Italy!

We took the train into Italy today, the plan was to go to San Remo which is about an hour and 10 minutes away with a train transfer in Ventimiglia.   We got a late start this morning though and Paige had a total meltdown on the way to the train station because she wanted shorts on and she was wearing a dress - the whole episode transpired because she said something about going to the beach in Italy and I asked if they packed their swimsuits (which was the only thing I asked them to do, twice).  She very nearly didn't get to go today because Jay would have happily stayed at the hotel with her for the day.  After she finally calmed down I told the girls that I had a set of 'spare' clothes that I have been carting around everywhere in my bag that included a shirt, shorts and a spare pair of undies and that if they wanted to go in the ocean they could go in their undies and then one could wear the new undies and the other could wear the shorts as undies.  On the train later Sophie said "Mommy, does everyone swim in their undies in Italy?  Because if they do then I'm ok with that.."

 Clearly she was fine...right after this picture both girls said they had to pee.  So they took off their undies and were going to pee in the sea...but remember the water is cold...so they stood up to their ankles, jutted out their pelvis' and peed standing like boys into the ocean while Mom and I laughed and kept saying to them "go right in the water, squat down - oh my god".

Earlier we had bought the tickets to Ventimiglia at the train station (we had to wait to get the second ticket because San Remo is serviced by Trenitalia and not SNCF).  We asked a group of SNCF officers on the platform if we were in the right spot and they said yes, we would get the next train - so we got on the train and at 11:15 and it took off...in the wrong direction.  Because the train seats face both ways you can't really tell which direction the train will go - and so when we ended up going the wrong direction we got off at the next stop, which is in France - and then we crossed over and got on the next train traveling in the right direction, went back through Monaco and into Italy!  So we were telling the girls that they were in 3 countries in one day.

We got into the Ventimiglia train station and at the kiosk we couldn't buy a ticket to San Remo for a time sooner than about an hour delay - even though there were trains to further destinations that stopped in San Remo.  We would have to wait in line to see a ticketing agent - so we just decided to stay in Ventimiglia and walk up into the old town and wander.  While we were figuring this out there was a little vending machine in the train station that sold Barbie toy cell phones for 1 EUR, so we got the girls each one.

Later, on the way home on the train the girls were playing with the phones pretending to take photos of each other and send them to one another.   Paige said "Gram, say cheese" - Gram said "Cheese" and Paige looked at the 'screen' said "Ok, I'm sending that to you now...Grampa, say cheese"  - Grampa made a growling voice, a little face and said in a low voice "CHEEEeeeessseee" and Paige said "Grampa, I'm not taking a video you know, I'm taking a picture"!  Hahaha.

Back to the original story - When the girls were finished with their dip and pee in the sea we walked up to the old town, which is usually an elevated, walled village - and this one was typical.

I like to get photos off the beaten path and with no people in them...but I have a camera whore for a daughter who has to get in every shot.

Not this daughter..I said to Paige "oh just wait Paige, let me get a photo without you in it - ok, just stand there and I'll take your photo and then move out..." and so Paige does and then I'm about to take the photo I want and Sophie runs in and said "Is this ok?  I'm ok here?"

And this is the photo without the girls.

We hiked up through the streets to a little church and went inside.  At the back and down an old, stone, circular staircase was a baptism area.

Paige said "I think this used to be a hot tub" and then she went over and looked inside and said "Yup, definitely".

Here are a few other photos of the town..

We went back to the hotel on the train, got changed and went out to dinner at Budda Bar...it was AWESOME!!  Amazing rolls, so delicious. And I got a flaming cocktail - lol, but I was in the bathroom when they served it and so missed the flames. Bummer.