Cinque. two.

The rest of the weekend went by so quickly that I haven't had another chance to write about it until now. The train ride home, hah. Needless to say that first morning we did find a beach soon after, a nice small public one that was thankfully empty and at pretty low tide at 7:30 in the morning.

To the left of the big rocks on the beach is where we slept and awoke about 10:30 am. The nap was mildly refreshing but so hot sticky when we got up to see other tourists taking pictures of the bums sleeping on the beach... oh yea that was us. After lounging for a while and swimming in the bluest water we packed up and set off for our first hike to town number two, Vernazza. About an hour and a half later we arrived and began to seek out a room for the night. Ringing a sketchy doorbell brought an armpit forest italian woman to the window three stories above instructing us to come up and talk to her. She only had two two people rooms for the night and the price was well over what we were expecting to pay so we searched on. As Guy was calling a number posted on a front door to ask about rooms two Americans passed by with their luggage, we stopped them and asked where they stayed and for how much, their place was even more expensive than the two rooms Hairy already offered us but they said there was a long haired man with a red shirt at the train station offering rooms. And this is how we came to meet Egi, who we affectionately called Eggy for the rest of the weekend. Guy took the reigns on this horse and schmoozed with Egi for a little while to lower the price of the four sleeper room he had. Explaining that we were students and six people in a four person room got Egi down for us, also the fact that Guy seemed interested in his soccer jersey and to learn that he had a wife and was pregnant for the first time due in only two weeks, they had quite a little chat and the next thing we knew we had a decently large room with access to a bathroom, shower and towels for two nights at only 40 Euro a person which was money.

Once settling in we beached for a little while, showered and went to a great place for dinner, with the best view of the sunset over the water and mountains and the freshest seafood in town. We ventured to anchovies since it was the celebratory weekend of the little fish and split mussel and clam risotto as well as a mixed seafood pasta dish with a light red sauce. To end the night right we got gellato-- mine were the two specialty flavors of the shop, Cinque terre and Vernazza's own.



The next morning we were up and out by 9:30 to set on the hike for the remaining three cities. Corniglia Manarola and Riomaggiore. On the way to Corniglia we met two Americans that had been traveling around the world since Janurary, starting off in New Zealand and Australia, all through Asia, now in Europe and finishing in South America, to be home by Christmas. They too have their own travel blogs you can check out.

http://jasonvandenbrand.com/
http://erinschneider.wordpress.com/

So awesome to talk to them about traveling and life and how they just saved money, quit their jobs and left for a year with only clothes a camera and a tent. I hope that I can only do something so amazing in my life. Once arriving to Corniglia we had so much adrenaline pumping from the hike that we kept going and decided we'd look around the city on the way back. Onward to Manarola we were leaving our new friends behind to eat and find a room.

At Manarola I asked everyone to stop so I could get some food to refuel and it was the greatest spinach and cheese pizza I've ever had and I even splurged for a riso torta dolce for dessert. MMmm The only issue was that it took me about a half hour to order my food because Italians do whatever they want and kept sneaking in front of me in line and talking to the owner causing him to ask their order and skip over me. I didn't mind waiting though because it just smelled so good to be in there in the first place. After eating we filled up on water and set for the shortest hike of only about 20 minutes to Riomaggiore. Here the boys ordered pizza for themselves while Em and I searched for a public toilet. What we were directed to was a small wooden shack with a running water sink and a porcelain hole in the ground. After cracking up about it we took our turns squatting and headed for the beach, which consisted of massively large marble rocks that you climbed to sun bathe on or jumped off to swim in the water.

After a short nap and a quick swim Em and I headed back to Vernazza on the same path we came while James and Zach took the quicker scenic ferry ride and Guy and Hen Hen searched for an alternate trail back. It was so nice to have some alone time with Emily and none of the boys around. We talked a lot about our families and friends, what it's like being on a team because she plays softball at Merrimack and I told her how much I miss volleyball sometimes. Of course we talked about boys too. Later on the beach back in Vernazza we shared more private family stories and things and I found that we have a lot more in common than I knew we already did. She is the first person in Rome that I've talked to about the different things my family has been through and overcome.

Next thing we know the church bells start ringing and we see a crowd of pleasantly dressed Italians exiting, soon after come the wedding party and the bride and groom and everyone begins throwing rice everywhere. They kiss and hug family and friends and proceed to walk around the main piazza not soon after they disappear into a door next to the gelato place we ate at the night before, only to reappear two stories above waving to everyone on the beach including the small children who are now holding plastic bags and eagerly anticipating something we didn't know. Just then the bride and groom appear to be holding a large wicker basket and start throwing candy in every direction, by the handful. Next thing we know kids are scrambling for it and adults begin cutting one another off just to receive some dolce. Henry and I look at each other, debate for maybe 20 seconds then quickly get off the towels we were sitting on and begin collecting out own candy stash. Without a plastic bag to hold our sugary treasures we make trips back to the towels to drop them off with Emily. Guy and Zach soon join us in collecting. Needless to say about 5 more baskets of candy later we rounded up a nice stash, keeping us with a great sugar high for the rest of the weekend.

Later that night Emily went to bed early and I watched the boys polish off a bottle of rum and one of whiskey, which later induced them to getting naked and jumping off the rocks into the water. Lucky for me it was really dark out and no one else was on the beach at this hour of the night. Honest to God the only thing I could see was the white as rice butts in the night for the 2 seconds before they put their shorts back on. Sooo hilarious though. I still can't believe all four of them did it at the same time.

The next morning we left around 9am to get home early. After getting off the train in La Spezia we made a last minute decision to take the train to Pisa to snap some pictures with the leaning tower, which is what we heard to be the only thing to see/do while being there so we decided to make it quick. Once getting of the train there we were literally in the city of Pisa for 53 minutes before getting back on the train and finishing off the weekend journey back into Trastevere.