Friday July 31st - Breakfast in Venice, Lunch in Florence, Dinner in Cinque Terra

We rose bright and early, walked to the Rialto vaporatto dock, and floated on down to the train station for our 9:01 train (it was scheduled for 8:43...Viva Italia!). The train was the nice fast Eurostar Italia, which spirited us off to Florence just in time for lunch.

The word "lunch" is too terse and pedestrian to properly describe the best Italian food we have had since our honeymoon. Sean and Joel each got a pasta dish followed by a bowl of the world's best ministone. Margaret got a salad, and tasted the other dishes (still not feeling so well today).

After lunch the three of us walked to the Duomo, which is the large gothic cathedral (built between 1300 and 1435) that is pretty much every picture of Florence. After lighting a candle in the cathedral and, of course, stopping for a cone of gelato, we headed back to the train station and boarded the most dilapitated/graffititied train we have ever seen...no wonder the Cinque Terra is less-traveled!

We arrived in Vernazza about 2 hours later, which is the fourth of the five towns here. We had dinner on a cliff overlooking the Italian Riviera, and quickly decided that this place needs to be on our short list of places to come back to. It is a UNESCO site, and as such can not have any further development, so there are no big hotel chains and you probably can't book anything here on expedia, the combination of which scares away pretty much all the obnoxious Americans. The streets are full of...guess what...Italians!, and also some Germans, French, and all the American's are easy to spot because they have a Rick Steves book. We kid you not, 4 of 5 English speakers visibly have his book, the other 1 of 5 either have it in their backpacks or found their way here by some other means.

Saturday August 1st - Now This is What Vacation is All About

Today could be described as the perfect vacation day, the stuff that dreams and legends are made of. We started off the morning in our little town and walked SE to Corniglia, the next town down the coast. The walk wound through olive groves, vineyards, and steep cliffs plunging into the Mediteranean.

In Corniglia ("Cornelia") we stopped for breakfast and a Cappacino and went on walking SE to the next town of Manarola. When we got to Manarola we decided that we were feeling so energetic from breakfast we walked on down to the 1st town, Riomaggiore. In Riomaggiore we went into a 'snack' shop and got excellent 'to go' Itlaian food which we ate at the rocky cove.

We hopped on the train back to Vernazza and headed to the beach for a little R&R. Sean and Joel joined in on some informal water polo in the Meditterean for two hours with the locals, and Margaret tried to pretend that she was tanning on the beach (as opposed to burning...which is really what happened).

For dinner this evening we went to the local stores and picked up the best local ingredients for a Panzanella salad, which we ate on the terrace of our apartment overlooking the main street. Cinque Terra is credited with the invention of Pesto, so of course we had some of that too! We paired this fine meal with the Moravian wine that we purchased in Hlohovec (Czech Republic), drawn straight from the barrel. Such a fresh meal!

While we were eating, a Catholic procession went by (we are guessing first communion). It was wonderful, and incredible to see this local tradition. First in the procession was the priest,a man carrying an empty cross, followed by a marching band, followed by about 100 locals, followed by about 30 kids all dressed in white with black capes, and canes with handkerchiefs tied to them, followed by another priest (this one chanting), then a crucifix, and about 200 more locals, all on their way to the local church. What a treat to see some local traditions!

Thursday July 30th - Vomit in Venezia

Today we got an early start in the breakfast area of our hotel,and then headed to the Clock Tower in Saint Mark's square to watch statues ring the bell. We went throuh our guidebook so we knew what all the different buildings were, and then hopped onto a ferry to the island of Murano.


When you hear the term 'venetian' glass, it is likely handmade on this beautiful and historical little island. But the history can't be found on a building or a posted plaque, but rather in each piece of glass in each shop. The island has a plethora of hot shops ("fornace": furnace, in ITalian), all making their own unique version of Venetian glass, with history and methods that have been passed down for over a thousand years. Sean and I were amazed with each and every technique, and I think the shop keepers had fun too explaining the techniques to people that understood what they were.

We ate lunch at a small cafe in Murano, and then took the boat back to Saint Mark's square. Once we were up in our room to put our feet up I got sick. We tried to get ready to go to St Marks Basilica which I really wanted to see, but I got sick again so Sean went with Joel instead, leaving me to the sound of the gondaliers and the laptop to update(but not post) our blog, internet here is expensive, so these posts will have to wait for another day.

Wednesday July 29th - Rendezvous in Venice

We rode the overnight train from Budapest to Venice, with a change in Vienna. Joel met us at Santa Lucia Station in Venice, after taking a three hour early-morning photo safari while waiting for us. We hopped the vaporatto to our hotel and checked in early.

Tuesday July 28th - Explored Budapest

Walked around Budapest today. Took great photos of their Parliment building.

Monday July 27th - Arrival into Budapest

Woke up early and hit the road on our bikes, visited UNESCO monestary Pannonhalma in Hungary...stunning. Then made our way by van to our hotel in Budapest. We really enjoyed the pools and the natural thermal baths which just happened to be co-located with our hotel. We had a nice last dinner out with our bike crew, we really were blessed with such a wonderful group of folks to enjoy our time in this part of the world with.

Sunday July 26th - Gyor

Rode with bike crew into Gyor, Margaret got another flat tire, ran over a tack this time...doh! A local was convinced that Margaret would not be OK unless he offered his personal assistance, so Tomas the guide fixed the flat, while Margaret, Sean and the Hospitable Hungarian all watched.