Day 16 - T-I-(p)M-m complete

Travelling ‘home’

Another short night’s sleep and I was ready to leave the hotel well before the time I’d calculated I would need to. I decided to have a coffee in the Lounge Bar to kill some time before heading off. I was sitting in the lounge sipping my coffee when I looked up and realised that the sun was rising, gloriously directly out the windows. It was after 7:30 am local time. I’ve subsequently discovered that Monaco is further North than Hobart is South, which explains the late sunrise at this time of year. I also noticed that Monaco faces more East than I had intuited. (For the record, and later, I paid €9 for that coffee.)

Sun rise from within the lounge

Sun rise from the balcony

Same sun, about ten minutes later

I settled my account at the Fairmont and set off for the train station well in advance of my planned time. As I was under no pressure, I stopped to photograph a few things I’d passed by the day before. The statue of the patron saint was very appealing to me. The high stone archway looked like an old Roman aqueduct to me, but it appeared to be isolated so maybe its a much later fortification? The statue at the top of the stairs at the station also captured my interest.

Saint Devota

Arched wall behind Eglise de Saint-Devote

Fraternita

Monte Carlo train station is entirely built under Monte Carlo in one of the many tunnels that run directly under the Principality. It’s very modern and clean. I was there over thirty minutes before my scheduled train and so I ended up catching the same service that ran thirty minutes before, mostly because the service I had bought a ticket for had a warning note that mentioned ‘heavy traffic’ and I thought that might mean that it might miss my connection at Ventimiglia because of being slow/late.

Monte Carlo train station platforms

A self-propelled re-charging station

The train I was to get on arrived at Monte Carlo heaving with passengers. And they all got off at that station! I think that might have also been what the next service meant by ‘heavy traffic’ but I stayed with my plan and boarded this train. From then on, the journey was uneventful; all second class (there was no first class carriage(s), I checked). I had a coffee and a doughnut while I waited for my connection in Ventimiglia (because I’d arrived 25 minutes earlier than planned). And then started composing yesterday’s blog entry on the leg from Ventimiglia to Genova, running down along the northern Italian coast.

I arrived in SML bang on the time scheduled, in spite of running over ten minutes behind schedule at one point. SML was looking gorgeous in the beautiful autumn weather and I really did feel glad to be ‘home’. Because it was 1:30 pm when I unlocked the door to the apartment, I dropped my stuff and went straight back downstairs to the bar in the building literally on the doorstep of the apartment building to see about a light lunch.

I’ve been checking this bar out every day I’ve been in SML. Frankly, it looks a little unfriendly; inhabited by people who are definitely not ‘my people’. It’s a very small cafe/bar that devotes some of its floor space to operating five poker machines in a screened off section. There appears to be a crowd of regulars who give a very ‘working class’ vibe and I’ve seen them start their day-drinking at 9 am. None of this is to suggest that there’s anything wrong or sinister about the clientele or the proprietor. Just to say, it’s not Hello Cafe!

Anyway, with that scene-setting, I ventured in, ordered a pre-made pannini and a cappuccino from the female Asian proprietor, and sat at a table. She brought the coffee almost immediately, and the toasted pannini not long after. It was all very satisfactory. I had a second coffee and took an Magnum ice cream from the freezer to finish off my lunch. I was carefully monitored by one of the other customers’ dog, though completely unmolested. It was exactly what I needed for lunch and came to the princely sum of €9!

I went down the street to a local supermarket to buy some food to make meals for myself during the next few days. Then I spent the rest of the day in the apartment, finishing my blog post, and doing loads of washing to refresh all my clothes after my long trip.

I deliberately don’t have plans for the next few days. I am glad that my first tour has gone off pretty well. It has, however, reinforced my views that if my whole holiday was one long tour, I would be hating it after three or four weeks and want it to be over. I’m looking forward to seeing how my next short trip – [T]hessaloniki – goes. In the meantime, I’m looking forward to just hanging around SML and holidaying, without touristing.

Because of those very quiet plans, I may not necessarily have a daily post for the next few days; I’ll have nothing to report. So, don’t think something’s gone wrong if I miss a day (or two). I will certainly be posting again when I travel to Greece.

Daily facts: Location: [M]onaco, then SML Temp: 24 Weather: Sunny and warm