A bump in La Spezia

This whole trip has been worked around booking hotels and tickets ad hoc. Therefore our train tkt to Padova today weren't booked yet.

 We woke early this morning to walk down to the train station to settle it before going back to e hotel to pack and leave but met with an obstacle.

The unfriendly lady at the counter snapped at us with minimal english that "THERE'S A STRIKE! No trains to Cinque Terre." We asked about Padova,she replied that there was no direct train to Padova,only through Parma and then Bologna before Padova.

So we wanted the tickets to Parma as we had booked our accomodations id Padova already. She said "THERE IS A STRIKE!"

Sigh.. That was all we could get from her.

After sometime we realised that only selected trains were still running and could not be confirmed til about anhour  before the scheduled time.

We tried asking a taxi how much it would cost from La Spezia to Padova (willing to pay SGD200 for a 3hr drive) but he shocked us when he said it wiuld cost SGD1200!! 

So we gave up, went to order ice coffee, and the girl at the counter said "only ice coffee cream?" So fine,i thought i'll just scoop e whipped cream out. But guess what came to me at the pickup counter?

Literally CREAM, ice cream.

Lol.. Wasn't too bad though.

We then grabbed some delish pastries and headed back to the hotel to pack and wait it out at the train station.

Back at the station,only first class tickets were left for tkts to Milan and she said hopefully there would be a train at Milan to take us towards Padova. Spent SGD150 on the train tickets alone.

It's the most we've spent in train so far.

The train for Milan was delayed BUT efirst  class is awesomee

We managed to get to Padova safely and on time! Next bump was we had no inkling on where the hotel was. We didnt have maps nor did we search the directions beforehand (rookie mistake).

We walked outta e train station and it was raining. 

The day couldn't get worse, only better.

We stopped under shelter for me to cover my miumiu with a raincoat. Yes,bag over self.

And litang went to ask for directions,jackpot! The first guy she asked spoke good english and said he would google map it!

But as god would have it,his phone died before anything could be done.. He said if we dont mind,he has a car,and he would be able to charge his phone.

Wahh.. How good was the day getting? When we got the his car,he opened his boot for our hugeass backpacks and that was when we realised,he was offering us a ride! Not safe generally,but Gian Lucca,was awfully comical in speech and seemed more afraid of us than the other way round.

So we hopped in after confirming again that we weren't troubling him. Found out he studies Physiotherapy in Venice and takes e train over to Venice daily.

We followed him to get some petrol and he managed to find e hotel and dropped us off. 

Here's a pic of our lucky star.

We headed into w hotel which can only be described as a cosy haven with a couple who are alil eccentric, in a good way of course.

Dropped our stuff and went out in search of dinner. It being after 8pm,we only had one choice: frozen pasta from a bar. But it was good!

Met an italian man who kept talking to us in italian. We couldnt understand, he knew we couldnt understand but the conversation went onnn

The one way convo man.

And that was the end of our eventful day!

Tomorrow,Venice awaits.