The Cinque Terre/ Rick Steves kingdom

Bonjouro!

Welcome to paradise! I planned on only spending a couple of days here and then continuing to Tuscany, but ended up spending a week in Vernazza. There are 5 towns which make up the Cinque Terre, one of them being Vernazza, and the one that I stayed in. I would say that Vernazza the the crown Jewel of the Cinque Terre. It is the only town out of all 5 that has a natural harbor, yet does not feel touristy like the others. Alot of people say after they come back from vacation, that they need another vacation from their vacation. Well Cinque Terre is not one of those places. When you arrive in the Cinque Terre you immediately become relaxed and quickly get accustomed to the layed back way of life. There is a local saying "vita pigra di Vernazza"(the lazy life of Vernazza) which is very very true.

Last summer when I was traveling with my friends Chris and Andy, we were able to spend 3 nights in Vernazza, and I knew immediately that Vernazza was a place that I wanted to come back to. There was just something special about being here. The Cinque Terre has an alure that is hard to describe for those who have not visited here. Thus one of the reasons why I ended spending a week here. Several other travelers that I met, ended up extending their stay because they enjoyed being here so much.

Some of my daily activities included sleeping in until the church bells woke me up, hiking between all 5 towns(its about 8km and takes 4 hrs), swimming, sitting on the beach reading a book(new book is mountain beyond mountains), meeting people/ hang out with the guys at the Blue Marlin Bar and just doing whatever I felt like! However I have come to realize that I should not swim in Vernazza. Last summer I was stung by a jelly fish and this summer I really cut both of my feet pretty bad. So needless to say, my next visit to Vernazza, I will not be swimming. But other than that little incident, it was so so wonderful to be in the Cinque Terre again! When I left Vernazza I felt that really had gotten a chance to relax.

As mentioned in my title of this blog, the Cinque Terre has become very popular with tourists, mainly because of Rick Steves and his famous tour books. He is almost considered a god here. You cant help but see his blue Italy book in the hand of tourists as they walk around or hear his name mentioned numerous times!! Almost ever traveler that I met (or most all Americans) were in Cinque Terre because of his book.

It felt so good to be back in the Cinque Terre. If you need any convincing to come visit this special place, just take a look at some of my pictures! Until next time... Ciao!!

Cote d' Azur

Bonjour!

Well its been sometime since I have written... still not use to this whole blogging thing.

So I have come and gone from the South of France, was there for 2 weeks!

Lars flew down from Norway with me for a long weekend. Our residence for my/our time was my godfathers pool house! While Lars was there we spend time by the pool, went to Monaco, ended up going out on my godfathers boat for the day and having dinner at the beach on Cap Dai amd just generally doing what you do in the South of France which is enjoying the food, wine and ambience!

After Larsy Boy left I spent alot of time just kinda hanging out and doing what ever I felt like, which included sitting by the pool almost every day and doing some reading and listening to my Ipod. I finished my first book "Three Cups of Tea". I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a really good read! Every morning my godfather Craig and I would ride bikes up the village(St. Paul de Vence) about 2 k from his house. We called it our version of training for the summer olympics. Our bike ride would be followed by swimming laps in the pool.

During the rest of my time in the South of France, some of the highlights include getting to met the Prince of Monaco, Bill Wyman( the former Bass player in the Rolling Stones) going out on the boat a couple more times, going to the Monaco Red Cross Ball, seeing super yachts such as Paul Allens 'Tatoosh'... what can I say, but life is really rough in the South of France

It always feels good to be back in the South of France and I can't believe my time has come and gone from such a special place!

Until next time... Auvoir!