La Spezia, Really Just a Place to Crash

Having determined the name of our hotel, we attempted to figure out where it was, but our Italian phone is pretty terrible, so we arrived at the station still having no idea, walked out, didn't see it, went back to the information desk, asked, got told we were morons, went back out and crossed the street to our hotel.

After waiting for a couple in front of us who seemed to be having a bit of trouble, we got checked in with no problem.  This hotel also has real keys, very strange.  We wedged into the tiny lift with 4 people and bags, and I had a momentary panic attack when I considered what would happen if we got stuck in there like that, but it worked out and we made it to our room.  

Our key didn't work, so Lyle had to go back down and get them to come up and explain it, but eventually we made it into our room.  Nice, and with a balcony.  The view is primarily of the train station, but hey, we'll take it.

We were exhausted from our extremely strenuous morning (haha) so we took a nap, got up in time to go back to the train station for tomorrow's tickets, and then wandered around looking for a place for dinner.  Saturday night is apparently the night EVERYONE goes out, and it was busy and lively and exciiting.  Italy is so much more a social country than ours, and we attribute that, at least in part, to how walkable and central most things are.  We saw so many people just greeting friends they'd bumped into, kids playing in the squares, young teenagers goofing around on their bikes.  I wish we had more of this community at home.  

La Spezia is a seaside town, and instead of the plain pasta we've seen most places they all want to do weird things with seafood, so we wound up getting pizza, by happenstance at a place that seems to be the local teenage hangout, though there were a few other adults (and one dog!) eating there as well.  Great pizza, and Lyle found a Jack Daniels for the first time here.

After dinner we found our way bak to the hotel and are making an early night of it because we have to be on the 7:12 train to meet our hiking guide for tomorrow.

Remember to turn your clocks back tonight!

Marty and Lyle