Wednesday, 14 Oct, 2015: Monterosso

We got a bit caught up on sleep after 36 hours of being awake and started the day with breakfast in our apt. I should mention that our landlady, who I thought spoke English does not...but her son Roberto does. He's in Ireland, so that makes for some pretty strange communications where I mostly nod and say OK but don't understand most of what Lella says. Somehow we manage, though.

We headed out towards the Tourist Info office and did some sightseeing along the way...like these flowers in front of a restaurant.

And some wondeful trompe l'oeil painted buildings.

Then we went into the Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista with a beautful "rose" window.

Right next door was one of 2 "confraternities, the "Black" one where the brothers were charged with caring for widows and orphans and arranging funerals. Note the suitable interior decor.

Walked through town doing window shopping and admiring the scenery and architecture.

Til we came to the northern end of town and encountered what is left of "Il Gigante," a 45 foot tall statue that once supported a dance terrace before that was washed away by a big storm.

We decided to walk up the hill to the top of the Punta Mesco... little realizing what we were getting into. We did see lots of interesting gates along the way...

...and of course the higher we went, the more spectacular the vista!

Until FINALLY we reached the top and found the ruins of an old monastery, San Antonio del Mesco.

More pics of houses on the way down.

Wandered back through town, stopped in "new town" for lunch at the focacceria "Simone," and out the breakwater where we could look back towards Monterosso.

 On out the south end of town where we saw a couple of old German pill boxes

And then wandered up the hill towards "home" exploring side streets as we went. Came across this tour group in front of the "White" confraternity and saw a cat curiously watching the proceedings.

Had a little rest then went out for pasta (Paula) and veal (Anne) dinner at Ristorante Belvedere. Pooped tonight and expect I will have some sore legs tomorrow!

Round About Evanston

Anne and I had a really splendid day tootling around town, exploring beautiful neighborhoods, shopping areas, and parks. My feet tell me we covered a lot of ground and we had the most perfect weather this area has to offer--sunny 70 degree and breezy. I took lots of pictures of houses as we walked. Found a nice little 9,500 sq ft beauty for just $3 mill. And a more nodest 3 BR, 2 BA condo for just $500 K. 

We walked along the lakeshore abd you could see Chicago's skyline to the south.

Stopped for coffee/ tea and a donut at The Brothers K where we snagged an outside table to watch the people and the day go by. Could not resist taking pics of beautiful planted pots on our walk as well

We fondled sweaters at the Irish knits store and wonderful handmade goods from around the world at a store that supports indigenous artisans. Anne bought some nifty little bags for glasses, money and carrying things on the trip. We got a healthy lunch at Trader Joes (salad and Calif rolls) and headed to the Grosse Point lighthouse on the lakeshare for a picnic.

Then we drove a little further north to Wilmette where we saw the gorgeous Bahai temple.

Since Anne had to do a presentation for work, I wandered aroud the Northwestern campus. They are right on the lakeshore.

Some beautiful buildings and gardens and a small handful of trees starting to display autumn color.

Most my pics of the interior of the Deering Library did not come out well, but here is one.

Then we came into town again to look at shoes and socks with cats on them whick I did not take a picture of--drat!!! Then ambled over to the World of Beer where we chowed down on a giant German pretze with mustard and cheese sauce and, of course, some very tasty beer. Last but not least is a view from Anne's balcony looking dowm the train tracks towards Evanston.

Patjens Lakes Trail

Accessed by getting off the Santiam Highway and driving behind the Hoodoo ski area, you find the trailhead for Patjens Lakes on your right while the substantial Big Lake campground is on the left. Coming back from the 2011 Shadow Lake fire, the area is still largely burned out trees, which has its own stark beauty.
You initially walk along Big Lake and can see Hoodoo and Hayrick Bluff across the lake.

The only fall color for this October hike were some low-growing bushes.

There was lots of interesting dried foliage and arty shapes in the burned out trees.

In the sunlight, the burned logs had a silver sheen to them as you can somewhat tell from the log above, plus many of the remaining trees had slipped their bark and been polished to a lighter silver, so it was a very striking forest of black and white trees--all vaguely shining in the pale sunlight.
There are supposedly 3 or 4 small "Patjens Lakes" but one of them was completely dried while one still had water. Not a good year for lakes fed by snowmelt.

Unfortunately, we did not get to do entire loop trail. Fairly do-able hike with no demanding elevation gains, but there were a lot of ups and downs; it is about 6 miles long whether you do the loop or an out-and-back.