It Might Be Amore...

It is hard to believe I'm at the halfway point of this adventure. There were times in the early days that I felt like, come December, I would be ready to leave. There were times that I was counting the weeks: how many more weeks until I go home? How many until Liz comes? How many in between visitors? I wasn't sure that I'd ever fully embrace this experience because it was so different than anything I've experienced before.

Thankfully those feelings have passed and I am now basking in the glow of this amazing opportunity. With every passing day I fall a little more in love with this place. I have had the chance to see amazing places, meet new people, and experience a country and culture that has to be among the best in the world. Let me offer a few examples.

First has to be the food. Tripe notwithstanding, this country loves food and everywhere you go there is amazing food to be had. Whether it's the snack bar with the delicious little panini, or the pasticceria where you can get fabulous cappuccino and pastries, or the trattoria with wonderful pasta... food is everywhere, all the time. For the most part you can't go wrong with any of it. And this says nothing of the gelato which is as omnipresent as Starbucks is in the US. Maybe even more so. You can't walk a block without seeing at least one and likely two shops selling gelato. I believe there is more of a range in terms of quality when it comes to gelato shops but when it comes right down to it, even bad gelato is better than none at all.

Second is the wine. Many of us associate Italian wine with Chianti, which is the region in Tuscany where I went on the bike tour about a month ago. Of course the wine from Chianti is fantastic. But there are many other regions in Italy that produce wine and it's all pretty darn fantastic, too. When you go into any restaurant and get the house wine, there is a strong chance that it will be good. Just down the street from me is perhaps the most fantastic wine store I've ever seen, not because of the selection but because you can bring in your empty wine bottle, choose from one of 7-9 wines they have coming out of spigots in the wall, they fill your bottle and recork it for you... all for about $3. And you may be asking "but how good can it be??" The answer is... you guessed it... pretty darn fantastic.

Third is how beautiful it is here. First I am compelled to say that I love Florence, it's a wonderful city. But acknowledging that there is life outside of Florence (which natives seem loath to do), this is a really beautiful country with incredibly picturesque small towns. So far I've seen two in Tuscany: Siena and Lucca. I'd be hard pressed to say which I liked better, they are really different but so pretty. And then Melissa and I went to the Cinque Terre and I start to run out of adjectives.

The five towns that comprise the Cinque Terre are so quaint and colorful and in defiance of physics that it's hard to put words around it. I think Melissa and I must have commented on the beauty about 75 times in two days. See the photos below (if you click the photo you'll get a larger view). We started at the northernmost end in Monterosso, then hiked to Vernazza where we stayed overnight. Then the next day we hiked the trails through Corniglia and Manarola and finally into Riomaggiore where we stayed the second night.

Everyone needs to go there. Plan it now.


The view into Vernazza from the trail that links the towns. The first section of trail was pretty darn challenging, more stairs than I've had to climb in a really, really long time.

View of Manarola from the trail. The trail between Vernazza and Corniglia was almost as hard as the first one, again like an al fresco Stairmaster... but Corniglia to Manarola was much more pleasant!

In Riomaggiore, Melissa and I get ready to head back to Florence.

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As sorry as I was to leave Cinque Terre, it felt really nice to sit on the train and look forward to getting "home." Yep, I think it's amore.

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