Oh what a day!

Saturday was eventful and adventurous to say the least. Some friends and I were ready to head out of the city while the weather was still decent. We decided to go to Alassio Italy, a beach town after some friends went last weekend. It’s a day trip, and a train ride that’s a little long but so worth it.

We headed out with little sleep and even less food. After making it to our train (we got our tickets 7 minutes before it left….yes 7 minutes), we realized we were going to have to switch trains at some point. It ended up not being a big deal and we practiced some Italian in the process. At the stop where we were switching it was cloudy, looked like rain clouds and I had Goosebumps. There had been a rumor that today was supposed to rain all over Europe. We had checked the weather and figured out it was supposed to be beautiful! But we were a little worried. As soon as we stepped off the train in Alassio there was a blue sky, sun out, and plenty of humidity!
We walked the beach looking for a public area, went for a swim in the Mediterranean (yes, I can say I’ve been there now!) and then lay in the sun drying off. Italians know how to get their tan on, and there were some brown bodies! We ate at a little café and all realized that we needed some blood sugar to get us through the rest of the day! We decided to go for a walk to look for a church indicated on the signs. I don’t know if we ever found the church, but there were a few down below us and a beautiful view! I know that I say beautiful a lot to describe Italy, but there isn’t a word I can think of that describes it adequately. After our hike we were done, and ready to think about heading back to Torino. In the office they wouldn’t sell us a ticket because the train workers were on strike. We had to wait to see if the train came back through the station. If it did then we could go home. If it didn’t, then we would be spending a little more time in Alassio than planned. We decided like any good people in Italy that gelato was the answer. After our sweet treat and some sitting in the piazza we headed back to the ticket office, picked up tickets and were on our way.
It was now starting to get dark. As I looked out the window I noticed that it had been raining some. I was thankful that I was headed home and didn't ahve to deal with the weather at this point. A little over an hour out there was some lightening. It was so fun to watch. When we reached Torino we got off at a different station than we took to go. And we forgot our maps.
Needless to say, we wandered the opposite direction through sprinkles before realizing where we were (Thank God for bus stations with city maps). After heading down the right street it was raining, but it was bearable. There was thunder and lightning every few minutes. We were definitely heading toward it and toward home. As we walked past the metro stop it started to pour. The skies opened up and water came in buckets. We dashed down to the metro, soaked, tired and ready to be home. If I had not had my life in my backpack and been terrified that some of it would get ruined from the water I think I would have danced in the rain. As it was I quite enjoyed myself hoping over puddles and trying not to slide on the slick on the stone pavements.
We made it home safe, with not much more water covering us. Adventure, sometimes it doesn’t let you run from it. You just have to "dance in the rain". There are no pictures of drenched bodies, because I didn't want to risk breaking my camera and we all wanted to be warm and dry! I will post more about the last couple of days, it's been busy and I forgot my memory card one night, so I have to work a little harder. coming soon...