Now Italy is a place of rich history, rich culture and even better food. Come on, my favorite food in the entire world is Italian food! Now with all that going for it, you would think Italy would offer an incredible travel expeience, but my experience in Italy this go around wasn’t the most pleasant one.

It was a chain of events and decisions that put us on a path destined for difficulty. We had stayed up too late, philosophizing about life, the night before our depature from Gimmelwald, Switzerland to Cinque Terre, Italy. In the back our minds, we knew we should catch the 7am train to Italy putting us in Riomaggiore at 3pm but that would mean we would have to leave Gimmelwald at 5am. So we decided to take a risk catch the afternoon train from Gimmelwald that would yield a late arrival around 8pm in Riomaggiore…that is if the trains were perfectly on-time (which they never are…come on this isn’t Japan). Now Cinque Terre consists of 5 tiny villages on the Northern Coast of Italy and have earned the prestigious selection of a World UNESCO Heritage site, effectively perserving these beautiful places back in time. You won’t find too many cars in these villages and, apparently, you won’t find any hotel, hostel or apartment for rent after 5pm or 6pm. We finally arrived in Riomaggiore about half past 10pm just under 3 hours tardy for our grand entrance to one of the most beautiful places my eyes have ever seen. To our disappointment every place to acquire lodging for the night was full or closed. We gathered some numbers off some poster boards and tried to call these people that were renting their apartments from an Italian payphone…no answer on any of the 7 numbers we tried. We resorted to going into open cafes and bars and asking the bartenders or baristas if they knew how we could acquire a place to stay for the night. One such bartender, seemingly helpful and friendly, called someone and found an apartment for double the cost that they normally rent for. Knowing that we were in a tough spot, we offered to rent it for one night, but only one night. He muttered some Italian to his cohort on the other end of the line and quickly responded that we had to rent it for 3 nights…or no deal. He knew we were backed in a corner and he and his buddy were going to take us for a ride. Problem is we weren’t giving rides that day and we walked out into the still night, knowing we had exhausted all our options.

We regrouped in front of the train station. About the time we had settled on spending the night on the beach (not really a beach just a bunch of large rocks), was about the time God sent us our Angel. This time her name was Gabby and she was from Australia. She had overheard our predicament in the bar where the bartender tried to screw us. She understood Italian and could hear the snippets of the conniving conservation that took place over the phone between the two Italians. Being a woman renting an apartment alone on top of a hill in Riomaggiore, she decided to take a risk and invite 3 unknown men to sleep on her floor. Maybe it is a good thing we had shaved those beards! We gladly accepted her offer and tried to reassure her that we were gentlemen. So we retired to her apartment with her and some her friends and enjoyed some wine overlooking the town.

We awoke on the floor in the morning with a note on the door. Apparently the owner had looked in the window and saw three guys sleeping on the floor and wasn’t too happy about it. He wrote an angry letter requesting us to come see him and pay him 60 Euro a person…an exbortitant amount by even the worst standard there!

So we set off to explain our situation and hopefully negiotiate a fair resolution and even rent a different apartment from him. We approached and I immediately tried to plead our case:

“We are very sorry we slept on your floor last night but please understand we nowhere to stay and Gabby was kind enough to take us in. We arrived late last night because our train was late. We tried everywhere in town and we even tried to call you…”

Owner, “NO, NO, NO I don’t care!! You…you come into my place like animals!

I tried to interject, “We are very sorry, we had…”

Owner, “You are nothing but animals!! You are beneath animals. You see this cat? Even HE doesn’t sleep on the floor (the cat was resting on a chair).”

I began to get angry, “Listen! We don’t appreciate being talked to like that. Now we are sorry can you please understand our situation. We wanted to rent a apartment from you today.”

Owner: “NO, I don’t care you…you…come and bring fleas and bed bugs. You are trash…you…you are nothing but animals!”

I was getting very angry and we will leave out some of the rest, but I pretty much said, “You are stupid and there is no way we are paying you 60 Euro a piece.”

He adjusted his position a little and offered to accept 30 Euro a person…a still very high price. We reluctantly agreed and paid him in all the change we could find.

A day later when we were walking by, we got into it again and he started telling me (he always stuttered), “Come…come…come in to my room and I will KILL you!!”

And it wasn’t just that, there were several other minor negative experiences with the locals in Cinque Terre and Rome. But as Rossi so wisely puts it:

“You will have that from time to time…on a big job like this”

But it is so true. Sometimes, we encounter negative things on our travels. The trick is to never let a couple bad apples spoil the bunch. I think this happens to so many of us when we encounter a negative experience…we form a sweeping generalization. It is hard not to formulate a generalization that all Italians are rude, and it would be unfair. I am sure, in fact I know, that most Italians are wonderful people. And that is the way I am choosing to take. I want to believe in the greater good in humanity…even though from time-to-time humanity disappoints us.

So here is to the Italians and the great story that they have provided me! And thanks to our angel, Gabby, for getting us out of a tough spot.

Got any negative generalizations that need to be thrown out? I know I do!!

I leave you with one of my favorite quotes and some of my favorite pictures from Italy:

“The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.”
— Paulo Coelho

I love and miss you all!!

Ryan

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