Before going to bed we all reset our clocks for the time change and quickly fell asleep. I woke up and looked at my clock only to realize that it was 7:20 and my alarm was supposed to sound at 6:40. When I had changed the time, I some how switched the time from AM to PM so my alarm was seriously wrong. We started to rush to get ready but realized it was a lost cause and went downstairs to enjoy breakfast. The breakfast was by-far the best breakfast we had on the trip. There were criossants, muffins, donuts, eggs, cereal, fresh fruits, cakes, and a tons of different juices! We all ate until we were stuffed then we checked out and went to catch the 10am train.
We went straight to the ticket office who told us tht we needed to buy new tickets then go up to customer service to try and get our money back from missing our train the night before. We went up to customer service, they were not happy to hear that we already had new tickets and so they sent us back down to the ticketing office to get a refund on the tickets we had just purchased. Such a mess. On top of all this running around, we are told that the train leaves every hour on the hour for Genova, EXCEPT 10am since theis is when they clean the train.
We shopped and sat around in the station until getting on the 11am train. The train was just like the Harry Potter trains since there are all cabins with six seats in each cabin. We didn't have seat reservations so we just sat in 2nd class and hoped no one would ask us to move. I was still nervous about checking into the B&B since we were supposed to check in by 11am and now we wouldn't be arriving until around 1pm. We had a little trouble finding the B&B since everything was closed on all the streets and there were no signs. We walked down the street a lot further than we thought we were supposed to so we had to turn around. We went into the only open store on the block, a rotissery chicken restuarant. The women working inside didn't speak any English but were able to point us in the right direction of the B&B. We were still aimlessly walking when a man asked us if we needed help. We told him the address and he kindly walked us right to the B&B which didn't look like a B&B AT ALL.
The outside and the walk up to the 2nd floor was creepy but the inside was really cute and homey. There were three beds and a view of the sea port from our room. There were also two large bathrooms with towels and sheets included. We put our stuff down and headed into town to look for some lunch. Since nothing was really open, this task seemed nearly impossible. We walked off the main path toward where we saw lights but everything was still closed and about 10 times more creepy. Genova is basically the Italian version of Newark, NJ. All the men hang out on street corners starring at you and making comments under their breath. While walking, I saw a family and said, "Quick, follow the white people!". This may seem really ignorant of me, but it also explains the gravity of the situation we were in. The family ended up being a lost cause anyway since they were slow walkers and just wandering without a destination. We finally saw a little open shop with what looked like pizza so we went inside are ordered 3 slices of cheese pizza and a hot dog in a croissant. What we got ended up being the exact opposite of pizza; it was cold, basically uncooked bread, with rough and crumbling bad cheese. I ate less than half before I couldn't eat anymore and moved onto my hot dog. It was good except it was barely cooked and the little it was cooked, tasted like it had been done hours ago.
We walked over to the aquarium on the harbor since it is the largest one in Europe. We didn't go inside though since it was 18 Euro per person which didn't even include the entire experience. We then walked around the rest of the harbor and got gelato. It was pretty good but I think we thought that since we hadn't had any gelato in over a week! I got chocolate and cookies plus I got an entire cookie and it was in a cone cup! I was a happy camper. We shopped for a little but there wasn't much to do so we took a boat tour of the harbor for 6 Euro. TOo bad when they sold us the tickets they didn't warn us that the whole tour was in Italian. The ride was chilly, foregin, and boring since all we looked at was giant running cargo frieghts. After the unsuccessful boat tour we went into the city center. On the way, we finally passed some pretty buildings and fancy churches which gave us hope for the rest of the day. The center ws an enourmous fountain with smaller fountains all around it. Very pretty! We kept walking and saw a partial castle, a garden, and more pretty architecture. The main strip of the town had a ton of shopping but since it was 4pm and raining on a Sunday, everything was either closed or in the process of closing. I did manage to get into H&M and bought a shirt since I can't go into that store without buying st least one thing!
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We planned to go out for a long, relazing dinner but we again couldn't find anything open. We settled on a bar/cafe that served food which was a plus. I ordered a Bloody Mary but the Chinese worker only spoke Italian and had no idea what I was ordering even thought it was on a the menu so I ordered a margarita. For dinner the girls got pizza (which they watched be pulled out of a freezer) and I got one giant chicken finger and salad. It wasn't bad, but not the dinner I was expecting in Italy. We went to the market to buy some snacks and some wine to enjoy at the B&B for the rest of the night.
We walked back to the B&B in the pouring rain without umbrellas. If my flats weren't already ruined, they were after that rain storm! Back at the B&B we got comfy and turned on the TV which didn't have many working channels and none of them were in English. The B&B also didn't have a wine key so while I channel surfed, Anna used a pen to force the cork INSIDE the bottle. It was hard and she ended up covered in wine but it was successfully opened! Too bad that after all that hard work, the wine was so awful it, it was basically undrinkable. We drank it anyway, ate Pringles and filled in our own dialogue for Italian TV shows. After a while I showered and was immediately exhausted and ready for bed.
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