Think of all the joy you’ll find …….. Update - January 06

[jedijill]

I loved Vernazza! I would have loved to stay (live) there! Too bad the amenities didn't match the description of the apartment. The dishwasher situation was just strange! It's a beautiful little apartment though. That is some contraption the vineyard worker is riding!

Jill in CO

 

[momof3princes]

I had a feeling you would see Umberto! You are both such good sports with all the things that were not working and the missing TV. Did you get compensated for anything?
The town itself looks so quaint and the roads I would have been very nervous, especially since in a couple of places it looked like people may have gone off the road!

 

[Pinkocto]

Oh my, getting to Vernazza sounded treacherous!!! and getting into that parking spot even more so! How fun to see Umberto, I'm glad you spotted him

Too bad about the TV and the dishwasher. Why even have the dishwasher in the apartment when it obviously didn't work when they put it in there... just for appearance sake? so strange.

That water looked very inviting!

 

[englishrose47]

Fabulous pix Karin , I love the Harbor shots ! Reminds me of Yugoslavia , I got some beautiful Harbor shots there . Long before Memory cards though . Of course you food porn is mouthwatering as always . I am up to today on the calanders Thank you Tom !!! Also Thanks for the Christmas card received today !!!

 

[dizneeat]

To all our friends here on the DISboards

 

[jenseib]

Hope you and Tom had a wonderful holiday!

 

[englishrose47]

Happy New Year Karin and Tom!!!

 

[perfectmatch300]

Karin, wishing belated Merry Christmas to you and Tom, along with wishes for a Happy New Year!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

HAPPY 2016!!!!

 

[dizneeat]

To all our friends here on the DISboards

 

[Pinkocto]

Happy New Year!!!

 

[dizneeat]

Sounds like a charming little area if you can do stairs, but a shame that the promised amenities either didn't work or weren't present at all. The food looked and sounded delicious.

There was an elevator up to the apartment, which we used more than once. But the view from the stairs was great too.
I had read that some other travellers had mentioned the missing TV, but since it was the only apartment that offered parking we went in hoping against hopes.

Italian food and especially the food in Liguria is/was wonderful!

I loved Vernazza! I would have loved to stay (live) there!

We loved the area when we went there during our cruise. So it was an easy decision when we had to cancel our US plans.

Too bad the amenities didn't match the description of the apartment. The dishwasher situation was just strange! It's a beautiful little apartment though.

Well, as I mentioned to Alison, I knew about the TV. The AC was something else, as it was pretty hot and one would really have been a blessing. The dishwasher was a real letdown. Thank god, Tom figured out where the emergency button for the electricity was.

That is some contraption the vineyard worker is riding!

It looked even more strange in real life. I mean, I can see the seat and all, but the rail it ran on was just so small and looked fragile. I would not have gotten on if you had paid me.

I had a feeling you would see Umberto!

Given that he not only does tours to the Cinque Terre, but Pisa and Genoa too, I was surprised we would really running into him. But it was nice seeing him again.

You are both such good sports with all the things that were not working and the missing TV. Did you get compensated for anything?

There was nothing we could have done about the things that did not work. I let them know about it, but never even got an answer and as far as compensation goes - I do not think that we would have gotten very far with it here in Europe.

The town itself looks so quaint and the roads I would have been very nervous, especially since in a couple of places it looked like people may have gone off the road!

It is a beautiful little town. And the fact that there is no traffic makes it extra special. Driving there was something else. We are used to narrow streets, but such narrow streets at the side of a mountain were a bit frightening.

Oh my, getting to Vernazza sounded treacherous!!

It really was something else. Not a road I would like to travel every day.

and getting into that parking spot even more so! How fun to see Umberto, I'm glad you spotted him

It was definitely something I would not like to repeat. It was so slippery and so narrow. And given our car is not all that big Tom really had trouble driving up there.

Too bad about the TV and the dishwasher. Why even have the dishwasher in the apartment when it obviously didn't work when they put it in there... just for appearance sake? so strange.

We easily could do without the TV but the dishwasher would have been nice to have. It would have saved quite some time. No idea why they would not repair it.

 

[dizneeat]

Fabulous pix Karin , I love the Harbor shots ! Reminds me of Yugoslavia , I got some beautiful Harbor shots there . Long before Memory cards though .

Thank you Rosie! I just love harbours and we take a gazillion photo. Thank god for memory cards nowadays. But I still remember the times when we did not have any.

Of course you food porn is mouthwatering as always .

Glad I did not disappoint!

Hope you and Tom had a wonderful holiday!

Thank you, Jen. Yes, we did!

Happy New Year Karin and Tom!!

Thank you, Rosie!

Karin, wishing belated Merry Christmas to you and Tom, along with wishes for a Happy New Year!

Thank you, Nancy!

HAPPY 2016!!!!

Happy New Year to you too, Tammie!

Happy New Year!!!

And Happy New Year to you too, Pam! Finally we can say we will sail on the Wonder this year!

 

[Pinkocto]

And Happy New Year to you too, Pam! Finally we can say we will sail on the Wonder this year!

And that is a very exciting thought

 

[dizneeat]

Okay, I cannot believe that my Christmas vacation is nearly over again and I have not updated here (or at any other of my open TRs) much.
Here's why ...

I needed to update our homepage again, so at least I am caught up a little bit there.

I needed to do some planning for our upcoming trip

.... which is less than 11 weeks away

Here are the facts so far:
We'll stay at Beach Club Villas (because of the easy access to Epcot )
I only have 3 ADRs:
The Wave on March 23
IllumiNations Sparkling Dessert Party on March 25
and
Easter Brunch at The Wave on March 27

I can start making FP+ in 16 days and so far I have no idea where we will be on which day. I guess I need to make a plan (and my mind up) soon.

I do have a rough idea of what we want to do, but any input is greatly appreciated.

Okay, and now let's get on with the TR which I really want to have finished before we leave for WDW in 10 weeks and 6 days. Keep your fingers crossed for me to be successful. ​

 

[dizneeat]

7

Day 6, August 21

Exploring by train - Part 1

Since we did not have AC the warmer temperature in the room was waking us up pretty early. And after a nice shower Tom started to set up breakfast, while I headed into the village to pick up fresh rolls and some chocolate (Nutella) filled doughnuts. The table was all laid when I returned and we sat down to have a nice breakfast before heading out.

We even tried the local orange marmalade

and it was delicious, so we knew we could buy a few more jars to take home as gifts.
And after cleaning the kitchen we got our stuff together and walked down to the train station.

We had just missed a train going to Riomaggiore so we decided to head to the harbour and look around.
There was a path leading out of the village to the village of Montorosso and we decided to follow it for a while.

It wound through the village for a while and then opened up to a small path overlooking Vernazza.

The views were stunning.
We followed to path and came to the National Park gate, where we showed our Cinque Terre Card and walked on.

The stones were pretty slippery and there were steep hills going up and down and since we did not have chosen hiking shoes in the morning we gave up after a while and slowly walked back into Vernazza.

We had not even noticed it, but we had been climbing the paths for more than an hour.

To be continued ..........​

 

[dizneeat]

7

Day 6, August 21

Exploring by train - Part 2

The stones were pretty slippery and there were steep hills going up and down and since we did not have chosen hiking shoes in the morning we gave up after a while and slowly walked back into Vernazza.

We had not even noticed it, but we had been climbing the paths for more than an hour and when we got back into the village we were both thirsty and hot, so Tom picked up

a beer, while I opted for an

ice-cream and a bottle of water and we sat down on some steps near the train station and enjoyed our goodies.
Once we were done we headed over to the train station and waited for the train to Riomaggiore. Didn’t take long and the train arrived. Got on and found some nice seats

and soon we were on our way. It is just a very short train ride and soon we had reached our destination and got off the train.
Riomaggiore at around lunch time was packed.
We went with the flow and walked down to the harbour, where we were greeted by some beautiful views.

We walked all the way around the harbour and up to some higher area where we could take in that part of the village. It was just beautiful, but there were so many people pushing in that we felt like we had to leave our spot rather sooner than later.

We walked back towards the train station and into the village center as we wanted to relive the walk we had taken with Umberto a year ago.

To be continued ..........​

 

[basketlacey]

What an amazing trip! I started to read because I wanted to hear about your trip on the Magic but then to find the Italy trip! Oh wow! We celebrate 20 years of marriage next year and I keep saying to dh that I want to go to Italy! Realistically, we probably need to wait a few more years but your photos make me want to go NOW!

 

[dizneeat]

What an amazing trip! I started to read because I wanted to hear about your trip on the Magic but then to find the Italy trip! Oh wow!

It was a really wonderful trip. One that I would not think twice about taking again.
I really want to finish the Magic trip urgently, but I need to finish Italy first, so I guess, I really need to move on this one.

We celebrate 20 years of marriage next year and I keep saying to dh that I want to go to Italy! Realistically, we probably need to wait a few more years but your photos make me want to go NOW!

Wow! 20 years. Now that needs a special trip. I am sure you would love Italy. The part we went to, was just a tiny part of Italy and there is so much more to explore. And I can tell you that apart from the airfare Italy is not all that expensive.

 

[dizneeat]

7

Day 6, August 21

Exploring by train - Part 3

We walked back towards the train station

and into the village center as we wanted to relive the walk we had taken with Umberto a year ago. It was so packed.
Getting through the underpass under the train station was hard, but finally we had made it to the other side. Still lots of people, but since the walkways were wider it didn’t feel that crowded.

It was now past noon and we were seeing lots of people with cones of fried seafood walking around, so that was something we wanted to try and have for lunch as well. And after a few steps we saw the first of many fried seafood shops. There was a huge line out the door, we got in line and the line did not move at all. We waited for about 10 minutes in the same spot and then we gave up. Walking further up the hill we saw two more of these shops and out of the spur of the moment we headed for the one further up. There still was a line out the door, but when we got closer we saw the huge cones people were carrying out and were very much looking forward to try one of them.

It took us a few minutes to make it to the front of the line and we picked up a

large bottle of icy-cold water and

a cone of fried seafood. Happily we made our way outside and were faced with the fact that there were no tables or anything nearby to sit and eat. But then something hit our eyes – there was a really high spot on the sidewalk at the edge of the street where we could sit. Walked up and sat down and laughed out loud because there we were sitting in the street, enjoying lunch out of a cone. We both had a huge gulp of water first and then started to tackle the cone, which had small fried fish and fried calamari in it. And while we were still digging in we were both so happy we had not ordered two of those, as there was more than enough for the both of us to share.

The bottle of water was easily emptied and once we were done and had cleaned ourselves of any crumbs we slowly walked up the hill.
But not very far.
There had been an ice-cream shop the year before, where we had had some heavenly gelato and we were just approaching it. Needless to say that we stopped, picked up some

ice-cream and were enjoying it, while we, very slowly, walked up the hill. Soon we found the steps that lead up to a beautiful little church

and we sat on one of the benches in front of it finishing our ice-cream and enjoying the view.

Once we were done we headed inside the church. It was beautiful and cool inside and they offered candles to light again, so that was what we did.

After a short while we left the church again and walked on right along the way

we had walked with Umberto. But a little into the walk there was a path on the right leading up to a small tower.
We had not been up there the year before, so that was where we wanted to go.

Took a bit of stamina in the heat to walk up that steep hill, but we took our sweet time and were rewarded instantly when we got to the top.

There was a viewing platform and the view from there was stunning. Quite a few people were up there, sitting on the benches.

To be continued ..........​