After staying up late talking to Alex and Cale on Skype (yay!) I was able to get myself up and out of bed this morning for a run in the freezing cold. I was better prepared this time clothing-wise and I was able to get all the way through without getting lost (a big win for a directionally challenged person like myself). Sandro got up and cooked us breakfast before getting us packed up and out to the train station. We caught a train from Antibes to Ventimiglia (Italy) at 9:25am; it was an easy ride and Kenny and I entertained ourselves by telling stories and recounting the past couple of days. Once we pulled into town we hopped off and got our tickets for the next leg (though we didn't get stamps in our passports...boo!!!) before spending an hour in town checking out the Friday market. We were warned not to buy anything there because of laws they have about knock-offs of name-brands, but Kenny found a winter hat he liked and got it for 10 euros. So far we haven't seen any police chasing after us so I think we're in the clear.
The next train ride from Ventimiglia to Riomaggiore was over four hours long and at first we were bored but soon settled in as Kenny gave me a rundown of the entire Star Wars saga. That knocked off about 45 minutes and after eating and finally finding a bathroom on the somewhat old train, things were looking pretty good. The hardest part of the trip was making sure we got out at the right place because while we weren't at all fluent in French, both of us had some experience and know at least enough to get by whereas here we know next to nothing. Just as we were starting to get anxious we saw our station sign as the train pulled up, quickly gathered our things, and disembarked. It was almost dark by this point so we asked for directions (well, used hand gestures) and were quickly on our way.
We're staying in an amazing little place, but getting there was really difficult due to numerous hills and stairs. We didn't get the chance to do much exploring this evening, but by what we can see there's going to be a lot of cool things to discover in the next couple of days. We dropped our luggage off in our room (we have a cathedral outside our window and we heard singing coming from that direction as we unpacked) before trudging back down the hills to the center of the village. We stopped at a tiny market so that Kenny could pick up some snacks; there were so many fresh things that I wanted to try but we were headed off to find dinner so I figured I'd have to come back later.
Because we were tired and hungry from traveling we didn't really wander too far from where we're staying to find something to eat. There was a cluster of restaurants for us to choose from and we found a quaint looking place and decided to give it a go. We each ordered our own starters before sharing a pasta dish with pesto and potatoes. Add in warm, fresh bread with vinaigrette and olive oil (it was kept in a chest along one wall of the restaurant and we watched the waiter cut slices off for us) and we were in heaven. It was a fantastic meal and I can't wait to get back out there tomorrow to try something else.
It's about 8:30pm and Kenny is already in bed with his eye patch and earplugs while I'm definitely thinking about getting there soon. Breakfast at our place starts at 8:30am and we are planning on making it there right when it opens so we can set off to discover the five villages of Cinque Terre.
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