I Do Love Le Cinque Terre and Thanksgiving

To my dear friends and family, I am writing to you on Thanksgiving. I am sure many of you will likely not read this until after the holiday weekend. Nevertheless, I wish you all the happiest of Thanksgivings. For those of you who participated in the 3rd Annual Michael Edward Bratton II Turkey Trot, I applaud you and am so sad to have missed it this year. I hope to see you all out there next year.

Florence has a smell. It just does. It is a smell that is always there and never really changes. It is a mix of benzina, cigarette smoke, expensive parfume, incense, bread, garlic, sometimes the unfortunate smell of the sewer, and leather. I know it sounds gross, but it is simply Florence and a comforting experience of the city that has always been here on my travels from 1997 until now.

But today, as I walked out this morning into the beautiful, sunny, crisp morning, I swear to you..... I smelled Thanksgiving. The turkey, the yams, the pie, all of it was in the air. The feeling was bittersweet. I am a litte sad to be missing our traditional Thanksgiving at home with the same dishes I have eaten every Thanksgiving since birth. On the other hand, I am so happy to be here in Italy with my family and with Alex.... especially Alex.

Tonight we have so very much to be Thankful for. We are finally all together and getting the opportunity to get to know each other. Tonight we will be going to il Baroccio for dinner. The family has taken quite a liking to the place and Gianni is the only one we trust to provide us with a memorable Thanksgiving dinner. It is also a perfect place for Alex and I to be, as it is the site of our first date.

Which brings me to Le Cinque Terre.................


Cristian, Jenn and Stella decided to go to The Cinque Terre for a couple of nights. For those of you who do not know Le Cinque Terre means The Five Lands. They are five small colorful towns on the north western coast of Italy. It is considered part of the Italian Riviera. It is my favorite place in the entire world. I remember the first time I went when I was in high school and I fell in love instantly. Or hotel had a beautiful terrace out back the afforded a view of the sea and the cliffs of one of the towns: Vernazza. I used to sit out there alone and write in my journal. Every time I have been back since, about 7 times, I have managed to sneak into the hotel and visit my hidden terrace. It is my special place.

Alex, Mom, Dad, and I decided to go to Le Cinque Terre for the day to see the sights and do some hiking. We stared by taking the train to the first of the five towns: Riomaggiore. The day was perfect and the ocean swelled with sunlight and aqua blue colors. We hiked from Riomaggiore to the second town, Manarola. The hike was gorgeous and that particular trail was called Via Del'Amore, which means the Road of Love. Unfortunately, there was a lot of grafiti, but I will say this: at least it was all grafiti about love. We found one rock which someone had inscribed with the words: "Alla luce del sole sara per sempre il nostro amore." "In the light of the sun, our love will always be." I thought it was such a beautiful thing to say.

As we left Manorola on foot to walk to Corniglia, Alex and I stopped not to far into the walk to look back at the beautiful view of Manorola on the ocean. It was perfect. And on this spot, Alex got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife. I told him I would think about it and that I would only do it for 5 euro. Obviously I was joking and of course I said yes.



As you can imagine, the rest of the day was very nice. We finished our walk with mom and dad and met up with the rest of the family in Vernazza. I was a little tired when we got there, but ready for a great lunch.


We had a delicious meal of soup, and antipasti. Mom and I had the Ligurian favorite, Trofie al Pesto. Vernazza is well known for its FABULOUS homemade pesto! After lunch we enjoyed the sun and let Stella see the high tide coming in. The huge ocean waves began to take over the small town, but not before we took some great photos.



Before leaving town, we snuck up to my secret place to take a look. It was exactly the same as it has always been. Nothing seems to change in Le Cinque Terre. And now, it will never change in my heart and will continue to be somewhere very special to me. I have many memories there in very different stages of my life. I am honored to have this new memory there. As everyone walked up the steps to head to the train station, I satyed behind for a minute, alone and thought about all the time that had passed since I had first been there 11 years ago. So much has happened, but I am exactly where I want to be, and I am very Thankful for that.