Italy Part 2: Vernazza

On Monday we hopped the train and went to Vernazza, the next town over. I think the train ride was all of 3 minutes. :)

Waiting for the train...

Vernazza town square, with my back to the sea

Another view of the town square, with the harbor (and Gus!) in the foreground


Enjoying the view

The waters were turbulent!


And this guy was kayaking!

We walked up the trail next to the town for this view.
See the castle at the top?

Vernazza's castle

Gus found a friend! I know it looks like he's pulling the castle cat's tail,
but he was just petting him and the cat decided to hop down!

The view of the square and harbor from the top of the castle

The view to the east

And to the west
(that's Monterosso in the middle of the picture)

:)

Italy Part 1: Monterosso al Mare

We went to Italy May 13 - 27, and here - finally - are some pictures of our trip!

We flew from Dallas to Paris to Rome, arriving in Rome around 3pm on May 14th. Then we hopped on the train from Fiumicino airport, through Rome and Pisa to La Spezia, and then changing to the regional train to go the last few miles to Monterosso.

Monterosso is one of the villages of Cinque Terre, an area of five small fishing villages along the northwestern coast of Italy. We arrived around 9pm on Saturday, and while we could hear the sea, we couldn't see it because it was dark. :)

Sunday was overcast and a little rainy, but in the afternoon it cleared up. We spent the day wandering around the town, admiring the sea, and eating great food.

(As always, you can click on a picture to make it bigger.)

There weren't many tourists at the beach on Sunday.

This is a view of Monterosso from the hills at the edge of town.


On our way up the trail, we encountered a cemetery:

Each of the cubby holes in those walls is a tomb.

And each tomb has the name of the occupant.
Many of them also had a photo or engraving of the deceased (as can be seen in the upper-left).
It was kind of creepy!

Monterosso has two sections: the older east side (where we stayed)
and the newer west side, where the train station and more modern housing are.
This is the west side, taken from the breakwater.

Another view of the west side, taken from the trail that connects the two.

Standing at the far west side, looking back to the east.
The old part of town is hidden by the rocks.


On the left side of the photo (and in the center of the previous photo)
you can see the old (16th century) fort.

Just below it, on the rocks, there is a round cement WWII bunker.


Here's Gus checking it out! We went inside, and then sat on top of it for a while.

Moonrise

Sunset

And my favorite photo:

Night time in Cinque Terre. If you look closely, you can see the four other villages.
From left: Vernazza, Corniglia (up on the hill), Manarola, and Riomaggiore.

Next up, Vernazza!

Aha!

So that's where all the birdseed is going!

Bathroom "Before & After"

When we bought our house last month, here's what the downstairs bathroom looked like:

Left side of the room...

...and right side of the room.

Lovely wallpaper, eh? We pulled all the wallpaper down one evening, only to discover that the drywall behind it had...issues.

Exhibit A: Mold along the tile at the top of the shower

Exhibit B: Weird patchy plaster and red wallpaper glue residue.
(Maybe...I'm not sure what that red stuff is.)

So we hired a painting company to come in and kill the mold, prep the drywall, texture the walls, prime, and paint.

Then we bought new accessories: curved shower curtain rod, new extra-long shower curtain, rugs, towels, etc.

Here's how it looks now!

:)

Neighbors

So, now that we've been in our house for a month, we've gotten to know a few of our neighbors a little better:

These two neighborhood cats were hanging out under one of our trees this evening. The grey one on the left is very shy and hyper-alert. When he realized he'd been spotted, he quickly made his exit. It's a shame, because he's so pretty!

The black and white one hangs around a lot. Although he won't let us get closer than 5 feet from him, he has been known to sit in our driveway and meow at us when we get home. He even helped me paint the kitchen cabinets! :)

(Poor quality photo taken with my cellphone)

He didn't mind me taking his picture through the screened-in porch screen.

And then I tried out my new camera's zoom, and even through the screen, the picture turned out pretty nice!

(Psst! Hey, cat - let me pet you!)

Kitchen Before & ... Intermediate

I painted the kitchen cabinets over Spring Break! The kitchen walls are awaiting a crew to come in and remove wallpaper, fix flaws, and paint. That'll happen next week. In the meanwhile, here are photos of the freshly painted cabinets.

First, a "before" shot:

From "Eew!" ....

Now:

... to "Ooo!"

Note the shiny new cabinet hardware, too. It's so pretty!

I'll post more when the walls are finished. :)

The house

We put an offer on a house today. Here are some photos!
(As always, you can click a photo to see a larger view.)

The front
From left-to-right, the windows on the first floor are bedroom,
entry door, living room, dining room, and garage.
On the second floor we have windows to a bedroom, stairwell, and bedroom.

The front porch, complete with swing!

The entryway, looking toward the fireplace in the den.
The living room is to the right.
Two bedrooms and a bathroom are to the left.

Partial view of the living room and the dining room from the entry.
The doorway in the dining room leads to the kitchen.


Kitchen, with breakfast area and back door beyond, viewed from the dining room.
Just beyond the fridge, turn left to go into the den.


Breakfast area. The closed door is a 1/2 bath.
The back door is to the left of the bathroom.


Kitchen, seen from the breakfast area, looking toward the dining room.
The closed door just behind the microwave goes into the garage.

Part of the den.


Stairs from the den to the second floor.
The hallway to the right of the stairs leads to the front door,
with two bedrooms and a bathroom to the right.

Another view of the den, looking toward the breakfast area from the foot of the stairs.
The glass doors on the left go to the screened-in porch.

A view of the screened-in porch from the den.


Part of the backyard, just outside the back door.
The rest of the backyard is to the left.


More of the backyard, standing outside the screened-in porch.


A view of the back of the house.
The screened-in porch is on the left.
Our realtor is in the center. :)

The side/back of the house.

Goats!

Our apartment

Here are a few pictures of our new apartment. Yes, it's small (500 sq. ft.), but we both love it!

Kitchen, viewed from the front door.
(The door in the picture is the pantry.)

Kitchen again.

The rest of the apartment, as viewed from the front door.

Bedroom.

Looking from the bedroom toward the front door.