Cinque Terre

Spent the best Easter weekend away in Cinque Terre. There was glorious sunshine, delicious seafood and lots of hiking to burn up all those calories!

I stayed in the last village of Cinque Terre in Monterosso. Woke up bright and early and thought I would catch the train to Levanto and hike back to Monterosso on a trail that wouldn't be overrun with tourists. I got caught up with a hardcore Austrian hiking family when I lost my way up a mountain ridge between Levanto and Monterosso. The patriach of the family was training for his 6 week solo hike through Corsica, yes that type of hardcore! He insisted I take a shortcut with the family. Alarm bells should have been ringing when he traced a non-existent trail on my map. So off I went, slipping and sliding down the valley with the path being cleared by said patriach wielding pruning shears. Must say it was exhilarating not following the usual tourist path. So after 4.5hours, I finally made it back to where I started in Monterosso! I grabbed a quick bite to eat on the train and thought I would go to the first town and walk through as many of the villages as possible. After another 4.5 hours I walked the trail connecting Riomaggiore (first town) to Vernazza (fourth town) and called it a day. It was so nice to be outdoors, soaking up the sun and Vernazza, the most picturesque of the five villages was the best place to stop for the day and watch the sunset whilst having dinner in an outdoor cafe.

The next day was likewise beautiful, I finished the rest of the trail between Vernazza and Monterosso and explored another trail to Levanto and ended up at a look out point where I could see all 5 villages along the coast. It was gorgeous.

So I finally put up some of my snapshots of my travels. Yes it's taken a while and I would have kept procrastinating if not for my impending move. My new place won't have internet connection set up yet so am making the most of it right now =)

So here is the link if you want to browse my snapshot collection -
http://web.mac.com/paulinebanh/iWeb/Wanderlust/

Going medieval and oxonian

I've been keeping busy whilst waiting for my new job to start. Took myself off on a day trip to see Warwick Castle, incidentally on the coldest day of the month. The castle was indeed medieval and well preserved with towers and state rooms, a dungeon in the corner and beautiful gardens. I found the highlight to be the peacock garden, was tempted to take photos of the absurd faces people made to entice the peacocks to fan their tails. Here's a tip: bird noises and ga-ga faces don't work. I spent most of the day ducking into cafes and drinking copious amounts of hot tea lest my fingers and toes freeze off from the cold. It was so cold that day it snowed.

So I thought I would learn from that lesson, but I went to Oxford last Friday on another sunless day but luckily for me, Oxford doesn't need sunlight for me to appreciate it's beautiful architecture. The colleges were grand and old. I went on a working tour and was thrilled to be in New College (incidentally, not all that 'new') where they filmed some scenes of Harry Potter. The college and it's chapel were gorgeous. I managed to trespass into Merton College, quite by accident as one of the gates to the garden was open. I didn't realise I was trespassing until I crossed the garden and entered the college grounds and there was a huge sign there. I figured I made it that far...might as well check out the rest of the college =) It's not considered trespassing if you pay the entry fee...which I find quite cheeky, imagine paying to walk onto UNSW campus!

I spent quite a bit of time walking around town with my head craned up. There were some really bizarre gargoyles (or 'grotesques' for a better term as they are not used for drainage) on the buildings. In New College, the grotesques were actually caricatures of fellows of the college! Call me geeky but I really liked Oxford.

It's a long weekend this week! It doesn't make too much difference for me since the past few weeks can be termed one looong weekend for me...but I am heading to Cinque Terre in Italy over this 4 day weekend. I'm really looking forward to seeing the gorgeous Italian coast, hiking between the 5 villages and generally soaking up some mediterranean sun! After which, I shall again join the gainfully employed.