Here's my mom's comment about stuff we did that I forgot about. Most importantly, I forgot about the trip down to Porta Portese, a huge flea market that sets up shop every Sunday morning in Trastevere, and our lunch Monday at the Jewish Ghetto. Anyway, here it is:
Oh, Jamie, you were such a wonderful, wonderful host---but I was counting on a daily account of our days, as my feeble brain is losing that short-term recall thing. (Not having an internet connection in the apartment was the problem with last week's posts, as Jamie stayed there with us. Although John Cabot University was only six minutes away, most days he didn't have a spare thirty minutes to get there to post--it was mid-term week, and he was packing in the tour time.)
We'll have to sit down and reconstruct our days. So---
It was just incredibly perfecto to get out of our car from the airport at the corner near the apartment on a sunny Sunday morning, after our lovely travel day that included lunch with Bentley Andrews in Reston during our layover at Dulles, look down via Luciano Manara, and see mia Giacomo striding up the street! Such a sight for a mamma!
And you are right---that is one gay apartment--not that there's anything wrong with that, as long as the male figure does not offend, because it was a huge decorating motif. And the Blessed Mother. We strongly suspected that going in, and it has a major upside---we had shampoo, conditioner, nice soap, an iron, the washer, laundry racks---and three different ways to make coffee! Lots of books, comfortable sofas, and the three vases of flowers that Vincenzo offered to arrange and Dad accepted.
I've never slept in a bed that had so many pillows--and this from the mother whose sons have at least four pillows on their beds. He has one sumptuous bedroom--fabric covered walls, draperies pooled on the floor, Venetian mirror,canopied bed---.
Once I unplugged the frangrance things in the sockets all over the apartmento, it was all OK by me. He could use better lighting for eyebrow tweezing, but that's about it.
OK, after the apartment orientation from Monica (our "guardian angel", who is Vincenzo's assistant in his business) and Sabina, who translated for Monica, we freshened up and hit the streets for our private tour of the Romans' Rome. Staying in Trastavere was absolutely the right thing for us. Besides allowing Jamie to be just minutes from school, it showed us a slice of life we are far removed from in Charlotte--anywhere in this country, actually. On the block our apartment sits on was the bakery that is in the basement of our building, a fishmonger, a fruit store, a shop that sells high-end candies, teas, coffees, honey, and other dry goods, an optician, a fresh fruit and vegetable shop, a tobaccharia, a pet store, an Italian-equivalent of Williams-Sonoma, and ten other shops. The neighborhood--the city!--is block after block after block of the same, with a place to get prepared food in every third shop! If I hadn't seen people leaving the supermakato one evening with bags in their hands, I'd have wondered if Romans ever eat in.
As Jamie has alluded to (Death March Day One),we walked everywhere we went all week, except one Metro ride and one taxi ride to the Termini on the day we went to Pomei. Shortly after we hit the street Sunday morning we were in the middle of a huge flea market a few blocks from our apartment--the famous Potre Portese. It's like a lower-end Metrolina, mainly clothes-based as far as I could see, with the street jammed with smokers, stretching for blocks along a street that parallels VIale Trastavere, the main street that leads away from the river through the neighborhood. I do think there are some areas where the furniture is sold that we overlooked, but the smoking was really bothering us there, so we worked our way down a side street and crossed the river to the Ghetto, one of Jamie's favorite areas.
And I can see why--it reminded me of the North End of Boston, or at least the North End 28(!!!) years ago, when people would sit on the stoops and hang, and kids played in the street. Since it was Sunday, much the same was going on there, with three generations of families enjoying the gorgeous fall day. We had lunch at a tratorria, where we ate some of the classic Jewish appetizers--fried artichokes, fried salt cod, and a fried stuffed zucchini blossom. (Certain theme here, with the frying. Makes what were cheap foods more palatable---and they were fabulous.) Had more food too--and sorry that I do not recall what. It was very good though. Some days Jamie comes over for lunch, as there is a bakery there that is a find--had a wonderful fruit-bread type thing, and a great little chocolate biscotti.
(Seeing where Jamie's food obession genes come from? How else would we peasants have survived those famines, if we hadn't packed it one when we could????)
More later.
lam
Sunday, October 21
Saturday, October 20
Parents and Pompeii
That's me in front of Caecilius's house. That's right: my main man L. Caecilius Iucundus has a wikipedia page. And it's huge (yay Latin!).
First off, my blog past the 1000 page view mark this week. I'm just going to ignore the fact that between my mom, dad, and myself, we're probably responsible for about 100 of those (at least).
Okay, speaking of them, I guess I should do the update of how their trip went, from my point of view at least (they can comment and we'll see if I had it, more or less). Thursday was a very fun morning. We went by Ponte Sisto, dad got a cannolo with cream, I got a big cannolo siciliano. Both were tasty. Then we went into the Pantheon. We then went to Tazza D'Oro, which is one of the more famous caffes in Rome. It is supposed to have the best granita di caffe, and it was very, very tasty. From there we strolled up the Via del Corso to Santa Maria del Popolo, where we looked at the Chigi chapel and some Caravaggios. From there we climbed to the Spanish Steps, then walked to the Villa Borghese. Busy, busy, busy. Saw the Apollo and Daphne by Bernini, my favoritist sculpture, like, evar. At least that thing is still standing. That's doing better than my second favorite painting, like, evar.
From there we walked down the Via Veneto to Piazza Barberini to hop on the metro. McGinnis Family Death March 2007 had a respite as we rode the subway to St. John Lateran, where I had never been. It was big and fancy and churchy. Moving on. And moving on from there required some serious work. We walked down, through San Clemente, past the Colosseum, up past the Circus Maximus, past the Round Temple, across the river, and into Trastevere and to the apartment.
I would imagine at this point my parents were about ready to die. They seemed to be handling themselves all right, though. We had dinner in the 'hood. Not only that, but like right down the street close, at what is supposed to be one of the better gnocchi places in Rome (according to wikitravel). Anyways, it was rather tasty stuff. I won't quibble with wikitravel. Dad and I chilled at Bar San Calisto. He had another granita di caffe, which apparently led to bad sleep for him, while I had some delicious gelato.
Friday = Morning of Pain, Afternoon of Joy
Morning of Pain refers to a bad walk down to the Vatican by my parents. I sent them down the wrong route through the Janiculum Hill. I was dragging my laundry back to Medag at the time. We then met at the Vatican Museum to go into what we thought would be the St. Peter's scavi tour. We was wrong, and we was wronged. They signed us up for the new necropolis tour under the Vatican Museums, which is totally boring and worthless. And 90 minutes of total boredom. After this, my dad was rightfully pissy, because his morning was a steaming pile of dung.
We walked back to Trastevere through the right route on the Janiculum, so the view was there and pretty and whatnot. I realized our luck was turning, however, when we were able to see the Tempietto when it was supposed to be closed. Then we ate lunch at a delicious Sardinian restaurant (fried cheese for me! I love that stuff), and then we went back to the apartment. I promptly crashed for a 90 minute nap. I felt great afterwards. We went out, hung out in the hood, went to some stores (grocery store for pocket coffee!), and drank cokes in the local piazza. We then walked around to Piazza Trilussa for dinner. Nobody started eating until 8:30 around there, and we were about the first to start. We ate at some swanky winebar that had meh dinner and delicious desserts (I had fruit crepes, my mom had good cheese, and my dad had strawberries and crema gelato). Back to the apartment.
This morning I rose early to go hop on a bus to go to Pompeii for my Cities Towns and Villas class. I said goodbye to my parents, and we went off. We spent about 5 hours there. I've been, and I didn't take any good pictures. I have nothing witty or interesting to say about Pompeii. It's old and stuff.
Right now I am listening to Notre Dame playing USC. I am a masochist.
Thursday, October 18
Parents are here
This is going to be a quick update on life, because I don't have any pictures of my last week to remind me of details. Anyways, here goes.
Sunday morning I got up and walked down to Trastevere, lugging a bunch of stuff I wanted to be brought back to the States with me. I arrived down there just as they were getting out of their taxi, which was nice. The apartment they chose to stay in is very nice, and totally, totally gay (not that there's anything wrong with that, as the fine folks at Seinfeld remind us). Plenty of pictures and sculptures of naked dudes, lube in the drawer next to the bed, smells fabulous. Not fabulous as in smells good; fabulous as in, well, you know. Again, not that there's anything wrong with that; gay is the most accurate description of this apartment. The interior decoration is fantastic. How stereotypical.
Anyways, I then led my parents on what I'm sure they thought was a death march. Up by the Pantheon, up Campus Martius, down the river to Castel, down to Baffetto (it wasn't open, so we had a drink at Abbey Theater) My dad did not bring a jacket and was cold the entire time, my mom was somewhat tired and fairly angry at my dad for not bringing a jacket. I mean, they had just gotten off the plane. Anyways, we ate at Baffetto, and they liked it. We then headed back to Medag to crash.
The next morning, I do not recall what went on. Oh, it's all coming back to me (this was 2 days ago. Dear God). We shared a nice, long break at Bar San Calisto, which may be the nicest neighborhood bar in all of Rome. And it's my parent's neighborhood bar. Anyways, danishes and cappucchinos were shared. I then showed my parents JCU, and they hopped on the computer for what may be their only shot at the Internet while here. From this point, I again cannot recall what exactly went on that day. I know I was in class from 2-5, and we ate my mom's birthday dinner at Rivadestra, a restaurant down Via della Lungara. It was excellent food prepared in the way nice restaurants prepare food (my favorite was a wierd lasagna which was actually broccoli, a sauce, some big crackers instead of pasta, and excellent sausage), but for a reasonable price. After that, we crashed.
Tuesday my parents went up to the Vatican Museum while I was in class. Afterwards, we went up to Medag to show that off. That was followed by a stop by Old Bridge, as I brought my laundry down to the apartment. I had class from 5-8, and then we walked around looking for Bar Sant'Eustachio, which allegedly has the best coffee in Rome. It was near the Pantheon, and we had little trouble finding it. It was good coffee. We followed that with a tartuffo (chocolate "truffle") gelato at Tre Scalini on the Piazza Navona, which was delicious, but perhaps overpriced.
Yesterday is my long class day, and my parents spent most of their time on a death march in Pompeii. We finished the day in Trastevere, eating down the road at Antica Pesa. There were a bunch of photos of movie stars on the wall there, and it certainly seemed like a place where the beautiful people hang. We were a little underdressed in our fleeces and jeans. Anyways, the food was good too. My parents fell asleep really quickly after we got back.
It's rainy this morning. That may screw with our plans to go to the Borghese Museum. We shall see.
Sunday morning I got up and walked down to Trastevere, lugging a bunch of stuff I wanted to be brought back to the States with me. I arrived down there just as they were getting out of their taxi, which was nice. The apartment they chose to stay in is very nice, and totally, totally gay (not that there's anything wrong with that, as the fine folks at Seinfeld remind us). Plenty of pictures and sculptures of naked dudes, lube in the drawer next to the bed, smells fabulous. Not fabulous as in smells good; fabulous as in, well, you know. Again, not that there's anything wrong with that; gay is the most accurate description of this apartment. The interior decoration is fantastic. How stereotypical.
Anyways, I then led my parents on what I'm sure they thought was a death march. Up by the Pantheon, up Campus Martius, down the river to Castel, down to Baffetto (it wasn't open, so we had a drink at Abbey Theater) My dad did not bring a jacket and was cold the entire time, my mom was somewhat tired and fairly angry at my dad for not bringing a jacket. I mean, they had just gotten off the plane. Anyways, we ate at Baffetto, and they liked it. We then headed back to Medag to crash.
The next morning, I do not recall what went on. Oh, it's all coming back to me (this was 2 days ago. Dear God). We shared a nice, long break at Bar San Calisto, which may be the nicest neighborhood bar in all of Rome. And it's my parent's neighborhood bar. Anyways, danishes and cappucchinos were shared. I then showed my parents JCU, and they hopped on the computer for what may be their only shot at the Internet while here. From this point, I again cannot recall what exactly went on that day. I know I was in class from 2-5, and we ate my mom's birthday dinner at Rivadestra, a restaurant down Via della Lungara. It was excellent food prepared in the way nice restaurants prepare food (my favorite was a wierd lasagna which was actually broccoli, a sauce, some big crackers instead of pasta, and excellent sausage), but for a reasonable price. After that, we crashed.
Tuesday my parents went up to the Vatican Museum while I was in class. Afterwards, we went up to Medag to show that off. That was followed by a stop by Old Bridge, as I brought my laundry down to the apartment. I had class from 5-8, and then we walked around looking for Bar Sant'Eustachio, which allegedly has the best coffee in Rome. It was near the Pantheon, and we had little trouble finding it. It was good coffee. We followed that with a tartuffo (chocolate "truffle") gelato at Tre Scalini on the Piazza Navona, which was delicious, but perhaps overpriced.
Yesterday is my long class day, and my parents spent most of their time on a death march in Pompeii. We finished the day in Trastevere, eating down the road at Antica Pesa. There were a bunch of photos of movie stars on the wall there, and it certainly seemed like a place where the beautiful people hang. We were a little underdressed in our fleeces and jeans. Anyways, the food was good too. My parents fell asleep really quickly after we got back.
It's rainy this morning. That may screw with our plans to go to the Borghese Museum. We shall see.
Monday, October 15
A summary
This is not my work. It is too good, however, to be left unshared. This was in my mailbox this morning.
Ciao all from an honorary pirate!
I headed up to Cinque Terre (5 Lands) last weekend. Apparently the five towns used to be hideouts for pirates before the British gained power and wiped them all out. It was sooooo gorgeous and has probably been my best trip so far. Hopefully the trend of my best trip being my most recent will continue! I decided that I should write a story of our time there, especially with all the Princess Bride, Swiss Family Robinson, Lord of the Rings, and other Pirate things...so here it is....Hope you enjoy!
As the three* set out to travel to the end of the Five Lands in hopes of meeting with the other three* they encountered little that they could not overcome. With only some aeuro in their pockets, they headed off to battle their way through the land of Termini.* With little time left they managed to find some food and at the last minute caught the trayno* to the Five Lands. As the trayno left from the land of Termini, the three realized that one of them might not have purchased the correct form of passage to the Five Lands. As time passed on the trayno, the three grew weary of what would happen with asked about their passage,. Hoewever, thanks to their impeccable decisioin making skills and a nice Checker, they were allowed passage without any trouble. While en route to their first stop on the way to the Five Lands, one* slept to store up her strength for the coming trials of the Five Lands. The other two studied for the trials* they must face when the group returned from the Five Lands to the Land of the Seven Hills*. Upon arriving in La Spezia, the three encountered a man who spoke Italian, but also spoke English with a Scottish accent---a very odd experience. The three took another trayno to the farthest of the Five Lands--Monterosso. Upon arriving in Monterosso the six were united. They trekked up meet the reclusive Manuel who had offered protection from the elements in return for some aeuros.
After a wonderful night of rest, the six went down into the village to find some food. They were greeted with the sweet smells of pastries and coffee from local bakeries. After filling up on wonderful food, they headed down to the beach to swim before conquering the Five Lands. As the six swam in the crystal clear water and climbed up the old rock to look out at the sea, sadly the ring that one* possessed desired to be joined with the sea of its same color. It slipped to the bottom of the sea, where the six tried to recover it, but could not. After the disappointment of the losing the Ring of the Confirmandi*, the six packed up their belongings and headed back to Manuel's to prepare for the long hike to the other four of the Five Lands. After filling themselves on focaccia bread, they headed out to conquer the Five Lands.
On the first trail, between Monterosso and Vernazza, the six hiked up the ancient stairs, surrounded by exotic vegetation, including a bamboo type plant, cacti, olive trees, and grape vines. They found a cave which one of them had been endowed with the knowlege that it was an old treasure cave*.The continued on their way, stopping to enjoy the incredible panoramic views, but knowing that they must continue if they hoped to make it to the last of the five villages before nightfall. Upon reaching Vernazza, the six refreshed themselves with gelato and focaccia. They also saw the descendants of the Great Tiger who formed the Five Lands* This was a foreshadowing of their successes on the journey.
The next journey from Vernazza was to lead the six to the town of the Princess Cornilia (spelled Corniglia in Italian). They would arrive there safely after another long and dangerous hiked through the mountains and olive groves of the Five Lands. In the town of Princess Corniglia, the six again found refreshment in the sea air and with a cold coffee. After another period of rest, they headed out, having save the princess from tightness after they showed her how to stretch after being on a long hike*
Setting out once again, the six enjoyed a journey to Manarola that did not tax them as much as the first to trips. They stopped and enjoyed the view of the sea once again, as well as the knowledge that they were going down the large flight of stairs instead of up them. Manarola, the fourth of the Five Lands provided them with yet another place to rest where they were unfortunately reminded of the defeat of the warriors of their home land.* With this thought in the back of their head, they pushed ever on to the final and last of the Five Lands.
The last part of their journey took them on the Path of Love, Via dell'Amore. As they wandered along this easier part of the journey they, saw the signs of those who had left their testimonies of love* Always surrounded by the sounds of the waves on the cliffs, the six enjoyed this last part of the journey, knowing that with it's end they would have conquered the Five Lands once they reached Riomaggiore. When they did reach Riomaggiore they were able to watch the beginnings of a gorgeous sunset. They found another trayno to take them back to Monterosso where they would feast and celebrate their triumph over the Five Lands.
Upon returning to Manuel's, the six cleaned up, went to the village to feast on pesto, a local product, and relax and enjoy the night. The next day, they would make a breakfast of the fruits of the land and of the pastries before they headed out to kayak and explore the coast. After seeing il Gigante* while kayaking, they six headed back to the beach to rest and enjoy the time before they headed back to the Land of the Seven Hills. They nourished themselves once more on focaccia and purchased some old pirate booty to remind them of their victory over the trials of the Five Lands.
Hope this makes sense and that it wasn't too unclear!!! Ask me if you have any questions as to what we actually did!!1
Peace and love to you all, Erin
*1st three were me, Andy, and Ann
*2nd three were Katy, Dan and Jamie
*aeuro is how you would write the pronunciation of euro in Italian
*Termini is the big train station in Rome
*trayno is treno--train--in Italian
*the one that slept was of course me
*midterms--yuck
*Rome has 7
*it was Ann's ring
*someone who is confirmed is a confirmandi and it was Ann's confirmation ring
*Dan made up this lovely story about the treasure cave.
*Jamie came up with the creative story that Cinque Terre was formed when a big tiger stepped down on the earth and left his paw print, which formed the five cove areas where the towns are now located. The tiger's descendants would be the cats that we saw playing in the street :)
*We stopped and stretched for a while when we arrived in Corniglia--felt soo great after having hiked for a little over 2 hours!--I couldn't think of anything better to say we saved a princess from :)
*A guy from Purdue stopped and asked us if Notre Dame had won against UCLA--thankfully they had, but that is the only game they have won all year--oh so sad
*Graffiti on the walls of the Via dell'Amore was actually really cool and some of it had been done by really talented people too!
*Il Gigante is a giant man carved out of the stone on the side of the mountain
Ciao all from an honorary pirate!
I headed up to Cinque Terre (5 Lands) last weekend. Apparently the five towns used to be hideouts for pirates before the British gained power and wiped them all out. It was sooooo gorgeous and has probably been my best trip so far. Hopefully the trend of my best trip being my most recent will continue! I decided that I should write a story of our time there, especially with all the Princess Bride, Swiss Family Robinson, Lord of the Rings, and other Pirate things...so here it is....Hope you enjoy!
As the three* set out to travel to the end of the Five Lands in hopes of meeting with the other three* they encountered little that they could not overcome. With only some aeuro in their pockets, they headed off to battle their way through the land of Termini.* With little time left they managed to find some food and at the last minute caught the trayno* to the Five Lands. As the trayno left from the land of Termini, the three realized that one of them might not have purchased the correct form of passage to the Five Lands. As time passed on the trayno, the three grew weary of what would happen with asked about their passage,. Hoewever, thanks to their impeccable decisioin making skills and a nice Checker, they were allowed passage without any trouble. While en route to their first stop on the way to the Five Lands, one* slept to store up her strength for the coming trials of the Five Lands. The other two studied for the trials* they must face when the group returned from the Five Lands to the Land of the Seven Hills*. Upon arriving in La Spezia, the three encountered a man who spoke Italian, but also spoke English with a Scottish accent---a very odd experience. The three took another trayno to the farthest of the Five Lands--Monterosso. Upon arriving in Monterosso the six were united. They trekked up meet the reclusive Manuel who had offered protection from the elements in return for some aeuros.
After a wonderful night of rest, the six went down into the village to find some food. They were greeted with the sweet smells of pastries and coffee from local bakeries. After filling up on wonderful food, they headed down to the beach to swim before conquering the Five Lands. As the six swam in the crystal clear water and climbed up the old rock to look out at the sea, sadly the ring that one* possessed desired to be joined with the sea of its same color. It slipped to the bottom of the sea, where the six tried to recover it, but could not. After the disappointment of the losing the Ring of the Confirmandi*, the six packed up their belongings and headed back to Manuel's to prepare for the long hike to the other four of the Five Lands. After filling themselves on focaccia bread, they headed out to conquer the Five Lands.
On the first trail, between Monterosso and Vernazza, the six hiked up the ancient stairs, surrounded by exotic vegetation, including a bamboo type plant, cacti, olive trees, and grape vines. They found a cave which one of them had been endowed with the knowlege that it was an old treasure cave*.The continued on their way, stopping to enjoy the incredible panoramic views, but knowing that they must continue if they hoped to make it to the last of the five villages before nightfall. Upon reaching Vernazza, the six refreshed themselves with gelato and focaccia. They also saw the descendants of the Great Tiger who formed the Five Lands* This was a foreshadowing of their successes on the journey.
The next journey from Vernazza was to lead the six to the town of the Princess Cornilia (spelled Corniglia in Italian). They would arrive there safely after another long and dangerous hiked through the mountains and olive groves of the Five Lands. In the town of Princess Corniglia, the six again found refreshment in the sea air and with a cold coffee. After another period of rest, they headed out, having save the princess from tightness after they showed her how to stretch after being on a long hike*
Setting out once again, the six enjoyed a journey to Manarola that did not tax them as much as the first to trips. They stopped and enjoyed the view of the sea once again, as well as the knowledge that they were going down the large flight of stairs instead of up them. Manarola, the fourth of the Five Lands provided them with yet another place to rest where they were unfortunately reminded of the defeat of the warriors of their home land.* With this thought in the back of their head, they pushed ever on to the final and last of the Five Lands.
The last part of their journey took them on the Path of Love, Via dell'Amore. As they wandered along this easier part of the journey they, saw the signs of those who had left their testimonies of love* Always surrounded by the sounds of the waves on the cliffs, the six enjoyed this last part of the journey, knowing that with it's end they would have conquered the Five Lands once they reached Riomaggiore. When they did reach Riomaggiore they were able to watch the beginnings of a gorgeous sunset. They found another trayno to take them back to Monterosso where they would feast and celebrate their triumph over the Five Lands.
Upon returning to Manuel's, the six cleaned up, went to the village to feast on pesto, a local product, and relax and enjoy the night. The next day, they would make a breakfast of the fruits of the land and of the pastries before they headed out to kayak and explore the coast. After seeing il Gigante* while kayaking, they six headed back to the beach to rest and enjoy the time before they headed back to the Land of the Seven Hills. They nourished themselves once more on focaccia and purchased some old pirate booty to remind them of their victory over the trials of the Five Lands.
Hope this makes sense and that it wasn't too unclear!!! Ask me if you have any questions as to what we actually did!!1
Peace and love to you all, Erin
*1st three were me, Andy, and Ann
*2nd three were Katy, Dan and Jamie
*aeuro is how you would write the pronunciation of euro in Italian
*Termini is the big train station in Rome
*trayno is treno--train--in Italian
*the one that slept was of course me
*midterms--yuck
*Rome has 7
*it was Ann's ring
*someone who is confirmed is a confirmandi and it was Ann's confirmation ring
*Dan made up this lovely story about the treasure cave.
*Jamie came up with the creative story that Cinque Terre was formed when a big tiger stepped down on the earth and left his paw print, which formed the five cove areas where the towns are now located. The tiger's descendants would be the cats that we saw playing in the street :)
*We stopped and stretched for a while when we arrived in Corniglia--felt soo great after having hiked for a little over 2 hours!--I couldn't think of anything better to say we saved a princess from :)
*A guy from Purdue stopped and asked us if Notre Dame had won against UCLA--thankfully they had, but that is the only game they have won all year--oh so sad
*Graffiti on the walls of the Via dell'Amore was actually really cool and some of it had been done by really talented people too!
*Il Gigante is a giant man carved out of the stone on the side of the mountain
Sunday, October 14
Cinque Terre
The trip was truly amazing. Here are some pictures from the whole thing.
The trip started later than I wanted. We (myself, Dan, Katy) took off for the 9:45ish train, whereas I wanted to go on the 7:45 train because we were not sure we had a reservation at any place to stay for the six of us who were going, so I was a bit worried. The train was delayed about half an hour, so my worries began to increase a bit. About two hours into the four hour train ride, all was well, because my roommate called (who was coming later) and said that the people at Manuel's Guesthouse called to confirm a reservation for six. No more problems. The train ride was painless, and we talked with some people from Seattle also heading to Cinque Terre.
We bought our 3 day pass to Cinque Terre (shouldn't have: could have saved some cash, in retrospect) in La Spezia, and then trained into Monterosso. That is the northernmost city in Cinque Terre. We also knew it to be "the biggest in most touristy", so we had an idea of what it was like going in. By big and most touristy they mean pretty small and there are a few beautiful public beaches, apparently. It was awesome getting off the train and seeing the beach right next to the cliffs. We were pumped. We then searched for the guesthoues, and we found it within 10 minutes (the "big" city is tiny. The cities are all very, very small. Like 300 residents small). The guesthouse exceeded our expectations. Big time. The triples were big, our rooms had a kitchen and fridge, nice showers, and most importantly, a beautiful, beautiful view (it's one of the pictures in the facebook album. Check that out. Seriously).
At this point I knew it would be an amazing trip. Everything was the anti-Rome. So serene, beautiful landscape, just absolute perfection. The only other place I've been to that compared is Santorini, but I think Cinque Terre is nicer. The attitude is so chill. Such a nice break from the ambulances making so much noise all the time in Rome.
That afternoon we decided we wanted to go to Vernazza, Rick Steeves's favorite town in the Cinque Terre. We missed the dinky train, so we decided to hike there. It is the next town down from Monterosso, but the hike was supposed to be the worst of the four connecting the five towns. It was about an hour and fifteen minutes, and we weren't tired at all afterwards. We watched a beautiful sunset in Vernazza (check the pictures) while munching on some focaccia bread, a specialty of the area. I also bought 2 jars of pesto for my mom's birthday, but as you've already seen one of them ended up on the ground in Monterosso. All the focaccia we had there was the best I've had so far. Anyways, we then trained down to Manarola to try to find a restaurant I wanted to go to. After searching, we realized it was closed on Thursdays, so we went to another place that looked good. Excellent decision. We spent the evening with a 2-3 hour meal, downing wine & delicious food and generally having a blast. Dan and I finished it off with a large shot of limoncino , Liguria's answer to limoncello. It tasted like bad mouthwash.
After that, we chilled (if you are not hiking in Cinque Terre, you are chilling) a bit on a ledge in Manarola and then trained back to Monterosso. We waited until about 1:30 in the morning, when the other three (Andy, Erin, and Anne) got in on the latest train that runs at night. They had class in the afternoon, so they took late trains up.
The next morning, I got up at 7 after only five hours of sleep. The sun had yet to peek out over the cliff to the left, so it was cold. I have never noticed the sun's warmth make as big a difference in temperature than at Cinque Terre. With the sun, it was perfect beach weather. Without, I needed a jacket. Anyways, I walked around Monterosso for a couple of hours alone, watching a city slowly wake up. I got some awesome views, perfect time for reflection and, yes, chilling. I headed back to our rooms around 9:15, as the rest of the crew woke up. We then headed down for the beaches, which had clearer water than Higgins Lake. So blue, so pretty. The water was very crisp, but not too cold. The land below was rocky too, so there were points out where you could stand on a rock that jutted out to about 3 feet below sea level, but then fell off to about 30 feet. A good time was had by all. Also, check the pictures of us climbing the big rock in the middle of the water. That was cool.
At about 12:30 we took off to hike the famous #2 trail, which connects all five Cinque Terre cities. It was a hike, but totally worth it. About one hour into it, you begin to realize you are taking for granted some of the most picturesque views you have ever seen, and then you begin to appreciate it all over again. Fun fun. The last trail is called the Via del Amore, and is plasted with writing of lovers names with hearts drawn around and professions of undying devotion, etc. An especially funny thing was there was one that said "Da Pope" with "Dylan" written under it (no heart, unfortunately). This is a total inside joke because it involves the Tony Kornheiser Show which I'm sure nobody listens to, but this is my blog, so, uh, sorry. Moving right along.
The hike took about 5 hours, even with the stops we made for treats along the way. We were proud of our hiking abilities, and at least I wasn't even that tired afterwards. After training back to Monterosso, we bought some wine for the evening. After showering, we cracked open some of that before dinner. The rest of the night was a bit of a blur, but it involved a delicious meal and realizing we bought too much wine & limoncino. We spent most of it just chilling and talking on our terrace, because that place provided one of the best views we had (like I said, the 25 dollars a night for Manuel's guesthouse is the best lodging deal I'll ever see).
We woke up the next morning (Saturday) at 9, and the girls and I went down to buy some fruit to make fruit salad to go along with a chocolate/cream pie. Tasty breakfast, to be sure. We then spent the rest of the morning/ early afternoon soaking up the sun on the beach. Everyone else went kayaking, but I just wanted to lay down and get some sun (great success! First October sunburn ever!). We finally headed out around 3:20 to get to La Spezia to make the 4 PM train home. Most of the group initially planned to stop in Pisa, which would have required going on an earlier train, but very soon after arriving in Cinque Terre, they realized there was no way that was happening: hours 49 and 50 in Cinque Terre are way, way cooler than hours 1 and 2 in Pisa. I thought it was an excellent decision on their part.
The train ride home was a breeze, and we got back into Medag around 9. There was beer pong going on in the room. Home sweet home.
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