Day 15 Back to Amsterdam, Coming Home Tomorrow! June 30, 2008

5 hours, hotel to hotel, that's what it takes to change cities around here.
I took the train this morning from Brugges to Amsterdam, and it was much less stressful than when I went from Utrecht to Brugges! I only had to change trains once in Antwerp, and I'd been to the very cool 4-level Antwerp station on the way in, so I understood the layout.

My hotel is a real jewel. My room is up 85 steep, narrow stairs (yes, I actually counted them.) It's on the top floor and the toilet is in a little room down the hall; same with the shower. It's super tiny and very plain, but it has a lovely leafy view out the window, and it's only two blocks from the Anne Frank House, right in downtown Amsterdam, and it's cheap and clean. This is the street with my hotel.

15 minutes after I checked in, I was back out and on the way to the Rijksmuseum. Two heavenly hours I spent exploring only the best of the best of their collection, because the rest is closed for renovation and not on view. This is definitely the way to see a museum! Don't waste time on the lesser masterpieces, just go for the gold. In fact, for one of their new acquisitions they spent a cool 12 million euros! The main painters I studied were Vermeer, Jan Steen, and Rembrandt. It was really fun, and Angela can be jealous all day for me!

I knew that the Anne Frank house is open until 9:00, and the lines are gone in the evening, so I did that after the Rijksmuseum closed. The building you see at left is actually her father's business. There was another building hidden behind, which couldn't be seen from the street. So they hid behind the warehouse.

On the way I stopped into a supermarket, looking for both supper and breakfast, and came out with a nectarine, 2 rolls, lots of chocolate (your souvenirs) and something labeled "luchtige" yoghurt. The cognate is "light" so I thought that meant lo-cal. OK. But it really meant "airy," like whipped. So I had airy yoghurt, and it was great!

Some of you may remember when we took you to the Anne Frank House about 1990. Well, they've changed it a lot since then! They bought 2 buildings next to it, to give you a better visitor's center-type introduction to what you will see. They also have blacked out most of the windows, so it will seem more like when the Frank family hid there. I was very involved. In fact, when I realized I'd finished the house and was returning to the visitor's center, I walked backwards against the flow to see it all again before I left. The only entrance to the house was behind the cupboard you see below. The church steeple at the top of this post is what she could see from her attic window.

It is amazing to me how one bright teenager could express so well what she felt and what happened to her. She actually became the voice for millions of others who had no voice. She taught us the horror of the Holocaust, by personalizing it for us.

Otto Frank (her dad) did not read the diary until after he came back from the concentration camp. All his family was gone. Miep (one who had helped them hide) presented the diary to him, but he faound it too painful to read for awhile. When he finally did read, he was amazed. They had had a very good relationship, but he never knew she had such deep thoughts and feelings. He felt like she was an entirely different person than the daughter he knew. He concluded that most parents don't really know their own children. Is that possible? I have thought a lot about that, and I think he's right.

I kind of didn't want to let go of the moment, so I just sat down on a bench with my back to the canal and ate my yoghurt and nectarine and looked up at the old warehouse with the secret annex in back. I guess I don't have any desire to check out the famous Amsterdam nightlife!

The picture just above is the neighborhood, and the picture to the left is the warehouse from across the canal. It's right beside the red awning. The next 2 doors to the right are the visitor's center.

Day 14 Brugges Wonderful Day! Bike Ride; June 29, 2008

I did it! I rented a bike and rode all around Brugges! And I didn,t even fall!
Brugges is an amazingly beautiful city, all restored about 150 years ago, so it,s super cooler than other tozns:

This keyboqrd is driving me crqzy! I can figure out most of the letters but if I do it right I only type about 5 words per pinute: I thought it zas French but now I think it,s either Flemish or Turkish; I found out it's Flemish. That's the same a Dutch, but it's what the Belgians call it.

The first night I arrived, someone was up in the bell tower playing an amazingly difficult concert. I found the courtyard below where lots of people were just sitting around listening, and I joined them. The sky was getting dark and it was really romantic.

I did one smart thing: I bought q ticket for 3 museums qnd q bike ride for qll dqy for €15; Sqved me q bundle; It qlso hqd q free drink qt sope plqce but I never mqde it to there;

I went into several reqlly neqt old churches qnd climbed the bell tower of course; Hqve to get in my dqily 365 stqir steps! One of the churches hqd qn originql Michelangelo Mother and Child sculpture in white marble qnd it zqs very cool: It zqs intended for a church in Sienna Italy; but it zqs purchased by a wealthy Brugges merchant and shipped here: the only Michelangelo work to leave Italy during his lifetime; Brugges was very wealthy port tozn at thqt time, shipping tqpestries qnd wool all over the knozn zorld.

I wandered all over town and saw everything I wanted to. Since everthing zas restored 150 years ago, the colors are lots brighter than in other tozns: I SO wish you could see how cool this place is! Most stuff is from the Golden Age, zhich is the 1600,s zhen Brugges rivaled Florence and Venice as a cultural center. There are lots of canals qnd romqntic little bridges and really unusual churches:

I rode my bike about 7K along the canals and out to a little tozn called Damme; There is a dedicated bike path qlong most streets: The streets are narroz qnd hqve 2 rows of tall trees; one on eqch side: Why do the Belgians plant trees on each side of the street? Same joke as the French: so the Germans can march in the shade: It zqs so beautiful qnd I ended up on q footpqth zith sheep qnd q church qnd I reqlly enjoyed it:

Coming home it zqs qll slightly uphill (aack) zith q huge heqdzind so I hqd to go reqlly slozly, big pain in the legs but that;s more excercise I guess: I can't figure out hoz there caqn be q heqdzind even zhen I turn qnd chqnge directions; but there zqs qnd it zqs qbout 40 miles an hour heqdzind!

I was hqving such a good time I kind of didnùt want to return the bike. I had it for free until 10 PM, so I just rode all around the old section of town for qzhile: Then I hqd to get to this internet place qnd it closes qt 10 so I hqd to tqke the bike bqck. Boo hoo!

Tonight Spain plays Germany in the European Cup finals; so restqrqunts qnd bqrs qll over tozn hqve their biggest TV set up outside for their outside diners to zqtch: The game stqrted qt 8:45 PM; I guess it zill be a noisy evening

Day 13 Utrecht to Brugges; June 28, 2008

So today zqs plqnned to be q trqvel dqy, but I zqnted to do something zith Shel before I levt: She ùs going ho,e to,orroz, but I am going on to Brugges for 2 days.

I found q flozer pqrket qcross the street behind the church qnd ze zqndered qround thqt for qzhile: The flowers were fresh and cheap. Some of them were made into arrangements, and the prices were much lower than in the states. Flowers are the only thing that's cheaper in Europe!

Then ze zent over to zhqt they cqll q clothing ,qrket? It zqs qll bolts of fqbric: Ze zere in hog heqven? It zqs rqining qnd there zere lots of Turkish lqdies zith their heqds covered qnd thousqnds of bolts of fqbric in probqbly 50 stqlls: Shel zqs looking for curtqin fqbric: Ze sqid ze zill repepber this pqrket qnd long for it zhen ze qre gone:


We hqd Kroquetten for lunch in the Winkel & Sinkel. It's famous because it held the first-ever department store in the Nethelands in the 1800's. It's right on a canal and a very nostalgic restaraunt now.






Then we zqndered over to the cqthedrql: There zqs q concert tonight; so the orchedstrq qnd the singers zere prqcticing for the Bqch Mass and the music zqs so good qnd bequtiful in thqt setting thqt I cried,

Took me 5 hours to get from Utrecht to Brugge big pqin but Brugge is FQBULOUS qnd Iùll zrite qbout it tomorrow

Dqy 12 Mom Goes Clubbing, Fabulous ICLS Dinner; June 27, 2008

You'll never believe what Shelley got me to do the other night1 She took me to the party night for her conference1 Later note: The letters are different on this computer and I'm in too much of a hurry to look for the right ones!
It zqs in a cellar in the old quarter: Ze found the qddress qnd zent a dozn or so stqirs into this blqck pqinted bqse,ent under so,e store dozntozn: There zqs q live bqnd qnd colored lights flqshing qnd the ,usic zqs reqlly Loud: Shelley qnd I eqch got q free Sprite: I think her conference hqd reserved the zhole plqce for the evening: Then ze dqnced qnd dqnced zith nobody in pqrticulqr except ourselves: She felt like she needed to be seen there becquse she used to be the secretqry of the zhole orgqniwqtion; qnd they pqid her zqy to the conference this time becquse she zqs one of their keynote speqkers: So ze dqnced qzhile qnd it zqs reqlly loud; so I pulled ,y trusty qirplqne eqrplugs out of ,y purse: Yes; I did put in the eqrplugs qnd grinned qt everybody like q blinkin idiot becquse I could not heqr zhqt they zere sqying: But ze hqd q greqt ti,e: Shel spoke to everyone zhe thought needed to see her: I think I zqs here excuse to leqve eqrly: She sqys itùs not the sqme in the club scene noz thqt sheùs married; she just feels different about it: So ze got there qbout 9;00 qnd left qbout 10;30: Whqt big partyers ze are1

Tonight I qm in Brussels; Belguim qnd this internet cqfe zqnts to close qnd go ho,e eqrly so I could only buy hqlf qn hour: Plus I qm on q dqng French Keyboqrd qnd lots of the letters qre in different plqces qnd if I sloz dozn tço do it right I zill not be qble to finish this post1

Last night we had another completely unreal, fairytqle evening: the conference hqd this qbsolutley fqbulous dinner in the hqll of the originql University of Utrecht: It zqs in zhqt used to be pqrt of the monqstery; so it zqs tqn stone zith q reqlly high Medievql ceiling qnd it zqs like hqving q wedding cqtered in q cathedral: Zhqt qn qtsosphere1 I was astounded the zhole night:

Drinks zere qn hour before in the cloister of the monqstery of the Benedictine monks: There zere lots of glqsses qt our plqces qnd severql courses of FQBULOUS gour,et foodl It zqs lit by 5 brqss chqndeliers qnd the zhole thing zqs Magic1

The guy that is helping shel get her PhD from Open University of the Netherlands was of course in chqrge: So Shel zqs qble to get me q ticket to it, zhich is zithout doubt the most fqbulous dinner I hqve ever qttended:

At our tqble zere some peqlly interesting people; q Chinese guy selling something like qnd iPhone for school kids to leqrn qll their subjects on; q lqdy from MIT zho designed q mystery leqrning gqme for the Ohio zoo bqsed on the kid locqtion qnd GPS, some lqdy studying creqtivity, qnd q big)mouth stud type zith silver hair zho sqid very loudily hoz Mitt Romney zqs q Zero severql ti,mes until I qsked him zhy qnd he shut up: No fqctys to bqck his opinions; too bqd: Iùd hqve like to knoz zhy he thought thqt but I couldnùt get it out of him:

Day 11 Delft, as in Blue & White China; June 26, 2008

Today was a total wild goose chase that ended really well!

I wanted to go to the Peace Palace at The Hague. I knew it would be a problem because I should have gotten tickets earlier, but I tried anyway. I took the train from Utrecht to The Hague and hunted 10 blocks for the tourist information. That was my only chance to get in today. They called but all tickets for today and tomorrow are already taken. Not possible.

So, onto the tram for the ride South to Delft. It's a pretty little town with canals and old buildings mixed with new. The canals are at street level. It's amazing to me that the canals are not lower. (?) If the water rose 6 inches everything would flood.

Caught the blue and white tourist bus to the Delft porcelain factory. It's been making delft porcelain since 1637. There used to be lots, like 40 porcelain manufacturers in that town. About 200 years ago the market dwindled and all but this one went out of business. They survive by being extremely expensive and exclusive.

The factory is now in a 1900's brick building and is smaller than you'd expect considering how famous it is. I really enjoyed the tour. I saw lots of greenware stacked up waiting to be painted and their demonstrations were really clear. Our guide was fun and our group was small. Our tour was in Dutch and English and we were being followed by a German tour group. On the other hand, this is definitely not a destination worth making a special trip for. I noticed tour buses stop here but you can't afford to buy anything. I admired a lovely dish with a lid, about 8 inches across. I turned it upside down to find the price and it was 334 Euros which is about $500!

The highlight of the day was the toothless driver of the little blue and white bus that took me to the factory. He gave me a running guided tour of Delft as we drove around. The bus ran out to a camp ground outside of town, and it was lovely with cows and trees. "Happy cows" as Laura would call them (-line inserted by Shelley who is typing because Mom types slow as molasses).

I knew there was a market in Delft on Thursdays. I've discovered how people can afford to live here. They don't buy anything in the shops because the prices are horrible. They buy from the market. I found two-tone organza sheer fabric for 1.50 Euro a meter. I bought 6 meters and felt like I got a real steal. The chocolates were a lot cheaper in the market too; I had a few of those, of course!

I also discovered that the InterCity train is faster than the 'Stoptrein' by about double. I took the fast train there and the slow train back and it took forever!

Day 10 Shelley's Presentation A Triumph! June 25, 2008

Shelley was great!
She gave her keynote address today at 1:30 p.m. at the University of Utrecht, the largest university in The Netherlands. It's the COSL Conference, put on by the Open University of the Netherlands.
The previous speaker was German and reported on his very minute research to prove that people who use on-line chat in their schoolwork learn more. He was extremely scientific, but dry. Shel says many people there will be glad for his research, so they can quote him. I almost fell asleep.
Shelley's keynote address was a definite wake up! Her Powerpoint presentation slides were colorful, and she was friendly and entertaining. Her slides, in accordance with their philosophy of open, free internet everything which this organization espouses, are all available online for free. She seemed extremely confident and happy. Everyone there enjoyed it, and lots came up after to tell her how great she did.
I'm on a 15 minute computer and I have to post this before it quits!
Aha! I got another free 15 minutes from the hotel desk clerk! Great!
The hall where she presented seats about 500, and probably 300 people were there. It's all extremely modern, with a huge screen, maybe 15 feet high and 40 feet long, to show whatever you want from your computer. She looked really good standing up there, talking into the microphone and switching her slides on the screen. It was a good venue for her style, because the walls are wood and the seats are all different colors, sloping up to the sound booth at the top. In the picture you see the foyer outside the hall. The sound booth is on the left. It's a really cool-looking sound command center, because it is shaped the the blimp Hindenburg and it's made of little strips of wood and it projects from both inside and outside walls of the auditorium.
After her address they presented her with a picture book of the Netherlands and some great chocolates. We went outside and sat in a quiet place by some trees and just let her decompress. Then, of course, she went back to work to edit her article she's publishing.
I, of course, went back to town for more sightseeing!

Day 9 Utrecht; June 24, 2008

What a glorious day! Blue sky and a breeze and an old city to explore is my idea of a great time!







Our hotel is a hundred year old building right in the center of the old town, directly across from the very oldest church. It started as a monastery over a thousand years ago.


First order of business was figure out how to get to the place where Shelley's conference is. I went with her just to see, so I can go on my own later. It's a number of bus stops away, at a huge modern university complex. The building with the conference is ultra-modern fabulous architecture with curved walls and ramps up instead of stairs.

This conference is way cool for her to be a keynote speaker. She will present in a big auditorium at 1:30 Wednesday, which is in 2 hours but is 3:30 A.M. your time!

Shel wanted to take a couple of hours just to sight-see, so we came back and wandered the town. Then she returned to the conference and locked herself into her friend's office to work on an article they will joint publish. We set up a meeting time for 6:00, which gave her 4 hours to work.
Meanwhile, I entertained myself walking around the old town. It has quaint canals and tall skinny buildings right out of the 1600's right next to modern steel and glass structure. The streets and canals are lined with chestnut and sycamore and linden trees. The fragrance of the lindens is in the air and it's lovely!

Bicycles are the main mode of transport. Everyone rides them; businessmen with briefcases, old ladies with their shopping baskets, students wearing i-pods. There are literally tousands of them everywhere! There is a two-tier sidewalk system. The outer area is for pedestrians, the next sidewalk is for bicycles, and then there's the street. Look very carefully before crossing, because you'll get mowed down by another silent bicycle!

I have a new favorite building. It's this library I'm in right now, typing away to you on the internet. On the street level there are the usual shops, but there is a door with a small sign that says "Ütrecht bibliotek" and a door that leads into the innards of the building. Upstairs, the building is huge and several stories. It's a modern library with a central atrium on the top 3 floors of a small city block. A cute little pregnant lady showed me how to buy a voucher from the machine to get a code to get on the internet. Internet is only €2 and hour here, but at the hotel it's €10. There is even a snack area up here. It's kind of like being at Barnes and Noble, but with really modern architecture in an old building!

Got to go, my time will run out in one minute!

Day 8 All Day Travel, Cinque Terre to Utrecht; June 23, 2008

How many different modes of travel can one person do in one crazy long day? We decided the number is TEN different legs, because that's what we did yesterday! 14 hours in transit, oh my heck we're tired!
This was our Monday:
1. Cinque Terre regional train to Sestri Levante
Lots and lots of tunnels, because the mountains drop right down to the sea, and the train wants to travel on the flat! Tunnel through every mountain. When we get an opening to the sea, it's glorious!
2. Sestri Levante to Genoa, regional train (read, slow and makes tons of stops)
Gorgeous views of the sea and the Italian Riviera. Lots of yachts on the smooth blue sea, purple bouganvilla and flat-topped pines, and sun-drenched houses of yellow, tan, pink, and coral hues all crammed together. Red tile roofs. Genoa is the home town of Christopher Columbus, and you can understand why he loved the sea. It is so beautiful here!
3. Genoa to Milan, faster IC train. Nice airline seats, everyone has a seat reservation.
Traveling north now, through open fields and small Italian workaday towns. We try to sleep sitting up facing strangers in the seats across from us. Hmm . . . not very successful.
4. We're in Milan, let's take this chance to go see the Milan Opera House! Maybe the greatest opera house in the world. In an 1880's building, with a lovely ballroom on the second floor similar to the Paris Opera House. We eavesdropped on a lady giving an English tour to a couple in the next box. Fabulous horseshoe shape, five tiers high, red velvet draped with gold. The stage area has all been redone to make it competitive with other worldwide opera venues. Stage area is as large as the audience, and can have 3 separate sets going at once. They have over 150 feet of fly space, meaning they can raise very tall sets up into the rafters with a touch of a button. For theater people, this is way cool. I really enjoyed it because I've heard about this place forever, and I finally got to go see it!
Took the Metro subway from the train station to downtown Milan.
5. Had lunch in a huge glassed atrium in the center of Milan. Right in the center, 80 feet to the ceiling, and we found the prime table. The stores facing us were Mercedes Benz, Louis Vuitton, Prada, and us. Guess where we ate? McDonald's! Absolutely prime real estate, the atmosphere was fabulous, and the price was right!
Did our spin on the testicles of the bull in center of the atrium. Supposed to bring good luck!
Dashed back past the white marble Milan Cathedral on our way to the Metro back to the train station.
6. Took a big shuttle bus from the station to the airport: the Malpensa Express. I like the jazzy velvet seats and the footrests! Stash your luggage underneath, this is like a tour bus.
7. Checked in for our EasyJet flight to Amsterdam. This was definitely not easy! The airport was packed, there was no place to sit, they changed our gate 3 times, and it's cattle car seating like Southwest airlines. AACK! They piled us all in low-slung busses to take us out to the plane.
8. Flight from Milan to Amsterdam. Quite pleasant, only 90 minutes. Shelley wanted the aisle and I wanted the window, so we got a great lady between us and yakked up a storm. She's from Utrecht and gave us can't-miss-it directions to our hotel. Well, we missed it. Anyway, she is a translator from German to Dutch, and she edits and translates for an auxiliary services health magazine.
9. VISA cards have given us grief this whole trip. Sometimes one of ours will work. I don't think it's really the fault of America First. I think VISA International is doing wierd things, taking money from savings instead of checking, then switching it, etc. We finally got train tickets from AMS Schipol airport to the central train station in Utrecht. What a wonderful ride!
The train was new and sleek with a pointed nose, smooth and clean and fast. It was 9:00 at night, and the light was golden and it played sunset symphony for an hour as we sped through the countryside.
I love The Netherlands! The old parts of the cities look like right out of the year 1600, with tall skinny buildings and canals everywhere.
The rest of the country is absolutely like living in Tomorrowland! Fast trains link the cities, busses run on their own dedicated roads, and there are huge modern buildings everywhere. The flat ground is landscaped with many uniform rows or trees, and the green flat ground is still laced with canals.
10. Arrival in Utrecht. Finally! The station is really an upscale shopping mall, with the trains coming in underneath. We try to follow the several sets of directions we have. we walk about a mile, and finally see the sign four our hotel in an unexpected spot. Try to check iin. Confusion. Guess what? There ar two NL hotels in Utrecht! We are supposed to be at the other one!
We finally give up and have the desk call us a taxi. Mercedes Benz, nice taxi. I thought it would cost more, but it was only €7.50. We finally arrived at the correct hotel, in the center of the old city, and right across the street from the oldest church in town.
So that was our ten travels for the day! May you always have shorter travel days, and may they be as varied and exciting as this one was!

Day 7 Looking for Church in La Spezia; June 22, 2008

Sunday morning and I wanted to go to Church and just be with the Saints and take the sacrament. So yesterday I frantically e-mailed a girl I know who served a mission in this area and asked if there was even an organized branch in La Spezia? Her family got a hold of her and soon I had a return e-mail with can't-miss-it directions.

Sunday School at 9 and Sacrament Meeting at 10:50. Sounded pretty normal. I decided to leave about 8:30. Blockade number one: no train leaving Vernazza until 9:35. Wasted a whole hour! Walked up to the old Catholc church on the hill (it was locked) and sat in a tiny, overgrown park built above the train station and wondered if children ever even used the play equipment surrounded by 3-foot weeds.

When I finally arrived in La Spezia it was already 10:00. Outside the station there's lots of construction, but where are the bus stops? I asked a kindly old man with many warts on his face, and he pointed me in the right direction. Race down the stairs, and more stairs to a side street, but which direction do I go on the bus? Pulled out Larry's trusty compass and decided to go East. I asked two old ladies which bus to take, and they said number 3. That was not on my directions! I went up the street to the stop going the other (East) way and waited. No bus. Here came the same old man again, so I asked him for directions again. He said bus 3 also. Help, what do I do? The guy speaks no English. He motions that he will take me there. This is kind of wierd . . . but at any rate I am taller than him and probably lots tougher.

So I decide to just trust him, and let him put me on bus 3. After winding around in lots of back streets we come to a more main road, and he says "Scendere," meaning I should get off. There was a large park, and we both got off. We waited a few minutes, and then he motions that I should ask a nearby taxi driver. So I do, and he speaks no English either, but I understand him to say "Bus L." I suddenly realize that my directions did not say bus 1, they said bus L; but the font it printed in did not make a distinction! Hallelujah, I know what I am doing now!

In a few minutes, bus L appears and I get on. At every stop, crowds of people get on, all carrying bright bags. This must be the bus going to the beach! Pretty soon the bus is so crowded I can't see out, so I squeeze my way to the front. I have to be able to see what's ahead to find the Penny Market, which is my clue to get off. Sure enough, eventually we approach the red Penny Market sign, and I squeeze my way out of the body jam.

I was glad to be free, but I realize I'm in an industrial area on a Sunday morning, and there is no one to ask for directions. So I follow what I've got as best I can, and after about 10 minutes I arrive at a long building like many others behind a parking lot, with a doorbell that says, "La Chiesa di Gesu Cristo." I ring the bell, they buzz me in, up to the second floor, and I'm here! It's 11:00 and the music is just starting for the sacrament hymn. I'm so happy I could cry. I made it!

The room is small and bright, and there are about 50 people in attendance. The branch president and one counselor preside. The sacrament is passed by 2 boys about age 12 with dark hair and tans. It only takes a few minutes because we are so few. The starting speakers are missionaries. The first is a greenie, and he speaks so slowly I can almost understand. The second is a Hawaiian elder of Chinese descent, and he starts with "Aloooo---ha!" The congregation answers him with "Aloooo---ha!" This is going to be fun! He speaks in rapid-fire Italian, but he carries the Spirit, so I can pretty well follow what he's saying. He's happy and on fire and he reminds me of what Troy must have looked like on his mission. So I really enjoyed the meeting.

Afterward I spoke to several missionaries and the branch president's wife and daughter and had a good time chatting with the members.

Getting home was lots easier, now that I knew where I was going. The only glitch was the bus driver couldn't sell me a ticket, so he just let me ride for free. Once again, I was left hoping the inspectors would not get on! It only took 1 & 1/2 hours to get back to Vernazza from the time I left the church. I was home by 2:00. It was a long wild goose chase, but it was worth it!

Day 6 Cinque Terre Hiking; June 21, 2008

"Go to the Pirate Bar, (pronounced pee-rrrah-tay) turn left, and go up, and up, and up and up!" Those were the instructions from our landlady on how to get to the shrine above town, and boy were they an understatement! We hiked "up and up and up and up" forever!

Yesterday in Vernazza, Shelley bought a really cool little necklace. It has a dark bronze chain and 2 little charms that hang from it, one dangling above the other. The store owner painted the charms herself, and they put exactly the charms Shelley wanted onto the chain she chose. The lady explained to Shelley that the Madoninna was the saint for this town, and "We are very devoted to her." When she said it was to be found in a shrine above the town, we determined to go there.

So our landlady gave us instructions on how to get there. She said she'd been jogging up there last Sunday. So how far could it be? Wrong!

We found the Pirate Bar and the left turn, no problem; and started up and up. Two hours later, we were still admiring the ocean views on our frequent rest stops, and still hiking up and up and up and up! We passed a number of small shrines and several signs. We weren't giving up!

When we finally found it, we laughed and laughed. There was a small, decaying building with an arched roof, peeling stucco (everything in Italy is peeling) and a rusty decorative iron door grate that was padlocked shut. Inside, an altar was visible, and behind that a very small painting on the wall of the Madonna and Child. We'd finally found her, and she was so tiny we had to use the zoom and the flash on the camera to see what she looked like!
We decided that was why she was called "Madoninna" meaning tiny little eensy-weensy Madonna, and that the picture on Shelley's neclace charm must be about life size! I can't wait to put my pictures of this one into this blogpost!

After our hike we were so hot and sweaty we definitely need another swim, so back to the beach we went. We're getting great suntans, be jealous, will you?

This evening we took the train to Monterosso, which is the next town. As much trouble as it was, you'd think we went to Paris, not just 2 miles down the coast. The train going was 45 minutes late, so it was packed. Returning, there were several trains that were in ritardo (delayed,) so no one could tell which train was the 8:32. Those trains were packed, too. We got on and off one train twice while it sat in the station, and a very confident lady from California assured us loudly that "This is the right train. My husband said so, and he's never wrong." Well, we left that train and ran to the next one, jumped on, and were in Vernazza 5 minutes later. I think she and her husband may still be waiting for that train to take off and get here!

We're going back to the beach to see the lights of the other towns... wish you were here!

Day 5 Cinque Terre Hiking; June 20, 2008

OK, so Shel & I are lying on the sand on the little beach in Vernazza. The sun is warm and every time we get hot, we run into the clear, cold water. The bells from the church by the harbor startle us back to reality, and I say,"Well, I guess I'd better go switch my laundry."

I walk barefoot 25 yards up a skinny alley to a pointed, unmarked arch and push open the green medieval door. Inside is a tiny state-of-the-art laundromat. The 2 washers and 2 dryers have digital displays in 10 languages. I pop my wet clothes into the dryer, choose my language, choose my program, and insert €6. The readout says I have 50 minutes. Then it's back to my nap on the beach. What a life!

This morning we took the boat from Vernazza to Riomaggiore, 3 towns down the coast. We walked the Via del Amore, or Street of Love. It's acually a hiking trail clinging to the mountains, running along just above the seacoast between riomaggiore and Manarola. Most of it is actually paved, and there are native flowers and rest stops. There's a place where lovers bring padlocks to fasten to the rail. Then they throw the key into the sea, signifying their undying love for each other. Romantic! The whole hike was supposed to take 30 minutes, but it took us more than an hour because we kept stopping to take pictures. It's sooooo beautiful!

There's a wonderful little 45-minute vineyard hike above Manarola. The hills were terraced over hundreds of years by men and women building dry stone walls, and then backfilling them with rubble and then layers of good soil they brought in, one basket at a time. We passed several little shrines and the views are spectacular!

Some people (especially energetic Germans) hike from one end of the Cinque Terre to the other, covering all 5 towns in one day. Shelley and I hiked from the first town to the second; then took the vineyard stroll, stopping often to sit and enjoy the view. Then we took the train back to Vernazza and laid on the beach and shopped the rest of the afternoon.

Day 4 Amsterdam to the Cinque Terre; June 19, 2008

Tonight during dinner we watched the sun set over the Mediterranean Sea. The bright umbrellas over our table and a handsome Italian waiter were the finishing touches. What a life!
We are in Vernazza, which is a tiny little town in the Cinque Terra, on the Northern coast of Italy. The buildings are quaint and colorful. The painted stucco is peeling in a charming way.

The day began at 5:00 am in Haarlem, when I woke up to take a shower before Shelley knew the world was turning. We left our hotel at 6:30 am to drag our bags one kilometer over cobblestones to the main station. We got back onto our friendly red bus 300 for the forty minute ride to the airport. The bus has a special lane the whole way or it would take a lot longer. We checked in with plenty of time for our flight from Amsterdam to Milan. The sky was threatening rain and we were glad to leave for sunny Italy.
In Milan we decided to stop and go see the cathedral. It's huge! It's twice as wide as a normal cathedral. It looks like a spiky, flamboyant pink monolith. We toured the inside in about ten minutes flat. It is dark and grand with pillars the size of giant sequoias.

The most amazing part, though is the roof. For 7 euros, we took the elevator up to the roof (you can save a couple of euro by taking the stairs... no thanks). I've never seen so many ornate spires. Not even in Oxford. Every one is different. There are over 2000 statues, all unique. We stayed on the roof until we absolutely had to split for the train to Vernazza.

We figured out that the guy who sold us the train ticket took a bit off the top for himself. The route he sent us on was shorter, and he reserved seats for us which made our trip MUCH easier. So as it turns out, we would have tipped him anyway and we weren't upset a bit that he did it for us.

Four hours later, we were in Vernazza, met at the station by a friend of our landlady. That could have been a real bomb, but it turned out just fine. She showed us to our quaint room overlooking the main street of Vernazza.

Shelley is looking forward to a relaxing time. So far it's been delightful.