Training through Italy

This morning it was time to say goodbye to Verona.  The weather has remained beautiful so far and there has only been one day of rain (remember Bellagio when we were driving) since we left home.  We love the European train system, and we are doing great getting bags on and off without help.  

On one of our trains, we met another senior citizen couple from the UK and the 4 of us were the only ones in the 1st class carriage.  They were 80 yrs young and traveling for 3 weeks with only a nap sack (English for backpack).  We at least have a carry-on roller bag and a backpack!

During our adventure we travelled on 8 electric trains as of today (now going 156MPH) and we will take 2 more trains before flying home on Friday, June 20th.  This was the longest train ride in one day of travel but all went smoothly (10:30am - 3:30pm).

Lots of mountains to go through.



Working on the blog.

We went through several long tunnels through the mountains to reach Monterosso al mare, Cinque Terra. Once we got off the train in Monterosso, we realized that it was a Saturday in a sunny Italian beach town.  The crowds reminded us of that reality.  It is very warm here but also very beautiful.  We rolled our roller bags with our backpacks into town and up a hill to our hotel and were greeted by a cool airconditioned lobby.  

Our hotel: Hotel Margherita on the main street up the hill (yellow bldg. on the right). 

View from our window.

Hotel front porch.

One of many side streets. 

Settled in, we walked around and got our 8th gelato of the trip to refresh us. 

We were here about 10-15 years ago with Carla and Mike and were intrigued with the chef that we could watch cooking from a window on the street.  He is a master chef and was making a lot of good pasta and seafood.  We thought we would not be able find the place or see him on this trip because he seemed older than us in the past (he is our age now) but surprise surprise, we saw him sitting at a table at his restaurant.  Bill tried to talk to him (he only speaks Italian) and found out that he worked here since 1974 and has owned 45 years.  So, he was the guy and he pointed out is hair is now white and older, then Bill showed him his – and yes, we’re both older now.  

The master chef still looks the same.

Bill decided he needed a t-shirt to wear here at the beach and around towns (Cinque as in 5-hill top towns) so we stopped in a local shop before heading back to our room.

We ate here tonight without a reservation although it was needed just for old times’ sake – and fantastic food.  I guess Bill's talking with the chef earlier and taking his picture got us in.

Still number #1 for fish and spaghetti.

After dinner walk.

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