Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Goodbye Salzburg Hello adventure travel

Auf Vidersehen Salzburg
Hello adventure travel


We are leaving Salzburg via train to Milan and then plan to pick up a rental car and drive to Monte Carlo. I bought the train ticket 2 days ago and was told “on Thus and Fri there is a train strike in Italy, so go to Innsbruck on Fri, stay overnight and continue on, Sat morning. When we got to the train station we were told, “change in plans! Now travel to Innsbruck, change for Brenner (a boarder town) and take a bus to Verona and a train from there will continue to Milan.”

Somehow all that worked, and as unexpected and unpleasant as it was changing to the busses with a train full of people, the bus ride through the Alps to Verona was beautiful and we actually loved it. It turns out the continuing train to Milan is a German train, leasing track space from Italy, and our conductor was American born (in Orange County) and living in Innsbruck for the past 18 years. We left ½ hour late but we got to Milan and he actually found us a room at the hotel he stays at.
The next day was another story. Rental cars are sold out in Milan, so we set up a car rental in Genova, 90 miles past Milan and on the Mediterranean Sea. Took a cab to Milan Central Train station to get our train to Genova. Remember that I told you about the train strike? Well, 12 hours ago it was over, and the train station is packed with huge lines everywhere. We were in line to buy our ticket from a machine and a very nice guy helped us. The line to purchase a ticket from a human ticket agent was at least an hour long.

Got a ticket for a noon train, a regional train with no AC and very dirty train cars… I mean dirty. Boarded 20 minutes before departure, the train is almost completely full, and a conductor comes on and announces in Italian “this train is cancelled and is not going anywhere”. We did not know what to do, got off and we were told get on the train on the next track and take it to another of the Milan train stations and change for Genova. We took that train on faith, hoping that what we were being told in English was accurate Hundreds of us got off and we were directed to track 1.
We asked the conductor “is this train going to Genova?” He never looked up “no” is all he mumbled.!!, But someone else informed us its going to _______ and you can change there for Genova. We took that on faith and hoped on this dirty, regional hot train.
“Welcome to Italy” our seat mate told us, “this is how our train system operates on a regular basis”. As you can imagine it’s still crowded with people trying to get to Genova.

Got to this intermediate stop, waited an hour and, low and behold, a train for Genova showed up. It was full, but we all got on anyway filling the aisles with bags and people and an hour later we got to Genova.Most of us were standing, but I managed to sit between cars on the step to get on and off the train.

Throughout all of this we never saw a conductor on the train and were never asked for a ticket. Hoped in a taxi to get our rental car at the airport. “I hope I never see an Italian train again as long as I live” said Annie and I agree!!!
We had a rental car reservation with Dollar, but guess what??? There is no Dollar counter at the airport, what a day. We went to all the counters and finally Avis said, “I have one car left” So we were off. Its approx 90 miles to Monte Carlo and there are two ways “the toll road and the beach road. We ended up on the beach road through 20-30 miles of the Italian Riviera. Windy, beautiful, packed with cars and scooters and motorcycles, both driving and parked in every imaginable spot. It was a challenging, slow drive, but after an hour of that we found the toll way. I see why it’s a toll way!! It is bridges connected to tunnels and not short tunnels and very high long bridges. Whoever figured out how to get a highway here was truly an engineering genius. We finally got to Sam Remo where we found a hotel, and a fell fast asleep. What a day.

Up at 8 am and on the road at 9:00 AM. Up the beach road< which at 9:00 AM on a Sunday is not nearly as crowded. 10 miles of that and 10 miles of toll road and we are in Monaco.

Monaco is a principality, completely surrounded by France and otherwise its own government. A few thousand live here permanently and several thousand call it home (I am guessing tax purposes has something to do with it). The municipality of Monaco consists of 6 communities one of which is Monte Carlo. From this day forward when I think of Monte Carlo I will think of the show “lifestyles of the rich and famous.” We are staying at the Hermitage Hotel across from the Casino and a cheap room is 700 euros per night. Don’t even ask about the cost of restaurants. Condo’s which are everywhere start at ½ million for a studio and go up from there. We saw several advertised for 5-10 million.
If you are not staying at one of the hotels that is owned by the principality, a beach chair at their private beach cost 100 euros and if you want to rent one of their cabanas it could cost you 300-400 euros per day. All of the taxis are Mercedes, the cars parked in front of the casino are Aston Martins, Ferraris, Bentleys, etc. making a Porsche look cheap
Did I mention the port yet? 80-foot yachts look like bathtub toys compared to some of the yachts here. And every kind of high-end shop you can imagine is here.

All that said, it is a fascinating place to visit and a beautiful community sitting on a bluff overlooking the Med.

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