Day 17: Monterrosso al Mare Beach Day

This morning we headed to the sandy beach at Monterosso, the farthest north village in the Cinque Terre (we are staying in Riomaggiore, the farthest south village). It's only a quick 15 or 20 minute train ride. It is only 85º or so but in the sun it is scorching hot. Like so hot, you HAVE to be in the water or you are dripping with sweat. So hot that when you get out of the water, you are dry withing a few minutes and ready to jump right back in to cool off. We rented an umbrella and 2 lounge chairs and spent the next 7 or 8 hours playing in the water, SUP-ing, snorkeling, lounging and finding yummy street food like fried calamari and shrimp and chips (and of course...gelato)! Not tons of pictures because I was just enjoying the moments, and they were wonderful!

After a long, fun day at the beach, we took a late afternoon "siesta" and cooled off at the house. We've been eating dinners late at night when the sun has gone down and you can enjoy dinner in the cool evening breezes. It's wonderful. We've had a few sit-down dinners on this trip and I'm so happy the younger kids are finally starting to be able to handle it. They can sit and have conversations and we can all laugh and talk and nobody is fighting or being naughty. It's really rewarding as a parent to be able to just talk and enjoy your kids. I love it!

Kate's gigantic shrimp. This isn't exactly what she was expecting when she ordered the shrimp.

 Riomaggiore at night.