I'll Have Mine On The Rocks

Tuesday, and Jim's mentally prepared for the shower and has us on a tight schedule. We are catching the 10 o'clock boat to the Cinque Terre. The helicopters are still flying this morning. It was a beautiful ride down to Riomaggiore. There was a dog on the boat, enjoying the ride; made us miss Stella. We got off the boat in Riomaggiore. Wander around a bit...I am searching for figs...and then decided the walk from Riomaggiore to Manarola, the Via del'amore is just too crowded so we catch the boat north instead. We squeeze into a wonderful seafood restaurant and enjoy a tasty if not relaxing lunch. We head back to the harbor to catch the boat to the next town and observe some topless sunbathers on the rocks below the harbor, above the boat dock. Jim suddenly develops an interest in learning to use the new camera, especially 1:12 zoom feature, and being sure that we had plenty of photos of the sea...as did several other guys...this were good naked! Our next stop on the boat tour was Vernazza. As some of you know the town was literally destroyed by a flood on October 25th, 2011. I was anxious to see how the many people we had come to know had faired how and how the town had rebuilt. All and all the town looks good. It is kind of sad to see new doors and floors and know the reason for the new paint job, but is heartwarming to see the strength of these people to rebuild and carry on. The tourists are out in force and it was nice to see everything. Valeria's shop is located there, so we stopped in to see her and see how her shop looked. She had a whole bag of fun gifts for me and we had a great visit. We made arrangements for pizza later (Jim hoped that Valeria leaves her iPhone home...enough with the monopoly!). We ended our all day Cinque tour in Monterrosa, catching the final boat of the day, at 6:05, back to Levanto....first boat of the day and the last boat of the day! Cinque (5) boat rides to the Cinque Terre! As a John Lennon once said.... Jim feels like he's "the son of a sailor's son"....in actuality he's the son of a bowler's son ! The pizza later that night is perhaps the best we have ever had and the company is amazing. We talk and laugh.. Valeria loves knitting and shoes..so there is plenty to talk about! Another beautiful day.