Genoa/Genova

I'm trying to make a habit of booking my train tickets now rather than just showing up at the station with my Eurailpass in hand. More and more of my trips are requiring reservations and I don't want to get stuck in the station too long. I went to the station in Nice yesterday to see about getting a mid morning train to Monaco and then a mid afternoon ride to Genoa from there. Turns out there was going to be some kind of railroad strike but not a complete standstill. I could either go to and return from Monaco or I could go to Genoa but not both. I skipped Monaco mostly because the only thing I planned to do there was leave a few Euros at the casino and I don't really need to do that.

It was certainly a good day for train travel, too. The day I arrived in Nice, it was a totally blue sky and while a wee bit cold, still good for walking and exploring. The second day, it was cold and totally cloudy but tolerable as long as you were walking and exploring. Today, it was raining. I good time to be watching the Med go by out the window. And there's a touch of snow here and there. As it was only about 2:30 by the time I got to the hostel, I would normally have sought out the TI and at least walked around the 'old city' if not the neighborhood of the hostel. Today, I'm gonna be a slug. I did get some info for tomorrows walkabout and now here I am updating but that's gonna be the day. This is a hostel that has dinner so I'll be doing that a bit later, too.

Two quick notes-1)A young fellow checking in not long after me is from Portland, OR and even though he was wearing a 'Ducks' t-shirt we still had a friendly chat. 2) The gal who checked in is named. . .you thought I was gonna say Raphaella, huh? No, her name is Ornella which is unique but the real kicker here is that her mother's maiden name is Podesta!