I woke up and informed Sam I was not up for a hike into the foothills. He wanted to go anyway. We made loose plans to meet in Volastra - I was going to bus up, and this would be the mid-way point in his hike. I mis-timed the trains and busses, and ended up arriving in Volastra at about 2:30. Turns out Sam arrived at 1:45, waited until 2:15 (we had agreed he would wait until 2pm), and then hiked down. Then, after walking around for half an hour, I learned the next bus would not leave to go down until 4:45. There was really nothing in Vernazza once you’d walked around for 30 minutes and seen the views. I could have hiked down, but I didn’t have a map and directions are not my ... read more

I had never fully recovered from my sickness in Rome - lingering tiredness and a bit of stuffyness had followed me since the Forum day. However, I had not considered myself truly sick. This day, I woke up sick. I could hardly talk my throat hurt so much, my head hurt, I was stuffed up beyond belief, and so so tired. We packed and locked up our apartment and returned the keys to Eleonora, then headed down to the train station. We met Michelle, as instructed, at a local wine store and were able to store our packs at the Camere Guiliano. We knew right away we had made the right choice - the shared terrace, with views over Vernazza all the way to the ocean, was so peaceful. There was a little kitchenette where we ... read more

I do not know how people see the Cinque Terre in only a day or too. There is so much sitting and so many views and little swimming holes and stores and coffee shops to explore, not to mention the costal trail and the hundreds of kilometres of foothill trails. We slept in, had a leisurely breakfast of fruit and corn flakes on our balcony, and headed to the costal trail with bathing suits, snacks, and water in our pack. We planned to train over to Riomaggiore, then do the easy walk from there to Manarola, then after lunch hike to Corniglia. Alas, the best laid plans. We hit the train station around noon, only to find there wasn’t another train for an hour. So, we decided to do the walk back wards! We started hiking. ... read more

The Baths of Caracalla are BIG. We trained down and started touring in the mid-morning heat, springing for the audio guide and glad we did. We spent a pleasant two hours in the Baths, examining the pieces of mosaic tile that had survived, the slope floors and ancient marble drains, watching the two resident falcons play. The Baths, we learned, were basically like a modern day gym or sports complex; the elite went there to bath, exercise, and socialize. My favourite commentary on the audio guide was a dramatization of a neighbour to the Baths complaining about the noise and activity day in, and day out, leaving him no peace. From there, we headed over to the Aventine Hill. I had read about the keyhole with the view to the Vatican, and had kept it as ... read more

Sam was particularly excited about this day, which we had set aside to walk the Via Appia Antica. I had planned an all-day excursion of walking and seeing every ruin on the route and picnicking for lunch in some beautiful stopping point somewhere. Unfortunately, we didn’t get rolling until eleven. Sam had no faith in my research or the public transit route I had picked for us but he followed, but it worked out great. We got to the stopping point where we had to decide if we wanted to go south onto the old road, or stick to the tourist route. We’re not stick to the tourist route people - south it was! Sam had decided he wanted to see the Villa Quiranel, which looked on a map to be about two kilometres south of ... read more