Leaving Florence

We weren't sure how we were going to leave Florence. Our checkout time was between 10-11. We wanted to stop and have breakfast at a cafe around the corner but decided instead to walk to the station to buy our tickets. This time we avoided the ticket machines and went straight to the booth where we took a number even through there wasn't a line.

The ticket lady said the train we wanted left at 9:53 and the next one at 10:30 was 30€ more. We weren't sure we could check out and make the train in time but I couldn't stand paying more for a slower train so we bought the early ticket. It was a 20-30min walk from the station to our hotel and it was already 8:30. Amanda thought the lady at the hotel wouldn't even be available to check us out until 10-11 and wanted to have breakfast first, but I suggested we go check anyway. Apparently they wanted us to checkout before 10:00.

We dropped off the keys and told her we hadn't taken anything from the fridge.

With 30min to kill we had a cappuccino and a croissant and Amanda went to a grocery store to buy a few snacks. When we got back to the station it was a madhouse with thousands of people fighting to talk to the ticket agents. We were lucky we decided to go early if we hadn't picked up the tickets when we did there was no way we could have purchased them in time. The train was packed but we arrived early enough to get seats.

The trip back wasn't nearly as confusing and stressful though we actually had ticket agents check our tickets several times. For part of the trip we sat across from a Canadian family who were in Italy for a wedding. As the man left he said "Safe travels, eh?"

I made a list of things to do on our last day in France:

Laundry
(underlined) Buy a big tub of licorice
Chocolate Croissants
French Riviera shoes
Shampoo for Celine to replace the bottle we used.

On the train to Ventimiglia the power shut off a few times. Each time the lights flickered and the train coasted until it came on again. Ja said it might have been worker strikes happening somewhere down the line. Every time the lights went out the air conditioning turned off.

I sent a message to Ja as soon as we arrive at Menton and he called back from another phone a few minutes later. He said he he would drive down to pick us up and that he hadn't eaten in three days. We had dinner at an Indian place down the beach and got to bed at midnight after transferring pictures.