A vacation from the vacation


Advertisement
Italy's flag
Europe » Italy
May 16th 2010
Published: June 8th 2017
Edit Blog Post

Geo: 44.1464, 9.65572

So the shower was basically a hit this morning. The stall itself could be an inch bigger all the way around. Also, there wasn't much hot water left by the time I got up (7:45), but at least it wasn't freezing cold, and the water pressure was great.

There's a nice breakfast room with a large TV showing CNN. Found out that the volcano is causing problems again and that Irish air space would be closed as of this afternoon. That doesn't concern me too much, however, because my main concern is going to be British Airways crew striking. I'm scheduled to fly home on the 25th, and the strike (one of five) is going to run from May 24 to 29. I checked BA's website (yay: wi-fi!), and they
insist they'll be running long-haul flights. I wonder ...

I didn't leave the hotel till around 10:00 because I was so excited to have Internet access (pathetic, I know). The waterfront was a lot busier than when we got here yesterday. I walked into the old town with Judy and Ann; we met a kitty along the way who had a sweet little meow and a terrific view
of the beach. Judy and Ann wanted to take a boat to one of the other towns, but the water looked pretty choppy, and the boat that was coming in was bobbing around quite a bit. I decided to give seasickness a miss and just wander around instead.

I quickly discovered that once you've been into one shop, you've been into all of them. They've all got magnets and postcards, scarves and jewelry, t-shirts and bags that say “Cinque Terre” over and over and over. The town itself is attractive, but there's not much to do except look at the view. I did
stop into a church to light a candle and plead for good weather (NB: Today's weather is excellent.) and no hassles getting home, but the church was ... well, kind of tacky. However, there was a statue of St. Teresa, so I forgive it.

I bought myself a ham and cheese sandwich and ate it while watching the goings-on on the beach. It was sunny and warmish, but the wind was a bit chilly. On the beach, though, were several people in bathing suits, either sunning themselves or splashing in the water. It made me cold just looking at them, but it did warm up quite a bit later on.

I took a train over to the next town, Vernazza. Rick Steves always raves about Vernazza, I suppose because it's so picturesque. And because it's so picturesque, it's chock-a-block with tourists. And it's got the same shops that Monterosso does. This makes it sound like I'm down on these towns,
but I'm not. They're most definitely cute and well preserved but, once you've admired the view, they can get a little dull. But everything is made better by a good cup of gelato. Today's flavor: caramel. Not bad; it's got a slightly smoky flavor.

I popped into one interesting looking shop, and Reid was in there showing photos of his family to the shopkeeper. He glanced up and got a sort of “Oh, crap” look on his face when he saw me, so I left. I don't want to intrude on his personal time. So I went down to the harbor and pondered the view for a bit. Then I walked back up the hill and past the train station till I saw a sign pointing uphill to a cemetery. About halfway up, there's a viewpoint and a little grey and white cat who meowed while I scratched her ears. I continued on up the stone steps, which seemed to go on forever, getting steeper and steeper. I finally made it to what I thought was the top, but it was only another viewpoint looking over the town. I decided I didn't really need to see a cemetery, so I stopped at the viewpoint for awhile and sat on a bench and watched the sea sparkle. (It's the Ligurian Sea, by the way.)

I retraced my steps back down to the train station and came back to Monterosso. We are supposed to have an informal happy hour tonight down at the harbor, so I bought a bottle of Cinque Terre wine to bring along. I resolve to only have one glass because I had entirely too much last night. Thank heaven for Tylenol.

LATER: Okay. I had three glasses, but they were small! We all stood around near the harbor for about an hour, waving at incoming trains and watching the children play. One group of kids had an adorable little puppy – it was either a lab or a golden. It was so cute trying to keep up with the kids running around.

Shiree (I found out the correct spelling), Sandy, Bob, Katie, Lisa and I went for dinner at Ciak (pronounced “chahk”😉 and were later joined by Ainsley and Mike. I had spaghetti al pesto, which was very good, and on the way home I got some gelato. What? It's our last night in Italy, so I had to have more gelato. Flavor: Perugina nero fondente, a sort of really dark chocolate. Got back to the hotel at 8:00, the earliest time yet!

I forgot to say how wonderful parts of the town smell. There are these flowers all over that one lady in our group says are mock orange, and another lady says are jasmine. Whatever they are, they scent the air and keep the town from smelling like seaweed and salt water.

Early wake-up call tomorrow, and then we are off to the Alps!



Additional photos below
Photos: 10, Displayed: 10


Advertisement



Tot: 0.2s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 7; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0671s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.1mb