We are lucky

Vernazza dark fish

With our luggage, we made one last tour of the end of the pier so I could check for fishes. The “black ones” that school high in the water were there, along with the larger silvery ones that hang deeper, and a few of the skinny small ones (not in photo) that may actually be anchovies.

And now I know why. As we stood there, a local fisher-dude came by with his rod and a bucket, and put them down at the south end, closer to the rocks. Then he snagged a paper sack that he had in the bucket…and starting throwing bread into the water. Well, that’s how you get the fishes’ attention!

With regret, we headed up to the station and began our train journey, which took us mile after kilometer down the coast, which we should have expected and didn’t (I think since we arrived in 5Terre via Florence, and thus via an inland route). So, at least through the trees/palms, we saw the sea all the way down until we turned inland toward Rome near its airport.

As it happened, we passed through the station we wanted to disembark at, but our express train didn’t stop (and we didn’t expect it to). So, we had to find the regional train (effectively a local for our purposes) to double back. The connection was tight and we couldn’t find an open ticket booth near our track, so we took a deep breath and did the Italian (not merely Roman, surely) thing, and just boarded.

Trastevere station latelight

Without being interviewed by an official en route, we disembarked at the third station, in a splash of low-angle sunlight, and walked the few blocks to our new home. I wonder how many people who got off at the same station also did not have tickets. (We have heard stories of the expensive perils of not having a ticket, or a validated ticket…and we feel VERY FORTUNATE!)

Balcony view

We hooked up with our new host’s nephew, who has excellent English, thankfully, and got the run-down on this and that (how the key needs to be joggled to enter the outside door, how the windows open/close, and the one that took a while: how to get on the internet). We now have a balcony that looks into a tree! More luck!

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