We're in Cinque Terre today, and it's just as beautiful as I remembered it. We are so lucky. It was supposed to rain today, and it's just beautiful--cool but dry. We had wine waiting for us in our hotel, and we have a small balcony, but the room does not compare with the one we had in Venice. It is tiny! We keep banging into things, but that's OK. We're among friends. Walking around Cinque Terre brings back so many great memories with Dottie, Kristin and Robin: the Punta Mesco hotel, the laundry (remember how we got some man's clothes mixed in with ours?), watching the girls kayaking on the Mediterranean, the pesto making experience, the place where we took that great picture of the four of us, even the Internet cafe and bar. It's just like I remembered it, and the views are still spectacular. We spent some time just sitting on a bench and watching the tide come in. And of course, there were plenty of carbs--yes, even for Deb. We had the best bruschetta and a pizza with pesto and rocket (a type of lettuce). And two scoops of gelato, although the best gelato place in town was closed already. Getting out of Venice by vaporetto today was a lot easier than getting in. We are so lucky Deb is here to help with the luggage. I'm not sure how we'd manage without her. We took a high speed train to Milan. These high speed trains are awesome. Wish we had them in the States. Very comfy and quick. We picked the seats closest to the door and got all comfy. Turns out we had assigned seats elsewhere. We didn't realized until people were milling around looking at seat numbers. If we were in anyone else's seat, they were polite enough not to kick us out. In Milan, we transferred to an inner city train which isn't as fast, and we had to share a compartment with three Italian women. We didn't stop talking for the four hours we were with them. (Actually it was Deb doing most of the talking.) I got the impression that we were annoying them. The lady in the middle was trying to read her newspaper, and for the whole four hours she was still on the same page! Deb had a whole big bag of Halloween candy in her carryon, and I offered them some, but they refused. The lady with the newspaper finally got up in stood in the hallway for three stops before she got off! Ann passed me a note and said they were talking about us when we got on the train. She thought one of them knew English. Once the newspaper lady got off, I pulled out my Italian phrase book and started throwing words out to the other two ladies. Ann was right, one of them did know a tiny bit of English, and we had a nice conversation. They had been to Venice for a birthday party and were coming back home. She was surprised to find that we were Americans. She thought we were British because Americans are louder. Go figure! We learned all this with only a few words being said--it was more like charades, but it was so much fun! They were very, very nice. And I'm pleased to report that our French is greatly improved. The bad news is we're using it in Italy! Hope you enjoy our photos today.