On the Bright Side

“There’s a light at each end of this tunnel You shout ‘cause you’re just as far in as you’ll ever be out And these mistakes you’ve made, you’ll just make them again If you only try turning around.” (Anna Nalick, Breathe) To celebrate our 20th anniversary, my husband and I booked a trip to Italy with friends based on a New York Times article we read entitled, “Thirty-six Hours in Cinque Terre.” It was truly a vacation to remember, not just for the gastronomical delights and the sensory overload, but for what we’ll call the “thirty-sixth hour” in Cinque Terre. On our last day, after hiking about twenty miles the day p r i o r t h r o u g h vineyards, olive groves and lemon groves, and dining on the fresh catch of the day in each of the five medieval towns, we decided to find the “secret beach” that only the locals know about. The Times article directed us to hike down behind the train station and “walk through the 10-minute-long path to a private vineyard overlooking two phenomenal beach...