DATELINE: Vicenza to Genoa

I am waaay too exhausted to spend any time write tonight.  Let me say that we caught the train this morning, made it to Genoa and our funky little hotel all as we had planned.  We were starved so went out looking for a resto and stumbled on what has turned out to be the best meal I've had in all the 22 days in Italy.  It's called Figgi du Dria and is probably 4  blocks from here ("here" being Hotel la Campannana).  We got to the restaurant about 3:45 and, although the door was open, the kitchen was closed.  But the owner appeared and assured us he'd cook for us so we took a table by the window, ordered a bottle of fizz water and two glasses of wine, ordered and waited.  And what should emerge from the kitchen but the most beautiful dish of mussels piled on top of pasta with a sauce of chopped clams, cherry tomatoes, garlic and chopped thyme.  It was absolutely sublime.  He even turned off the little TV and played some lovely jazz, soft and low.  It's a very elegant little place, with layers of crisp white table linens, big linen napkins, very simple dishes and nice glassware.  I'd come back to Genoa just to eat here again!  What a find.

As for the hotel, we have a nice, quiet room to which I am going to retire shortly.  We have to be out of here early tomorrow to catch a 9 AM train to Nice.  And the Genoa Stazione Principale is a rabbit warren of stairs, hallways, etc., so we have to get there in plenty of time.  But I do have a ton of photos to post and I haven't even mentioned Venice, have I?  We don't have in-room WiFi here and it's not very comfortable, but tomorrow I'll have better internet connection and will spend some time catching you up on our travels of the past few days.  It's all been wonderful.  Especially Vicenza, after the mobs in Rome, Florence and Siena, it's a little oasis of quiet beauty.