Remembering- a year ago....
My son Elliot is attending school in Calgary and doesn't come back to Toronto very often.... Christmas and sometimes during the summer...I miss him so much...
And so when he was spending time at the Max-Planck Institute in Germany and decided that he would remain in Europe to travel a bit, I was delighted. We were going to be in Italy at the same time and would be able to spend some vacation time with him. Leah, his girlfriend, would meet up with him in Germany and they would travel around before meeting us in Rapello. I was soooo excited! Especially after our ordeal (previous blog post with the stolen lens) that we had recently gone through. It really was the first real vacation time with Elliot in many years.
There is something very exciting about meeting someone special at a train station in a foreign place. I was like a little kid waiting for them to arrive and when I saw them get off the train, I was jumping for joy.
We rented a house near Zoagli, a quaint little seaside town. Off we went for a seaside dinner in Zoagli at a little restaurant with a pretty view.
The following days we visited Portofino, an Italian fishing village and vacation resort famous for its picturesque harbour, its celebrities with its million dollar yachts and the highlight of the stay - The Cinque Terre, the five lands comprised of five villages: Monteroso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola,and Riomaggiore. Paths, trains and boats connect the villages of The Cinque Terre and cars are not welcome and cannot access the villages from the outside. We hiked, trained and ferried to these charming rugged villages. We had long dinners on our terrace overlooking the sea.... and life was good.
Ciao for now,
Penny and Camera Guy (Dan)
I need to begin by saying that as a travel professional of a gazillion years... ok maybe I am exaggerating a little bit, but I think I have a good understanding of vacation scams. I have talked about scams, taught agents about scams and written about them. We advise our passengers to "be aware" while travelling in various situations - not to cause fear but to emphasize the importance of being aware and travelling wisely.
I have travelled a fair bit and I can tell you lots of stories - about other people. But this story is about me and Camera Guy.
We arrived at the Tiburtina train station. We were looking forward to the next part of the trip. Taking the train to Florence, picking up our car rental and driving to our rented house on the Italian Riviera where Elliot, my son and Leah his girlfriend, were going to meet up with us in a few days!
For those of you who have not travelled on European trains, there is usually a very large electronic board displaying the trains and track numbers. Everyone stands and watches the board until their track number shows - about 10-15 minutes prior to departure. You then make your way to your track.
Camera Guy (CG) and I were waiting for the train on the track specified. I was huddled over our luggage and CG was tossing something in the trash can about 8 feet away.
My back to the track, a guy pulling a suitcase approached me from behind and pointed to the train so I slightly looked away from the bags and asked if this train was going to the airport. I said I have no idea and turned back to the luggage - 5 seconds. I had not let go of the top of the bags.
CG at the same exact moment was approached from the opposite direction and asked the same question.
I said to Camera Guy that I felt something was wrong and sure enough CG's camera lens had disappeared. A 3rd guy, at the exact moment when we were both distracted, scooped the $8,000 lens. CG was heading off to the Commonwealth Games to photograph the Canadian team in Scotland which is why we had that lens with us. We both were unaware that the other had been asked the same question at the same time....
I felt like the lens was surgically removed from right in front of me... these were skilled thieves. The 400mm sport lens was in a black bag with a little NIKON label. They knew what it was and its value.
It was insured. I suppose like any robbery, you feel violated and upset that you could have allowed it to happen. And so the day went downhill from there. For insurance purposes we had to report it to the police, which caused us to miss our train. When we finally arrived in Florence and made our way to the car rental depot, it was closed. I forgot to mention it was a 10 minute walk with the luggage.... in the rain. We thought it was closer. Did I mention it was closed? She smiled at me through the glass and said I could try the airport. I begged and pleaded through the glass. We told her about our unfortunate experience .... to no avail.
We tried to find a taxi, there were none. We stood in the rain on a side street near the Florence train station outside the closed car rental counter. And so we began to walk... trudging through the streets in the rain... to a hotel where the front desk clerk took pity on the drenched travellers in front of her and called a taxi for us. We found out that the airport car rental counter was not actually AT the airport, but at an office NEAR the airport. The taxi driver seemed really upset that we were not going to the airport and informed us that an additional charge would apply. We were not surprised.
We finally got our car and plugged in our GPS that we brought with us. Hmmm, it didn't work. The depot was out of maps....
At this point, CG knew the general direction so off we went. We just wanted to get there. It was about a 2 hour drive. And we did find our way to the closest village of Zoagli. We then referred to the instructions the owner sent us.
"At the second church you are in the hamlet of San Pietro di Rovereto, which is a frazione of Zoagli. After the church the road narrows, you will pass a bar and green grocer. Shortly after the "village" the road makes a sharp turn to the right and a steep descent..."
The road was very narrow, and was completely congested due to a music festival in the village that evening. Two cars could not pass each other without one reversing into the nearest open driveway. Cars were parked everywhere.
The rain continued and so did the thunder... and the lightning. I cannot even continue writing, it is too crazy to repeat.
We finally found the house and climbed the 1 million steps up the hill to the house... in the dark, or I should say intermittent light from the lightning. The one time I have begged for more lightning.
We went to sleep. No, we didn't. We couldn't sleep. We wondered aloud if this was worth it.
The next morning we opened the door. We opened the shutters.
And this is what we saw....
Ciao for now
Penny and Camera Guy
Next ...the arrival of Elliot and Leah!
