5-6-10 Rapallo to Nervi day 32

5-6-10 Rapallo to Nervi day 32

I left my hotel a little before ten.. stopped at cafe for morning coffee and croissant..then towards Rapallo along the side of the road again...the side walk came and went... not too many blind turns just enough to keep me awake..combination of experience now, and just enough curb or sidewalk to keep me comfortable... it rained periodically so I had my cape ready and seemed to have to periodically put it on and take it off throughout the day.. my right heel kinda bugs which means I cant walk as fast as I would like but I was surprised that I could walk long this day.. I spend a lot of the day absorbed in my head..which is unusual when I walk...the weather was grey and similar to a seattle spring or summer rain day..i think it kind of just makes me introverted...and go into fantasy world... except for the oceans I see, which is different from at home...... I walk along mostly side walks but once in a while they coincide with really steep drop offs and very low railing... and I was scared twice..pretty bad... it's totally irrational since lower drop offs are just as likely to kill me as the really high steep ones...but I seem to have a height tolerance up to a certain point, but then it goes beyond that height, I am freaked out... I prob missed some great photo opportunities not being able to look down...interesting too, recently I had a flying dream and I love those but in awake life heights dont work for me..the road turned inland and I went through what I call more mountain villages...the feel is different between the coastal towns and the ones up in the hills... even though the truimp l'oie painted homes seems to continue.. they have fake stone trim painted on and even illusory windows on sides of houses. ..the villages were small and as I headed into the afternoon it seemed clear that they did not support lodging... in Bogliasco I asked but it was too expensive...so Nervi would become my destination, it was large enough to have some lodging choice... it was strange walking in.. I seemed to be in a gangway of buildings I head the center of town or so I thought and still non of the hotels listed on signs showed up...as I moved away into an area with no businesses i thought i might have missed the town somehow... I finally found a lower star hotel and got a room there, it felt like I little pricey but there was not much more choice...the woman there seemed unusually interested in the fact that I was walking and wanted to know how long things had taken so far and how long I expected the whole walk to take..she speculated on a year.. I laughed, hopefully not that long... then I went to the room and got myself sorted...when I came downstairs the husband was there he also seemed really nice and social..i had tried to understand the layout of this town because I just did not get it..they did not have a map so Marrio the man offered to take me for a walk...first we went through the park, it was a brisk walk and the light was dim because of continuing storm clouds so no opportunity to take photos..but I absorbed his narrative and would walk through the park again the next day and photoed some of what he told me... he'd worked on passenger ships for thirty years from what I understand including a line that went from LA down to the Panama canal and beyond... also here in the Mediterranean.. he showed me the old house in the park, now a museum and told me that it was typical style of the noble's homes about 500 years ago..in the back of it where hills, he said the houses up there were bought by writers and artists from all over europe for the panoramic views... he told me back when there was not cure for TB many Russians used to come to this area for the ocean air cure... he claims not to have had any respiratory illness since he moved back here... the palms in the park were samples from all over the world..and there was a special rose section as well... then through a little arch and we were walking along the ocean it was a brick walk way slightly above the waterr..no beach here rough rocks and cliffs... he pointed out the shadow finger of land in the ocean and said that that was Monaco, I was surprised that I could see it from here...it is so impossible far away still by foot...he showed me the castle like structure overhanging the water, he said there were watch towers like this all along Ligura from back in the day when there was fear of African pirates..i thought of the russian oil freighter that was currently under siege somewhere along the african coast... and thought african pirates are still a threat, even if not on this coast.. he told me names of some of the plants around us including a really insanely good smelling white flowering tree which smelled similar to the indian champa tree...the sea was still quite rough and it was quite beautiful the railway was on the other side...then he pointed out passageways along the way that would lead back to town or hotel... then we went towards one to reach the center of town...there he bought me a espresso and introduced me to a local man...then he gave me directions to an affordable trattoria and he went on his way....it started pouring rain again... I went to the restaurant...the owner did not speak english and was quite gruff...apparently I was too early... he and his staff was still eating their dinner and I had to wait till the restaurant was open 7.30 fine I had my lap top and like I said it was pouring rain again...so I sat and journeled...finally I was allowed to order... my eyes were bigger than my belly..this would be the second day in a row where I could barely eat what I ordered and I did not order that much...minestrone soup, genovese pesto homemade pasta, and salad... I had not eaten much at all that day so I should have been ravenous... interesting... then back to the room... I was quite tired since I had been underway from 10 till 4.30 with not long breaks.... sadly around 1 in the morning I woke up and did not fall asleep again for three or more hours...wrecking my energy for the next day... not sure if it was the espresso too late in the afternoon...or what...but I seem to go through cycles of sleeping like a log and then this...