Cinque Terre

April 15th:
Once we all regrouped in La Spezia, we went to the office of tourism and got our Cinque Terre pass which would allow us to hike on the paths and use the train system between cities. Then, we took the train from La Spezia to our hostel in the mountains. We got off the train and hiked up this hill to check in at the receptionist of our hostel. Just when we thought we would get a minute rest, we got right back, walked down the hill, and hiked up the other side of the mountain to get to our actual room. Our hostel was more like renting out an apartment. The bottom floor had a kitchen area with a sink, some dishes, pots and pans, a refrig, a stove, and a washing machine. Also, the ground floor had a bathroom with a shower. Upstairs, there were 2 bunk beds, one single bed, and this lavish purple silk covered queen sized bed with a gold lace canopy above it. Since we were all horrified by the purple bed, we claimed the bunk beds. Since we were all feeling quite gross we took turns showering before we went off to explore the national park of Cinque Terre.

After we all were clean, we hiked back down the hill of our hostel which was in Riomaggiore, and took the train to Vernazza. Vernazza is beautiful! Like all of Cinque Terre. In Vernazza we got gelato, and walked along the water enjoying how blue it was. After a while, Katie, Christy, and I decided to venture off and we ended up at a castle tower on top of a mountain. It was breathtaking view.

Vernazza

THIS IS REAL!

Gelato Number 3

Vernazza

the water is so blue

Beautiful!

After some time of appreciating the view from the top of the tower, we got down and soaked up the sun. By the time we were feeling hungry, we were on the train back to Riomaggiore. At dinner, Christy and I tried the traditional raisin wine, and if I can just say, it was quite tasty! It was very strong and potent at first sip and then it was nice. You could only have small sips at a time. No gulping allowed when you drink that wine. It would be too overwhelming. After dinner, we were all looking forward to our beds, so walked back up the hill to our hostel only to see the sun setting, so we kept walking up and found a bench where we sat and watched the sun set. Then, we returned to the hostel to meet our other roommates, two girls from the US who were studying in Rome. Since we were going to Rome next we bombarded them with questions, and then since we had yet to sleep for a few days, we were out by 8 or 9pm.

Grandma Janice enjoying the sun set

Day 8 of SPRING BREAK 2011, April 16th.
We got up, ate some sweet honey and bread, then set off to see all 5 of the cities. First though, we had to go back to La Spezia and deposit our luggage in baggage storage. From there it was off to a day of hiking and exploring! We started off our day right with some gelato in the first city, then began hiking the blue trail from city to city. After a good long while of hiking, we decided it was time for our European lunch of cheese, bread, boxed wine, apples, and water. NOM NOM NOM.

Gelato number 4

Hiking the Lover's Trail

Gelato number 5

Our European lunch

Still can't believe I saw this!

After we reached the last city, we sat for a while on the pebble beach and once again watched the sun set. As we were watching, this obnoxious frat boy passed us saying "you want to see a drunk guy jump off a cliff, just wait a minute." Once he got to the top of the cliff, he panicked and realized he wasn't as drunk as he thought and noticed all the rocks in the water surrounding the cliff, so opted not to jump. Once he was finished freaking out, we climbed the cliff to realize just how truly high up it was! Then, we got down and went to yet another delicious pasta dinner.

2011

After dinner, we looked at the clock to realize we were just going to make it in time to collect our luggage from the train station...or so we thought! We got there at 9:57pm and it was closed! It wasn't supposed to close until 10pm, but here we were at a loss for words, what were we going to do? For starters, we banged on the doors, then I ran to the police and frantically tried to explain the situation, only to have them tell me they were Italian and I needed to slow down my gibberish English. Lucky for us, the police were super nice and once they realized we were taking a train at 3am, they agreed to open up the luggage space.

In an uproar about all that happened, I was a range of emotions: so joyful they had gotten our luggage for us, and so upset that one of our travel companions a) had left us all day b) wasn't there to pick up her luggage c) later then didn't care when I told her the traumatic story. Didn't even say thank you that I had collected her luggage too! Grrr....

Anywho, so we got our stuff, found the nearest, cleanest looking hotel, asked them if we could stay in their lobby until our train. Did just that. Waited for the other girl to arrive with the two other girls we had shared the hostel with, then we took the train.

The train was a disaster! It was overbooked, so people were once again sleeping in the hallways. Only this time we had seat reservations, so had to awkwardly kick people out of our seats. For the rest of the night/ morning all I heard was the people next to me snoring in my ear. Not the best night, but it had been a wonderful day in Cinque Terre.