22 March 2011: Rome & Cinque Terre Day Five.

It was our last morning in Rome and we decided to take a quick tour of St Peters. We had walked through, around and near it right through our stay here but hadn’t yet visited it. We only had an hour and a half and I was even saying to Michelle that maybe we should give it a miss and do it next time we come back (and we will be back!).

In the end we decided to make the trip in and spend the last few hours of our stay there. But, not before I went to that local café and have that Sicilian Canolli……..I wasn’t disappointed.

Well, St Peters was incredible; I’ve never seen anything like it before in my life. The sculptures and artwork are out of this world and the marble floor throughout is something to see. Started to feel a little disappointed that we didn’t dedicate the time to it that is deserves, but that just gives us another reason to return.

Before leaving, sent a postcard to my Mum, Kath, from the Vatican Post Office….should get some brownie points in the bank for that one!

After a quick bus trip back to our apartment to collect our bags, we caught a taxi back to Stazione Termini to connect with our train to Cinque Terre. Kept an eye out for that guy from the other night, nowhere to be seen, just as well.

More words of wisdom from Michelle, “when the trains are scheduled to run here, they don’t wait for anyone. Get ready to get on and off when our stop comes around otherwise you’ll be left behind.” This was no better demonstrated than when we watched from our seats a woman running towards the train door only for it to close when she was no more than two feet from it. I thought they might see her and open the doors for her…..nothing doing, this train was on its way.

What a fantastic train ride it was, with the snow-capped mountains on one side and the Mediterranean on the other it was hard to work out which way to look. We had a whole carriage to ourselves and were able to spread out in comfort for the four-hour trip. Michelle and I sat opposite each other giggling like little school kids; it was one of the best travelling experiences I’ve ever had.

Rome was great, but Cinque Terre may just be better. Got off the train and walked into the town of Manarola and….well…...I think I’ll let the photo’s tell the story.

Its about 9.00 pm and we are unable to stay awake long enough to meet with Mark and Dominique who are arriving in about and hour. Its Mark’s 50^th birthday in a few days and we are pretty excited about sharing that occasion with him.

In the meantime, we have the comfort of our apartment, the gentle lapping of the ocean against the cliff face and the twinkling of the stars in the Mediterranean sky…..very much happy to be alive.