I woke up in Genoa to people cheering outside my balcony at Hotel Savoy. At first it was laced into my dream and then I realized it was reality.
I woke up T and dragged him to the window to check it out with me.
The cheers were paparazzi and immediately my ears perked to figure out who was there staying with us. We waited a little bit, but wound up getting too antsy to head out and left. They didn’t care when we walked out – haha.
This was the view of the sunset from our balcony overlooking the Christopher Columbus statue at Piazza Acquaverde. Genoa is the birthplace of Christopher Columbus.
It was freezing outside, but we warmed up with hot chocolate fondue and a glass of wine at Café di Barbarossa, which we stopped at after seeing a life-size Elvis statue.
We were just around the corner from Christopher Columbus’ birth home, Casa di Cristoforo Colombo, and the remains of the ancient monastery, St. Andrew’s Cloister.
It was really surreal walking through the little cobble alleyways in Genoa. I wish it was daytime so that the pictures we took did the area justice. The amazing palaces were one of my favorite parts. We were too stunned to even gather photos of that area though :)
When we got back to the hotel, we walked into the bar. There was only one other table of people in the room and it wasn’t long until we realized that the table included Nicole Kidman and Parker Posey, who were filming the movie Grace of Monaco. I am still kicking myself for not getting a photo, but we were trying our hardest to be respectful.
When I ordered a White Russian from the bartender (who barely spoke English) it caught the ear of some of the cast who T and I quickly struck up a friendship with. One in particular who we are still in touch with. We talked about marriage and kids and our careers and Paris, where he hails from.
It’s always fun to make friends with new people around the globe. That’s one of my favorite parts of traveling.
