August 13-15, 2000

 
My parents have invited us for a two-day vacation by the sea. They've been in Florence, admiring Botticellis at the Uffizi, and they're taking the train to Cinque Terre, along the Mare Ligure, where we'll meet up with them them later this morning (it's only an hour drive from here).

Before we go, we must attend to the needs of our pets. The last time it rained my son collected up a bunch of slimy snails and built a house for them out of bricks and terracotta tile left over from when we had the roof repaired.

Renato is worried that they'll dry out in the sun while we're away, so I tell him to soak them well and leave them a little water. He plucks them off the ceiling of their home (it takes them all day and night to climb from the floor to the ceiling) and drops them back to the bottom. They make a disgusting suction sound when he pulls them away from the tile.

I watch and recite for him this nursery rhyme I remember:

"What are little girls made of? Sugar and spice and everything nice -- That's what little girls are made of. What are little boys made of? Snips and snails and puppy dogs' tails -- That's what little boys are made of." "What the hell are snips?" he asks me. "Boh," I reply.

The closest I can translate "boh" is "who knows?" and it's the perfect response to many a tough question.

Cinque Terre (Five Lands) are five tiny villages perched on cliffs along the Ligurian Sea. We get there by driving down the highway to La Spezia, then up and along the winding mountain roads. The mountains are covered with steep terraces growing grapes and olives. Liguria is well-known for quality olive oil, and Cinque Terre has produced terrific wine since Roman times. One of the towns, Corniglia, was named for a Roman senator, Cornelius, who had his vacation home here. Cinque Terre wine bottles have been found among the ruins of Pompei.

This is Riomaggiore on the left. It's the first town you pass through on the drive from La Spezia. We see the sign for the town we're staying in, Monterosso al Mare, but the road is blocked by Carabineri who ask us if we have a reservation. Without a hotel reservation you cannot bring your car into town.

Monterosso al Mare features this giant (below left) carved into a cliff on the beach where we swam (below right). I never got the story about the giant, but I did see an old photograph of it when it had arms -- it held a big scallop shell on its shoulders. The beaches work like this: for 15,000 lire (roughly $7.50 U.S.) you get an umbrella and two chairs for the day, plus use of the showers and toilets.