It's amazing how many things can possibly go wrong when you're trying to register for graduation before a deadline. Faxes go to wrong numbers, titles get mistyped, faxes are received and then disappear. There's one week to the deadline now..

Had an excellent Insalate di Mare on Sunday in Nervi, with the sea crashing about 5 metres away. Fresh anchovies, mussels, squid, crab - about half my annual quota of omega 6 oils. Fortunately, you get a lot of bread to soak it up with.

Ok, finally here are the photos from the luminara and the cinque terre:

The cinque terre is a national park just down the ligurian coast. It consists of 5 villages right on the sea and a lot of vineyards on the south-facing slopes of the coastal mountains. You can get between the villages either by boat, or on the train, or by walking. At this time of year, it's swarming with tourists, which is a bit of a shame: in particular, the villages with beaches are very full of brattish American tour parties. We walked to the middle village which is slightly raised on a cliff, and was much quieter. I'd like to go back and walk up the hills a bit more - it looked quieter up there and the view must be amazing.

The luminara was great fun. Mostly, the atmosphere around the town is what makes it, but the sight of the old town lit up with candles is pretty spectacular on its own. All the shops set up beer and wine stalls outside on the pavement and sell well into the night, while some piazzas have bands or DJs in them, and are crammed with students. The main activity is just strolling around though, and everything is very relaxed. The Pisanos become even more proud of their city than usual and walk around with big smiles. I enjoyed it a lot. the only slightly unenjoyable part was getting up at 6, after 3 hours sleep, to get the train back to Genova - ouch.