Thursday, May 23, 2013

Black wingtips are not hiking shoes

I'm not sure if our day could have gone any more according to plan.

First, I must make a comment about our apartment: it's not very nice. It's easily the worst of all our accomodations to date. About the only positive things I can say about it is that you can see the water and it's not far from where I can park the car to load/unload our luggage. Because of how Emmanuelle made up the rooms, and because the “matrimonial” bedroom had a double bed in it, and because Angela and I can't sleep in anything smaller than a king, I got to sleep on part of a rollaway day bed with no sheets and a jury-rigged pillowcase. With all that said, I slept OK. We are only paying EUR55 per night per room, so you can't expect that much, I guess.

Our omelettes with ham and cheese were delicious. It was so nice to have an “American” breakfast.

Angela and I took a short walk from the Rick Steves guidebook in our room around the town, out to the point that has an awesome view of Corniglia and Monterosso, and back to the waterfront where, by then, the town had been infested with swarms of tourists fresh off their cruise ships in La Spezia. There were probably 250 cruisers all down at the waterfront with their little headsets and guides with the guide paddles (Princess Pink #2, Norwegian Red #3) all cramming the small harbor area to get onto the ferry boats so they could say that they saw the Cinque Terre in 4 hours.

The train up to Monterosso was uneventful and we had some takeaway lunch that for me consisted of lasagne al pesto that was fantastic. After exploring a little of the shops in the village, Angela and I set out on our hike and gave Michele her instructions on meeting us in Vernazza later that afternoon when we came down out of the hills.

The hike was excellent. The views were stunning. I am always, but shouldn't be any more, amazed when I see what kinds of footwear people have on when hiking. I saw inch-high foam flip flops, black wingtips with smooth leather soles, and driving loafers. This trail was not a gentle stroll along the water. It was a real-life hiking trail with rough and slippery ground and narrow paths where there wasn't much room to have an issue with footing without falling down the hill toward the sea. Maybe I take it too seriously? I don't have a pair of $300 Vasque boots, but I do have a decent pair of Merrell hiking shoes that have rugged soles that offer very good traction and support over rough ground and I still had occasional issues with footing.

One thing I wasn't expecting was a guy selling jewelry off a folding card table. I thought that I might have escaped the shopping for at least a couple hours while on the trail, but alas no. I would have much preferred a guy selling water or gatorade or gelato.

Anway, it took us a couple hours to go the 3+km from Monterosso to Vernazza (there was a bunch of stopping to let people pass since the trail in several spots was really only one person wide). Michele was sipping on a Coke Light at a waterfront cafe when we found her. After a pineapple and coconut gelato, we got on the boat to Riomaggiore. It's really cool being able to see these small villages from the water. They're all really very close to each other, none separated by more than 3 or so km from the next, but until very recently, residents of the villages rarely married anyone outside their village because they were so remote. I think they must believe that the roads and trains into their little slice of Italy is a double-edged sword. Surely they love the money that all the tourists inject into their economies, but at the same time they must resent the effects that those tourists have like the inevitable inflation of prices at restaurants, shops, the invasion of privacy, the litter, the noise, etc.

We had another wine and cheese “happy hour” and ate dinner at a superb place down toward the water. We had an appetizer of bruschetta with pesto and tomatoes. For dinner, I had ravioli stuffed with ricotta and spinach served over a fish sauce with local lobster tails; Michele had Trofie; and Angela had a lasagne al pesto that had about 12 layers of noodles. Dessert was two different takes on Tiramisu: one the standard and one with a citrus bent. Everything was outstanding; maybe even better than “dal Billy.” We chatted with a family taking their son on a graduation trip (Auburn CIS, WDE) across Italy.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Europe. We have to be out of town by 10 because that's when the morning delivery window closes for cars in the village. We'll drive to Nice (hopefully I'll be able to find the Moyen Corniche for the last bit); drop the luggage off at the hotel; and I'll say goodbye to my new steed for several weeks while it takes the slow boat across the Atlantic.

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