Cinque Terre

My time in Cinque Terre has been uber relaxing. (I haven't scaled those steps again. This being part of the reason why my time has been relaxing...) My first day here I spent roaming Corniglia. That took about 30 minutes. This town is tiny. Old and tiny. I walked very slowly to maximize my time. I had the most expensive lunch I've had yet in Europe. Yikes. Guess that's the one touristy bit here.

The rest of my day was spent napping, reading (I just started Chris Bohjalian's Skeletons at the Feast... one of the two I bought in that bookstore in Paris. It's quite good. Downside of reading on vacation: I'm already halfway done. :() and trying to stay warm. For some reason yesterday this place was freezing. There are two radiators in my room and I found the best spot is sitting in front of one with a comforter wrapped around me and covering it to make a little heat teepee. This only works until my butt would fall asleep from the hard wood chair, then I'd shift to the radiator by the bed but then my back would start to hurt from hunching... then switch again. Today is much better, much warmer inside. Although, that might be the wine talking.

In addition to 3 of the 6 restaurants in town being closed for the winter, apparently THE CINQUE TERRE TRAIL is closed too. You can only walk the trail from Riomaggiore to Manarola. The trails to Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso are closed. Nutballs. At least I didn't have to do those stairs again. Each town is a little different but they all have similar themes: seaworn paint on the skinny buildings leaning on each other, amazing views of the sea, turquoise water lapping at their shores, and businesses that are closed for the winter. So much for traveling in the off season. So, no local trofi pasta, farinata, tore di verdora, acciuche or gelato for me. It's a good thing I am easily pleased with my market-bought pasta and pesto and a bottle of vino. The lunch I had yesterday was good but not the amazing Italian pasta I had expected. Still the winner is that delicious pasta we had in Siem Reap. There was an ex-pat's Italian place out in the boondocks the 6 of us at at one of our last nights in Cambodia. I had something creamy with mushrooms, ham and heavenly goodness. Hopefully in Siena I'll find something just as yummy. I want some real pizza, too!

There's only so much sightseeing you can do in a day. I don't know about you, but after about 6 hours of picturesque villages I kind of poop out. Charming, yes. Snap, snap, snap. Italian ladies chatting in the streets. More charm. More stairs. Snap, snap, snap. Ok. Ready to go home now. It's also really cold out. Like, 2 degrees. (Ok, celsius, but still...)

My evening has been great, though! I blasted the music of Amanda Blank, poured myself a glass of local wine and cooked up some dinner in my teeny tiny kitchen. I bought local pesto- this region is known for their pesto- and did my own version of cheese grating with this giant rolling butcher knife thing I found in the kitchen. The mystery ravioli I bought turns out to have bacon in it! Could it get any better? While eating I entertained myself by playing Wheel of Fortune on my netbook. (There is- gasp- no tv in my room. I can't remember the last time I watched tv. Cambodia?)

So, I've repacked my backpack for the nth time and resume my travel routine- charging everything, double checking I didn't leave anything behind (glasses!!!) and writing out tomorrow's travel itinerary. I head to Siena through Pisa. Not sure if I'll stop to check out Pisa or just push through... Stay tuned.