Yesterday we messed up on the trains. Today we found out that one of our mess-ups was to our advantage. We bought yesterday what we thought was a “transfer” ticket; we discovered today, in fact, it was an “upgrade” ticket. So, today we bought a 2d class ticket and got to ride First Class. Quiet. Then we were suddenly invaded, at one stop, by a bundle of Canadians and Americans. We got the last laugh when NONE of them had validated their tickets, paid their 5 euro fine, and then had to move back to Second Class. What a hoot!

We’ve yet to meet an American who didn’t have to pay that 5 euro fine.
We walked hard today: started at Riomaggiore, walked the 30 minute nice walk to Manarola where we had the mandatory pasta and basil pesto lunch, then had a hard, hard walk in the sun over to Corniglia (say, Cornelia) — only 240 inhabitants here but about 500 tourists. The walk was hot enough that we took the bus down (instead of taking the severe 400 steps downward climb) and the train back to Monterosso.
We’ll hang here through dinner and then head back. We’re sure to find every cafe shop for our lattes.
I can’t get to all the comments on the blog; Kris has to write, too, and we’re trying to keep this to one hour.
Tomorrow we drive down to Lucca. I’m reading Jaroslav Pelikan’s book on Mary. Quite good.
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