Spain Cruise - Day 6 - Genoa, Italy

 We had planned on taking a train to Portofino, a picturesque village along the coast, but it was pouring rain when we arrived in port.  Not just raining, torrential downpour that was not stopping.  We quickly changed our plans and decided to instead, go to Casella - a small mountain village which Hannah and us had visited several years ago and it's beautiful as well as the journey getting there.

It would be a tight connection, as we had to take a bus to a mountain train and we only had 40 minutes to get there.  The ship was late letting us off, so our 40 minutes soon turned into 30.  It was still pouring pouring pouring but we thought maybe it will stop once we get to the train station.  We had to walk 10 mins to the bus station and within 5 minutes we were all soaked.  

      

The bus station ticket machine was broken, wouldn't take credit cards and wouldn't take cash larger than 10 euros, and I had 20's.  We watched, ticketless, as the bus drove right past us.  There was another bus, but it would get us to the train station with like 4 minutes to spare.  We decided to go back to the ship, play some games and try again in an hour and half.

I should have taken pics of how wet we were, but just imagine this.  You are fully clothed, and you jump into a swimming pool, but get out as fast as you can.  That's how wet we were.

We changed into dry clothes, played games for about an hour and the rain had stopped, so we decided to try again.  I bought bus and train tickets ahead of time online so we wouldn't have to deal with the machine and save time and be ready.

This time, we made it.

The MSC World America was docked next to our ship, and it's HUGE!

We made it to the train station 10 minutes early, no rain.
This is a narrow gouge railway, about 15 miles long up the mountain side and the views are incredible.  It opened in 1929 and I don't think they've updated the train cars since then 

I found something and ate it and it caused a reaction

Jacob/Aubrie and Shauna/Don

Casella is a small village with about 4000 population.  Today was Sunday, so it was very, very quiet.  Most everything was closed, and nobody was even out in the streets.

There was a guy on the train who asked us where we were going and we said Casella.  We told him just a quick day trip.  He asked if we were going to have lunch, we said yes, and we asked if he recommended anyplace.  He said, in his broken English, "I'll show you.  Really good"    Ok, let's go.

Most of the stores and cafes were closed, very quiet

Our new friend, in the yellow jacket, walked us through some alleys, and around some corners and we arrived at "Osteria Mia".  He went in and talked to the manager and we were led to a back room, surrounded with rock walls, wine and a big table

          

A very very nice lady came and was so smiley and happy!  She started talking to us, in Italian, not knowing one word of English. None. We used lots of hand gestures, and talking slower - us, her, us, her.  We tried using google translate, but there wasn't good service.  She was able to pull up some photos of pasta dishes and between pantomiming, charades, and A LOT of laughing, between her and us, we finally were able to order.  Homemade pasta, homemade pesto, and sauces, our lunch was so good.
Our host was so friendly and all of us had a great time and an excellent lunch -  and all without any understanding of each other's language.  It was amazing.

After lunch, we spent some time just walking around town

We came across a church, and being Sunday, thought we should go in and at least say a silent prayer of Thanksgiving that we were blessed to be experiencing all the wonderful things we've been seeing and for all the wonderful things God has created

From the outside, this church didn't look all that impressive....but once inside, WOW, WOW and WOW

Look at the painted ceilings and walls

This was one of the most ornate churches we've seen
Who would have known it was here in Casella?

Heading back down to the train station through town, it was all pretty much like this. We saw one person walking her dog, but other than it, it was so quiet

Here comes the train

That night for dessert, it seemed like it was made special for Shelley or Shauna

Despite the rainy start to the day, it turned out to be a fantastic day.  The train ride to Casella is amazing and our lunch experience was full of laughter, friends and good food.

Luggage update: Luggage is not in Genoa.  In fact, they are not sure where it is, they said maybe Barcelona?  

Next up: Marseille, France