I’m not sure we understand how radiators work. That’s how all the apartments we’ve been in so far have heated themselves and in Manarola it was cold. We twisted the little knobs on them, but they also only come on at random times and it never seemed to be at night and they never seemed to get hot enough. The bathroom was across the apartment, so if you had to relieve yourself in the night you had to decide whether you thought you could hold it or if you wanted to turn your feet into popsicles on the tile floor.
Beren didn’t sleep great because he was so cold, but in the morning getting some fresh pastries gave us all the energy and warmth we needed. We ventured out after breakfast and wound our way up the hill to the church in Manarola we had yet to see. As we walked, we saw the town getting up and get ready for the crowds. It was strange to see how much different the town was between 10:00-4:00 when everyone comes flowing off the train and out of the tunnel.
We made it to the church at the top of the village. The view was glorious and bright looking over the rooftops in the morning sun. All around the village on the steep slopes, terraces were cut into the hills and were dotted with vineyards and lemon groves. There’s a trail that climbs up onto the hills and circles the village through the vineyards starting right behind the church. We took this trail and it was incredible and sometimes treacherous, with Silas tripping and falling once much too near the edge.
It’s hard to describe the beauty that was before us. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anything quite like it. With the sea shining, the multi-colored town below, and the old weathered stone terraces and staircases winding through the verdant hills, it was Eden-esque. I could have stayed up there for hours, but we promised the boys the playground one last time.
For lunch, the boys were in a decent mood, so we decided to brave a real sit-down restaurant overlooking the harbor. Allison and I shared a seafood risotto and we got tagliatelle with pesto for the boys. Both were delicious. I had been hoping to get some great seafood with this proximity to the sea and this was it. The boys behaved generally well and, while he didn’t eat much, Beren spent most of the time playing with a prawn that had been in the risotto. He named it “Pucker” (I don’t know where he gets this stuff) and by the end of the meal, Beren was sad to leave him, despite his gradual dismemberment throughout the meal.
After lunch, it was naptime like always and cleanup the apartment time for Allison and I, with a small nap squeezed in. Soon enough the time came for our Cinque Terre adventure to come to a close and for us to brave the journey back to Rome and hope the picture of my Covid card would be sufficient again.
On the platform in Manarola, the regional train came to take us to the high speed train to Rome. It overshot the stop slightly, so everyone on the platform were trying to squeeze into just a couple doors. Beren and I pushed our way on and we thought Allison and Silas were right behind us, but Allison, being the kind and compassionate soul she is, let a few others go in front of her, until she realized the doors were about to close. If she missed this train, she probably wouldn’t be able to get to Rome until tomorrow and I had the bag with all the clothes.
Thankfully, she jumped on right as the doors closed, practically being pinched by them. She was sandwiched in the doorway being banged around, when people saw she had a child and made way to usher her to a seat. I was freaking out because Beren and I were in a place where we couldn’t see if she got on and she wasn’t answering my texts because, of course, the zipper on the pocket her phone was in got stuck.
My freak out ended when we arrived at our stop in Spezia and saw her on the platform. Unfortunately, I ended up having to break the zipper on her jacket to get her phone out. With crisis averted, we waited for the Rome train, while Beren sang Christmas carols on the platform, an activity that for some reason has become a favorite for him while waiting for public transit. We are often serenaded to Feliz Navidad or Bruce Springsteen’s version of Santa Claus is Coming to Town while we wait.
Beren and I played Nintendo Switch to pass the four hour ride and he ate an entire carton of crackers. No one ever checked our tickets and we made it back to Rome, found our bus, and around 9:00 PM made it back to our home base. We heated some left overs, ate quickly, and ushered the kids to bed.
Phew! It was a long day. I keep saying we’ll slow it down. Maybe tomorrow?