The Cinque Terre and the Long Journey Through France

Looking down on our town in the Cinque Terre

After the long journey from southern Italy to the Cinque Terre in the north we finally arrived at our destination, Corniglia. The Cinque Terre is actually a region made up of 5 coastal villages, Corniglia being the one in the middle where we were staying. We ended up renting a whole apartment for our three day stay in the village that had a balcony overlooking the small town, which was fantastic. One thing that we did not know before arriving at our village was that between the train station and the actual village (situated on a cliff) are 400 stairs. I wouldn't have minded this too much except after arriving at our nice apartment we realized that our next train trip to Toulouse would actually not get us to Toulouse at the right time for pick up by our next helpx host that we were meeting…..and the only internet in town was at the train station……800 steps later I was able to contact our host and move our pick up to the next day. Over the next few days we hiked in between the five villages on some awesome trails through vineyards and hills. The villages were really nice and all had their unique differences. Of course we had to try the gelato in all the villages in case their was a difference between any of their methods. It was great living in a small village on a cliff overtop of the aqua coloured water for a few nights, definitely one of the nicest places in Italy. 

After a few days in our nice village we got up at 6:00am and descended 400 stairs to catch the first of five trains to Toulouse. At the station before we left I asked if we needed a reservation on the french train we were going to take, because the last time we took a french train we ended up having to pay 300 dollars extra because we failed to make a reservation on time. After asking five different ticket and info people they all said that we didn't need a reservation to use our eurail pass so we decided that they couldn't all be wrong. After the first three trains we arrived on the french border to find that the french trains were on strike until 3:00pm!!! The worst part was that if we didn't get to Nice by 3:00pm we would miss the last train to Toulouse for the day. If we didn't catch that train we would not arrive in Toulouse until 4:00am the next morning! Luckily we ended up meeting a South African girl and a french girl that spoke english, italian and french! Thanks to the trilingual european we figured out there were no buses to Nice and no trains until 3:00pm. We then met up with a Canadian girl who was living in France and she joined our group of stranded travellers, she suggested we split a taxi to Nice. This was brilliant because it was 120 euros but split between five people it was much cheaper!  It was a bit stressful being stranded by the strike but it was definitely all part of the experience because we got to meet a bunch of different people and make some new friends. The Canadian ended up paying for our lunches in Nice because she felt bad for us poor travellers and she had a sweet job on a yacht. She invited us to come over to her house if we ever needed a place to stay or to see another part of France. She told us all about her job, she works as a chef on a 100 million dollar yacht for some super rich guy. Apparently there are 17 staff and it costs one hundred thousand euros a month just in wages to run the yacht. The worst part is the guy only comes a few times a summer to use the thing! 

The long train ride from Nice to Toulouse

Finally we boarded our last train for the final seven hour train ride from Nice to Toulouse. But we did not have a reservation on the train (reservations are optional) so we just had to find a seat that no one was sitting in and sit there. But because there were so many stops we would often get kicked out by people who had reservations and have to move around or just sit on the floor sometimes. Sophie was stressed for lots of the trip because she was constantly worried we were sitting in someone else's seat, but unlike in Canada, people don't care if your sitting in their seat as long as you get out when they come.  After a few hours on the train the conductor came around and checked tickets. Despite what the five people said in Italy we actually needed a reservation on this train because we were using the eurail pass and apparently if you use that kind of pass you actually do need a reservation! Crazy french and their stupid reservation policies! He said he would let it slide this time. However four hours later when new conductors got on the train they just charged us 10 euros each for the imaginary reservation we should have got. The bottom line being we should have just got a reservation because then we would have had a permanent seat and had a comfortable ride for the seven hours!! After a very long day we finally arrived in Toulouse at our hotel. I booked it last minute a few days before and when we arrived the sign was lit up in neon green and it looked really scummy. Sophie was not impressed. Luckily the inside was 10x better and we had a great stay!

Chateau De Bramtourte

The next day we took our last train the final leg to get picked up by our hosts Alison and Paul. We have now spent the last two weeks in the awesome Chateau De Bramtourte from the 12th century. It feels legitimately like living in a castle because of the winding staircase, multiple huge fireplaces and everything is stone. It's always cold inside because of the stone, we couldn't imagine living here in the winter. It's probably why our hosts winter in Australia and leave the running of the Chateau to a frenchman. Our hosts our British so we can communicate no problem. Our jobs have been mostly taking care of the B&B and getting the Chateau ready for the winter. We were pretty exhausted after travelling for a month straight so it has been really nice to stay in one spot for the last two weeks. After we finish our five hours of work in the day we literally do nothing but read and just relax around the chateau which is so nice. The temperature is still in the mid 20s so I have went swimming in the pool a few times which was really great. The chateau has an orchard with lots of apples so Sophie has been baking a new apple dish virtually every day. So far she has baked apple crisp, apple muffins, apple bread, apple snicker doodle and apple dumplings! So delicious, but now everyone is a bit tired of apples and cinnamon. Now we are fully rested and ready for our next leg of the trip with Brad and Miryam, we will be meeting them in Lourdes to set out into Spain for two weeks!

Verse of the Week:
The heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.
    -Proverbs 16:9