ON TO ITALY AND VERONA

So today Whitney and I started our adventure to first, find Lucy, and second, trying t not get too lost in Italy. The first part of out adventure was a success. We left Annecy at about 7:33 am. My “parents” Catherine and Philippe took me to the bus station before they headed off for a vacation of their own. They put me on the bus, said goodbye, and made sure that if they email me that I would email back. I hopped on the bus and waited for Whitney, who wasn’t far behind. After we both got on the bus we both took a deep breath before heading out on our adventure. But Catherine and Philippe wanted to say goodbye one last time, so they got onto the front of the bus and yelled “AU REVOIR MADEMOISELLE ELSA!” …everyone on the bus turned around to look at me.

Our bus was quiet, the only problem that we had was the guy that didn’t bring his passport so the Swiss Border Patrol took him off the bus to talk to him. But don’t worry, he was back in a couple minutes and then we were on to Geneva. The bus took us to Geneve Eaux-Vives, a tiny, dumpy little gare. We had to take a tram connection to Gare Coravin (the main train station in Geneva). My “dad” being the cool bus driver that he is told the driver to instruct us on how to find the tram. We bought our tickets and headed out. After finally finding the stop all we had to do was wait. Eventually the tram came and we had been told that you just take #16 straight there…so you can understand that it was a surprised when we got kicked off the tram because it had changed to number 12. Eventually we got on the right bus (yes…for some reason it changed from tram to bus). When we finally reached the gare we searched for someplace for Whitney to sit while I went to the airport to find Lucy. We decided that following the McDonald’s signs was best, cause at least that way there was free wi-fi. But the sign lied to us…we walked more the then 100m and found no McDonald’s, so a small café had to do. Whit got herself situated and then I headed out.

Back at the gare I found the train that I needed and went to the airport. When I got off the train there all I had to do was find Lucy…but seeing as my phone wouldn’t call her this was much more difficult then it would seem. I finally found her and we headed back down to catch the train back to the gare. It scared us for a moment because the train said it was going to Zurich and Bern, amongst other places. But luckily it did stop where we needed it and we made it safely back to Whit. We found a grocery store and got some lunch, baguette and cheese for me and Lucy opted for the tasty and always safe baguette and nutella combination. After waiting for what seemed like FOREVER on the platform, our train was finally here!

We followed to Italian ladies onto the train. The first was fashionably dressed, but the other woman, who I think was her “mamma” didn’t match AT ALL. From head to toe it was just too much…She was wearing black wedge shoes with silver bows, blue floral printed leggings, a big puffy brown skirt, a red belt, a yellowish floral shirt and then her make-up…oh the make-up. She ha BRIGHT red lipstick on with bright, light blue eye-shadow, the kind that little girls get in their play make-up kit packets. Then her eyeliner started at the outside of her eye and went down and away from her eyes. It was interesting to say the least…

On the train we sat next to a very nice Swiss woman who kept informing us of where we were and the significant sights…like certain castles, etc. The train ride was SO beautiful. Switzerland is a beautiful country. It was funny, as we went through a tunnel, you could tell when we had arrived in Italy. All the buildings looked just like they do in movies. The first Italian town we encountered on the train was called “Domodessola”…if you couldn’t tell we were in Italy by the architecture, the name of the town was a dead give away. I instantly fell in love.

As the train ride continued and Lucy and Whitney bobbed in and out of consciousness, the scenery became more and more beautiful. We passed by a gorgeous lake town, I wish that I could have stopped and gone exploring there, but oh well. Milan was calling. Our train was late getting into Milan so we made our way to the door so we could grab our stuff and run like the wind. As we stood by the exit two men who spoke French and broken English decided to talk to us…They kept looking at each other while talking to us and I don’t really know what this meant, but they did invite us to go to Southern Italy with them…we declined.

We had 20 minutes to go from platform 2 to platform 16. We ran and yes, we ran over a couple of people on the way. As I hurried off, apologizing in French to the Italians (weird I know, but French comes unprompted now…) we finally got to the right platform. After composting our billets we realized that we were, of course, on the last possible car…so we ran again. Milan was so hot and humid that we were all sweating and couldn’t wait to get on the train. Nowhere in Europe is really air-conditioned like we have back home, but the small amount on the train was better then nothing. All we had to do now was relax for about an hour and a half.

When we arrived in Verona was our first real shock…I just wanted to be able to speak French to everyone! I know how to get around using French really well now, but that does me no good here! So as I ask for directions in English, get responses in broken English and say “ouais” instead of “yea” and “d’accord” instead of “ok”. We find the bus stop and get on the right bus…we hoped. The next trick was finding the right bus stop. Because no one around us really spoke English we had a tricky time with this. But I did end up getting told that we were only 2 stops away from a man whose breath reeked of alcohol…but I had nothing else to go by, so 2 stops later we hoped off the crowded, stinky bus. If we thought France was stinky, Italy has been up there giving France ad run for its money. Because it is SO humid everyone is sweaty and gross.

We got off the bus and followed the directions I had been given. I just hoped these weren’t like the Bulgarians directions to McDonalds that one day (“Down the stairs, go straight, go straight some more, and you’re there!”). The bed and breakfast had told me to “get off the bus, go across the bridge and you’re there”. Sounds a bit familiar…but this time they were right. The hotel was right there. So I went into the neighboring bar as instructed and got the keys. We made our way up stairs and found the room…a double room. Totally not what we had ordered. We laughed about the situation and then got ready for the opera that we had to be to in about 30 minutes.

On our way out I went into the bar to see what had gone wrong. I was informed that the man was “not the boss” and that “the boss” would be there in 10 minutes. Pressed for time, Lucy and Whit went ahead to pick-up the tickets and I waited for “the boss”. What had happened was that the bartender had given our keys to the Russians and their keys to me. I hurriedly ran upstairs to move all of our stuff into our right room and then ran to the opera. Alex, “the boss”, informed me that his uncle was concert violinist at the opera tonight and wrote down his uncle’s name for me so that I could go say hi. He told me “If anyone gives you problem, say you go see a family member”. Apparently he hadn’t been paying attention that the fact that I speak ENGLISH not Italian, I don’t think that I could have used that story. But oh well. The opera was beautiful! Of course I had no idea what was being said, but it was gorgeous. I guess Madame Butterfly is now my favorite of any opera that I have seen in a ancient Roman theatre built in 30 AD. Not many contestants in that category. The opera ended at midnight, so we ventured back to our hotel and found Whitney some water. Then after some fighting to get the air-conditioning to work we finally went to bed. What a day!! Definitely one that will be remembered!!