10 July

10 July
Looking at our hotel and plans for Reggio Emilia, we decided to switch and go to Parma instead.  It's a bigger town and should be a better starting point if we decide to do a tour.

Based on the weather forecast, we went to Genoa today instead of Cinque Terre. It was about an hour train ride (we are getting to be pros at riding the train).  We had all day in town, so thought we would save the aquarium for the afternoon, when it was supposed to rain.  At the train station, the boys spotted a castle high on a hill, so that was our first stop.  Castello A... was a cute little castle overlooking Genoa (Genova in Italian), but not much to do up there. There's a small museum but it's only open in the afternoons.  Consulting our guide book, everyone was interested in a cemetery that is supposedly quite interesting and has some incredibly sculptures, tombs, and headstones in it.  We hadn't visited a cemetery as a tourist destination yet on this trip, so why not?  We decided to take a bus over there as it's on the edge of town.  Once we arrived, it was not at all clear how to get in.  We saw one entrance, which was even my rudimentary Italian could decipher as "authorized vehicles only." There were throngs of flower shops outside this gate as well, so it seemed clear that this part of the cemetery was in use for funerals currently taking place. Definitely not respectful to go in that way, so we walked around to one side, which soon became a very high (30 feet?) curved cement wall, with no features or windows.  It looked deserted, but we knew there must be a way in, so we kept walking. And walking. After about 15 minutes we came to a dead end, overlooking a small, terraced part of a cemetery with stones so close together and an amazing profusion of flowers for a section of cemetery so off the beaten path. There was no way to get over there, as a huge culvert of some kind (with the usual signs saying do not enter) and a tall wall separated us. So we walked back to the front. Given our timing, we reluctantly gave up on the cemetery hunt so we wouldn't be rushed at the aquarium.

Aquario di Genova was great but so expensive--24 euros per adult (including Coen, darn him) and a bit less for kids (Yay Finn, stay 12!).  It was a lovely facility, very well laid out and with simply beautiful habitats for the animals.  No bare tanks here!  Everything had plants in it, natural-looking landscaping and backdrops, and simply seemed very clean.  All the signs were in both Italian and English (it has surprised me how often this is true)