Camogli 2

We arrived in the late afternoon, we have a few hours yet before it turns dark. So we didn't waste time but went to town and started clicking away with our cameras. Up and down and round and round, there are so many stairs. When we arrive, we almost mistook a certain address to be the address of our hotel. We started climbing up some very steep stairs when the village folks yelled at us, 'that's the wrong way'. We asked everyone, so everyone in town knew where we wanted to go, so when we went the wrong way, they said, 'no,no,no....' That was so nice. It is a very pretty village, so pretty, it's even more so now that I'm looking from a distance, now that I'm looking at the pictures. Sure is pretty. It's the off season and that makes it even more special, no crowds, just the locals.

I think we ate dinner here, by the time dinner time came, it was pretty dark already.

Steps going down, steps going up, steps, steps, steps, they are everywhere.

Some buildings were 7 to 8 stories high and painted with all shades of pastels.

There was a small beach, I was scoping out to see if there were any topless bathers. There were none, unlike in Nice where you do find topless bathers.

This is a gorgeous cove. I think I took this shot from the castle and church this side of the cove. We only spent one night here, we were out the door the next morning. I'd love to come back.

Need I say more......the Ligurian sea.....

Camogli is still a fishing village. When we were eating dinner, I saw a fisherman come into the restaurant with his catch. This shows how fresh the seafood is, it just came off the fisherman's boat.

God, how can you stay at home after seeing these pictures, go buy a plane ticket and head out the door, hurry......

The bay taken from above....we had just checked into our hotel, the locals gave us directions and told us to head up higher to get the best shots. They were really proud of their village. I took almost 1000 pictures this trip. Sophie took a little more than 1000!

I've never seen a sea glisten like this sea. The sun is almost going down, good thing we had a few hours of light left to take pictures.

I love the Cinque terre when we were there 2 and 1/2 years ago, this is an extension of the Cinque terre. If you ever have the chance, visit the Cinque terre and walk the whole 7 miles that link all 5 villages. We had a blast when we did that, 2 of the trails were pretty difficult, the rest was a cakewalk.

We wanted to buy our train tickets that evening but the train people had all gone. I started playing with the ticket dispensing machine, even in Italian, I was able to procure 2 tickets for our next day trip up the coast to Ventimiglia, the last Italian town before the French border. So it's onward, brave people.....

Family reunion in London

Here we are arriving at a chinese restaurant in Soho, London. This is a picture of the Chrysanthemum flower(tea) blossoming in a glass of hot water. It's pretty tasty. I like it. These pictures are for the benefit of family who reads this blog. It'll be months before I can finish all the postings for this trip. Our last leg was in London where we got together with family who lives there. We got together for dim sum in Soho, London's Chinatown. It was so wonderful. We stayed with Auntie Mary and I just realised we don't have a picture of her. Darn. Cousin Rebecca wants me to email her these pictures also, I must find time to do that.

Sophie with the latest addition, baby Sebastian Santiago, Sebastian as in San Sebastian in Northern Spain and Santiago as in Camino Santiago de Compostela, both his parents walked part of the camino and visited San Sebastian. I didn't ask them if he was conceived there, I suspect so. His mother was 5 months pregnant when she walked the camino the second time.

Cousin Bill with his friend, Helena. Hi Bill, if you're reading this.

The proud parents, Cousin Robert and his partner, Elizabeth.

The proud parents with baby.

Cousin Robert with his sister, Cousin Rebecca, the proud aunt.

After lunch, everyone went grocery shopping and got loaded up with Chinese groceries. It was a really nice and warm day in London and everyone was out and about.

Back at Auntie Lili's place, the Chinese roast duck was handed over to the great delight of Auntie Lili, she loves it. Cousin Jackie just flew in from the USA, she and her husband moved there a few months ago. She was in London for her Green card interview.

Barney, the dog. As long as I have visited Auntie Lili, Barney was always there. I remember waking once with Barney jumping on the bed and starring at me,' who's this strange person in the bed?' He's probably wondering.

Auntie Lili, Jackie and Fi. We were all having a cuppa and chatting. It was a lovely visit, priceless, moments like this.

This was the most wonderful way to culminate our trip, a visit with family in London. We could have come home directly after Barcelona, instead we tagged on a few more days and a few more hundreds of dollars to visit family in London. I shall always remember this.

Camogli

We had just changed trains at La Spezia and am heading for the Italian Rivera and the Ligurian coast. It was really exciting to be back in these parts again. Two and half years ago we were here in La Spezia, changing trains for the Cinque terre. The Cinque terre is 5 fishing villages strung along the Ligurian coast and linked by a walking trail. We walked the trail that linked all 5 villages, stayed in one of them, Manorola and had a great time. As the train passed through tunnels, lots of them, we couldn't see anything, then as it burst out of the tunnels, glimpses of the Ligurian sea came into view. God, I still feel the excitement as I write this, a few weeks later. The view of that gorgeous Ligurian sea, sparkling and gleaming like a thousand diamonds. I've never seen a sea so sparkling as the sun strikes on it. Then it disappear from view as we passed through another tunnel, then it came back into view, the play was driving me out of my mind. This is not the Cinque terre train, so it doesn't stop at all 5 villages, just the first and the last. I caught a glimpse of the very beautiful Vernazza. Wow! It is still so beautiful, it is still the queen of the Cinque terre. We saw a few Americans alight from the train presumably to go to the Cinque terre.

The Ligurian sea, sparkling and gleaming in the afternoon Italian sun.

The last of the five Cinque terre villages.... see you another time.

Camogli- it is just further up on the Italian Rivera, a little fishing village, one of the many that dot the Italian Rivera. We were so absorbed with the view that we almost forgot to get off at Camogli. It is a very colorful village, lots of people come to paint it. We didn't see anyone because the season's over and this is a great time to visit, no crowds, we almost had the whole place to ourselves. The Italian Rivera can get very crowded in summer and Easter. You don't know about it doesn't mean others don't. It is very close to Santa Margherita and Portofino. We took a lot of pictures. The people were very nice and laid back. They were glad they have their town back after the invasion of the summer visitors.

Land is scarce and the hills are steep, so they have to build up, 7-8 stories up and all squeezed together and this is the charm of Camogli.

We had a great dinner of pasta with seafood and ate some great focaccia bread, the specialty of the area. The other specialty is fish fry.

From the top of the hill, near our hotel and looking down at what is a semblance of a harbor and a beach. Be prepared for a lot of steps.

Gypsies

The train station in Rome, Roma Termini!

On the second day of being back in Rome, we headed on foot, trawling our luggage, for Roma Termini. It's just 8 minutes away. I like the sound that the luggage wheels make as they roll over the cobbled streets of Rome......clug,clug,clug... We arrived at the station and started starring at the 'partenze' board. They haven't assigned a gate for our train yet, final destination is Torino but we're only going as far as La Spezia where we change trains for Camogli. It was a full half hour before they finally assigned the gate, we were delayed by 1/2 hour. Retardo! It's pretty unusual, they are so prompt. We started to look for Carroza 8 and seats 25 and 26.

No sooner had we found our compartment and begun stowing our luggage and laying down our things when 4 young women and a baby came in after us. It's not unusual, we were sharing the compartment with other people. I was busy with my thing and I didn't really look at them. The strange thing was that they told us we were in the wrong compartment and that they had it all reserved for them. I couldn't have got the wrong compartment. I'm a veteran when it comes to riding the rails in Europe.

Well, honey, I'm a very savvy train rider, this was a train where everyone had an assigned carriage and seat and there were no indication in the carriage that there was any reserved seats. I stood my ground, I said, these are our assigned seats and I've never heard of such rubbish, they came close to us and started insisting. So I asked to look at their tickets, they kept insisting they had tickets but never offered to show them. I finally finished stowing away my things and decided to clear the matter once and for all, I turned to them and demanded to see their tickets. That was when I had a good look at them. 'Gypsies', I said, aloud! They started to leave when they realised the game was up. One looked at me in indignation and said, 'we're not gypsies!' Clearly they were gypsies! They thought we're easy prey. I asked Sophie if they went through her things. 'No', she said. That was a close call.

Over the years of travel in Europe, I've had numerous encounters with gypsies. That was the closest, usually I see them coming and wave them away. I don't let them come any closer. It's scary in the sense they are so insidious. I'm always on my guard. Be sure they are everywhere and watching... That morning I was sort of breathing a sigh of relief to be leaving Rome, thinking the threat is over. Just be informed, travel light, hang on to your valuables.

The train conductor was just here warning us there were gypsies spotted coming on board the train, presumably to prey on us, we were the only 'oriental' foreigners on the train. Now she tells us, we have already encountered them. Probably everyone on the train was wondering why they didn't hear of a bigger ruckus. Well, we took care of the gypsies ourselves, no thanks to them.

Traveling is fun

Unpacking in our hostel in Rome, I've stayed here 3 times, it might as well be home away from home. The pictures aren't too hot. It's a risky thing to do to break in a new camera on an important trip. I took it out of the mailing box, flip through the instruction manual and off I went with it in tow. Sophie said, 'what's wrong with your pictures? I said, 'I don't know'. I discovered more things about the camera as the trip progressed, I said to her, 'did you know I can do this or that with the camera.' She said, 'you didn't know that? No, I just found out. I came back and read the instructions again and learned a lot more. Da....

Every night, I would log and journal the day's events. It's easier, this way I don't forget anything. The mind is not too sharp these days.

You know you're in Europe when you see ham hocks being hung everywhere. This is nothing, wait till you see the hams in Barcelona. We love Barcelona, I regret having put off seeing Barcelona till now. I will definitely return to Barcelona and soon.

Free water, to drink and to wash your fruits. All in a day's work at Campo de Fiori, Rome.

I've always wandered into the Campo de Fiori, late in the afternoon after all the vendors have packed up and gone. This is the first time I've been here and the action is in full swing. It was really fun, I love markets and market days. Throughout this trip we would be in a lot of markets.

They call it an 'ape' pronounced as a-pe. You see them everywhere in Italy.

The multi colored spice market. They have the most incredibly smelling spices.

The jewelled shapes and colors of all kinds of chilli peppers.

Fraise de bois, how I can resist it, I had to buy some. I paid 2 euros for a little container, cheap when compared to 5 euros in Barcelona.

The small fruits, the blueberries, the blackberries, the little strawberries, mmmmm...yummy.

More chili peppers, they shine like jewels. It's an fascinating sight.

An old Fiat, we did see some new Fiats, they were the same size and shape.

Via Guilia, it's nothing to write home about. It is 500 years old.

Heading to the Vatican museum, we had to pass St Peter. We didn't stop, I've been in there 3 times already.

The circular staircase at the Vatican museum. I had thought to sign up for a conducted tour of the Vatican museum but at about 70 euros per person, I decided against it.We went early, around 9am and got tickets pretty fast, at 14 euros per person, we winged it on our own.

Traveling is fun but very tiring. I like to pack the day with doing something, we'd leave our room at 9 in the morning and wouldn't return till 8 in the evening. The only time we rest is between places when we're on a bus or a train. I always get sick because it's so stressful. I'm always in charge of the organising and making sure we get from place to place. Sometimes I make changes during the trip like seeing something else besides what was planned or moving on ahead of schedule. This trip we cut Perpignan short by one day and added that day to Barcelona, it was a brilliant move.

Porchetta in Rome

Store in Campo de fiori, Rome advertising Porchetta, Ariccia style. The best porchetta comes from Ariccia but if one doesn't have time to go to Ariccia, one eats here.

A vendor at the Campo de fiori proudly displaying her offering of the day, a huge chunk of porchetta. We bought ours from her. It was really good.

A line is forming, these kids know a good thing when they see it, even this Japanese tourist, he bought a huge chunk.

Let's do lunch by the fountain in Piazza Campo de fiori, Rome. How about a porchetta panino?

First day back in Rome, what a glorious day it was, the sun is shining, the atmosphere is gay and the surroundings is so beautiful. A book title says, 'I wouldn't leave Rome to go to heaven'. We have finally arrived and had a good night sleep and ready to embark on our 2 week whistle stop trip in Europe.

The best porchetta is in Ariccia but we didn't have time to go to Ariccia (45 minutes from Rome by train). I asked blogger, 'Americantoitaliana' where to eat porchetta since I have not time to go where she lives which is Ariccia. She told me of a little restaurant in Campo de fiori. Indeed we found the place but we didn't eat there. The morning market was in full swing and I asked one of the vendors where to eat porchetta, he pointed to a little truck parked next to him. In fact there were 2 vendors that sold porchetta there at the market. We took pictures of this lady in her truck selling porchetta. She had line forming in front of her.

She sliced us 4 euros worth, plenty for 2 sandwiches. I asked for pane (bread), she pointed in the other direction, 'quoi" she said, 'there'. I went to 'quoi' and found a bread shop, they baked their own bread next door. They were doing a brisk business. I bought 2 rolls for 0.50 euros and we spread out the meat, made our panini and ate by the fountain. It was really good. We bought a bunch of green Italian grapes, they tasted like nectar, so sweet.

It was noontime, we had already been to the Vatican museum. We got on the 64 bus (the very notorious bus according to Rick Steves), it took us from Roma Termini all the way to St Peter Basilica, from where we walked to the Vatican museum. There was already a long line forming for tickets but it moved pretty fast.

Sophie hasn't been to the Vatican museum so I obliged her by going. It didn't seem as exciting as the first time. Now 6 years later and having seen a lot more wondrous things, I've become rather jaded. The exhibits looked tired and old, even the Sistine chapel, the highlight of any visit to the Vatican museum. After 4 trips to Rome, I long for the quirky, maybe the next trip.....

We had a pretty good first day, we went to the much touted Via Guilia, which was nothing. It had received a lot of attention because it celebrated it's 500years, that part of Rome is 500 years old.

We were in Rome to start our whistle stop trip, staying just 1 day to get over jet lag, which we did and am now out the door of our hostel for the next stop on this whistle stop trip to 4 countries in 14 days. See you in Camogli.

Leaving Trapani

http://socalgalopenwallet.blogspot.com/2007/12/leaving-trapani.html

Erice

http://socalgalopenwallet.blogspot.com/2007/12/erice.html