Yes, we're back :(

Andy is flying back to LA as I write this and I am in Urmston. We'll post some final photos from the trip in the next couple of days when he gets back and uploads them etc.

The Cinque Terre was magical and a wonderful break from city sight-seeing. We hiked between Riomaggiore and Manarola and from Corniglia to Vernazza, dipped our feet in the Mediterranean and ate lots of very good food. I never knew that I would like octopus salad so much! Our "Rustico Piccolo" cottage was tiny, tucked away high above Vernazza on the road to Corniglia, and I stand by our "Best Room in the Whole World" claim. The grandeur of the view at the top of the 250 steps did not wear off. After that we caught the train to Genoa then to Nice and then the night train to Paris. Afer adding extra days here and there in Austria and Italy we ended up with a truncated visit to France. Just an afternoon in Nice and 3 nights in Paris was not enough at all! So, we'll have to go back.

Paris!

Paris was fabulous, we loved it. So much so we might go back at Christmas! :)
We went to the Louvre (of course), were underwhelmed by the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa. We spent an entire day in the Musee D'Orsay where Andy was particularly overwhelmed by the number of paintings that he wanted to see that were elsewhere :(
We climbed the Arc de Triomphe and the Towers of Notre Dame, but didn't manage to get up the Eiffel Tower - next time!

More later, ta ra! for now...