Ciao Riomaggiore (April 25)

Our final day in Riomaggiore was a very relaxing one. We breakfasted in a local café and did some very touristy shopping in town, then spent the afternoon reading, packing, and lounging about. After watching the sunset from a castle atop town, we had an amazing dinner at Ripa del Sole. Bill had never before had so many kinds of anchovies in one sitting, but they were all delicious. It was a splendid meal, and a fitting end to our week in the Cinque Terre.

Bonjour France (April 26)

We spent much of the day traveling by train to Nice, France. Here is Claire waiting for the train -- note that these are the only 2 bags we brought for our 16 days abroad.


En route to Nice, we had the great fortune to share our train compartment with four hilarious Italians. Diego and his wife are older and had spent time living in California, Moscow, and Spain. Stephan and his girlfriend are around our age and are both lawyers in Milan. We spent hours chatting, joking, and laughing – to the point at which a fellow traveler requested that we shut the door to our compartment. Stephan, a criminal defense attorney, told us that he has only two clients and then asked out advice about buying a yacht in America (hmmmm...). Our new friends made this train journey a highlight. Upon arriving in Nice, we walked around the old town and the boardwalk by the sea. Nice is a charming seaside town full of brasseries and pedestrian-only streets. We had an early dinner at an outdoor bistro and called it a day.

Grand Finale (April 27)

Today got off to a rough start. At the train station, while attempting to go to Monte Carlo, we soon discovered that the French can be less warm than the Italians (no surprise) but also quite a bit less efficient. The electronic ticket machines wouldn’t work, and we were unable to obtain any change, so we missed our train. The next train was in worse shape than a New York City MTA cast-off – hot, crowded, grimy, and covered in graffiti from top to bottom. Not a very stylish way to arrive in Monte Carlo. Once there, we took in the yacht-filled harbor and walked over to the casino, but most of the shops and restaurants are closed on Sunday, and it was tough to get around because the streets were blockaded by barricades for the upcoming Grand Prix. We beat a hasty retreat back to Nice (on a much nicer train) and spent the afternoon at the Matisse Museum. We relaxed in a café and at our hotel, and went out to our last dinner of the trip, followed by a delicious lemon-and-sugar crepe from a street vendor.

Long Road Home (April 28)

We left our hotel at 2am EDT and arrived home at 9pm EDT (including 4 ½ hours sitting on the tarmac in Dublin) – a long day, but we were ready to return home from our wonderful vacation. Only 3 ½ months until our next vacation, a week on the Cape in Wellfleet in August.

Outtakes