It is raining heavily in Cuneo this am The breakfast at the hotel was excellent - a more diverse choice than the French with cereal, eggs, yoghurts, meats, cheeses and a wide range of cakes and pastries.
As it was raining heavily, we hoped that there wouldn't be a problem with taxis.We needed to get to the station early to sort out our ticket problem. The hotel receptionist advised that the taxi, once ordered, would arrive in a couple of minutes which would give us ample time to sort out the ticket confusion.
At the station they could not advise us if the print out sufficed. On board the ticket checker spent at least 5 minutes on his system checking the reservation. We weren't removed from the train!
The landscape differed from the day before; steep, sheer cliff was replaced by the open, flat, fertile landscape of the North Italian Plain with its vast fields of crops, possibly corn.
At Turin we had to change trains for Verona. There was a first class service on this train so we booked it. The seats were larger than second class and there were complimentary drinks and snacks including wine and bubbly.
including wine and bubbly.
including wine and bubbly.
Arriving in Turin reminded me of a cousin of my maternal grandmother who drove her Fiat across Europe in the 1930s. Arriving in Turin, she and her friend called to the Fiat factory where everyone was so surprised that the MD took them to lunch while their car was serviced.
The train stopped at Milan and the train that had been relatively empty filled to capacity.
The landscape had also changed - the vast open landscape was replaced by more urban settlements and industrial complexes together with numerous vineyards.
We arrived at Verona and sought out our B& B, which turned out to be difficult as it was an apartment in a block with no indication except that John happened to notice the name and number among the numerous other bells to the complex!! We rang - no answer so we had to call. It appears that the lady in charge does not live here and it would take her 30 minutes to get here. I arranged for her to meet us at the nearby hotel, which at this stage we contemplated booking!
She arrived as promised in 30 minutes and took us to the apartment. The exterior looked a little dubious but once inside, it was well appointed. She had sent us an email last night at 2300 hrs asking for our ETA but as we had arrived very late into Cuneo, we hadn't read it. We were at fault too as I should have seen the requirement to give our ETA 24 hrs before, but having booked so many hotels for the trip, I had missed that requirement.
At c 1830 we left the apartment to walk down town. It had been raining since our arrival at the apartment but seemed to have abated so we decided to walk. We happened upon Casa Juliet and as luck would have it both she and Romeo were on THE BALCONY so we invited them to dinner - photos to follow!!
We decided to eat at a restaurant comme wine bar The food was excellent - fois gras to start followed by a gnocchi with walnuts and Parmesan - delicious. We struck up conversation with a lovely couple from Freiburg. He is a keen fisherman and annually fishes in Ireland but only for pike. His wife is an athlete and prefers to dive in the Carribean or ski but dislikes the Irish climate!!
We departed the restaurant leaving our German friends in conversation with some Canadians discussing the odds of finding powder skiing in Canada.
As we walked back to the apartment, it commenced raining heavily again and, as in the goid old Dublin days, not an available taxi in sight!! To add to our woes, the key to the complex did not work and we had to remain standing in the rain without shelter for c half an hour til somebody leaving the complex let us in . We wre both like drowned rats - what a day??
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