There were lots of people walking in both directions but it was not uncomfortably crowded. About 11:45, we ran into two women, Rebecca and Julane, walking in the opposite direction, who we had talked to on the train yesterday for about 10 minutes.We stood and talked today for about 45 minutes, and I exchanged home and email addresses with Julane. She and a friend started their own business about 6 years ago, which sounds kind of interesting, so I said I would contact her when I got home. It's amazing how you can make a connection with someone in such a short time.
We stopped for lunch in Vernazza about 1:30, and they had some street musicians playing who were very good. I think when I get home I'd like to spend lots of time going to see various musical performances. Thanks goodness I have my MP3 player and my radio to keep me going while I'm travelling. We got to Monterossa about 3PM and walked around the town, and dipped our hands in the Mediterranean, and then we got a train back to Manarola. On the way back up the hill I bought a new sarong (mine had been taken from my hostel room when we were in Copenhagen). We took showers and then sat outside to do notes and postcards on the terrace at the hostel. I drank some of the wine I bought at the store last night and then we got some pasta for dinner at the hostel. We finished eating about 9PM and then I went to the room to read, and Shari went for a walk in the hills above the town and then down through the town. She met Yves (who we talked to at dinner last night) in town and talked to him for a while.
10/03: We weren't sure what to do today because the weather didn't look too promising early in the morning. I got up about 7:15 to sit on the terrace with my cappacino and read my book. I ended up talking to a woman from California for almost 45 minutes, and then I read for 45 minutes more.
Shari and I decided to take the train to Monterosso (a 15 minute ride) and decide whether to take the ferry ride based on the weather. It was very warm when we got there, but it was overcast up in the hills so we just sat on a bench and read our books for a while. I wanted to finish my book (which Shari had already read), so I could swap it for another at the hostel.
It never cleared up, so we took the train to Riomaggiore, walked around there for a bit, and then walked back to Manarolo. We got to Mararolo about 2:30 but the hostel is closed from 11AM to 4PM every day, so we walked around the town a bit and then went to sit on the terrace to read.
I had called Rosalma (the woman we met in Innsbruck) this afternoon to let her know we would be in Genova tomorrow. She said we could meet her about 3:30 at the train station and we could stay at her house tomorrow night. I told her we would check the train schedule and call her in the morning.
We got into the hostel right at 4PM and took showers and did laundry. We sat up on the roof terrace (which we didn't even find until Shari went to do the laundry) for an hour or so, reading and planning our time in Southern France. It was so beautiful with the terraced hills of grapevines around us, and the Mediterranean in front of us. There are a few older Italian women who sit on the benches beside the church which is below the hostel. I took 2 pictures looking down at them from the roof terrace of the hostel. They usually have a beige colored dog and one or two cats with them, and they were in the picture too.
When the laundry finished, we walked down to the store to buy some wine for Rosalma and then went back to sit on the terrace at the hostel where we were going to eat dinner. There were lots of people sitting on the terrace, drinking, eating and talking, and we were joined by two women - Marie, a 30-year old from New Zealand, andf Edie, a woman about my age from California. It is always so interesting to learn what people are doing, how long and where they are traveling, and what prompted them to travel if it is not just for a vacation.
I had 2 limoncinos, a beer, 2 small glasses of Chianti, a very large wonderful salad and eggplant parmesan. Shari had pasta with a walnut sauce which I tasted and it was terrific. I think I like walnut sauce better than pesto, and I'm looking forward to making it when I get home. After dinner, Shari, Marie and I walked over to Riomaggiore (about a 25 minute walk), and it was a gorgeous night for walking. There was a wonderful breeze as we went along the walkway high above the sea. It was neat to see the lights of the towns in the distance with the moon shining down on the sea, and hear the surf pounding on the rocks below.
10/04: Today was kind of a bust. When we got up it was very windy so we did not think the boats would be running between the Cinque Terre towns today. We decided to take the train to Genova and walk around the town while we waited to meet Rosalma. We had to wait quite a while at Monterosso, and then we had to wait until 11:10 at Monterosso for the train to Genova. I tried to call Rosalma from Monterosso, but got a message that her cell phone was turned off or was out of our range. I tried her at home, even though she had said to call her cell phone, but I got no answer.
One nice surprise was seeing Rebecca and Julane at the train station in Monerosso, and we ended up riding with them to Genova (they went on to Milan). We got to Genova at 12:15, checked our big packs and set off to walk around the city. We kept trying to reach Rosalma but to no avail.
I wasn't particularly fond of Genova except we got some good pizza slices. We finally sat in a park for about an hour and then went back to the train to get our packs. We didn't know what to do, so we finally decided to call about rooms for the night. Two places in Genova were full, so we tried calling some places in Cannes and Nice and they were also full. We also knew that part of the track between Monte Carlo anbd Minton was closed because of a land slide, and we were concerned about how long it wouild take to get to Nice. We finally reached a place in Nice that had a triple room available for 58 euros (more than we wanted to spend, but everywhere else was full), so we booked it and told the woman we would be late getting there. We got on the 5:10 train to Ventimiglia and got there at 8:15. (I think the train made about 50 stops along the way).
We asked the train inforamtion man at Ventimiglia about getting to Nice and he told us to quickly go outside and get the bus. There were just a few people waiting for the bus, and the driver said we had 10 minutes before it left for Nice, so I went to the store for soda and chips. Well, when I came out another train had just arrived, and there was a huge crowd of people putting luggage on the bus and taking seats. Shari and I quickly put our packs in the luggage compartment and got almost the last two seats on the bus.
It was a 45 minute ride to Nice and we could see the lights of Monaco along the way - very pretty. Our hotel, Hotel Belle Meuniere, was only a 5 minute walk from the bus stop so we checked in to our room by 9:45. The room was small, but we had a nice bathroom and we got lots of fresh air with the windows open. We went out to get dinner, and got kebobs which we hadn't had in quite a while and we just went back to the room to eat them.
FRANCE-PART 1
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