We took the opportunity to sleep in a little, knowing that we had a long walk ahead today. Without a kitchenette, or utensils, we had limited choices for breakfast. Karina bought some milk and ate her cereal out of my New York Mets cup, while I opted for a rather plain, dry ham and cheese roll. Bleah! Next we stocked up on lunch - a few slices of pizza and some pesto focaccia, a couple of bananas, drinks and some chocolate - vital hiking supplies! We also quickly visited the souvenir shop before heading down to the station to Porto Venere. [View Full Entry]

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Another early start to get out the door and catch the 9:11am train again to Cinque Terre, or more specifically, Riomaggiore. After breakfast and packing we had 40 mins to spare and turned out the lights for a cat nap. The train trip was agonisingly slow, especially because the seats were very uncomfortable and the train was at least 30 mins late by the time we reached our destination - it literally crawled the last 45 mins of the trip. We headed up to the office in the main via of Riomaggiore - a winding street on about a 40 degree [View Full Entry]

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An early start today - breakfast at 7:15 and it was surprisingly good given our exptectations of the hotel and Genova in general. The weather in Genova was a bit iffy, and we were hoping it would be nicer in Cinque Terre. What we had discovered last night was that we were staying at the wrong end of the La Spezia - Genova stretch to access Cinque Terre. La Spezia is about 20 mins from CT, Genova is 2 hrs! Need to do more careful research next time. In any case, we arrived in Riomaggiore - the eastern-most of the 5 [View Full Entry]

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We could sleep in this morning as our train to Genova doesn't leave until 11:44am. We had a leisurely (if not boring) breakfast and headed out into the rain to look for somewhere to buy lunch for the train ride. However, we didn't get far until we decided to get our bags down to the station and go looking from there. It's only 500m walk from our hotel to the station but not much fun in steady rain, holding an umbrella, trying (unsuccessfully) to keep our bags dry. Then Karina went and found some lunch and we waited for our train [View Full Entry]

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Our gamble with the weather had paid off - although the forecast was a 40% chance of rain, the day was absolutely perfect again, and started without a cloud in the sky! Being only about 30 minutes walk from our hotel, we set off around 8am to towards the tower. As we approached the Field of Miracles it appeared over the top of the houses! Even though you've seen it in pictures hundreds of times, seeing it for real is still amazing! And at that time of the morning, with very few people around, it's even better! Karina, of course, went [View Full Entry]

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Looking at the weather forecast again, we decided to chance the weather in Florence since it was more or less definitely going to rain in Pisa. The usual breakfast, and we headed off on the short walk to the station in heavy rain. The trip to Florence by regional train is just over an hour, though we were delayed a little by a medical emergency on the train. In Florence the rain was steady but not heavy. We headed straight for Galleria Accademia, to see Michaelangelo's David, as we'd heard the line was quite long. Well, I can confirm it is! [View Full Entry]

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A later start and nothing much to write about today as I sit on the train to Pisa. So now I'm going to write about why I hate Rome, so skip to the end if you're not interested in my whinging. #1 Public Transport Buses. The *only* way you'd find yourself on a bus, I'd imagine, is because someone gave you directions to get somewhere by bus (otherwise, how the $%^& would you know what bus to catch?) If so, seriously consider throwing them away and using some other form of transport. Working out where the #$%^ you are on a [View Full Entry]

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Another early start before we head out to the Collosseum. At least this time, we sort of know how to get there, so we're not wandering around trying to work out where to go. Today, for the 1st time since London 3 weeks ago, it's looking like rain. And when we get to the Collosseum, it starts to pour! I always thought the Collosseum was larger than it is standing outside it! Lining up to get in (the qeueues aren't so bad) we're offered a guided tour, which will only cost us 10 Euro each since we have the Roma Pass, [View Full Entry]

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An early start with the standard continental breakfast. We have a Vatican tour which starts at 9:30am, so we leave at 8am - plenty of time right? After all, we have detailed instructions on how to get to the meeting point. This time, we opt for a tram, which complement the buses as far as we could tell. We think we know where to get off. Wrong! Back on the next tram, this time we know where to get off. Wrong! Back on the tram, and here we are at the end of the line. After asking directions we find what [View Full Entry]

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A late breakfast and unhurried checkout and a short walk to the station before a long(ish) wait for the train to Rome. I go for a walk while Karina waits at the station, and for the 1st time since Paris I can actually walk normally! I don't want to overdo it, but hopefully with the 6hr train ride and overnight rest in Rome I'll be 100% tomorrow - yah! I buy some sandwiches and drinks for lunch and we drag our bags up to the platform to wait 15 mins for our train, which has suddenly changed platforms. Fortunately, it's on [View Full Entry]

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