We were lucky that it didn't rain. We had only a few sprinkles here and there.
We took the train back to Monarola where we were staying. It was a very enjoyable day, but it was good to be back at the hostel.
I had a terrific dinner at the hostel. It was linguini with pesto sauce. I didn't know if I would like it. It was delicious. This area is known for pesto. It is made with basil crushed with a mortal and pestel and pine nuts, garlic and oil.
After dinner, I decided to go for a walk. It was a beautiful night for a walk. I started with my fleece on but took it off shortly. The temperature was a mild cool. I took this pathway that I had seen earlier. It goes up through the grapevines. It was high above the village, I could see all the lights below. It was beautiful. Especially looking at the boats in the water below. They had lights shining on the water. I stood there awhile just enjoying it.
I then walked back down and then into the village. I noticed Yves at a restaurant by himself. I waved to him and joined him. He had just finished dinner. I showed him where I had walked to. We had a nice chat.
After awhile I realized that it was late. The hostel has a curfew, but I wasn't sure what time. So we briskly walked back to the church. We said goodbye there and went off in different directions. I was in before the curfew. Good thing. If I didn't make it I would have had to sleep outside.
October 3, 2003
Laurie and I took the train to Monterossa. We weren't sure if we would because the weather looked like it was going to rain. We were going to Monterossa to take a boat back so we could enjoy the views from the water. It is was raining we weren't going to do it.
We decided to take the train and see how the weather turns out. When we got to Monterossa, we sat on a bench and read. We read for about on hour. The weather didn't look good for the boat ride. So we took the train to Riomaggiore, That is the town south of where we were staying. We walked around there and then walked from there to Manarola. It was an easy walk along the cliffs. There was a paved walk way.
We got back to Manarola early. The hostel wasn't open yet. We sat in the terrace and read.
When the hostel was open we showered and did laundry. Afterwards we sat on the terrace with a bunch of people. It was enjoyable sitting there talking with everyone and hearing their stories.
For dinner, Laurie, Marie, a woman we met at the hostel, and I took a walk to Riomaggiore and back. It was about a 40 minute walk total. It was another beautiful night with the sea breeze. It was a night that made me want to be sleeping outside.
Got into our room. There were three young girls from the US. They are here going to school in Florence for a year. I think it is so good that kids get to experience being abroad at a young age.
One of the girls saw that we had Skippy Peanut Butter. They got pretty excited about it. It was a reminder of home. I told them that I paid dearly for it. It's funny some of the little things you miss from home.
October 4, 2003
Today was pretty much a wasted day. We couldn't tell what the weather was going to do, but it was very windy. We decided that the boat wouldn't be a good idea because the water was too choppy. The boat doesn't have a good place to dock so they sometimes don't go out.
We were going to walk to Riomaggiore, the next town over to catch the train because it doesn't stop in Manorola. We started to go on the trail and a woman stopped us. We needed to buy a 3.00 euro pass. We forgot all about that. So we just stayed there and waited for the next train.
We had to make a change in Monterossa. When we got off we ran into Rebecca and Julane, women we met on the train and on the trail. We sat in the train together in a six seated compartment. We had a nice ride together. We got off in Genoa and they continued to Milan.
We went to Genoa because we were going to get together with Roselma, a woman we met in Innsbruck. She said she would be home around 3:30. We were to call her and tell her when we would be there.
We walked around. I got a fuccica with fromaggio--which is a flat bread with cheese. It was absolutely delicious. I was ready to go back for more.
The part of Genoa that we saw wasn't really nice. So we just sat and waited. We tried to call Roselma on her cell phone, but couldn't get her. We tried all day. We also tried her home after 3:30. We decided that we needed to find a place to stay. We called places in Genoa, they were full. We tried someplaces in Nice, France. They were full.
We finally found one that was a lot more expensive then what we had been paying. We took it. This was about 4:50. We hopped on the train at 5:00 to go to Ventimiglia. Ventimiglia is still in Italy. We had to take a bus from there to Nice. The railway was not working because there had been a landslide awhile back and it hasn't been completely finished. We were lucky that Marie from the hostel told us because we would have been waiting for a train.
The bus was waiting at the train station. They waited a little bit longer for another train to come in. The people from that train filled the bus. We arrived in Nice about 9:45 pm. The hotel was just a 5 minute walk. The name of the place was Hotel Belle Meuiere. We checked in and then looked for something to eat. Just went to bed after that.
