Today was a perfect day! We woke up in our apartment and opened the windowsand swung open the green shutters to the coastal Italian air. We grabbedpeaches, bananas and nectarines on our way to the path that links the 5cities together. We walked along the ocean following the path, enjoying thewarm sun and the ocean breeze as we went. We walked through Manarola andcontinued on the path to the next city, but the path had been ruined because ofthe huge storm that really affected Cinque Terre last October. So we had totake a short 2 minute train to the next city (Corniglia) to continue the hikefrom there. We walked up a thousand stairs and walked through the town where weheard little Italian kids singing in their elementary school for a performancefor their parents! It was precious!
We found the trail that would take us to Vernazza (the fourth city) andwalked about 50 feet when we saw some cement maker blocking the path! Butinstead of turn around, we decided that we thought we'd be fine if we just wentaround it and stepped over some construction tools and kept trekking. This partof the path was all through the hills that reminded us of Hawaii and Peru! Itwas so pretty! It was so nice to hike also! It wasn't an impossible hike orsuper super hard, but it got our heart and lungs working and it felt nice toget some exercise and to sweat (as gross as that might seem). By the time wemade it to Vernazza we were really hungry! Vernazza seemed like it was hit thehardest by the storm. There was construction and repair work all through thelittle town, but we were glad that we stopped there to eat because our moneycould be going in the town that needed income from tourists the most. We ateoutside this restaurant by the town's cove, and it was very tasty! Riley andNicole got pesto pasta of course and I got penne pasta with tomato sauce and itwas delicious! Avery got a delicious margarita pizza!!
By the time we were done with lunch, it had started to rain. I guess we werelucky though because it was supposed to rain all day...and the rain wasn't coldat all. So we started our hike to the last of the cities of Cinque Terre calledMonterosso. We began walking on the path and it was completely packed withtourists. It felt like we were in line to something at Disneyland. Even thoughon the way to Vernazza we had to walk over some repair work areas, we were doglad that we took the closed path because we were pretty much the only oneswalking on it and had the whole path to ourselves! This one was a bitdifferent, but half way though the hike we got ahead of a lot of people and hadit to ourselves for a little bit. When we emerged from the rainforest-like pathand made our way through some buildings and around a corner, we saw thegorgeous ocean shimmering in the sun! We could hardly wait to jump in it! Weran down to the pebbly beach (briefly encountering an LDS couple eating lunchthere) and jumped into the water! It was initially pretty chilly, but as soonas we got used to it, it was warm as can be! We started swimming out for arelaxing star floating session in the water when what do I see floating besideme?! A jellyfish!! We frantically swam closer to the shore in fear of a colonyof them! I just kept picturing Makena Madsen's jellyfish stings that she gotwhile she was traveling and picturing myself with some crazy rash where it hurtto much to carry my backpack!! But once we got back close to the shore, werealized that we were being silly and although we'd look out for jelly fish,that would not ruin our Italian ocean experience! So we kept swimming aroundand climbed over some rocks to put out things in a safe hidden place while weswam. Nicole and I climbed over some more rocks and found a ledge to jump offof into the water! It was so fun! It was a little smaller than the bungee jumpwe did a couple of days ago but was so perfect for our Cinque Terre beachparadise day. Being here relaxing by the ocean, laying on rocks like lizards,soaking in the sun was pure heaven! It almost felt like a vacation from ourvacation...like a blissful break of our hobo backpacking lives (which is alsoblissful in its own way...but not exactly relaxing sometimes haha).
We finished off our Monterossa couple hours by grabbing some gelato! It wasso good that we got some more as we walked to the train station haha Sue us!We're in Italy! The land of gelato! We took the train back to Riomaggiore anddropped our stuff off at the apartment and then set off to find boats to rentto take out for sunset, but there was no one at the stand! So even though thatwould've been the cherry on top of the most perfect day, we still sat of therocks by the ocean watching the sun fall behind the watery horizon. Nicole eventook a dip in the water!
By the time the sun was gone, we were getting hungry, so we went to the samerestaurant that Avery and I went to last night. The pesto girls obviously gotpasta with pesto on it, avery got caprese salad and I got seafood spaghetti. Wefinished off desert with the same delicious homemade tiramisu we had last nightand it was divine!!!
We went to bed for the the last night in our apartment after we tookshowers, read scriptures, said a group prayer, and even listened to a generalconference talk. We figure that we need as much help, protection, and guidancethat we can get on this trip!
It is so weird that we have been traveling for almost a month now! We onlyhave 7 nights left! It is just so bizarre! Sometimes it feel like we were inEngland a year ago but at the same time, it feels like yesterday that I waspacking for this trip! We have been doing so much every single day that it'salmost the same as college where so much happens in a week that one week feelslike a month, but because everything is so fast paced, one month feels like acouple of days...if that makes any sense at all.. Haha I am so grateful that wejust decided to backpack through Europe like we each have always wanted anddidn't procrastinate it! We knew that it'd be expensive, but when is travelingthrough Europe not expensive? Life is only going to get busier! So if you arereading this and are thinking that this would be fun and that you want to do itsomeday, try to just do it! No time is going to be completely convenient. Wemade time and saves money and took breaks from babysitting jobs and school andmissed weddings and birthdays, but it was so worth it. I wouldn't trade theexperiences we've had or lessons we've learned for anything! I hope that I canremember these lessons and and live by them when I get home!!!
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