Kris Jordan

So I’ve made it to Italy. After around 26 hours of travel I made the Rutherfordton to Bologna to Genoa journey. It was an adventure. My suitcase didn’t quite make it to Bologna when I did. After the hour delay at Charlotte International I only had around 15 minutes to make it across the entire Munich Airport. I made it, after a serious sprint with my back pack, but my luggage didn’t. Luckily there are planes running from Munich to Bologna every couple of hours. It made it on the next flight. The only trouble was this threw off my ability to meet my sister in Genoa at the predecided time.

While waiting for my luggage I was lucky to have Lauren’s company. She showed me around the city in which she has lived this past semester. Her Italian is really amazing. We found a pizzaria and had some great pizza & wine. I went with Speck Pizza which is somewhere between ham and bacon. Quite good. We then tried some gellato. Still no word from the airport to Lauren’s cell phone an hour after they told me it would be there. So we tried calling ourselves. No answer. I was almost smart enough to pack a change of clothes in my back pack, but I didn’t. So we went to the train station to see when I would be able to depart for Genoa. Trains ran often so it wasn’t an issue.

After calling the lost luggage people three times they finally answered. It was there. So we rode a bus back out to the airport to pick up my bag. It wasn’t a problem although it was annoying that the people working there didn’t call when it came in around an hour and a half earlier. Oh well, it allowed me to see a bit more of Bologna and not have to lug around the suitcase. So it all works out. The train I was able to get on wouldn’t leave for another hour and a half after I returned to the train station with all of my posessions. Lauren and I were able to wait at a McDonalds until then. I was glad to have had the opportunity to see her while we were in Bologna to catch up. Without her I would have definitely had more issues and been kept inside the airport and train station. So around 5:50pm we said good-bye and I got on the train for Genoa.

Or so I thought it was for Genoa. It actually was. But the reason it was so cheap (14 dollars) was because it stopped at every city between Bologna and Genoa and didn’t take a straight path. The more expensive train ride only takes three hours to get there. This one took closer to five, which I wasn’t expecting when I told my sister I would meet her around 9 or 9:30 at the station. That turned out to be 11:00pm. She’s an intelligent one, though, and figured out that I was mistaken by looking at the boards. First time I have seen her since she left for Switzerland over six months ago. The hotel was right up the street and after 26 hours of travel I’d made the journey. I slept well.

Yesterday, Kristin met my sister and I in Genoa. We explored a bit around here but the city is somewhat of a dirtier city. Maybe we were just walking the wrong back alleys. The aquarium is supposed to be a highlight but the price was a bit much for us so we turned to an outdoors wine bar for some people watching. It was nice to relax.

We realized our cruise didn’t actually depart from Genoa, though, when reading the cruise instruction booklet. So now we’re quickly off to Savona, an hour train ride away, to find our port. A few pictures are up from the past few days. Look for more in a few days when I can find another internet connection. Ciao.