Roma to Annecy

day 20 – jour vingt (now we’re in French!)

Well today was interesting.

We got up the usual time (6:45), even though we didn’t need to be anywhere until a bit before 11. We got most of the way packed up and went to breakfast. I guess a few people from our group left pretty early, but it seemed everyone else took the opportunity to sleep in a bit. Those of us remaining started to trickle in after a few minutes. We briefly talked about everyone’s plans for the day while we enjoyed breakfast and cappuccinos. All too soon, it was time for Mom and I to head back to our room and finish getting packed. We said our goodbyes and hugs all around. I definitely already miss the group. We developed such camaraderie after just a few days. I was especially lucky to have Tara in the group. It’s not everyday that someone in our age group goes on one of these trips, especially solo.

Mom and I had an 11:00 train to catch and Sarah had a 10:30 to Firenze (Florence), so we decided it would be in our best interest to walk there together. Sarah only has a few days break before she starts another tour all over again. That would be quite the job, corralling 20-some people for weeks on end and trying to be available and answer all their questions. We got to Roma Termini station and waited with Sarah until her platform number came up. It’s strange, sometimes you only find out the platform (binaro) number ten minutes prior to when the train is supposed to depart. Good thing they’ve been pretty straightforward so far.

Eventually it was our turn, binaro 11, through gate G. Done. Then we were on Coach 7 so we had to find the 7 and board the right car. I had reserved us both window seats, facing each other so we stepped on each other’s toes instead of some strangers. Mom was facing the direction of travel and kept trying to take pictures of the landscape as it was flying by. I journaled, glancing up every so often to see what we were flying by.

We took one train from Roma to Torino, another to Chambery, and the last to Annecy. I was surprised at how empty Torino Porta Susa was, especially compared to Milano and Roma.  I believe the Olympic Games were there fairly recently so I did wonder if the train stations had gotten face lifts prior to that. We had an hour between trains so we passed time by doing laps up and down the train terminal. This time we were on a French operated train. Very comfy and spacious. The first stop after we crossed into France, a bunch of French police came on the train and checked everyone’s ID. A little while later they came through again, randomly asking who’s luggage was who’s. For border control it was very minimal, but I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting it.

We passed through beautiful countryside in Italy but as we got closer to the French border, the rocky mountains that define Italy from France came into view. Mom kept trying to take pictures out the window; the reflection of the lights inside the train, the speed of the train, the increasing amount of rain on the window, and the decreasing light outside were not in her favor. Gradually the dominant language we heard on the train shifted from Italian to French and on the last train from Chambery to Annecy it seemed like most of the passengers were university students. Still not sure why they were going home on a Sunday night.

Also on that last train leg, Mom realized that she’d gotten the instructions to get into one of our Airbnbs in Paris, not the one we needed to get into tonight. Uh oh. Minor panic set in. Mom asked a very nice student on the train who was on her laptop if she could check her email and get the instructions (no public WiFi on the train unfortunately). Thanks to Google’s double layer verification, she couldn’t get in that way. So we decided our only two options were to find free WiFi in Annecy or beg to use someone’s phone and call our host. After over 8 hours on three different trains with only a little snack to tide us over, you can imagine our nerves were a little fried/energy quite zapped. Oh and we were in a small town in France after dark with no way of communicating on our own. And it was raining.

So so luckily, as soon as we got into the little train station I spotted “WiFi” on the doors and immediately checked if there was an open connection available. There was! We’re saved!! I quickly got logged in and found the entry instructions. Good thing too because there were two codes we had to have! Got the codes and got the route mapped on Google maps. It was only a 5 min walk from the train station and the streets were very quiet so it was pretty easy to get there.

We got through the first coded door and then had to go through two hallways, the first one was lit, the second was not… Time for the flashlight. Through a little courtyard and up a skinny flight of stairs to the second coded door. And finally we were “home”. Cute place but sadly there weren’t any treats left for us like at Cristina’s. A couple mins later we realized we didn’t have the WiFi password to get connected here either. CRAP. Tired, hungry, and frustrated, we decided to survive on granola bars for the night and figure out food and WiFi tomorrow.

The bed here is up a little stairway/ladder so hopefully neither of us have to go pee in the middle of the night!

This has been such an amazing trip and I’m so glad that I’ve been able to do it with Mom. I have to admit though, I’m getting to the point where getting back home to our familiar surroundings sounds pretty appealing. Annecy is our short, quiet break from the city until we head for Paris, day after tomorrow. But for now, bonne nuit!