Travel Notes
August 24, 1984 - Day 24
ITALY - FRANCE
Florence - Pisa, en route
Maybe the lack of wake-up call when Earl asked for one at 0630H was an omen of things to come? It's raining today, for one thing. Since Earl has never overslept before, the fault had to be the front desk. So for the first time during the entire tour, Earl was last on the bus!
Turned out, he'd been up late last night worrying about all the details of recording expenses and arrangements for the optional tours. He had put his papers aside, planning to get back to them early the next day...famous last words!
The porter knocked him up at 0800H and it took him fully three seconds to realize the time, of which there was just enough to throw his things together and his clothes on - no breakfast!
Bart had been trying to reach his room from the front desk at the same time Earl was chiding the desk clerk from his room, which added to the delay.
Pisa
It's cold here!
Seeing the Leaning Tower and entering the Cathedral is worth the rain, though. Earl took us into the Baptistry and had a man sing out to demonstrate the acoustics. What a fantastic echo effect! I felt my skin prickle with the organ effect, totally unique!
Genoa
Augh! We were lost at least two hours and got ravenously hungry. The heavy rains caused landslide six kilometers out of Genoa! Fortunately no one was hurt, but someone will be missing his garden until spring, that's for sure.
This is where we discovered that the bus leaks! Spare rags were liberally employed and a trash bucket pressed into double duty as bailing implement. We certainly couldn't wait to get out from under that weather!
French/Italian border - Menton
The omen given in Florence came to pass at Menton, with a potential visa snag for various people. Ma and I were meant to have a multiple entry visa for France, but were only given a double-entry visa in Manila! However, we actually enter France three times : Dunkerque, Menton, and from Barcelona. Fortunately, since no one stamped our passports at Dunkerque, we still had double-entry privileges.
But to play safe, everyone with double-entry visas were seated at the rear of the bus, while the Americans were moved up front. Bart also detoured from the main entry checkpoint to a side border crossing where hopefully the guards wouldn't be too finicky.
Naturally,there was traffic. The suspense was excruciating -- Hitchcock couldn't have done better! We were extremely lucky that Grandfather Basil led us in one round of singing after another, which kept all of us looking relaxed (including Earl, the poor man).
Finally we pulled over at the checkpoint. Earl got out. The guard gave the American passports a cursory glance and waved us through. Breaths were held - and the passports didn't get stamped here, either! Joe Silveira took up the cudgels from Grandfather Basil and led us in admiring (quite vocally) the nondescript architecture of a building tilll we were safely inside the border. Once well into France, Bart put on the "chicken dance" music to much applause - our all-purpose victory hymn!
At the rest stop, it was washrooms and moneychangers for the group, hot coffee for Earl and cold beer for Bart before proceeding to Nice.
France - Nice, French Riviera - Hotel Vendome
I love this hotel : must have been here since 1935 if a day. Certainly it looks antebellum! Our room has a balcony overlooking the gateway and the street, with shutters where we can hang the laundry to dry. Ma and I settled for a late dinner at of all places, a McDonald's! It's just one block down from the church we'll be visiting tomorrow morning - what a good thing I remember my elementary French!
On the way back from dinner we met Frank and company (Bertha, Lois, and Angie), who asked if the burgers were all right. Ma and I offered noncommittal opinions, and returned to hotel to find a crisis brewing...
Grandfather gave me a recap after the fuss had died down - it started when Diana's bag found its way into Choy's room. Diana was obviously frantic, and when Earl and Bart returned from dinner, she rounded on the driver. To their credit, the men managed to stay calm while she went on with her tirade. Bart knew the bag was in the hotel, and Earl sat calmly (or a clear approximation thereof) reading the evening paper, sure that the bag would surface. To be sure, even Diana admitted seeing the bag in the lobby! Once Choy and Eddy returned the case resolved itself.
NB : Lucerne doesn't have the smallest elevator (good only for four) -- it's this hotel that beats it out by one. Its official capacity here is four people, but they only let three go up at a time!
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