Last night, no one really had a good sleep. It was quite a bit warmer in the apartment, but I think the real reason is that everyone knew we had to leave by 05:00.
At 04:30, Tavis and I got out of bed and woke up the kids. It was still pitch black outside! Addison actually showered. The rest of us brushed our teeth, packed up the last of our belongings, and ate the home-made apple strudel that our host had dropped off the night before. It was greatly appreciated!
Our bags were pretty much packed, so it didn’t take long to load the car. We left the apartment by 05:15. Tavis turned on his phone today for the first time because we had a train to catch in Verona and we didn’t want to be late due to the scheduled construction along the way. We decided yesterday that today we would pay the tolls and take the Autobahn. Google estimated we would arrive by 07:30 which left us 30 minutes to find fuel, get lost, and locate the rental car drop off location by 08:00.
So, apparently, construction on the Autobahn does not take place before 06:30. We avoided all congestion and arrived in Verona just after 07:00! Since we had an hour before the car rental office opened, Addison used Tavis’ phone to locate a nearby POI. By 07:15, we found ourselves at an ancient arena that had the look and feel of the Roman Coleseum. The streets were practically empty, and we easily found a parking spot near the entrance to the gate of the community. Pay parking wasn’t in effect for another 45 minutes, which was perfect!
Ari decided to stay and sleep in the car while the rest of us ventured out to explore the site. It was such a picturesque area. The old fortress walls, dilapidated structure of the old arena, surrounded by the cutesiest colourful buildings and a fountain along a Main Street. It looked like a scene right out of a movie set! To top it off, there was practically no one around! We spent about 20 minutes walking around before making our way back to the car. We topped up the diesel and easily found the drop off area at the train station just before 08:00.
We unloaded the bags, found the correct platform (6), and left the kids with all the bags while Tavis and I went to explore the station. Tavis got a coffee, an ear cleaning thingy-mo-bob from the pharmacy (he got water in his ear when swimming and it was driving him crazy), and returned the keys to the rental company. Just before 08:30, we boarded our train to Milano.
To our surprise, we were in carriage 2 which was in 1st class. Funny, we totally forgot about that since it was booked several months ago. When booking, it was cheaper for us to go 1st class than it was for a regular ticket. It was only $120CAD for the 5 of us to travel from Verona to Ventimiglia which was way more relaxing than driving! Our seats were roomy, we had free wifi, and we even received a free beverage and snack pack! I absolutely recommend the Frecciarossa trains!
We arrived in Milano (platform 10) a few minutes late at 09:47. We had over an hour before our next train arrived so we went into the crowded station and found 5 seats with enough space in between for our luggage. It was perfect! Tavis and I took turns exploring the impressive train station. The architecture was beautiful. Out of curiosity, I tried to purchase a ticket for our train to compare costs. It was completely sold out! I guess it was a good thing I purchased them so early. About 15 minutes before our train was scheduled to leave we decided to make our way to the gate since our platform wasn’t assigned yet. As we got up and walked past the board, our platform popped up. We walked straight to platform 18 and boarded our next train. This time it was a Ter IC train. It left promptly at 11:10. We were also in Carriage 2 which was first class, but this time, no wifi and no beverages or snacks.
At 14:54, we arrived in Ventimiglia. We purchased train tickets to Nice because we read online it was cheaper than buying them online. Unfortunately, it was busy and the ticket agent didn’t give us the family discount. We ended up paying $43,50 instead of the $22,00 it should have been. Now we know to ask for the mini group discount (not the family discount). If the ticket agent doesn’t give us the discount, we will purchase our tickets online. Our train was scheduled for 15:16, but it didn’t leave until 15:30.
When we arrived in Nice, we found the L1 tram and used Google to find the house. We got a bit lost because Google took us a different route than our host suggested. We walked around the apartment a few times before finally meeting Laurence. She gave us the key and showed us around the apartment.
That evening we did laundry, work, and purchased train tickets for Nice. We have a family day pass for tomorrow and our train is booked from Nice to Marseille on Saturday.