Day Four: On The Road To Nowhere

I left Annecy in the afternoon. I had a plan. I was going to take the mountain road through the French national forest southeast of Annecy and stop in one of the charming towns near the Italian border. The road led from Annecy to Albertville, site of the 1992 Winter Olympics. But when I got to Albertville, the weather was overcast with a suggestion of rain. The purpose of taking the mountain road was to see the scenery, but the weather made it likely that there would be very little to see and even less to photograph. So I turned onto the autoroute and headed toward Italy.

Sadly, this meant I no longer had a plan for the day and no idea where I was going to stay. As I motored into Italy, the change in language meant I no longer had the comfort of my high school French. I was a stranger in a strange land and feeling very awkward and ill at ease.

It seemed best to look for accommodations in a city. It was too early to stop for the night in Torino, so I continued on toward Genoa. I will say the road signs in this part of the world are excellent. The road to Genoa seemed to slope downward for almost 20 miles, passing through numerous mountain tunnels along the way. At last, I came to Genoa as night was falling and got off the highway. Now what?

I drove along the main road near the waterfront. There were a few hotels, but I am not really a hotel kind of guy. I really only wanted to rent a bed for a few hours before heading out again the next morning for Tuscany. It was fully dark know, and I was meandering around a strange city where I didn't speak the language at all. For the first time in my journey, I felt really lost and alone and wondered if perhaps I had lost my mind when I decided to do this.

Then I saw a sign for a B&B. I was saved! The place was quaint and clean. The hosts were more than helpful. For some reason, I couldn't access their wi-fi hub, so they dragged their computer out of the office for me to use. Have you ever tried typing on an unfamiliar computer with the keyboard in a strange language. If the e-mail my wife got to let her know I was not dead somewhere on the side of the road was short, it was all I could manage under the circumstances.

Not a great day, all in all. I took only one picture, which is of the mountains along the way just before I entered the long, long tunnel that took me into Italy.

Tomorrow, I will be in Tuscany and the photo opportunities will abound. I promise!