Sunday the 27th. To Italy we go!

This is Riley. Sunday was quite theadventure, to say the least, but that's the way we like it.  At this pointwe all have agreed that we are true backpackers.  After sleeping on Toby'sbalcony, we felt like we could conquer anything.  So we started off brightand early and caught the first train out of interlaken, Nicole and I wereheaded for Venice and the other Kendall and Avery were going straight to cinqueterra, because at the end of the week we are splitting up!  So we rodewith the girls to Milan  and then we split up.  We had about anotherthree hours until we arrived.  But Nicole and I had a heart to heart sothat passed the time quite nicely.  When we arrived in Venice we had threehours until our train left to go meet the girls in cinque terra.  So asadvised by a fellow traveler, we took a water taxi from the train stationaround to saint Marco square.  This is the most famous square with thehuge church in it and all the tourists.  Honestly it kinda felt likeDisneyland.  We got some pizza and ate it by the famous bridge and watchedthe little men in boats rowing around.  But that didn't last long becauseof the masses of people, it was crazy.  So then we wandered some more, butin the direction of the train station.  Before we knew it we were back atthe train station and an hour early, idiots.  But then we laid by thecanal, soaked up the sun and the vibes of the city.  We were both gladthat we saw Venice, but I am also glad we weren't there for days and days. So then we started our journey to cinque terra.  We had the trainsfigured out, besides the last one which was a super local train and we weregoing to have to look at the times once we were closer.  Everything workedout pretty well, we ended up having to wait an hour for the last train to ourcity.  We learned that we probably should not travel so late at nightseeing as there were a couple scares.  We encountered a few creepy guys,got stuck on the train, and had to have two girls from Japan help is to getback to the city we were staying at!  We were very excited to say theleast when we finally met up with Avery and Kendall!  All in all wedecided that we aren't traveling at night any more and we know that ourHeavenly Father is always watching out for us.

Kendall and Avery’s day:

After we split up, Kendall and I bothdecided we were was to exhausted to romp around Milan with our backpacks on. Wehad about and hour and a half before our train to la Spezia left so we ended upjust sitting in the station having a heart to heart are the ground. We sat downin one location and this scary bearded man moved from his seat right next tous. He was actually a foot away from Kendall and was just staring at us. So weloudly said "let's go get some gelato" and got out of there fast! Sowe found a spot in the corner on the ground and had a great conversation. Ilove Kenny so much! Anyways, after a little while of chatting and repacking andorganizing my bag, a police officer asked us to get off the floor and we tookit as our cue to get some gelato! It was SO good! Italian gelato in Milan wassuch a treat! Then it was time to get on our train. We found ourselves sittingnext to the sweetest old Italian lady who didn't speak English  but wegrew friends right away. The language barrier was unfortunate but we figured outhow to communicate. She taught us some Italian and would tell us words and wewere to repeat what she said. When we got up, she watched our stuff and whenshe got up, we watched her stuff. Our first experience with an Italian was sopleasant! We arrived in la Spezia and needed to get on a train to get to cinqueterre. At the information desk we were told that train was going to leave in 2minutes! Ah! We sprinted to the platform and in a nick of time we jumped on andwere on our way to Riomaggiore! The train ride was all along the coast and itwas such a sight! When we got off we were amazing by the beautiful ocean view,the colorful narrow streets and of course the fruit outside the market! Thedirections to the apartment we booked to rented out for two night was given tous in picture form. We Kendall and I were walking aimlessly trying to find thearch to get to the apartment! There were arches everywhere! A kind Italianwoman at a bar pointed us in the right directions and we found it! From upabove we heard a sweet voice yell  "Kendall!" and there ourhostess, Martina, was up there stinging up laundry to dry! She buzzed us in andshowed us the way to our apartment. The small of the place oddly reminded meexactly of the smell of my families time share place in Mexico, it was sobizarre! We walked in and were completely shocked about how much we LOVED it!It was the cutest apartment ever! We felt right at home! The orange kitchen,cute bed spread and the towels perfectly laid out for the, made us actuallyfeel like this was our apartment! We jumped for joy and laughter and Kendallalmost cried we were so thrilled at the place we randomly booked. We truly feltlike Heavenly Father helped us find this perfect place because he knew weneeded a comfortable safe place to rest for these two days and especially asafe haven for nicole and riley to come home to after the night they had. Storyto come! Anyways, we whipped on our suites and headed to the beach! We exploredthe city and got some extremely average  gelato and made our way to theextremely rocky beach. The beach was a beach but the sand was definitely notthe sand we have at home. We laud on the huge heavy boulders and chatted andhad journal time. The serenity was glorious and we were so so happy. Until allthe serenity was demolished by a group of obnoxious, drunk Americans. All theItalians on the beach just stared in disgust and I was embarrassed for them!They were breaking their wine and beer bottles on the rocks, jumping in thewater fully dressed, And just making the biggest ruckus of all time... This iswhy Americans have such a bad name!! Everyone around them were moving orleaving (including us!!).

After that, we searched for a place to eat and found one almost right on theocean an got pesto pasta and pumpkin ravioli! Yum! We also shared a tiramisu!So delicious! We went back to our apartment and to straighten it up for thegirls. We seriously loved that apartment so much! We took a nap and anxiouslyawaited the arrival of our other halves! Our alarm clocks went off an it wastime to head to the train station! We were so excited for them to come!!...andwhen the train they were supposed to be on came and left we began to panic.Frantically trying to find wifi, and then getting yelled at by the bar trenderwhen we asked him for a code, we were so confused to where they would be. Afterover an hour of prayers and trying to think positive, there they were!! Thereback packs and all! We ran to reach other, screaming and nearly crying withjoy! They were safe and with us again! It was quite a traumatic night. Nicoleand Riley experienced something potentially terrible but we're in tune withspirit and could be guided to safety... I'm so thankful for our Heavenly Father'shand in our life on this trip. I'm grateful for the Holy Ghost and thepromptings we feel all day long. Thank you for your prayers, we feel the powerof prayer daily! We are safe and happier then ever! Until next time!