Observations from an Italian train

More pictures of Camogli....

This is not Camogli, for a moment I forgot where this was. I got my pictures mixed up, this is Dolceacqua, I'll tell you about Dolceacqua in later postings. In the meantime since I have it uplaoded, enjoy.....

Dolceacqua, near Ventimiglia.

Camogli, pretty and friendly, there is a church and castle at the far corner of this picture.

A grap arbor, being the city slicker that I am, I love pictures of grape arbors, I took pictures of them where I saw them, you'll see more in later postings.

We're on the 8 am milk train to Ventimiglia, the sun is slowly coming up against a grey sky over the Ligurian sea. The sea is calm and grey, a far cry from the glisten and sparkle of the afternoon before when the sun strikes against it, it glistened and shimmered like a million diamonds. It had rained during the night, may be we won't see the sun today. I see rain drops on the train windows and people boarding the train were holding wet umbrellas. We're dry and cozy in this packed train of commuters. Ventimiglia is the last Italian town before the French border. The train is getting crowded and packed as Italians commute to work. The newspapers has articles on Orianna Fallaci and Alitalia. Cell phones ring and Italians answers, 'pronto'. I spot a ship out in the Ligurian sea. We passed deserted beach towns of the Italian Rivera, the high frenetic summer season is over.

Italians are reading 'il giornale' and 'La stampa'. A sexy Italian girl squeezed through the packed train, a couple of Italian men smirked and made some comments as they eyed her behind. With each stop, some got off the train while others get on. We're getting into the numerous stops for Genova, more people got off than got on. The jobs must be in Genova, the largest city on the Italian Rivera. Now the train is almost empty.

We were on these same tracks 2 and 1/2 years ago, we missed our train connection and had to spend 3 hours in the Genova Principe station waiting for another train. I see a few African women in their African garb. We're the midst of Genova and very close to the harbor. I see cruise ships docked there. I hear the peel of church bells and the sound of car horns. I see the different architectural styles of Genova, the art nouveau, the Federal and the modern. I see an advertisement for M&M candy, dogs playing in a dog park. Genova is a huge city.

An American lady is trying to speak Italian with an Italian fellow in the seats across the aisle from us and I'm listening and learning along.

I think we're finally finished Genova and is now hurtling along up the Italian coast. It took forever, Genova is so huge.

The sun is out and the water is sparkling and glistening again like a million diamonds. We are almost in Ventimiglia. The train is almost empty, we're the only 2 people who took it from the beginning to the end, from Camogli to Ventimiglia. We're passing San Remo, Bogdighera and the next stop is Ventimiglia. This was written on September 18, 2008.