Dolomites 2005 A personal diary ....

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Day 10: Friday 9 September

Travel to Bergamo

I had a comfortable night but there had been a lot of traffic noise (we were near a junction and the railway!)  Breakfast was limited to 1 roll only and tea or coffee.  Given that the cost was €15 a night we couldn’t really complain.

After packing up and taking a few photos, we headed for the train station.  The Verona train arrived on time and we duly boarded and found seats.  It was an uneventful journey but when we arrived, we discovered that the Milan train was running late.  When it finally arrived, we had to find coach 7 as we had reserved seats.  We eventually all got settled in after we had to ask some passengers to move as they were sitting in our reserved seats.

As this was a Venice to Milan Intercity train, it was very comfortable .. however we seemed to be losing more time at each stop.  As we headed west, the sky started to get darker and darker, with the odd flash of lightning in the distance.

The inevitable happened and we ran into the thunderstorms.  Iris asked if we were going through a train wash, as it seemed as if someone was hosing down the train.  As we travelled on, we looked out onto waterlogged fields, so the rain had been falling for some time.

As we approached Milan, we checked the train tickets for Bergamo, as it was by now obvious that we would miss our connection.  However the tickets were valid for the day so we didn’t have to worry about getting a transfer.

Once we had arrived in Milan Central, we had the chance to have a quick look round the station.  The station was huge and there was magnificent architecture in the main concourse.  We checked and found that the next train for Bergamo was in a half hour but as yet there were no platform details.  We walked over to the area where we thought that the train would be leaving just in case.  The rain got heavier to such an extent that we could hardly hear ourselves speak as it battered off the glass roof.

At the last minute the train was announced and we were at the right platform.  We all got on board and settled in for our last train of the trip.  For most of the journey it poured down but as we arrived at Bergamo it became torrential.  We got off the train and ran for cover but still got pretty wet.  In the station we dried ourselves and looked out the waterproofs .. the first time we’ve had to do this in the whole trip.

We decided to have some lunch before heading to the hostel and found a nice restaurant across the road from the station.  After discarding the rucksacks and rainwear, we were shown to a table for 10.  There was a good selection from the menu and together with some good house wine, we all had an enjoyable meal.

By the time we had finished, the rain has eased off and we gathered up our gear and walked up the road to get the bus to the hostel.  Once we had arrived, we got booked in with no problem as they had all our details from before.  We got booked in to 2 rooms for 4 and 1 for 2.  We picked up the left luggage before settling into the rooms.

The weather had brightened up and it had stopped raining, so we had the chance to visit the city.  I booked a minibus to take us to the airport the following day (it was 10 Euro more than when we arrived!) and then we headed into town.

Some went shopping while the rest headed for the funicular to take us up to the old city.  We didn’t really have enough time to see everything, but did manage a quick visit to a magnificent church just as they were closing.  We then had a walk along the walls before heading back down into the city.

As we were walking along the road, we met Diane who had been visiting the shops.  In a nearby plaza there were some ballet dancers rehearsing for some festival and in another area there was a set-up for a concert going through a sound check.

We then headed for the Caffe Falcone where we met up with Andy, Ian and Iris.  We had booked a table there, but unfortunately it was not a restaurant and could only provide a limited menu of snacks.  Alan and I left and did a quick advance check on the place where we had had lunch.  They did have a table available if we were to wait a short while.  A phone call to the rest and by the time they arrived the table was ready.

We had an excellent meal and I was surprised when I was presented with a bottle of wine and a card signed by all of the group.  After the meal, we headed back into the town.  Some of us went into a Guinness bar while the others headed back to the hostel.

It seemed a bit strange drinking Guinness in Italy.  After a couple of drinks, we started the walk back to the hostel.  Somehow, Gordon managed to trip over the same bit of street furniture that Allan did on the first night.  It obviously has a grudge against us.  We got back and hopefully did not disturb the others when we got back to the rooms and got to bed.

Bob MacDonald