Dreaded Travel Day

Thursday, June 5

Today is the dreaded travel day!  It takes a loooong time to get from Cinque 
Terre to Provence by train. We left about 7:30 a.m. and got to our destination 
about 7:30 p.m.!

We had to ride on four different trains and each of those train changes involved 
carrying our very heavy, very over-packed luggage up and down flights of stairs. 
Not fun!  So glad I'm married to a stud that does much of my luggage handling. 

The most eventful part of this day was in Ventimiglia. This is the town that is 
the end of the Italian rail line and where you change over to French lines. I 
march to the ticket machines and enter our code for our pre-paid tickets. I'm so 
glad that I purchased these tickets in advance because the line for the ticket 
booth is tremendously long...and the people look grouchy. But something isn't 
right!  I can't retrieve the tickets. It's asking for an additional code that I 
don't have. Hmmm. So I try another machine. Busted again!!  

I'm trying to rush because there's an earlier train than the one I had booked 
and it is almost ready to depart.  It seems a like a good idea to catch it. I 
need help. I find a rail person and try to explain my dilemma. This person 
doesn't speak English and I don't speak Italian but somehow he gets the point 
across that I need to wait in the long line. Ugh!!

So John and I wait in the long line with all the frustrated people who are 
missing their trains. Can't understand why they only have one window open!
 
When it's finally our turn the man just shakes his head. The tickets won't work 
because they are for the French line (oops!  Must have made a boo boo!). But, I 
explain, the tickets are prepaid!  No can do! So we purchase new tickets for us 
to cross the border. This process takes time. It's a good thing that the next 
train we need to catch is not sooner than it was. We have no time to eat after 
this fiasco, so we grab a quick sandwich and head out. 

We finally arrive in Avignon where I had booked a Best Western by the train 
station to sleep before our French adventure begins. I don't like to book 
chain hotels when traveling...especially American based chain hotels...but it's 
really quite nice.