Back in Roma...

Happy December....

Yesterday I took the train from La Spezia to Rome, a very nice 4 hour ride along the Med Sea and through the farmlands of Tuscany and western Italy. It was very nice.

Cinque Terre was amazing, however my last two days there crazy storms rolled in off the sea. It made for some amazing storm watching and crazy surf, even spraying foam on the balcony of my apt...it was wild....but cabin fever set in a bit. Each day I set out for some walks, but the weather was brutal...cold wind and rain... I ended up back in the apt in the afternoon and just read for the most part...for hours.... :) It was a wine, cheese, and bread party...

Yesterday as the train headed south the skies opened up and the sun appeared. Given Rome is a much further south, it is a good 10 degrees warmer here. I welcomed the change.

I cant imagine visiting Rome in the summer. Last night, a Sun night in winter, the streets were full of tourists...quite the contrast from the village of Riomaggiore where I was for 5 nights. In Riomaggiore things were so relaxed....people ventured out in the morning, then after 1pm you would think the village had been abandoned....good luck even finding food until after 5pm.....then after about 9pm back to being abandoned. :) This is partly due to it being the off season and partly due to their normal schedule. Rome is quite the opposite, the options for food are endless and everything is open all day and night....and its always bustling with traffic and motor scooters. Cars arent even allowed in the villages of Cinque Terre, it was great.

Tomorrow my travels come to an end and I fly back to DC. I will spend the next couple of weeks with my family in Virginia, then return to Portland after Christmas. Its been a good run and look forward to returning to Italy and other countries in Europe in the future. In just over one month I hit Rome, Sitges, Barcelona, the olive farm in Tuscany, Pisa, La Spezia, and the villages of Cinque Terre....not bad at all..... I will post a few more pics later and call it good. Thanks for everyones support and kind messages over the past few weeks. Peace, T