Off to Verona!

• We were up very early (5:45), and got ready faster than we thought we would. We were at the train station by 6:20. For C, it was a flashback to Mali, walking on deserted city streets early in the morning to get to the station (in Mali, it was for bush taxis, not the train).
• The train agent on Monday lied when she said that all the trains would be running today. The train we were supposed to get, along with 10-12 others, was listed as "suppressed," which seemed a somehow à propos term given Provence's troubled history vis à vis the Parisian-based government/rulers. In any case, it was a good thing we were there early and able to get the next earlier train.
• An espresso and a café au lait in the station helped get us on the platform. "Who took that flash picture?" — The Great Photographer in the Sky. We just missed the rain in Arles, but there was rain at every other station until we reached Verona.
• There were no reservations on this leg, a regular train with many apparent commuters. Later on, people were standing in the aisle, even in first class. The scenery to Marseille wasn't exciting, and L's café au lait wore off, so she napped. The Marseille station wasn't exciting either, and we just stood around waiting for our next train to come in.
• The Marseilles to Nice train was the best train of the day, a TGV, and we ate the pastries we had gotten two days ago. Gourmet French food at its best... The scenery from Marseilles to Nice was more interesting, with the coast and rugged hills, so C napped a bit — no need to see the good stuff.
• The Nice station was not nice. There were few places to sit, with homeless and mentally ill people trying to stay out of the rain. And with the rain we didn't really want to go out wandering, even if we had ignored the sex shops across the street. The Lyon station had really given us a false impression of what to expect from French train stations. We had three hours of people watching on a stone bench, broken up by helping a young Canadian woman figure out how to use her phone card (it turned out she just didn't know how to dial Canada).
• From Nice to Milan we were assigned to facing middle seats in a compartment, but we switched with a couple young Korean women so we were adjacent. The window seats were never occupied — perhaps rail pass members don't get window seats. The announcements of the stops were in Italian and English once we crossed into Italy; there simply were no announcements in France.
• The Riviera and neighboring coast between Nice and Genoa was the prettiest part of the day, especially in the non-resort spots — rough with hills. There were many very long tunnels, with the stops for Monaco and San Remo underground. We passed through Savona and its area of Albisola where our friends Marco and Stefi lived and worked for awhile. Genoa is a very big city, with a large port. There are monstrous old factories which would make good photos, but not from the train.
• After Genoa, the train headed north to Milan. Flat farmland doesn't really do much for us. Some questions that came up:
  • Tortona has a large gold statue on top of some building, but it didn't even rate a stop. What are their stories?
  • What is the history of Pavia in relation to Milan? Pavia has at times rivaled Milan, but no longer does.
  • What are the various plots of tall, not-young, planted trees for?
• In Milan, L noticed an earlier train to Verona, so we rushed to get reservations, but it turned out that it was a regional (=milk run) train, which doesn't take reservations (and which isn't listed in the Eurail timetable). Even though it was slower than our original planned train, it was better than hanging around the Milan station (which we've done before and not particularly enjoyed). Fortunately, there weren't many people on the train, and at times there was only one other passenger in the car. At one stop, there was a slight delay, and it looked like a guy was being taken away in handcuffs. Hmmmm.
• We got to Verona about half an hour earlier than we had originally planned, due to the earlier train, but there were no taxis. So close!
• Eventually, taxis did come, and we made it to the hotel. We ended up on the top floor with a view of L'Arena (the Roman amphitheatre)!
• L had worried about foraging for food, but this is Italy and our intended restaurant was open. Not only open, but open until 12:30. Nessun problema! The waiter claimed to remember C (unusually, since he typically only remembers women, he said), and was friendly. He spoke some English, and some Chinese (his girlfriend is from Taiwan).
• Very tired after a long day.