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Published: June 30th 2006
So after climbing Harder Kulm, the swiss alp, we made the decision along with Kenny and Sarah to take the hardest hike possible at Cinque Terre. It took us 15 minutes to get from the first to the second town and 3-4 hours to get to the third, that was up a mountain along the top and then down into a town not in the five towns then to the third. Then another hike of about an hour and a half to get to the fourth. Where we went swimming in the ocean. We took the train back to La Spezia to grab our bags and then things got interesting.
We were all planning on heading to Rome the next day, today, and none of us had accomadations so we thought we would take a night train to Naples which is out of the way but would give us more time to sleep and then catch the 2 hour train ride back in the morning.......
At least we got on the right train. Kenn and Sarah have 1st class eurail passes so they went to try and find an empty compartment there while Jack and I braved 2nd class. We might as well have been taking a train from Calcutta to Delhi. The train was just packed with people. No empty seats, people standing up sleeping, crazy Italian frat boys smoking right next to the no smoking sign. We had no idea what to do, but Jack spotted a place on the hall floor he could sit in, keep in mind these hallways are no more than 2 feet wide. So I'm standing around trying to figure out what the hell I'm going to do when a tiny old Italian lady invites Jack to sit in an empty sit in her compartment, which he does and is out in a second.
So I take his spot on the floor, and pretty soon some guy gets off and I sit in a little chair in the aisle, constantly moving out of people's way. I slept some by wrapping my jacket around a railing and caught a few hours of rocky sleep that way. After having to move several times I decided to follow a guy I had seen in another car's lead and slept on the floor. It was pretty gross but I could stretch my legs out almost the whole way and had my day pack as a pillow. I slept more soundly this way but still hardly at all.
Then we arrived in the god forsaken train station in Naples where we learn we actually faired better than our 1st class companions who slept in a luggage bin because a guy with a broken leg was blocking their way. We "freshened" up (brushed our teeth and washed our faces) and then found out we had to take a train to Formia and then catch the train to Rome. We all slept nicely through those and arrived in Rome a little dazed around 10 o'clock. Then we got maps and split up because Kenny is a Hilton Platinum VIP or some nonsense and has points to redeem so he and Sarah are staying in the Rome Hilton for 6 nights for free.................
Jack and I found beds in the second hostel at 25 euro a pop which is the most expensive yet, last night being the cheapest. We took showers and then went out a saw a few things like this super crazy memorial to great Italian generals where you can't sit on the steps or the guards blow whistles at you, then we walked around the Collisium.
I am bone tired and want nothing more than to go back to the room and sleep which looks like the plan because Jack says we have to get up early and get in line for the Vatican Galleries.
Hope you all had better sleep than we did last night, haha
Ciao
Mack
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Kels
non-member comment
Contrary
I would say I feel sorry for you for the sleeping situation but then I noticed the part about Vatican Galleries so I will be giving no such sympathy. Haha. (Miss you!)