hiking can be painful

I mentioned that we hiked from Manarola to Vernazza on Friday and I was amazed at how much it took out of us but we did it, well on saturday with crowds of people arriving we (Norm) decided we should hike over the hill to Riomaggiore, a 15 minute walk along the coast. We left at 10 and at 3 arrived. If Friday was up hill......Saturday was unbelievable. It was over 2 hours straight up and we got lost once when Norm had me hiking into someone.s grape orchard (we backtracked out of that spot). We made it to the top of the ridge, really high up (pictures once we are home). Ate lunch about 1 and then down again. My calves were aching. But I did it and the beer was so good once down.  Even Norm admitted he was feeling the hills. Once home we changed into bathing suits and dove into the salty Mediterrean. It was so nice, Loved it after all that physical effort :)))
Our last night in Manarola we celebrated with a classy dinner (recommended by Rick Steves) at Trattoria Billy. Norm got to pick his fish right off the platter and then they cooked it up for him. Very cool. This morning as got ready to leave we felt every muscle going down the 70 steps to the train. And guess what the train we planned to catch was cancelled. Oh well we waited for 30 minutes for the next, got to Genoa only to find out that our next train didnt show up. We learned that SOP beside your destination means cancelled, there is a strike on in Italy and we didnt know. Well after 2 hours we got another one and now we are in Nice. A few hours later than we planned but enough time to walk about. Love the Mediterranen. Tomorrow we are off to Paris and on to London and Winchester for more hiking but after the Cinque Terre it will be so much easier.