A Day of Success

After a night of quality sleep (and a little planning) I was much more prepared for my walking tour of Genoa. I began my day with a little cappuccino in my tummy and Third Day in my ears and soon I was ready to navigate the city (even with my cartoon map).

I began along the same route I had yesterday, only this time I was much more able to decipher my way. I again headed down toward the marina, saw the pirate boat (no idea), walked through what I'm going to call the "beach towel market" (several vendors have their various merchandise - from watches to wind-up toys - laid out on, well, beach towels for your buying pleasure), passed the aquarium and the funky, pokey, white, non-tent-but-a-tent thing, passed the palm trees and benches where all the old, Italian ladies sit, crossed under the autostrada (freeway) and faced "the black hole" (aka - where I got off the beaten path yesterday).



I was able to find Via San Lorenzo (which eluded me previously) and continued along the marked tour with perfect success. I saw an open air market, a foutain, a church, some government buildings, and Christopher Columbus' house (which was dinky - no wonder he needed financing. See pic on the left). I wish I had more info on what I was seeing, but the visual tour was pretty satisfying in itself. Genoa, like the other parts of Italy I've seen so far, is architectually quite beautiful and appears to be quite old. I don't know much about the history of the city, but I did notice that on buildings that appear "newer", they have painted them as if they were old. That is, they paint columns and busts onto all sides of the building, even though it's perfectly flat. It actually reminded me of the Sistine Chapel that way. The lower third of all the walls are painted as if rich tapestries covered the walls. Interesting style, to say the least.

I stopped for lunch and watched Italy's top 10 videos on Mtv while I ate. 8 out of 10 of them were in English and 6 of the 10 I knew all the words to. I was curious about the Italian music culture, but didn't really gain any insight there.

Soon after I picked up my bag from the hotel and made my way to the train station. Next stop: Milan. I caught my train and made the trip with no hiccups. And thanks to Rick Steves, I figured out the Metro (and which stop to take) with no problems. I even found my hostel with no wrong turns (I truly can't believe that one - the Lord is really lookin' out for me). Turns out I didn't have a reservation, but they took me anyway - yay!

So I'm stationed here in Milan for the next two days (and with free wireless internet to boot - WOO HOO! Skype, anyone??). I was excited to possibly meet some people, this being my first hostel experience, but I was assigned a room with 6 beds and I'm the only resident (*sigh*). Guess I'm not quite ready for company yet. At least it will be quiet while I sleep...