Cinque Terre Days

When you are in the seaside rea of he Cinque Terre and the clouds and rain don't allow you to view the sea you hve arrived at the wrong time. Pouring rain marked our arrival and the station master told us the elevator was broken. That means a trek a mountain goat couldn't navigate with suitacses and laptop in tow. Good thing he was wrong! The room would have a pectacular view if you coud see! Oh well, Saturday the sun did come out and we toured Monterosso, Vernazza, Mnarola and back to Riomaggiore on the via D'ell Amore once it was reopened. On the walk there is the a bar overlooking the Ligurian Sea, surrounded by cactus and rocks elevated high above the sea with views you can't believe... Once the Euro settles in @ $1 it will be time to make an offer. The 5 towns of the Cinque Terre put the 5 towns of Long Island to shame! Beauty everywhere and none of it was purchased at Fortunoff's. The people don't push and shove and while the local accent is still unintelligible to me I'm sure it's because they are not speaking English.. On to Lucca tomorrow... Ciao

Time to Fly

My friend "P" and my cousin Ron have their own blogs... why not me! So, as I watch Joanie pack the bags for our trip to Italy I write my first post! Boring stuff... not quite as bad as sitting on a plane for 8 hours but.... The best part of travelling is anticipating the trip, until you actually get there and then the best part of the trip becomes the experience, until you get home and then the bast part of the trip is the memories. I look forward to all three. Why am I leaving at this crucial time? Because this is when the free tickets were available! Do I want to wake up at 3 a.m. on election day? No, but I will. Do you want me to find you a place to share with me in Italy if it turns out that the result is not to my liking? http://www.italianpropertiesforsale.co.uk pick one out and maybe I'll have time to look it over!

Over the next few days I'll be writing and, if I can learn how, posting pictures etc. Follow me throughout the country of walled cities, trattorias, museums, churches and more..... http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tab=wl should show where we'll be. So, follow along as we fire up the Garmin and head off into the Italian countryside....