today, sunday in cinqueterre, we had a thunderstorm. actually we were sitting in the bar midi, for cappuccini, right under the railway overpass, and the trains thundered over a few times, but then it thundered as well. people were cheering and shouting outside.
and it rained a whole lot, and kept on going most of the day. if one has full raingear one can decide to go on the trails and crawl along the cliff faces. or one could shop for souvenirs in the shops, or drink more coffee, or just plain hit the bars. unless you want to go and eat pizza somewhere for a while. or stand under an bricked archway and observe the raindrops, and then go out and dodge the puddles.
finally i opted for going up to our room and making a hot cup of tea and writing some postcards. too bad i do not have snail addresses for most of the people i know; that is why not many people have gotten them from me...sorry folks. i could send them with american stamps after i get home, but that just is not the same.
i also got out most of my small pocket sketchbooks and went over them for a while. some of the sketches have been done so quickly that i don't get further than the pencil or pen, and if i do not add any color soon, if i plan to, i forget the colors i wanted. sometimes i am able to refer to photos i have in the camera for these details. it is fun to see how they come out. i will try to post a few more on facebook, which i can do without too much computer tech support.
tomorrow we leave cinqueterre for rome, on the train, heading down the coast. it should be a pretty ride. the trains here are very everyday and a bit grungy sometimes, but they run smoothly, quietly, and frequently. people here take them so for granted; i wish i could say the same about ours....maybe someday. they make so much sense.
we will cook ourselves dinner tonite in our little kitchen. i have been ogling the spaghetti w/ sea food at this fancy restaurant, but at 14 euros a head, i will try to make my own. while shopping i picked the brains of the young russian guy working the deli, who seems to know a lot about italian cooking, and the lady cashier, who was coaching him on his english. we bantered about for a while and he told me how to do it.
i also got my 2 chunks of sealed up parmeggiano reggiano to take home.
melda even got us a tiny bottle of the local wine. after looking at all these vineyards on 85 degree slopes, terraced of course, and all the rocky cliffs in between, one has to appreciate that they grow the grapes and make the wine here. i have seen lots of photos of people carrying the freshly harvested grapes down the hill in a big basket, either on their heads, or suppported by a tumpline over the forehead. lots of strong young men. i cannot see any other way to get the grapes down the mountain because it is all small pathways up there, and no place for tractors or trucks!
they also have loads of lemon trees here, on the terraces where there are not grapes or olive trees. very nice lemons. they make a lemon liquer which is a big deal here. i may try to bring a little bit home if i feel like carrying the weight of a bottle.
all for now. i need to get on with more biz...
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