More traveling! Italy and France

Madalyn and I left for Marseilles on March 17 to pick up Priscilla, our new friend from California who we met during our India trip. She will be traveling with us, then meeting with her husband for a Viking River cruise. From Marseilles we drove to La Spezia, Italy. Our first adventure was visiting Cinque Terre, the five picturesque villages along the Mediterranean - Monterroso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarolla, and Riomaggiore. In 2011 the villages experienced devastating rain and mudslides, with Monterroso and Vernazza almost completely ruined. So thankful they were able to restore the villages to what I remember. We purchased a full day Cinque Terre ticket for 12 Euro each which gave us access to the trains from village to village. We boarded the train in La Spezia and Maddy thought we needed to have our ticket stamped. We didn't look for a machine and figured we would stamp it once we arrived at our first stop, Monterroso. We didn't think much more about it, until a train employee asked to see our ticket. She asked where we boarded and why we don't have out ticket stamped. We had to pay a 5 Euro fine for each ticket. Locals are fined 50 Euros! Tickets must be stamped so it shows the time you started, and prevents people from free rides.... At our first stop, Monterroso, we decided to walk the 2 miles to the next village, Vernazza. After 1/2 hour of climbing steps, Maddy turned back to take the train instead. Priscilla and I continued the hike. After an hour of climbing more steps, we started asking all the hikers heading in reverse to Monterroso how much longer we had to hike before reaching Vernazza. Everyone told us we had more fun in store.............. It took us 2-1/2 hours, up over 500 hundred steps, it was a good work out and we met so many nice people, and the views were breathtaking. When we reached Verrazano, we met Maddy and headed to find some beer. We went to a bar where we met up with a group of 6 Australians who had passed us up on the hike. We drank, laughed and enjoyed our time with them. We met many Americans on the trail from all over - Idaho, California, South Dakota, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Canada, and Australia. We visited the three other towns which are about a 10 minute train ride apart. After Cinque Terre Maddy and Priscilla went out in the evening to check out the St. Joseph festival in La Spezia, while the lazy one stayed home. On Saturday we visited Lerici and San Terenzo, two villages next door to La Spezia. On Sunday morning we left La Spezia and visited Portovenere, a quaint village 10 minutes away, now one of my favorite! Breathtaking views from the church at the sea. Then we left for Nice, France where we spent the night. Nice has a very nice boulevard with palm trees, promenade by the sea, and many, lovely buildings. We walked to the old town for dinner then back to our hotel enjoy the views. I am very blessed and fortunate to experience all these wonderful places.