Continuing on with our girly getaway! After Cinque Terre we continued north to the south of France, spending a couple of nights right outside Cannes and enjoying our fill of cheese, wine, dancing, and more cheese.

Memorable moments:
1. making rather than spending money on the tolls heading into France (make sure to grab your change, and apparently you'll grab many other people's change as well!)
2. meeting up with Meg's Toulousaine family for an amazing seafood dinner in Cannes
3. breakfast of chewy french bread and perfect honey before a day at the beach
4. walking around the grocery store forever and then coming out with WAY too much wine and stinky cheese
5. dance parties
6. a quick but lovely day in Nice: nutella panini, cappuccino, salads & wine on the beach, jumping for joy!
7. jamming out to the same amazing mix cd for hours in the car

I love these girls!

The Five Lands

Cinque Terre! The most beautiful place in the whole wide world.  Five little villages strung along the coast of the Italian Riviera, connected by thin, steep hiking trails and dotted with colorful boats and buildings and the most beautiful ocean views you'll ever see. I loved it when I visited in 2005, and have dreamed and boasted about it ever since, so when some of my very closest girlfriends traveled all the way from Boston to visit, I knew I had to bring them there to show them the best that Italy has to offer.

We stayed in Monterosso al Mare in walking distance to the beach, and spent a full day exploring each of the five towns by train (and hiking). We had such an amazing time shopping, eating, and snappin' pics. I'll let the photos do the talking!

These girls are the best!

After Cinque Terre we headed up to the beautiful French Riviera, so I'll post pictures from that next. Jim and I are heading to Puglia, the heel of the Italian "boot" tomorrow, for a few days of seafood and beaching. More soon!

Quick Snip of Sarda

We were on the beautiful island of Sardinia for the past 5 days, enjoying an amazing week of pizza, cards, beaches, reading, snorkeling, wine, exploring, and more pizza. I'll have more to share later, but here's a snippet for now!

1. a river alongside the ocean at Osalla

2. lovely Sardinian jewelry at Cala Gonone

3. sunshine beach cruisin' on the scooter

4. barefoot hike through the dunes

5. the most beautiful beach - Oasi Bidderosa

6. old bessie basking in the evening glow

7. Jimmy nervous about losing at Scopa

8. clouds rolling in over the hills

9. the clearest water and whitest sand

10. umbrella pine forests are enchanting

11. sunset over Corsica from the ferry ride home

Ciao ciao raggazi!