Up early this morning to catch the 8.10am train to Monterosso. We got to the train station and you have to wait until 20 minutes prior to boarding to find out the platform number and then there is a mad scramble to get on the train. So we waited and we rushed and despite asking several people no one explained to us that we had an allocated carriage and allocated seats, so after we had pick a carriage and some seats and loaded our bags in, we had to move to the next carriage and find our correct seats. We did this amongst all the crowd and hustle and bustle of hundreds of people trying to go from carriage to carriage and get their seats and we finally got there and heaved our cases up onto the shelves above. Despite booking the tickets all together we ended up in different compartments. Some people helped Lee and Michael with getting their bags up, but we later discovered that they were gypsies and they had stolen money from Lee’s bag. About 165 euro. I am so glad my bag is lockable and I keep it locked all the time.
We had a very pleasant three hour train ride and arrived in Monterosso just after 11am. Nick and Liz were arriving at 3pm so we went to the Hotel and dropped off our luggage and then walked into town to find the Carabinieri (police) station to report the theft on the train. We wandered around the lovely little town and did some shopping. On the way back I bought a pair of bathers as it is very hot here and the sea is very inviting, beautiful blue and clear.
We had some lunch at a nice little pizza café and then went to the station to meet Nick and Liz. Once again there were people everywhere and it was crowded. We all checked into the hotel and then it was back to the café for Nick and Liz to have something to eat and then we went down to the beach for a swim. The water was beautiful and refreshing and it was most pleasant. Gerard enjoyed the water and found he could exercise his shoulder very well.
We came back to the hotel and sat outside and enjoyed the fresh air and some nibbles.
