We Meet "Simba"

Today (it's Saturday, May 25, by the way) was the day that we had our first experience with a car in Europe! (Upon further review, if you can do it without a car, that’s really what we recommend, or at least what I recommend. The trains are fast and on-time, making them very different from our US experience with trains). The guys left to pick up the car while Amy and I stayed behind to finish packing up and grab breakfast. The guys were late getting back with the car, and we weren’t able to go get breakfast as there was only one key, and it was the key to everything (door, electricity, etc)… so we started the day off a little late. Finally, though, we had breakfast, loaded the car, and pulled out of Florence – all in the rain. Soon thereafter, we arrived in Pisa to see the Leaning Tower!

It had rained most of the morning, but when we pulled into Pisa, it was barely spitting. It was still cold and wet, but we were glad for the break in the rain. We didn’t stay a terribly long time in Pisa – just long enough to figure out that, “WOW! The tower is REALLY leaning!” It was pretty windy, and many times we were just positive that the tower was just going to blow over.

We couldn't resist, though he's holding it a little low...

We headed back to the (warm/dry) car, and set off for the Cinque Terre, where we would have lunch. The Cinque Terre is along the coast of Italy and stands for “Five Lands” – there are five cities that are typically identified as the Cinque Terre. Only 2 of them allow vehicles, so we chose one that did – Monterosso al Mare.

Monterosso al Mare from above. 

We parked and headed down to the breakwater to have a look-see. Again, it was cold, wet, and windy – so after a brief “view” we headed indoors to eat. We knew that there was the potential we might not be eating until late, so we really took advantage of the cute little restaurant Rick (Steves, our travel companion) recommended. It was a family-run trattoria called Via Venti, and it was DELICIOUS. My crab ravioli was among my favorite meals of the entire trip – and I think most of us could say the same. Amy had pesto gnocchi, Chris had pear and cheese pasta, and David had a seafood spaghetti.

Chris & Amy on the beach (breakwater).

David and me, picture looking the other way.

After lunch, we walked back up to the car to set off for Genoa, where we would drop the car (who was a white Peugeot named Simba) and board a train for Nice, FR. We took advantage of a couple pull-offs to capture the beautiful vantage points.

You can start to see the sun coming out in this one!

Meet: Simba. 

We got to Genoa in good time, and were even able to grab a quick bite before boarding the train. We arrived in Nice and headed upstairs to our 3-person room at Hotel Little Palace. Keep that detail (that four of us slept in a three-person room in France) in mind – it will become a key point in a few later stories. The last step before switching off the light was to check the weather for race day! Report:  it was going to be 34 degrees with a high of 54 for race day. …Fun?