Scholl trip: Cinque Terre

Hi everyone! As many of you know, our Texas family came out to visit us in Italy. They were here for almost two weeks and we had a high-paced, wonderful time. Our first stop was Cinque Terre, which are five quaint towns perched on the Mediterranean coast: Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso. John's parents have been dreaming of seeing the Cinque Terre for many years and now they've finally been there!

Kay and Tom's first dinner in Italy together. Kay had been to Italy before, but this was Tom's first trip. Thanks to him, we had a different Italian wine almost every night!


Here they are admiring the rustic qualities of the Cinque Terre. Some of us have heard the story of Kay's great ladder search in Santa Fe; you can't tell it, but she's calculating how to get that door back to Texas.


Here's John's brother, Rob, working with his new camera; he couldn't ask for a better setting to try it out.


The Scholl crew (minus me).


Me at Riomaggiore.


Kay and Tom's first venture into vandalism (I think) at the Lover's Walk.


Me on the cutest little staircase in Italy.


Tom and John chilling in Corniglia.


One of the wine shops in Corniglia had a 'beer of history' section. Here's Tom showing off some Mussolini beer.


John and Rob descending the 400+ stairs that led from the town of Corniglia down to the train station.


Our hotel was in Vernazza and one night we dined at a restaurant that had a beautiful view of the harbor. (We won't talk about the massive, brutal set of stairs we had to climb to get up there.)


Here we are waiting for our meal. Note the bottle of wine Tom had already ordered.


We had wanted to take a boat from one town to another, but the water was so choppy the boats weren't running. When Rob and I were at the harbor one morning admiring the waves, we saw a guy actually jump off the pier pictured and go swimming! Entertaining, but crazy. In the second picture you can see him diving in.


There he goes!



Here's a video of the waves and of Vernazza. Sorry about the very end; I forgot that you can't tilt the camera while taking a video. Oops.



Tom and Kay showing off Vernazza.


John and me.


Stage one of the Scholl European Extravaganza has finished. Here are the intrepid travelers waiting at the Monterosso train station for the ride back to Torino.


Next stop, Briancon, France!