Beach Detour!

It's so difficult to write and post photos without a reliable internet connection. The internet point in town offers wifi, but it's pretty expensive - 2 euro for 30 mins, and my pictures seem to take years to load, so apologies, and eventually I'll have some up.
Which brings me to "town". I took something of a detour after my last night in Firenze, which was Friday. We went to a nice dinner and to the rooftop bar at the Continental for some drinks, and I realized that I was absolutely exhausted. The class schedule was pretty intense, and my body started yelling at me that five hours of sleep a night was not enough, so I decided to do what anyone would do when they are feeling stressed out. I headed as fast as I could to the nearest beach.
I canceled my four nights in Ferrara, and decided to instead spend three here, in Monterosso al Mare, in Cinque Terre, the "Italian Riviera". It's a series of five towns carved into the rocks overlooking the ocean that were isolated from the rest of the country for several centuries, and plagued by pirates. Everyone loves a good pirate tale. And a good pesto tale - they claim to have invented it here. Frank and I stayed here a few years ago, so I knew it was a great place - alas, it took three trains to get here, and I realized carrying my body weight in luggage wasn't possible, so I'm going to have to mail a significant amount of accumulated nonsense back to the states tomorrow.
I'm staying at Manuel's Guesthouse, which is full of bright, airy and clean rooms overlooking the whole town. The tragic downside is that it's about 200 steps to get to it, something I didn't know until I showed up with my 100 lbs of junk. I almost cried, but the man who runs the place, Lorenzo, was amazing and carried it all up for me. It's got a beautiful patio with a breathtaking view - emphasis on breathtaking, which is how you feel after climbing those stairs. I seem to have discovered a knack for picking places with too many stairs, especially of the crumbling, narrow and poorly lit variety.
Dinner last night was at Cantina de Miki, and more fantastic anchovies in lemon, white wine, and pesto bruscette. I'm loving the absence of the heavier tuscan cuisine. More anchovies and beach today at Ristorante Belvedere - I'm missing Monterosso's anchovy festival by 3 days, and I'm not happy about it. You cannot avoid seafood here. Like Scilla, anchovies are everywhere, and I'm enjoying every bite of my favorite little fish, and nothing pairs better then eating them overlooking the clear, bathwater warm, blue sea. Everyone here is so relaxed and happy. I would be too if I lived here. Like one of those knicknacks people have hanging around their house at the Jersey Shore "Life is better at the beach". Well, it is, and more so when that beach is attached to a town full of pastel homes perched into the mountains. They look like they could just tumble into the glassy sea, shattering the blue with their orange, chipped tiles and dusty, colorful facades. And let's not forget this beach is in Italy, which automatically gives it a pretty high happiness rating.
I watched the game last night, and came to the hard realization that I need to learn about soccer, and quickly. It's all they talk about here. Even the Ghana/Serbia game had the bars packed this afternoon, and I'm willing to bet no one here is from either of those countries, though I did cheer for Ghana. Serbian names scare me with all those "c" endings. Italy plays tomorrow night, and I'm really excited for that - they make it enjoyable even if you don't follow soccer, but I do need to get a shirt or something. Even the guy who set up my beach chair told me so, and he was deadly serious. I don't mess around with soccer fans. If they tell me to do something, I do it. I'm on their turf.
Forza Italia!