What a day I have had! I'm in the Cinque Terre, on the northwest coast of Italy, and it's absolutely wonderful! Today I did a walking tour around each of the 5 little coastal villages, just to see which is most worth it. It's so worth it! Both tours for next summer will definitely come here! 
I slept late, and so got a late start about 10:00. I decided to take a boat to the first town and work my way back, hiking and taking the train. Counting from the East, I'm staying in the 4th town, which is Vernazza. You see my hotel room in the picture. That's my laundry handing out from the 2nd story on the right. It even had one of those cool little clotheslines on a pulley that you reel in.
I wandered down to the dock, which is really just a little seawall, and bought a ticket to Riomaggiore. Boat soon arrived and threw down the aluminum gangplank on wheels. Fortunately it has handrails! The gangplank was only about 18" wide, and there were big swells on the sea, so the ship rose and fell about 4 feet with each wave. Nobody moved to get on, so I ran up and across the gangplank. It was really fun! Other people followed. The boat probably held 75 people.
The ride only took about a half hour, and it also stopped at Manarola before arriving in Riomaggiore. I stood in the bow of the boat while it rose and fell on the waves. The sky was blue and the air was breezy and warm and the coast was glorious, and I wish you had all been on that boat with me!This picture shows Corniglia. Each town is unique, and I followed my guidebook and walked around them all and got a pretty good idea of how cool they each are. Someone described it as "a pastel tangle of drunken houses leaning upon one another." Lovely description!
I bought several posters, which I will have to mail home tomorrow, because I am traveling with carry-on luggage only, so I don't have a full-size suitcase or my mailing tubes to carry them in. Traveling with only a carry on is much easier, since I get to haul all my own luggage!
Yesterday I bought a 2-day Cinque Terre Card for 13 Euros and thought I'd wasted my money. I only used it once, just to get here from La Spezia, which I could have done for a couple of euros. I could have saved money and only bought a one day card. Today, however, I really got my money's worth out of that card! Today I took a train between towns no less than 4 times, rode a shuttle bus up to Corniglia (which is on top of a hill so the shuttle saved me 375 stairs), rode it back down after exploring Corniglia, rode a 7 story elevator in Riomaggiore, took a 45 minute bus ride up into the hills (more on that later), and hiked between Riomaggiore and Manarola, which also costs money, but all are covered by the Cinque Terre Card. My feet are tired but I accomplished my goal, to see all 5 towns! I only actually hiked between two of the towns. You can tell by the picture that the trail along the coast is mostly paved and pretty level.
It's really prettier than the pictures can show. I stayed on a low trail when I hiked, but you can hike way up into the hills. The paved path was called "La via d' amour," or "the road of love." I've been thinking about bringing a van here, but after the drive up in the hills and conversation with today's van driver, I think that's out. The bad news is that the road to here is only one narrow lane, and it twists around blind curves where the driver has to honk, because no one can see you coming! The good news is that Monterosso, the 5th town, has a parking lot, and you could put a van there and just take the train to Vernazza, which is, I think, the very prettiest of the 5 towns.
Got to go, this place is closing and I'm the only one left. Don't worry, the town is still hopping outside but it's 10:45 and they closed 15 minutes ago.
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