Genoa

I made it to Genoa! The flight on RyanAir was not bad at all (I got freaked out when I accidently found some "I hate RyanAir" websites online), although getting to the airport was very difficult. Initially I was going to take the tube to the Tottenham Hale train station and then pick up the Stansted Express from there, but Lee offered to drive me to Tottenham Hale to shorten my journey. And thank goodness he did! We got to the station and it was closed so he had to drive me all the way to the airport (which is hardly in London at all, its about an hour outside the city). I got into Genoa and made my way to my couchsurfing hosts' (Marcos) house; I managed the trains and buses just fine although the last bus driver told me the wrong stop to get off at, but luckily Marcos found me.

The first night here Marcos introduced me to his friend Brittany who is an AuPair (sp?) here from California. She has been really awesome and took me out with her friends for drinks at a place playing the final Euro2008 game. Spain won, Germany lost, but after Holland was out of the running i didn't really care who won. We had a nice chill night and talked until 2am on the waterfront. The next day I explored Genoa alone (I will be glad when I get to Cinque Terre and have travelling friends back!). I started at Piazza Ferrari, which is a really nice place to just sit and people watch. There is a large beautiful fountain in the middle. I got a sandwich for lunch and ate it next to the fountain. From there I wandered down the streets of Genoa and made it to the waterfront near Porto Antico. The streets here are all cobblestone and frequently very narrow, lots of shops and delis, and the whole town is built sloping up from the water. I spent a few hours at the Aquarium, which was really nice with dolphins, sharks, a ray touch pool, etc. I watched the 3D kids show about sharks in Italian. I then rode the Bigo, which is like a big glass elevator that takes you about 3 stories up for a waterfont panorama of the city. It's not an overly amazing view, but it's only 2.50 euros. I then walked to the Palazzo Principe, but it was already closed. The guard though was nice and let me walk around the gardens for free.

At 7 I went to meet Brittany and Marcos and we made our way out to Nervi which is at the end of Genoa and has some beaches. We ordered some pizzas to be delivered on the beach and hung around. Some people went swimming, the water was actually fairly warm, but I don't have suit with me. I know the Italian people don't mind swimming naked, but I do.

Today I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do. There are not tons of tourist attractions here, I think I will just wander around the city and windowshop along some of the big streets. Tonight Brittany and I are going to go out to a bar near Nervi with some of Marcos' friends.

Just a side note: it's hot here! That is to be expected of coastal Italy in July, but coming from cool Paris and Amsterdam and even cooler England has been a weird shift for me. And there are mosqitos! I was enjoying not having them around before. Ah well, Genoa is a beautiful city with a great layed-back style. Although I am really glad I have met some nice people to hang out with here because it is really not a good tourist city, there is not a lot of see or do that can't be done in 1 or 2 days.