Erin McElvaney

A late arrival, some food, long walks around the sites, a trip to Musee d'Orsay, some uncooked meat and a rude waiter, wine by the Seine, a cabaret show, and an (apparently) long, inebriated walk home.

A picnic derived from a huge outdoor market near Bastille, a lot of sight seeing and long walks through Montmartre, and a stop at the Tour Eiffel,

Fruitless trip to the closed catacombs, longggg walks through the city and the parks including Jardin Luxembourg, exhaustion, and the most amazing dinner at a fancy restaurant with Renee

An unexpected 2 night stop in this Ligurian (Italian Riviera) town an hour from Cinque Terre was well worth the risk! Mild gloominess didn't stop us from enjoying a walk around town, a happy hour drink celebration for Pat's Birthday, or our beautiful fancy 3 star hotel room! Emma and I celebrated for pat by eating chocolate gelato treats from the gelateria.

A walk around the harbor followed by a scenic 3 hour walk along the water to the fancier Portofino, where we enjoyed a sandwich and then a cheap busride back!

Arrival in Cinque Terre, scramble for accomodations, and begin a 1:30 strenuous but GORGEOUS hike between Vernazza (home base) and farthest north town Montorosso al Mare. Hiked high above the water in the hills with the most breathtaking views I've ever seen.

More hikes! First an hr long hard hike to Corniglia, the hill town, with a stop for gelato and granita and to enjoy the view; then halfway to Manarola before being stopped by a 'closed due to rock slide' issue with the trail... after an hour of waiting for the train to get to Manarola, we explored that town for a while before completing the final trail, Via del Amore, leading to Riomaggiore (the last town).

A day with much traveling lands us finally in Padua, where we stayed at a bed & breakfast in a woman's home, and ate the best dinner ever to prepare for the next day's sporting events!

Emma and I walked the "friendship" 5k while Pat ran the marathon.. It just would have been nice if it wasn't cold and rainy while we were waiting to see him cross the finish! PS pat accidentally ate shampoo while he was running.. doh!

Our day got off to a gloomy start, saying good bye to Emma, and dodging the rain in Venice. Soon, though the sun came out and we explored St Mark's square, the Doge's Palace, took a ride around the city on the water taxi, and celebrated Pat's birthday with a delicious dinner.

A beautiful day full of sightseeing--including the amazing mosaics in St Mark's Basillica. We had time to just walk around the city and enjoy the views... before scrambling to find a place to stay for the night! A last minute decision landed us on a night train to Sorrento at midnight!

Ah, Sorrento! We took a walk through the lemon and orange grove, tastes of many local flavors of limoncello-type liquors, did some shopping in the town streets, and made some delicious sandwiches with fresh ingredients from the local stores. We also tried to eat this huge lemon-looking thing. It was like a lemon++... too sour to handle!

We took a day trip out to Pompeii, which is only a 30 minute ride from Sorrento. You'll notice I have few pictures of Pompeii. That's because I dropped my camera while petting a stray dog there, and since then the camera has decided not to take photos anymore. I hope to finish off the galeries when I receive Pat's photo collection from the last few days.