Florence

We arrived in Florence with enough time to check into our hotel, meet our friends Dave & Liz, and get to L'Accademia in time for our reservation ... our date with David! David in the flesh (stone), the REAL David, is worth the visit. After, we walked around, bought scarves (of course) and saw the 'other' David in the Piazza della Signoria, outside the Uffizi. We did not go into the Uffizi this time since we'd been in during our previous visit to Florence (2006).

In the Piazza della Signoria with Dave & Liz, Neptune and David. A view of the Arno flowing under the Ponte Vecchio.

Don & I overlooking the Arno. The four of us at ZaZas!  ZAZA!
The Market is in the background.

The next day we met Dave & Liz again and attacked the leather market. Mmm, does it ever smell nice! We bought a couple of handbags, more scarves, and belts. It was so interesting. Then we gathering our bags from our hotels and took a cab to the car rental agency. We got there about an hour earlier than planned, thinking we'd save time with paperwork before the others arrived to rent the second car. Fortunately we did because the attendant was about to close ... close a car rental agency at noon on a Saturday!!! We were just in the nick of time. Otherwise we would have had quite a different and unpleasant afternoon.

So we rented two cars and waited for Nancy, Mac & Sue who were arriving by train from Vernazza. We passed the time outside the car rental place, sitting on a park bench enjoying goodies from Liz - assorted Italian meats, cheeses and chianti. As soon as the others joined us we set off for a week at our Tuscan villa!

Portofino

After a full day in Monterosso, we hopped on the train to Portofino. We had a train change along the way that no one mentioned to us. Fortunately Nancy finally noticed we were the only ones still waiting for the train to move on! We leapt up, ran to another track, and were heading north to Santa Margherita about 10 minutes later. From Santa Margherita we ran to catch the ferry, which set off the second we all ran aboard.

As the ferry headed out to Portofino, the view of cruise ships anchored new the shore was so beautiful, then entering
Portofino's harbor was breathtaking. Sailboats, yachts and dinghies are jammed in to this small area.
Don, Nancy & Mac - all of us in our hiking gear still.

Per Rick Steves, we walked around the harbor then chose a sunny cafe for cocktail hour.
Above is Don & I at the cafe looking over the harbor (pre-wine spill!).
The bottom photo shows our view. 

Sue met us back in Santa Margherita where after much searching we found the perfect place for dinner - 
we call it "the restaurant that did not throw us out." Great waiter, free appetizers and delicious dinner! On the train back to Vernazza, we met an interesting guy who accompanied us into a local "sports" bar near the station where we had to again change trains. His English was excellent and he was very helpful.

The first photo above shows the men in this bar all turned to the one TV screen at the end of the room. In the circle
is Vincenzo, our new friend, talking with Nancy and Sue. The second photo shows us happily waiting for
our train for the final stretch back to our hotel ... a long day.

I said I'd drop Vincenzo a note from America, which I will do when I get a good ole USA postcard of NYC or Lady Liberty. We ended this long, eventful day with a nightcap in the piazza outside of our hotel in Vernazza. We didn't want the day to end, especially since Don and I were leaving Cinque Terra the next morning.

Monterosso

The next day we set out for Monterossa, the northernmost town of the five in Cinque Terre. The hike was about an hour and a half and this time we were with three of our friends who had arrived late the day before. We'd had a fun evening with them, enjoying happy hour on the shore watching the sunset (again) and later getting kicked out of a restaurant (shocking and embarrassing, we're chocking it up to a language barrier).

Start of the trail from Vernazza, looking south at Vernazza, coming around the bend for first glimpse of
Monterosso (2 towns: 'old first, then 'new'), coming into Monterosso - old town.

It was market day in Monterosso, which was why we planned to go this day. After a round of waters and coffees, Sue, Nancy and I strolled the streets looking at the shops and street vendors. After, we went down to the beach - this is the only town with an actual beach - and put our feet in the Mediterranean Sea. The rock in the area is streaked with white, which is beautiful, so we gathered a few rock souvenirs. Then we met the guys, Don and Mac, for lunch at a restaurant overlooking the beach.

So nice to kick our hiking shoes off and cool our feet in the Sea.
Lunch at a great little cafe. (Sue, Nancy, Mac, Don, me)

Time to hike around the mountain to Monterosso, new town. What a difference! Lots more tourists, private & public beaches, a younger feel, and also home to the train station. We sampled the gelato and then caught a train for Portofino.

Hiking around and down to the other half of Monterosso. Mac & Nancy, Don & I, with Rick Steves, en route.

Hiking Cinque Terre

There are three ways to visit each of the five towns that make up Cinque Terre: on foot, by train or by boat. The area is well served by all three and we took advantage of all three. Notice I didn't mention by car. There is absolutely no room for cars! The Cinque Terre National Park maintains the trails and charges a nominal fee. Our plan was to hike between the five towns but a mudslide between two of them closed one stretch so we had to take the train. 

This map shows the five towns. We stayed in Vernazza. The blue coastal trails are the
ones we took, except between Corniglia & Manarola due to mudslides.

The trails are breathtakingly beautiful and at some points simply breathtaking - a bit of huffing and puffing - but nothing an amateur hiker can't do. One of the stretches, the Via dell'Amore (the Way of Love) is so popular with tourists that its practically like a stroll along tiled floors! But the other trails were much more rugged and therefore, less traveled.

Top left: Don above Vernazza's main street that runs under the train station. Starting the trail from Vernazza to Corniglia. Looking back at the Castelle and town of Vernazza. Vernazza disappeared behind mountain.

Approaching Corniglia in the distance and much closer. Corniglia is the only town in Cinque Terre
that does not have water access. Stairs leading from Corniglia down to its train station.

Manarolla. Don about to walk La Via Dell'Amore to Riomaggiore. The walk is decorated with graffiti professing
love forever. I added our little heart - shown in this very blurry photo. Had to take it quick to stay ahead of a bus group!
"Cathy & Don 2012" This almost coincides with our 27th wedding anniversary, which was last weekend.

And finally, Riomaggiore! End of the beautiful line.

From Riomaggiore we took the boat north to Vernazza and enjoyed seeing each of the towns again from the water. We had one more trail to hike and one more town to see, which we did the next day.

Vernazza

Cinque Terre is made up of five beautiful towns wedged into rugged bays along the Mediterranean Sea, just south of Portofino. Vernazza is the second most northern town and Rick Steves favorite so, of course, that's where we stayed!

On the train from Milan to Vernazza, we met some people who showed us a recent magazine article about mudslides that occurred in this area last October. Vernazza was deluged with mud when a rainstorm caused catastrophic mudslides. The magazine showed before and after shots. Somehow they have cleaned it up and there were back in business - there is only one steep road that runs through this town. There were signs of the mudslide all over, with construction and repair crews working in areas, gouged out sections along the river sides, and a large board of photos. Still, it was absolutely breathtaking.

Walking along the pier and looking back at Vernazza. Our hotel was on the
third floor of the red building in the center of photo.

Watching the sun set over the Mediterranean from a seaside cafe.

Photo taken by couple we met at the cafe.

I just googled images of the Vernazza mudslide. Click here if you're interested.

Milano

Now that Bryan's back, its our turn! We left for Italy on Sep 16. After a smooth flight via Heathrow we landed in Milano late Monday afternoon. We had received an email just before leaving that our hotel moved us to another hotel. Turns out it was in the area that we had hoped to explore - the Navigli - recommended to us by a friend whose sister used to live in Milan. Perfect! It was an easy walk to the Navigli for dinner. It was beautiful. Lots of people out walking and enjoying the outside osterias.

The Navigli in Milan - part of a long canal system lined with restaurants

The next day we walked all around the main downtown area of Milan. A workday for most, we watched business men and women buzzing around the roads on their vespas dressed in suits and dresses. They just pull up to the front door of their office tower, find a spot of sidewalk and flip down the kickstand. Nice and easy.

We toured the new Museo del Novecento on the square, walked around the magnificent Duomo di Milano (cathedral), window shopped in the Galleria and Via Monte Napoleone, waved to Leonardo DaVinci facing La Scala, and had lunch on the main square surrounded by guys in town for a football match!

Don in front of the Duomo, view from the museum of square & Duomo, entrance to the Galleria

That afternoon we hopped on a train to Vernazza in Cinque Terre. Post to follow.