Italy is a little like Florida. It has a strange shape for an area and the experience in the country is totally different depending if you happen to be in the east, west, north, south or central. We are in far northern Italy. In fact we only 2 hours from Switzerland, 2 hours from France, and 3 hours from Austria, and right here in Rapallo, we are directly on the Mediterranean Sea. We are near Genoa, near Pisa and a long, long way from Sicily. It is a little like being in Panama City Beach . . two hours away from pretty much anything but no worries, who needs to go anywhere else when you are in this or that kind of place?

But before we talk about Rapallo and the seaside, I need to share a bit about our last night in Como. Giovanni, our apartment host, recommended a restaurant just around the corner from us. Actually the route was more complicated than that, but we found it and it turned out to be a great authentic Northern Italy restaurant none the less. It had a simple rustic décor, a small dining space and no printed menu. The servers tell guests what is being served that evening and selections can be made from that list and that list only. We, with our fluent Italian language skills, listened to the menu offerings and jumped on things we knew. . . ravioli with cheese and sausage with potatoes plus an insalate mista (mixed green salad) to share — you know, I do believe in having a little green with every meal!!! Maybe we just are lucky, maybe we were just hungry, but it was the best Italian meal we have had in ever so long. The restaurant staff, of course, loved having Americans as guests and they played it up. The owner, Giuseppe, took our photo with his speckled chicken. He told us the story of his restaurant and gave us a book on the subject. He treated us to a taste of his homemade orange liqueur and of course, we bought a small bottle. Very nice evening!!! Now this is what living in this world is all about . . . walking into a strange place, making friends and having people treat you in turn as though you are a friend, something special.

On Wednesday we traveled by train from Como to Rapallo. We left the apartment early because one can never know when unexpected things might happen and the train waits for no one. We had a 10:00 train ticket, so to the Train Station we went, pulling our bags behind us for the 10-minute walk. The beautiful station sits atop a hill. This meant at the end of the 10-minute walk, we had to carry those bags up three flights of outdoor stone steps, 20 steps each, to reach the station from the street below. This is why we travel like we do now instead of later. One must be strong! And one must have a good attitude about things that are not necessarily convenient, smooth or easy. This was indeed a God moment! Thank you, God, for allowing us to still be able to do it.

The train ride was unremarkable until we reached Genoa but it became more and more beautiful as we approached the sea upon which sits the towns of Santa Margherita and then Rapallo. Now that's Italian! Beautiful landscapes bordered by the sea. Tall houses again with great architectural detail were built into the hillside with pretty porches and balconies with vining flowers, mature landscaping and laundry on the line. Truly, it was quaint, rich in homespun Italian culture and very inviting. Who would not want to live like these folk do? They walk down great hills on narrow paved paths to seaside level to shop the market, work or bank and then walk back up the steep winding paths in the afternoon or evening to their home on the hillside for a dinner of pasta or soup and bread.

Our apartment in Rapallo is gorgeous!!! It is small, but large enough and absolutely charming with terrazzo floors, big crystal clear windows and magnificent shutters that block out every bit of light at night but scroll up into nothing up into the window frame in the morning so that a full window of sunshine can come through. From every window and from our covered, arched terrace are picture-perfect stunning views of the backside of homes built on the cascading hillside with the sea down below. This is Italy!!!! I wish I could only describe the flowers, vines, wrought iron, tile roofs, stones, plaster, alabaster, cobblestone, royal feral cats and ancient churches with bells ringing a chorus on the hour and half-hour. This IS a very special place.

In late afternoon, we found our way downhill to the laundry service we found on Google. While we have laundered our clothing in all our apartments equipped with washing machines, today we were in need of serious professional laundering help. So day after tomorrow, on Friday, we will pick up a ton of fresh, clean laundry. What a luxury!

We found a seaside restaurant for dinner. The service was great; our fair-skinned waiter with blue eyes was from Ecuador. ???? The food was just so-so, however. Maybe these seaside establishments are just for tourist traffic - we will look for something with a more authentic local fare tomorrow.

Today is Thursday, May 4. Yes, I am falling behind on my updates. I apologize.

Church bells are ringing at this very moment, ringing out 7 pm - I wish you could hear them!!!! They don't just ding-dong. They ring out a chorus!!

It rained through the night and cooled temps a bit last night. Even with cooler temperatures this was the first time since we left home that we did not have to wear sweaters and quite so many layers. We had chores to do this morning and didn't leave the apartment until about half-past noon. We walked the paved path down the steep hill to the shore and picked up the red walkway to Portofino. We don't know exactly how long the walk is but we read that it's about 10K and someone told us it was about a two-hour walk. Stan and I are pretty fast walkers. The walk along the marked way took us along the seaside, up into the hills and forest when no walk-way was available on the road. It was beautiful, for sure, but was a little longer than we anticipated, plus the weather was unstable and rain threatened now and then. We arrived in Portofino a little after 3 pm. Granted, we stopped now and then to take photos but we were fairly serious in making our way to Portofino. I'm so glad we did. Now we can say, blister on my toe and all, we walked from Rapallo to Portofino. Mapquest says our walk was 5.8 miles.

Portofino is all we dreamed it would be. It is beautiful, rich, dilapidated, stunning and simply charming. It is much smaller than I anticipated, but there is beauty at every angle. Ancient brilliantly colored stucco buildings in golds, yellow and oranges with red-tiled rooves are set in a stage-like setting against the steep hills, rock walls and the sea, shadowed by the sun and clouds--sea birds fly overhead. In the yacht basin are boats of all descriptions, small old wooden dinghies, power boats, small and large, small and grand sail boats, and yachts for the rich and famous. Along waterfront were restaurants and a few expensive shops for shoes, jewelry and pretty much anything else one might like to buy.

We had lunch in Portofino down by the waterside. Disappointed again!!! We have had wonderful Italian dinners in Italy, but our experience so far in Northern Italy - where the food is said to be the very best, is that one must look for restaurants far, far away from spots where tourists frequent.

One last very sweet note. We have not had an opportunity to go to a bank during banking hours to change more US dollars to Euros since we arrived in Rapallo. We had a few Euros on hand but apparently not enough to buy two tickest on the ferry from Portofino back to Rapallo. We pulled out all our bills and were counting coins -- we were about 1.5 Euro short. The ticket seller would not budge. He said just go to the ATM and get Euros -- meanwhile his last ferry to Rapallo woud be gone by the time we made it to the ATM, made the exchange and returned. Suddenly a hand came forward with a 2-Euro coin in hand. He was a true gentleman from London. He looked a little like an angel to me. Thank you, Lord!