Day 1 and 2 Flight, drive, Cinque Terre, Italy (The road was hard, but once we arrived in Cinque Terre, I realized the journey made it that much more special)

I can skip 90% of the trip from Boston to Genoa, Italy. The flight was near flawless, beside comfort and awful food, but that's a given and it wasn't unbearable. In fact, it went by quite fast.

Quick interruption please.. I refuse to harp on anything negative, because it's travel and there will be bumps in the road, but I will make mention, just to paint the picture now and again.

8am we arrive in Rome, Italy. The sun was coming up over some mountains in the distance and a beautiful red sky. No electronics on the plane, so no pictures. It wouldn't do the scene justice anyhow. We hopped off the plane and boarded another to Genoa, which was about an hour flight. Steve and Lynda, Allison's parents. Oh wait... I haven't mentioned them yet. This is as good of a chance as any.

Steve and Lynda are our travel companions, well I guess I'm their travel companion, since Allison and her folks planned this amazing trip, and I'm a stowaway. They have made me feel very welcome and are great company. Consistent conversation and laughs.

Where was I? Trip to Genoa.. right. Steve and Lynda were on the Western side of the plane facing the ocean, unfortunately. But Allison and I drew a lucky hand with the Airline gods, and were on the coastal side of the plane.... In such a short flight the coast went from gorgeous tropical looking ocean with some fields and farm land, to a dark greenish ocean with mountains and cliff side villages every few Km. It was a sight I had never seen, and it felt like I had suddenly realized where I was. Gorgeous! I have no other way to explain it. The plane suddenly banks a hard right turn in wind and turbulence, caused by the sea winds, I'm sure. And we're heading down for a landing, we land on a seaside strip of runway, with water on both sides. It was a little bit sketchy, but exciting. We're done with our air adventure, now to get our luggage. Awesome there's one of bags, I can't believe the flight went off without a hitch. I'm optimistic in life, but not with airports... No more bags follow, ouch we spoke to soon. Steve's bag was the only one that made it, the rest are lost... We are told we will have our luggage delivered to the hotel the following day. Obviously a bummer, but we can skip that. We get the rental car, Ford Focus wagon diesel.. We start heading for Cinque Terre, Steve is a smart guy, and he brought along 2 GPS units with Italy installed, we would have never found Vernazza, Cinque Terre otherwise. Most of the trip was highway that consisted of quarter mile daylight, quarter mile tunnel through mountainous hills. All the hillsides have homes and vineyards on them, It doesn't seem possible to drive to these places, you don't see roads, just walkways. About 80 km later we're off the highway and onto 1 lane back roads. These roads are like snowmobile trails with pavement. you can't see around the corners and it's all very loose and sketchy rock slopes sides jetting off into the roads.. Golder could make some cash here! The lovely sounding Australian GPS lady, leads us down "shortcuts" She likes taking stairs with the car, and driving through peoples vineyards. We had to make a few detours to get around her obstacle course.. There might have been some stress in the car, but I was giddy and had a blast. I think deep down we all did. It was an amazing journey and we eventually found Vernazza. That was the quick explanation, and not nearly detailed enough.

Next we park the car and hop a short bus trip into the village. I can't describe how amazing Vernazza is, and pictures may show the beauty, but not the feeling. It's like you step back in time. Cobble stone streets and walls, with colorful building like homes stacked into them. Village stores, bars, pharmacies and deli's fill the tiny Oceanside town. This village is surrounded by green mountain/hills with vineyards on them. The western side is cliffs which lead to the sea. There's also a small beach were kids play all day, jumping off rocks and playing a form of water polo. There's also bars and al fresco style restaurants around the beach and harbor.

We bring the few bags we have to the hotel we're staying at, flights upon flights of little odd shaped cobble stone stairs, not an easy trip with bags, but well worth it. The place we are staying in is ocean side. I mean really ocean side, we're on the edge of a cliff, when you look out the window, you see water.. really nothing but water, and an occasional boat. Allison was not expecting such a great place, we are all very thrilled and love it here. There's a spiral staircase, which leads to a roof deck, 360 degree view of our surroundings. Vineyards, the village, a church, a castle at the edge of the village, and in the distance, Monterosso, which is the one true beach village in Cinque Terre. The plan is to hike there today, once our luggage arrives, which we hear should be any minute ( It's noon Sept 9th).

Last night, the four of us had wine on the roof before dinner. It was warm but with a cold breeze. The lights on the hillsides and in the village made for a truly great atmosphere. You could hear people in different restaurants along with music, and the sound of the ocean.

After wine we found a nice little restaurant a few doors down. We had multiple plates and split them all, I'm not going to describe them all in too much detail, but we all agree, possibly one of the best meals of our lives. here's what we got: Seafood plate (anchovies salted and lemon, octopus, squid, mussels and white fish) we loved all of that. Anchovies included! Marrinated mussels, octopus salad, gnocci with pesto, a side spinach, and I think all our favorite risotto with seafood - this was a bunch of seafood in risotto, with a nice spicy red sauce.. We had a red house wine in a caraffe with our meal.. And by house wine I mean, amazing wine for 10 euro. they gave us each lemoncello as dessert, since they were all out of Tiramisu. After that we had a grappa nightcap (yum) and crashed out around midnight, which was well over 24 hours without much sleep, if any!!!

Stay tuned!

check more pictures to the right of the page!