4th of July in June??

Sunday, June 1

When speaking with our host, the lovely Deborah, we find out that tomorrow is a 
national holiday.  Therefore locals are enjoying a three day holiday which is 
going to make everywhere overly crowded. In all my reading, no one mentioned 
that the 4th of July is on June 2nd here!

Then I remember that they were setting up bleachers down the main streets of 
Rome and our cab driver was telling us that it was for the big parade for the 
holiday on June 2nd. Oh yeah...I guess we're still in the same country. 

My beloved Cinque Terre, my beautiful Slice of Heaven seems tarnished. The roads 
are so blocked with tourists that the charm is seeping away. But from people 
I've talked to, it's this way often...not just because of the holiday. I guess 
we were extremely lucky when we came in 2012. There had been terrible mud slides 
in October of 2011, and tourism was down because people weren't sure what 
condition the towns would be in. Are mud slides like avalanches?  If I scream 
loud enough would things start tumbling and scare most these people away??

on a short walk; which way should we go??

Another addition to Manarola since our last visit is an outdoor bar along the 
cliff path. They play loud, mostly American, music until late in the night. So, 
instead of the lovely serene crashing of waves, we listen to the pulsating beat 
of Usher, Pherell, Maroon 5, and other Americanis. But the view remains 
unbelievable!!

We took a very crowded train to Vernazza where we had an extremely delicious 
lunch and did a bit of shopping. Then we returned on the crowded train. There was 
standing room only on the train, so I was standing with my arm outstretched to 
reach a pole for balance. One of the other sardines shoved her shoulder into my 
armpit and chatted with her friends by breathing her hot breath into the crook of 
my elbow. Lovely!

we had the perfect table in Vernazza,

overlooking the beautiful bay...

and great food too!

charming Vernazza, one of the

Cinque Terre towns

We get back to Manarola and face the 5,000 steps up to our room. I don't 
remember this many steep steps when we came in 2012...but then I was just in my 
50's and now I'm in my 60's,...and feeling it!