in Como, although it was going to Luzern. The fact that they knew that we were getting off in Como didnt stop them clambering over us, pushing us out of the way, and then pushing us aside to grab stuff theyd forgotten, to get off ahead of us. We were expecting to be met on arrival by Gianfranco. A very smartly dressed young man was holding a sign over on the opposite platform and rushed across to claim us: but no, he wasnt our man. We climbed down stairs, under the tracks, up stairs, and into the waiting hall, looking for our greeter. No sign. On to the mobile, got straight through, him asking where we were - a sort of echo, as he walked toward us, still talking to D. Hadnt hailed us as he was expecting three in the party! Got to our little attic apartment (dolls house)and settled in. There is quite likely to be a sore head at some stage during this stay, as the sides slope in and are very short - the photo of T is not staged! Have re-arranged some of the furniture to make the kitchen less head dangerous. The view at night from our little window is lovely - Doug has mentioned being woken by the calls from the mosques; the bells from churches and cathedrals in Italy are a good match! Wandered down to the lake, just a couple of hundred metres away, and strolled along the foreshore for a while, before joining the passeggiata going the other way. But our little legs were very weary from yesterdays hike, so have called it a day a bit earlier (and you get a blessedly shorter post). T is fiddling with the tv trying to find an English language channel: up to channel 880 but no go as yet. She did come across a show with a kangaroo in a car - Travels with Davide but passed over that one. Cant beat the reality of Misadventures with Dave!
Posted on: Sat, 02 Nov 2013 19:56:12 +0000
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