Friday was our last day together because Jamie was flying out of Rome early on Saturday morning. So she had to leave for Rome in the afternoon. We had decided that we would go see the other two towns north of Corniglia. Here I am waiting at the Corniglia train station:
We took the train north to the furthest town, Monterosso:
This is the beach at Monterosso:
We toured the towns from farthest away back to Corniglia--we were on a really tight schedule of particular trains because we had to get Jamie back to the hotel and showered and grab her stuff and then get on the train to get her to Rome. Some people were already out enjoying the water:
Monterosso has the most extensive beach of the 5 towns. They have a kind of boardwalk and many hotels are built right along the main street that runs parallel to the ocean:
In Monterosso there is this building with a stone carved man holding up one end:
Can you see him? He is on the left, you can see his ripply muscles in the stone. This was a rundown building with some beautiful bougenvillea growing all up the side:
We weren't super impressed with Monterosso and because of the way the trains were scheduled, we only had about 25 minutes there! So we went back to the train station:
And we caught a train to Vernazza. Vernazza is very cute. The train station is not on the water as the others are so you actually walk down through the town to reach the ocean:
Before you reached the real harbor there was this kind of mini-bay where this fascinating-looking white haired man was picking up trash (I think):
The little canal:
The water there was right under houses, I'm not sure how they architected all that. Coming down to the harbor area there was a cat taking a nap in a boat pulled into the street:
Here is the beach/harbor/bay of Vernazza and the church:
Here is a wider shot of the beach area:
Vernazza's swimming area and bay are kind of closed off from the ocean and more protected than the harbors of the other towns. This main piazza with the church comes right up to the water:
We grabbed a seat at the tables with the yellow umbrellas above to have some cappuccini (plural of cappuccino) and enjoy the view:
Look how cute our cappuccinos were (they drew them with chocolate):
These are residential buildings surrounding the plaza:
We had about an hour or so in Vernazza which was enough time to leisurely enjoy our coffee and do some souvenir shopping. Jamie bought some pesto for her husband because the Cinque Terre is known for having some of the best pesto in all of the world. I think the entire region surrounding Genoa is famous for it. And I can attest to the truth that it is better than any pesto I have tasted anywhere else. We walked back up to the train station for this view of the town:
And then we headed back to Corniglia. We were determined to find the nudie beach. Or at least I was determined to find the nudie beach and both my mom and Jamie knew me well enough or tolerated me well enough to let me do what I really wanted to do! We had figured out that the beach was in our very own town of Corniglia--now we just had to find the entrance to the tunnel. Walking down from the train station we saw some signs (more like graffiti) painted onto the wall directing us down and around the corner. They led to a "Private Beach" and then we came to this sign saying "Guvano":
And then we reached the door! It was kind of like an old school swinging garage door. It was really run down with peeling paint and lots of photocopied pictures that were duct-taped to the gate warning that this was a "Naturist Beach". The warnings were written (crudely) in many languages. We'd found it! So just as our friends from the Vatican line had told us, we pressed the button and then the gate swung slowly and ominously open. And we entered this tunnel:
Okay, it was really freaky in the tunnel! It was about 95 degrees outside and then inside the tunnel it was damp and probably about 70 degrees. The ceiling was dripping and you couldn't see the end:
There were lights but they were pretty dim. We walked about a mile I think! Here we are, the adventurers:
There were points when I just wanted to turn around and go back but I kept thinking about the Chicagoans who had done this before us and they didn't die--they made it to Rome and the Vatican Museum. So we would survive too! Finally we saw the literal light at the end of the tunnel and it opened to a kind of hippie comune area. A guy collected our toll for using the tunnel (5 euros I think it was) and we emerged to view an extremely gorgeous stretch of coastline:
This beach and the area around it were spectacular and did not disappoint:
And yes, I went topless!:
Jamie wasn't feeling the topless thing although she was a good sport to be on the beach (one hazard of nudie beaches is the saggy old men). I think I am splashing Jamie here:
This is the view of the beach with some old men thrown in there:
Oh we had so much fun--the beach wasn't very crowded and I really did enjoy being free and topless!
The water was gorgeous and I was able to do my favorite thing in the ocean--float just past the waves and feel the gentle roll while listening to the sounds under the water.
My mom caught a lady bug on her arm:
A word about my mom and the swimsuit she is wearing--it's mine. She is such a rock star she can wear MY swimsuits! I am proud of her for that. Plus, she looked damn good in it too! I laid down on the rocks to get some sun on my back and ended up with pebble marks all on my legs:
The beach would have been better if it had sand, that was the major drawback. But these rocks were small and smooth--not as painful as on other beaches. The water was so clear and the rocks were very dramatic:
It was so peaceful:
Look at me!:
Here is Jamie taking another dip and me sitting on the rocks:
IN the water, I did take my bathing suit bottom off too so I could truly be a nudie. AND, I got Jamie to do it, too! She conceded first to taking off her top while swimming and agreed that it was nicer. So then I tried to convince her that it was even better if she took of the bottoms, too. She said, No, I know what it will feel like and it won't make any difference. And I said, No, it really makes a difference and you have to try it! And so finally she did and she fully agreed that it was much different (and better)! I'm just glad we both got to have the experience because you don't get to do that every day! "Isn't this fun to be naked, Jamie?" "No, Sarah, you are crazy!":
Sitting with my mom (look at that sparkling water!):
Here I am making sure I am protected from skin damage:
That is the last picture Jamie took in Italy. After our time at the beach we had to pack up so Jamie could take a shower and make it to the train station on time. This is the beach as we were leaving:
And there was this naked guy perched on a rock:
Haha! Just standing there in all his glory:
Goodbye nudie beach:
Here is the area surrounding the entrance to the tunnel (from the beach side):
You can see the arched entrance right in the middle of the picture. There are some gates along that walkway who have made Guvano their home:
I was missing my sweet cat, Tigerlily, a lot by this time.
Grapes seem to growing everywhere:
And back through the tunnel we went:
There were some other tourist coming in as we were leaving and we assured them that it was weird in the tunnel but worth it once they got to the other side. This is the view of the cliff that the tunnel passes through, once we were back on the other side:
Nudie Beach survivors:
Jamie and I took the stairs back up to our town of Corniglia while my mom waited for the bus:
We had it timed just right with enough time for Jamie to shower, pack up her things and get a final gelato before leaving. Here is Jamie in Corniglia with her gelato (and the old lady behind her is like the matriarch of the town--I saw her everywhere talking to everyone):
Here we are eating our gelato waiting for the bus to come get us:
This all had to be precisely timed out with the buses and trains and such PLUS a backup plan because we know how reliable the Italian bus system is. My mom took one last picture of us:
"Can I eat my gelato on the bus?":
We rode the bus down the hill to the train station:
And we took Jamie to the nearby "big" town of La Spezia. We had a couple of hours to kill before her train to Rome so we cruised through the city a little bit:
This is the only real, blatant anti-Bush sentiment I saw while on my trip, graffiti in La Spezia:
All along the street leading to the main part of town there were these orange trees with lots of ripe oranges. Many of them had fallen on the cars parked underneath. I really wanted Jamie to pick on for me:
She was trying to pull the branches down and grab one without having it fall on a car. And we tried a piggy back thing but we couldn't get one! Finally she succeeded:
And she got me a piece of fruit:
Unfortunately we tasted it and it was horrible! Bitter as could be. No wonder they are left up in the trees! While we were waiting in the train station, this large cargo of new cars came through:
And here is the last picture I took of Jamie in Italy--heading off on her own for Rome:
She had her own crazy adventure trying to fend off homeless people and arguing with a taxidriver about the fare. But she made it safely to her hotel and then to the airport the next day and back home to California. My mom and I talked about staying in La Spezia for dinner but there weren't many trains that went back to Corniglia (some trains hit only a couple of the towns and some skip them altogether) so we decided to head back to Corniglia and do some walking in our own town. We walked through the back part of town where there was a path leading through the vineyards:
There were rows and rows of beautiful leaves and green grapes:
We walked through to the church (which was very near our hotel room):
I like this picture of the door because the shadow on the left looks like a cross but it was just the side of the building:
Then we walked through the town to some amazing vantage points. This is the scene looking northwest toward Monterosso and Vernazza:
And this is the view looking southeast toward Manarola and Riomaggiore:
We were out at a large stone balcony/precipice thing that kind of marked the end of town (lest continue and fall into the ocean below). This cat knows it has a good thing going on, living in Corniglia:
I tried to zoom in on Manarola, the next town over (where we had eaten our pesto lasagna the afternoon before):
It was still perfectly sunny but the clouds were coming in thick from inland:
The noisy clock tower from our apperitivo the day before is visible in these photos:
Enjoying the scenery with my mom was very special:
It took us a quite a few tries to get a decent shot. And then we tried to get the town in the shot too:
This clouds were moving in fast, for a moment I thought we were going to get rained on but I found out that this was rather typical and the clouds just sat there over the hills--they never got much closer and it didn't rain:
There aren't many options for dining in Corniglia (unless you can coerce some local family to take you in for the night) so we returned to our restaurant owned by the same people as our hotel room:
We were pretty worn out so it was the path of least resistance. We ordered a half a bottle of wine which in this establishment meant that they bring you a full bottle and tell you to drink half. I thought that was pretty comical. But we did manage to drink only half. Here is the moon rising between the buildings in the middle of the picture:
It turned out to be a humongous almost-full moon (although it is hard to tell in these photographs):
After dinner we walked back to the hotel for what we thought would be a quiet night (we were already missing Jamie) when all the sudden you could hear drums coming through the town. There was an entire procession weaving through the town and coming straight toward us! Or rather, straight to the church (which was next to our hotel building). People were dressed in robes and costume and playing instruments:
These are pictures I took from the terrace (no flash--so they are kind of hard to see). It was just amazing to see this sleepy town come to life like this. Here they are carrying a cross:
And another cross:
These people were in the choir, I think. Everyone was dressed in full church regalia:
So my mom and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about so we hurriedly got dressed and scurried around to the church. We had not seen the inside of the church because the doors had always been closed every other time we passed by. Here is the inside of the church:
This was a richly decorated church for such a small, unassuming town. Inside, there was a full service going on. And the place was packed--standing room only:
My mom and I stood inside for awhile (with the tourists in the back) but I kind of felt uncomfortable and out of place so I stood out in the piazza while the service finished. The priest was preaching about St. Peter, that's all I got. Once the service ended everyone flooded out into the main piazza of town (where the bus stops and there is a market during the day and where pretty much any other event in this town happens) which was also right by our hotel room. So we stood around and watched them set up for a reception:
I love these altar boys in their tennis shoes!
They were setting up cake and wine!
The orchestra members came out of the church and took their seats in the piazza and played:
And finally I went up to the one policeman in the area and asked him (in Italian) what was going on, what were we celebrating? And he told me that it was St. Peter's day--the patron saint of this town. Well, every town has a patron saint and when it is their day you celebrate! It was so amazing because this is something that you could never hope to plan for but when it happens and you are in a tiny little town in northern Italy and you get to celebrate their Saint's day with them...you just go for it. My mom and I joined the crowds and grabbed some cake and wine:
And celebrated St. Peter with the locals. As my mother said, "Where else in the world can you go where the town gives you free cake and wine?!" Nowhere--and that's one of the many reasons I love Italy!
True. I think she thought she had successfully broken me in and now she was going to have to do it with someone new. Well, she just didn't know that I was biting my tongue because I knew my time there was limited. We did have good times but I am not sorry that I am not living with her right now:
So with allll my stuff and my mom's luggage we hoofed it to the Santa Maria Novella train station (Florence). It's a walk I had done many times but never with so much luggage. There were moments I thought we weren't going to make it. We finally did it:
I was so tired and sweaty. I had my mom take a picture of my sweaty back to prove it:
But it didn't really turn out to be looking as sweaty as I felt. My mom and I took the slow train down toward Rome but rather than go into Rome (where we would have had to stay in an expensive hotel) we had booked a hotel in a small town called Orvieto:
It is about 30 or 40 minutes out of Rome by train and was very convenient. We were able to walk (with all our luggage) to our hotel and then get back on the train the next morning to go straight to the airport for our flights. Orvieto is historic and picturesque in its own right:
We deposited our stuff in the hotel and then went exploring the town. The old town is built up on a plateau high above the contemporary city and suburbs. So we took the little funicular up the side of the mountain. From there we walked throughout the city taking in the sights:
There is not a lot of literature on Orvieto, we were armed with a map given to us by the woman at the hotel. This courtyard was just behind a heavy old door, part of a private residence I think:
This is the skyline of Orvieto:
This was the beautiful countryside surrounding the town:
They have an amazing Duomo--I think this was a rich city at one point, this one is pretty impressive:
We didn't get a chance to go in because they were just closing and I wasn't wearing anything to cover my shoulders. We walked to each side of the city and looked out at the countryside:
Being high up on the plateau gave us a good vantage point. This one of the buildings in the main piazza in front of the Duomo:
And outside on the benches, all the locals come to watch the tourists go by:
I love it! Look at them. So Italian. And in front of another building:
More old people just sitting. Here I am walking away from my mom in the piazza:
And now I am walking further away, I think she was trying to take more pictures of the old people and I didn't want to be there:
We had a nice dinner in Orvieto and then I convinced my mom to walk down the old path from the old town to the new town. There was a little pathway marked on the map. And the funicular was closed for the night. So we set off on the path. Which, by the way, the waiter at dinner had told us was rather steep and did not recommend. Here is the view as we started out on our "walk" home:
We passed outside the walls of the old town (the tower here on the left) and left behind the paved road for a dirt and stone one:
And that was the last picture I took in Italy. We stumbled down the path. It turned out to be about 15% grade and winded through the forest. At dusk. There were points when I was asking myself why I set about to get my mother and I killed or at least severely lost on our last night in Italy. But we made it back to the hotel safely and even passed a woman going UP the hill. Back in our room, we had left our windows open (with the shutters closed) because the room had no air conditioning and it was so hot when we first entered that afternoon. When we came back we realized that was a really poor decision because we had about 500 of those flying ant-like bugs. And they were constantly multiplying. I think they were hatching out of their nests as we tried to kill them. We were full on under attack. My poor mom was trying to take a shower and all I could hear was screaming. She killed most of them--we went through an entire box of kleenex killing those nasty bugs. It was sooooo gross. I thought we would never be clear of them. Ack, after that happens you feel things crawling on you for hours. So it was an exciting last night in Italy. I took a shower and then watched "Meet Joe Black" in Italian. The next morning we got up early and had our cappuccinos in the train station along with the other commuters. We took the 8am train to Rome and then the Leonardo Express train to the airport. My mom's flight was just an hour or so after mine so I checked in first and had no problem. I was flying British Airways and there were only a couple of other people checking in at the time. The line for Delta and American Airlines was another story--there was a mob scene. It was a very unruly line that spanned the entire lobby of one side of the airport. People were pushing and arguing. The attack on the Glasgow airport had just happened and all the security was focused on flights going directly to America. Since I was flying to London first, I was somehow less suspicious. My mom fought it out in that ridiculous line while I had to leave her and go board my flight. I ended up catching her in the boarding area and giving her a pastry (we were so hungry) and finding out that she was on standby for her flight and didn't expect to make it on. She was really bummed and I was sad to leave her there but I had to get on my flight. We traded money so she would have some euros in case she was stuck there overnight and I took her dollars (it had been a long time since I had some of those). And I boarded my flight for London. I had a short layover in London and then I flew home to Los Angeles, arriving late in the evening on Monday July 2nd 2007. I took this picture as we were just past the Grand Canyon (couldn't quite see the canyon from my seat):
I was home! Matt picked me up from the airport so he was the point person for my mom. She had been given a hotel room for the night and was flying in the next day. Matt drove me home to my mom's house and we made it time to catch an episode of "Big Medicine", the show I worked on before leaving for Italy, and I got to see my name in the credits! Always thrilling!
I have now been home for almost 4 months, which is approximately the amount of time I was gone. I still email with Matthias, Johan, Vanesa (she just sent me a picture of the three of us the other day), Renata, my roommate Lorena, Yuki, Vitor and yes, Marco. Marco is now in Chile visiting a friend, traveling, working AND saving up money so that he can come to California. And visit. Since I have been home I have been working on an MTV show called "The XEffect". I was fortunate to have that job just one week after returning home. Work on that show is wrapping up and I am moving onto "Hell's Kitchen" in one week. I have been extremely fortunate to find work quickly.
I don't have any major sum up things to say except that I am so glad I made this trip. As my friend Amalia said, it was a major investment in myself and I am so happy I made it.
Thank you for sharing in the journey!
