Mimi Muses: Two for One

Lynn's House
The pathway to hell is paved with good intentions...not sure who said that but my equivalent would be the composing of daily blogs was a good intention. So far that hasn't happen not that I don't have things to say but the days seem to slip by.

Therefore this blog will be divided into two parts similar to Julius Caesar and the Gaul thing. First, comments about daily life. If you are sick in Italy the locals will say don't go to the ospedale (hospital).You will wait many hours to find out the same thing they will tell you at the farmacia. One can not buy drugs whether over the counter or prescription anywhere but the pharmacy...Not even an aspirin in the supermarket! That means you have to park, place a parking ticket on your car dashboard after you find the ticket dispenser, walk to the pharmacy, take a number to speak to the staff and wait. When your number is called, you speak to a staff member and explain your issue...mine was that I had 83 spots on unknown origin and that I had chest congestion. I am simplifying this ordeal as I actually made the trek two times this last week. For the congestion, I was prescribed a kind of powder to loosen mucus which I learned (I had to find someone who could read Italian), you mix with water and drink three times a day. Complicated, yes.

Since the spots were intensifying, I asked Lynn ( the doyenne of the estate) if she'd go with me to explain the malady in Italian which she graciously did.

Road to Wellness

This time the pharmacist/doctor agreed that they were probably some kind of allergy from unknown origin and suggested Zirtec, (Italian for Zyrtec), Lanacort, no sun and only white clothing made of cotton or linen. I purchased the Zirtec antihistamine and Lanacort hydrocortisone cream at the pharmacy and Lynn took me to a local shop where I found two large, breezy white linen shirts. Staying out of the sun was more problematic as we were leaving for the Italian Riviera coast within hours. I changed clothes immediately and, admittedly, the loose clothing was much more comfortable. As soon as we started the trip, I took a Zyrtec and awoke two hours later breathing the salt air!

Prescribed clothing!

The question that comes to mind is: 1. There aren't enough Italian doctors or they're not
into actually seeing patients or 2. The pharmacist have a really strong lobby that has
managed to monopolize the legal drug market ( I am not speculating about the illegal drug
market as I am in Italy and I think it might be a Mafia thing when they are not involved in
garbage collecting or gambling). Anyway, it is annoying to have to make extra stops to get
Neosporin etc.

The trip to Cinque Terre was the second adventure of the week. Betsy's friends Yarrow and Lauren came last Sunday. They were over for a Mondavi (yes, the wine people) grandson wedding and came up to the countryside for a few days and Betsy's close friend Kelly came for a get away from work. She was involved in the GLEE European tour and needed a break. This is an LA crowd after all!

Fortunately, one night two of the girls in the program volunteered to babysit and we all had a fabulous dinner at a local, small restaurant in the village next door....no menus and no prices. They told us what all they had cooked for the night, we chose our food and settled up at the end. We never got past the first course of the most delicate raviolis I've ever encountered.

The guests and Betsy had all gone to Florence one night to join Betsy's class at the

Uffizi and to see the David plus dinner. Rider and I stayed home for a quiet night. Then

Thursday ( after Yarrow and Lauren left ) Betsy, Kelly and I plus bambino went into Florence for shopping. Betsy is a champion driver and already knows her way around. The GPS is an outstanding help as well...never rent a car in Europe without the GPS. Here in Italy they put about 6 or 8 signs all together and

there is no way to read them and drive at the same time so GPS gives the heads up.

We parked about a twenty minute way from downtown. Note: DO NOT DRIVE in the center of Florence. To do so is to risk huge fines as you have to have some kind of special permit. There are parking garages on the outskirts and you can walk in to the center or take a bus. We shopped the market near the Duomo and some shops near Piazza Republicca, ate gelato and a light supper and then home by eight. Rider was a champ until the end when he'd had enough and needed a diaper change. If you are traveling with a baby, don't count on having a good changing place. Though we travel with a separate blanket to spread out for changing, most often there is not enough room in the bathrooms to turn around much less change a baby. Yesterday we actually used the back of a boat deck for an emergency change. Another suggestion on traveling with a little one, end the trip about an hour before you'd like to stop. You'll pay the price later when they get over tired if you persevere.

I'd like to put a plug in right now for our Peg Perego stroller. I should advertise for this company. We have taken it everywhere for about a month and it's still holding up fine. The
roads around the estate are white gravel and very hard sledding when we stroll which is
several times a day and, of course, there are the ever-present cobblestones as well as the
general rough sidewalks. Now it's looking fairly grungy so we'll try to clean it this week and
I'll report on "clean ability".

Cinque Terre from the sea

Part Duo
Cinque Terre
Cinque Terre is pronounced " Chink- weh Tay-reh " and means five lands which describes the five small towns strung along the coast of the Ligurian Sea on the west side of northern
Italy. Each small town is pretty isolated and unique in its' own way. The whole area is
stunning and worth the visit. We asked our new friend, Janet, who is a member of Betsy's class, to join us. She is nearer to my age than Betsy's and is a delight. Plus she proved to be an easy traveling companion. Kelly and Betsy planned to stay at one of the Cinque Terre
towns...Monterosso al Mare right on the beach but I booked Janet and I in the hills above La
Spezia which is a large city that is an easy and inexpensive train ride to the CT towns. The
CT towns have very limited hotel space and it tends to be expensive but we stayed at a lovely
hotel for 78 euros per night including a delicious breakfast. There were tourists from many
other countries there but we were the only Americans. I'm not certain that it would be very
convenient without a car but it was only about 7 minutes down the mountain to the train
station and we quickly figured out a direct route and a good place to park. Additionally,
because Janet is a sculptor, we wanted to go to Carrara on our morning without Rider to see the famous marble mines and visit the marble museum and La Spezia is much closer to our destination.

The trip over to the coast was a little over two hours and Rider slept for the duration which
made things peaceful and he arrived rested. Even with GPS we had a bit of trouble finding the Hotel Nella as it is way above the city and one has to go through numerous tunnels to the
summit. ( later we found another new road that eliminates a bunch of the long tunnels ) We had
decided that Betsy and Kelly would take Rider the first night and the next morning, we'd
meet at 1:30 on Saturday and spend the afternoon together and Janet and I would take him on
Saturday night and Sunday am. You may have surmised by now that Janet is a good sport and
mother of adult children so she agreed to this plan! Or she's a glutton for cruel and unusual
punishment.

Vernazza

Anyway, Janet and I dropped off our bags and we all headed to the train station as we had
planned to have dinner together in one of the villages, Vernazza, at a taverna that is owned
by the sister of a friend of Betsy's and Kellie's who is married to an Italian man. We found
what we hoped was a safe and legal parking area, left the car and walked the four blocks to
the train station. Betsy negotiated the tickets and, for only a few Euros, we had tickets out
to Monterosso. It's not too difficult to do baby, luggage and stroller with four adults but it
would have been a lot harder with less hands.

Train to Monterosso

I see the ocean!

View from Hotel La Spiaggia
After checking in at their hotel, we all caught a quick train back down the spine of towns to Vernazza. Hopefully I can at least get photos up on Facebook but if not, Goggle this area to see how charming it is.

Taverna in Vernazza

Inlet in Vernazza
We had an amazing dinner of various fishes. The octopus and potato salad and the lemon swordfish were probably my favorites but there was also the mussels, the mixed fish salad and a pasta with shrimp that were good. Cold beer followed by local red wine completed this memorable meal. It was definitely the best meal we've had thus far made even more so by the ambiance of being at the sea's edge overlooking a colorful array of boats. Truly captivating!

The only glitch...when Janet and I went to catch the train back to La Spezia, we discovered
the trains only run every hour after eight so we had a wait of about an hour and would return
to the La Spezia station after dark and would have to walk four blocks to the car. The up side was that it was Italy and Saturday night and people walk the streets at that hour and, in
fact, some don't even go to dinner until then. After parting company with Betsy, Rider and
Kellie, we had no trouble returning to the hotel and got a great night's sleep. I realized the
next morning it was the first night in almost a month that I hadn't been awakened by a BABY.
I actually slept until I awoke on my own. What a treat!

Next day, we trekked to Carrara and saw the massive marble mountains. Marble has been mined
there since before the Roman Empire and it is incredible to see whole sides of mountains
gleaming white. From a distance it appears the mountains are inexplicably covered with snow
but actually one is seeing the denuded sides of the mountains. It is said that Michelangelo actually traveled to Carrara to select the marble for most of his sculptures. The Marble
Museum is on the main street and totally "un busy".

Carrara Marble Museum
The staff acted like they were surprised that anyone actually wanted to visit but there was an excellent four part film available in English that explained the history of the area and the process of marble extraction through the centuries. This operation is definitely on a bigger level than Tate, Georgia!
Janet was understandably thrilled and I throughly enjoyed the trip. Our only regret was that we didn't have enough time to hit the main piazza to see the statues there. Plus we couldn't get to the actual mines but could clearly see the mountains with their gleaming faces where the marble had been removed for hundreds of years. We had a full afternoon ahead and needed to get back to La Spezia, catch the train to Monterosso and meet the girls before our scenic boat ride down the coast and the walk along Lover's Walk ( Via dell'Amore ) from Riomaggiore to Manarola_two of the five towns.

Corniglia

Cinque Terre is a national park and the five towns are connected by hiking trails of varying
difficulties. The Via dell'Amore is the only one that is accessible by stroller and we wanted
to do the twenty minute walk. Rick Steves needs to note though that to get from the boat ramp
(where we arrived) to Riomaggiore involves about 271 steps straight up and unless you are
super strong mom, like Betsy Matz, you couldn't even get your baby and stroller to the town much
less the entrance to the walkway!

Docking at Riomaggiore

Riomaggiore

By the train station there is an elevator to the walk but it is only to be used by the disabled which would have been me if I'd been responsible for toting up a 29 pound baby and a 14 pound stroller. Once again, Betsy picked the whole rig up and climbed about 40 steps. The rest of us were suitably impressed and she wasn't even breathing hard.

Starting on the Via dell' Amore

Via dell ' Amore

Long way down...
We saw incredible sights on the walk and most of them were of nature...the rocks, the sea etc. However, it is the custom to declare your love by writing it in the cliffs, leaving padlocks attached to the wire fences holding some of the rock faces or, in some cases, tying ribbons, small pieces of plastic or your bikini underwear to the wire. I'm hoping the underwear was at least clean or became so after the rainstorms in the area!

Manarola
When we reached Manarola, Betsy and Kelly joined other brave (and hot) folks in the "swimming hole"...a gorgeous little inlet of the sea tucked right by the town. I wasn't even tempted to say the least and Rider slept through the whole event. I captured it in photos for him!

Betsy in the Swimming Hole

It was time to part ways yet again and Janet, Rider and I hopped the train back to La Spezia
and the girls headed for Monterosso.

Beach at Monterosso

We had a quiet and uneventful dinner at the hotel, put
Rider to bed and he slept almost 12 hours! I had to be creative as we had no tub

Janet and Rider

so I bathed him while in my underwear, handed him off to Janet and then took my shower. Cleaned the baby and washed my underwear at the same time!

We picked Betsy and Kelly up at the train station (by now we had this route down pat) this morning around 11 and came back to reality. What a great weekend! It was totally cool seeing
all those people including many locals taking the day trips to the beach, to dinner and such on public transportation. It was economical and efficient. AND it was a spectacular place to
visit that I will long remember.