Vernazza, Italy

October 23rd & 26th, 2010

Vernazza is quite picturesque and people that live in Cinque Terre say that Vernazza has the best picture opportunities.  It's very difficult to capture the beauty of the area as it's all so breathtaking, but these should give you an idea of what Vernazza looks like.

Vernazza

Each village has its own designated square or main area where you find restaurants, shops, tourist traps that sell souvenirs and a boat dock.  In Vernazza, there were several boats in the water waiting to go out; however, on this particular day, it was very cloudy, cold and windy, so there were no boats out for a stroll.
 

This picture to the right is taken from the square or main area of Vernazza and looking north.  Montorossa would be just over the mountains here.

Vernazza

This picture has everything Vernazza, greenery, rocks, water, houses (up on the hill), nature and wildlife.

















The picture below is an extension of the one to the left.  The rocks in the middle of the picture to the left are the same rocks on the far left in the picture below.

Vernazza

    I went out at night.....to take some pictures of Vernazza after the sun went down. 

Vernazza right after sundown

Vernazza clock tower after sundown

A picture of the clock tower at night, this is facing into the main square east.

Montorosso al Mare, Italy

October 23rd, 2010

Montorosso, the northern-most village in the Cinque Terre is said to be the most glamorous with expensive resort hotels and elaborate food.

These first two pictures of a carving on the side of a mountain; not sure who it is, but he must have been trained by Bob, look at those abs!

Carving on side of mountain

Body by Bobbilio.....

Slightly to the right of the carving,
buildings & greenery

The picture on the left, is at the top of the mountain, just to the right of where the carving is.  Not sure what the building was, no name and wasn't allowed in, beautifully designed though with the brick and windows.  It's also very green and lush in Italy as you will see with more pictures.

Pretty Purple Flower

Isn't this purple flower pretty? 
I sure enjoyed looking at it!

Montorosso

Around the corner and up the street is where this picture was taken.  Notice the trees on the top of the mountain; pretty....


















This picture below is one of my favorites.  I'm not sure how I was able to catch the sun in that exact spot but I did and do you see the boat way far away in the distance?  pretty.....

Montorosso

Hotel at the top of Montorosso

The picture to the right here is looking the opposite way in Montorosso and the building at the top is a hotel.  Quite the hike to get to it as it's all uphill....

In the far distance is the next village Vernazza.

Pretty.......

Cinque Terre, Italy

October 23rd to 26th, 2010

Just to put it into perspective of where I am in Italy, here are two maps that point out exactly where Cinque Terre is located.

Cinque Terre, Italy

On the West Coast high in the northern area of Italy lies 5 small villages right along the coastline with the general area of Cinque Terre indicated on the first map to the left.

Below, the second map is all 5 villages with Corniglia specified, as that is where I stayed.  As you can see, Corniglia is in the center of all 5 with each village having it's own name.  All five have a relatively small population of about 200 people but can increase dramatically in the summer months of July and August.  Cinque Terre is the second most visited coast of Italy.

Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore.

Corniglia, Italy

Restaurant in Genoa

October 23rd, 2010

In Genoa, on my way out of town, could not resist taking a picture of this restaurant name.....Classic! 
I wonder if an Adrian works there?

Genoa, Italy

October  21st & 22nd, 2010

Met a lovely man on the 2-hour train ride from Turin to Genoa, he didn't need a name.....some of them are just better without names!

Genoa has a vibrancy that I haven't seen in Italy yet with it's bustling downtown core with lots of things to see and do.  It's famous for cheese and pasta; but it is everywhere in Italy, and has a great open market in the middle of a foot traffic only center.  It sort of reminds me of Granville Island with its energy and various shopping opportunities.

Oh and EVERY Italy city has at least one Cathedral, Genoa has several....

Genoa Cathedral

Genoa Cathedral #2

 Famous fountain in Genoa

Smaller fountains surrounding big
fountain with fancy hotels in background

These fountains and surrounding square is a main attraction in Genoa.  There are enormous, fancy hotels in all directions.  There are three in this picture above and the same two in picture to the right.

Pretty building - Don't know what it was,
probably a Cathedral!

I do not know what this building is to the left, it had a name, but of course it was in Italian and I'm not so fluent yet!  I know about 10 words....anyway, thought it was pretty, so took a picture of it.

Yes, PALM TREES

Who would've thought there would be palm trees in Italy!  I sure didn't, but here's proof.....

October 28th, 2010

I interrupt this regularly scheduled blog to give you some exciting news - 

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY TODAY!!

I realize that not many people are able to celebrate a birthday, even a milestone birthday like this, in Italy, and I appreciate and am grateful that I am able.

It would make my day even better if I heard from my blog readers at home, so please call me and leave a message on voicemail - 1-877-488-8442.  It's free, so DO IT! (please!)

1-877-488-8442

1-877-488-8442

Turin, Italy

Turin atop the Tower

Turin atop the Tower

Turin atop t

Wednesday, October 20th, 2010 

Turin is very vast....a 3-hour train ride west of Milan, home to the 2006 Olympics.


It was suggested to visit the Cinema Museum in downtown Turin as it has an interesting and creative way of describing the movie industry.  What I didn't expect was to be provided a panoramic view of Turin in the museum.....

An elevator ride to the very top....um, scary....and this is what I saw...

Cinema Museum - Turin

Cinema Museum ALIENS - Turin

I realize its difficult to see these pictures....my apologies.


Inside the 4-storey Cinema Museum were how the movie industry started, how media and print advertising has evolved, various mini movie sets, masks and characters and a large viewing area with lounging seats and built in speakers in the headrests.  Does it get any better? My little piece of paradise....

Turin at night

I met an American....a nice one...hmmmm (sorry JM!).  Heather from Pittsburgh and I went out for pizza, stroll and .......use your imagination! 

What did we find, another McD's in Turin!  They are in every city and they are the only thing that you can find directional signs for.

Did I mention that Italy doesn't have street signs?  Instead, they have plaques on sides of buildings if they happen to put one there.  Makes navigation fun!!

Cathedral Turin

Street corner - Turin

Italy

Train goes fast!

YAY!!  I made it to Italy!       

It was a long train ride from Paris to Milan - 7-1/2 hours but I met Jenny, a very pleasant traveler from London and we talked the entire time making the trip go by quite quickly.  I found out some very useful information about London, the UK and Europe  in general; it was a pleasant journey. 

Milan Square

Milan is beautiful and it was worth the wait.  I arrived at 10:30pm into Milan and did not have the energy to find the correct metro and directions to my hotel, so I decided to take a taxi.  

My life flashed before my eyes, SEVERAL TIMES!  I literally thought, this is what Italy is about!  The traffic in Milan was crazy - Bob, you would have had road rage within seconds!  No designated lanes, no lane changes, several cars lined up chaotically, stopping at the last second, and excessive speeding, all at the same time.  Not what I expected for my first experience in Italy.

Duomo Cathedral - Milan

I made it to my hotel alive, a little frazzled, but generally okay!

Touring around Milan:

Milan is known for its fashion and business community.  After all, it's the fashion capital of the world, so there are a lot of shops to go to; however, to get to them by metro, especially the Outlet stores; was a challenge, therefore I opted out.

I did however, go to the Duomo Cathedral in Milan and it was stunning.  The picture really doesn't do it justice as it's difficult to capture the true beauty.

Inside Duomo Cathedral - Milan

I also visited inside and it seemed strange to me to have a beautiful cathedral be a tourist attraction.  It was very busy and you were allowed to take photos.  I lit a candle, said a little prayer for safe travels and was on my way to Turin......

Paris

In France, there is a EuroStar train strike not allowing visitors to travel by train to or from France.  I was leaving London to arrive in Paris on Monday morning at 5:25am and I was in luck, my train did not get cancelled.

Eiffel Tower - Paris

I arrived in Paris at 8:30am to a madhouse.  There was people everywhere and all speaking a different language!  Frustrating at times, I took responsibility in the fact that I didn't take it upon myself to learn any French as my ultimate goal is to become bilingual in Italian.

Seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first was breathtaking.  It was a beautiful sunny day and I look many pictures from all angles.  A bit surreal; seeing the tower in pictures is one thing, but standing in front of it was another.  I was planning on going up; however the queue was about a mile long and I didn't have time since I wanted to visit the Museum of Architecture and also had to catch my next train, or so I thought.  

Museum of Architecture - Paris

Eiffel Tower - Paris

The Museum of Architecture was incredible and very informative.  The sculptures, facades, structures, buildings and monuments were all displayed and carved with such detail, it was hard to believe they were handmade.  I spent about two hours gawking at all the wonder, enjoying every minute of it.

Paris was not finished, as the train from Paris to Milan was canceled that night and was not running until the next day.  With the language barrier and the insufficient customer service representatives, stress was at an all time high.  And then I met May, an angel in disguise.

May was bilingual and not the kind of bilingual that you think; May learned how to speak English by watching Michael Jackson, yes that's right, MJ.  French people that speak English is still a challenge to understand with their accent, but May went a step further and learned with a Canadian/American accent - imagine a full French accent and then a full Canadian accent.  Thanks May, you helped me at a very desperate time of need.

I stayed overnight in Paris and off to Milan on Tuesday....

London

London Train Station

I arrived in London at 8:25am Sunday morning missing my nights sleep, exhausted from my 8-hour journey on the plane.  I met a very nice man from Langley, Mike, on the plane, that assisted me in my journey to my hotel and the train station.  After 10 hours of traveling, 1 hour to find my hotel and a tummy not happy, all I wanted to do was go to sleep.  No such luck, my hotel didn't check-in until 1:00pm.  I had 2 hours, so I went back to the train station and people watched.

It was amazing seeing people from all over the world and the sound of various languages within earshot.  Whenever someone sat next to me, I managed to strike up a conversation and luckily enough, most of them spoke English.  London was busy....

Jet-lag got the best of me and I slept until 3:00am the next morning but did find the time to go to McDonalds for a coke and water.....Paris is next.

Thank you

I'm in Italy now,and managed to avoid the Paris riots over the train.  I will tell you all about it, but first I want to thank some very patient people that allowed me to go on and on and on....and.....on....about my trip to Italy - Bob, Darren, Dirk, Jean-Marc, Eswen, Joan and Emma.  I appreciate you indulging me in my travel journey and appreciate our friendship immensely....xoxoxo

18 days and counting......

Hello Friends,

Chunnel:  London to Paris

I'm excited to tell you that my flight is booked and  I leave on Saturday, October 16th!  I will be flying into London, UK, staying for a day and then taking the Chunnel from London to Paris  --->

......touring around in Paris for the day and then overnight train from Paris to Milan....

My plan is to be in Milan, Italy by late Monday, October 18th - 10 days to get to Pisa for my birthday.  Lisa is Pisa for her birthday! 

I will be in touch shortly once I arrive.

Lisa