Aisha Isabelle

Ventimiglia, Italy

I met up with Sarena and Stacia at Gare Thiers. We took the train to Ventimiglia and when we got there we stopped at a hotel to get maps and directions. We had planned to go to the gardens and caves (we couldn’t figure out the bus schedules and I didn’t have cellular data access) so we just decided to use our map and walk to the information office. We then realized that it was in the train station which was closed so we stopped at a store where Stacia got some things. Site note: there were a lot of cannabis references that made appearances on a lot of the clothing and jewelry on display. Trend maybe??

After that we walked past the bridge and took pictures.

That part of town looked amazing and the buildings were colorful. We then followed the map to get to the landmarks, ended up by the water, walked back around, then headed to the churches.

The first church was much bigger inside than I expected. There was a crypt and a room below right across for baptisms. There were also some people at the very top level of the church playing the organ. I really liked  the smell of the place.                                        

After that we went to this little playground that faced the water, took pictures, then headed to the next church which was closed but the street on the way there smelled amazing-some people were definitely cooking something delicious.

There were also a few cats we came across but they weren’t exactly friendly. I found a little souvenir, a Madagascar toy which was off to the side on the street.

We got delicious pastries and the stilted interaction between us and the pastry lady while ordering made me realize that  I need to learn some basic Italian vocabulary.

On the way back home there was an incident where two girls were escorted off the train and one seemed to be in pain. I hope they are okay.

Walking back from the train station we saw three people (2 guys, 1 woman) in army uniform with guns and I was a bit shocked. I didn’t know if it was a drill or for Halloween.

When I got back home V was getting her hair done so I took a shower and watched Total Divas. We had lasagna for dinner and I showed V my humungous map of France.

I later heard on the news that the armed people were there because of something to do with pirates/threats. Who knows.

I am now watching the finale of Total Divas and then going to bed.

October 2014