29 September '05, Thursday.
Boy is it good to find some more peanut butter !!! We were out of it for better than 2 weeks, and it was just about getting to us. About every 3rd morning or so we like to have toast with peanut butter (and jelly for me...) and coffee to start our day. You understand, a full nutritious start for our day... Anyway, we found a small jar in the camp grocery store for $4 Euros ($5.00 US) and we are eating well. I mention this because this was our breakfast this morning before heading back to the train station. We also had to say goodbye to a couple of Aussie's that we met here. Zack was going to Antibes to see if he could find a sail boat to crew with, that he hoped would sail to some exotic areas, and Jane had to head back to Australia. For us, it was Monterosso al Mare, our last stop in the Cinque Terre. The other 4 villages now behind us, we just couldn't leave without seeing Monterosso. Out of the 5, Monterosso is the only one that has vehicles and vespa's on their roads. The train dropped us off right between the old town and the new, and right on the beach with a great boardwalk. Well, do we go right, or do we go left? Left won, so down the boardwalk we went looking like the average tourist...shorts, backpack, umbrella (looked like it could rain), and a copy of Rick Steves "Italy 2005". Once we got to the end of the boardwalk (about 100 yards), we had to go into a tunnel that took us under the train tracks and into the old town. Wouldn't you know it, they had a "Farmers Market" going on. Not needing anything, we took a tour through it, checking out many items that we just knew we would buy if we had a larger motorhome. It is great fun to just look,think you could use it, and still walk away with out spending... Done with the market, our first stop was a 13th century church, and then we went next door and went to...church (another one next door), and then found the "yellow brick roadway" (really they were terracotta bricks, Rick called them yellow), and climbed many many steps to the top of a hill were we found another church (part of an old convent, but now the convent is a guest house). A little further up hill ???, we found an old castle where the interior was turned into a cemetary back in the late 1800's. It is still in "new" use today...not only that, but there were fresh flowers throughout, making it very attractive and fresh. We were thinking of the processions that must have taken place many years ago, where all the mourners had to climb that hill for the grave side service. Tough people... Well you know what comes next don't you ???... Lunch... In reading Rick's book, I had 2 places out of 5 in his book that I had to choose from. Finally I made my choice, "Miky".. It was the "Pizza Pasta" that did it. The choice we (I) made was ravioloi stuffed with sea bass in a "pink sauce", baked with a very thin pizza crust draped across the top of the croc, and then they cook this concoction in a wood fired oven. Boy can I choose them...it was better than good. Seeing as how Louise is having her 29th Birthday tomorrow, we had a special bottle of "Cinque Terre Blanc" wine, and a very unusual Tiramasu. We'll wait for that diet program a while longer. Not wanting to walk any more hills and stairs following that lunch, we headed back to the train and "Bumble Bee".. This has been a good stop. The rain has held off (except for a couple of drops on and off), the sun has made it's self known, and just when you might need a little shade, the clouds have come in. Tomorrow...South
Boy is it good to find some more peanut butter !!! We were out of it for better than 2 weeks, and it was just about getting to us. About every 3rd morning or so we like to have toast with peanut butter (and jelly for me...) and coffee to start our day. You understand, a full nutritious start for our day... Anyway, we found a small jar in the camp grocery store for $4 Euros ($5.00 US) and we are eating well. I mention this because this was our breakfast this morning before heading back to the train station. We also had to say goodbye to a couple of Aussie's that we met here. Zack was going to Antibes to see if he could find a sail boat to crew with, that he hoped would sail to some exotic areas, and Jane had to head back to Australia. For us, it was Monterosso al Mare, our last stop in the Cinque Terre. The other 4 villages now behind us, we just couldn't leave without seeing Monterosso. Out of the 5, Monterosso is the only one that has vehicles and vespa's on their roads. The train dropped us off right between the old town and the new, and right on the beach with a great boardwalk. Well, do we go right, or do we go left? Left won, so down the boardwalk we went looking like the average tourist...shorts, backpack, umbrella (looked like it could rain), and a copy of Rick Steves "Italy 2005". Once we got to the end of the boardwalk (about 100 yards), we had to go into a tunnel that took us under the train tracks and into the old town. Wouldn't you know it, they had a "Farmers Market" going on. Not needing anything, we took a tour through it, checking out many items that we just knew we would buy if we had a larger motorhome. It is great fun to just look,think you could use it, and still walk away with out spending... Done with the market, our first stop was a 13th century church, and then we went next door and went to...church (another one next door), and then found the "yellow brick roadway" (really they were terracotta bricks, Rick called them yellow), and climbed many many steps to the top of a hill were we found another church (part of an old convent, but now the convent is a guest house). A little further up hill ???, we found an old castle where the interior was turned into a cemetary back in the late 1800's. It is still in "new" use today...not only that, but there were fresh flowers throughout, making it very attractive and fresh. We were thinking of the processions that must have taken place many years ago, where all the mourners had to climb that hill for the grave side service. Tough people... Well you know what comes next don't you ???... Lunch... In reading Rick's book, I had 2 places out of 5 in his book that I had to choose from. Finally I made my choice, "Miky".. It was the "Pizza Pasta" that did it. The choice we (I) made was ravioloi stuffed with sea bass in a "pink sauce", baked with a very thin pizza crust draped across the top of the croc, and then they cook this concoction in a wood fired oven. Boy can I choose them...it was better than good. Seeing as how Louise is having her 29th Birthday tomorrow, we had a special bottle of "Cinque Terre Blanc" wine, and a very unusual Tiramasu. We'll wait for that diet program a while longer. Not wanting to walk any more hills and stairs following that lunch, we headed back to the train and "Bumble Bee".. This has been a good stop. The rain has held off (except for a couple of drops on and off), the sun has made it's self known, and just when you might need a little shade, the clouds have come in. Tomorrow...South