Genoa - It's very quiet here.

  Genoa, Italy
Saturday, May 27, 2006

True to our word, we actually got up early enough to go to the Roman Forums in the morning. They were kind of disappointing. They would have been worth seeing while we were already there, but they were not worth the ten hour round trip back. There were all sorts of ruins, some still building-shaped, some crumbling wrecks, but to our untrained eyes, they were not particularly different from all of the other ruins we'd seen in all of our extensive pedestrian touring of downtown Rome. We were there for perhaps forty minutes, then we started on our second goal for the day - to get the cell phones to work.

Before we'd left for Italy, we'd bought a couple of used phones that would function in Europe, and some Italy SIM cards for them. Since everything we'd read said that we were not actually allowed to buy the SIM cards in Italy unless we were residents, we ordered a couple from Telestial back in the U.S. The first time we were Rome, we attempted to register them, but five days later, they still weren't working. So we went back to the TIM shop (we're actually getting okay at finding destinations in Rome now if we've been to them before) and inquired as to why. A very sweet and patient saleslady explained that the numbers had been resold, expired, and were no longer any good. She also apologized unnecessarily for insufficient English to explain the situation further. At that point, she said that we could just buy another number. Since it was rather expensive the first time, I was about to balk, until she pointed out that it was just 10€. Less than 25% of the price from the U.S. We blinked and said, "Okay!" Ten minutes later, the phones worked, we'd added time, and were on our way. So for anyone who wants to use a cell in Italy, just buy the card there.

We collected our bags and started on the series of trains that would take us to Genoa. We arrive around 9pm and catch the bus with the craziest driver. He drove a bus like it was a Mexican taxi. About six minutes later, we were dropped in the middle of a completely deserted piazza.



A short time later, we locate our hotel, drop our stuff off, and go out for food. Everything is closed. Everything. Shops that say "Open 24 hours" are closed. Finally we find a quasi-English pub where, ironically, no one speaks English. The food, though, is fine and welcome (though not really English), and we retire to our dingy little room, thoroughly unimpressed with Genoa.

(Pictures forthcoming)
ETA: Pics of Rome Day Two and Riomaggiore up.
ETA: The one and only picture of Genoa is up.