The Trials of Train Travel

So on Monday I transfered back to the train station at Avignon TGV to await my train to Nice and then Milan.  I had 15 minutes between these trains, so you can imagine my concern when I discovered the train was 15 minutes late!  I asked about it at the ticket counter, and the woman made a call and told me that I should show my ticket to a conductor who would try to hold the Milan train for the minute or so it should take me to board.  What I didn’t count on was the fact that there were forest fires near Marseilles that caused the train to be further delayed by two and a half hours! Needless to say the Milan train left without me and probably a dozen other tired and disgruntled passengers.  It was the last train of the night so I had no choice but to find somewhere to say, not an easy task at 9pm in the summer on the French Riviera!  I found the last bed in a youth hostel in a shared room with David from Seattle - a pleasant squeaky clean American lad with an obsession with killing mosquitos.  Didn’t sleep much because I was anxious about getting the train at 7am the next morning, but I was safe and comfortable.  So I got the train to Ventimiglia at 7am, then a train to Milan at 9am.  Thankfully I had accidently booked at extra day’s travel on my rail pass, so it only cost me an extra 5 euro reservation fee.

Betcha Brad and Angelina never have this trouble…  They and the twins send their love, by the way!

I finally got some washing done today and spent the afternoon wandering around the duomo in Milan - spectacular.  Am off to Verona tomorrow to hob nob with the Capulets and Montagues!