Returns

Ok everyone. I'm back!! Yay! It's crazy how much I enjoy being back here in London. It's not that I didn't enjoy myself in Italy (except one incident, more on that in a second), it's just that it's nice having a place where you know where most everything is and have a routine. I had zero routine while we were traveling. Anyway, as some of you may know, some not, I had my wallet stolen on a train from Cinque Terre to Rome. We took an overnight train and there were a tone of shady characters around and I had thought that I should stay awake but I was so tired, I couldn't (my fault). When I woke up my wallet was gone from where I had stashed it in my backpack (my fault, again). Luckily though, not one other thing was stolen. I had the card reported stolen and nothing was taken out of my account (yet) and my passport was still there and my all my other stuff, so in the long run, I got off WAYYYYYYYY easy. I just thought I would tell everyone this happened before I rehash everything else that happened over the 9 days I was gone.

Throughout today and this coming week I will get up posts about each day of the trip. They are pretty time consuming to do (write it, upload pictures, proofread, etc.) so it might be a few days before they are all up. They will be all up eventually though.

For those people who love pictures, I took about 600+ pictures from the trip which I think I will try to put some of them on facebook or flickr. I will still put my favorite ones on each post but there are so many pictures that I feel kind of dumb just having like 7 or 8 per day when there were some days (like at Cinque Terre) where I took 100 pictures. I'll keep you all updates on this.

I did update my list of books I've read here with the ones I read over the trip. We had quite a bit of down time at night sitting in hotels or hostels and riding trains during the day so I did a bunch of reading. I will do a post about those books when I am done.

Anyway, I am back safe and sound. I hope everyone had a good week and if anything exciting happened with anyone else, let me know.

Rome Doesn't Suck After All

Well, this was our last day of Spring Break which was a little sad but also kind of good. It's hard not always knowing exactly where you are staying the next night or whatever. Plus, traveling is incredibly stressful (worth the stress but still). Anyway, we were staying at a hostel called David's Flats on Thursday night. The sleep was ok. I was exhausted to I slept well. I woke up at 7:30 or 8ish. I took a shower. It wasn't all that pleasant. There was hot water and it was a shower which was better than not taking one but the drain didn't really work which was just kind of disgusting. Plus the floor had puddles on it from other people and the rug in there was soaking wet which felt funny walking on. But I showered and felt much better in the end. We packed up and left our bags there for the day. We got some coupon things from the hostel for a free breakfast at some place. We went there and the breakfast was orange juice and a croissant (typical Italian breakfast really). I thought it was delicious but Vanessa was not happy about it. I think she wanted fruit or yogurt or something. So I ate her croissant and then we found a cafe where she bought some yogurt.

Our first stop was a church called St. Peter's-in-Chains. The Church was constructed to hold the chains that were used on St. Peter when he was held captive before he was killed. The chains are now located inside the altar with a glass case so you can see them (picture 1). Pretty crazy looking at the chains that held St. Peter 2000 years ago. Also in the church is a famous statue by Michelangelo called Moses (middle of picture 2). He worked on it off and on for about 20 years. He was commissioned to make a big tomb for Pope Julius II and it was going to go in the middle of the new St. Peter's Basilica. He died and the money ran out and no one really wanted to do anything about it so all that's left is the statue of Moses and two other unfinished statues by Michelangelo. I really liked the statue and thought it showed Moses as being kind of powerful and autroatative, I guess like I imagine him to be.

area, they sometimes flooded the area and had mock sea battles. They would also have ceremonies and processions there. They had animal hunts andThe reason this church was our first stop was because it was open early and because it was on the way to the Colosseum, our real destination. The Colosseum was called the Flavian Amphitheater back in the day because the two emperors it was built under had the family name of Flavius. The name Colosseum was started because th emperor Nero in front of it. The main purpose of the Colosseum, as most people know, was for gladiatorial competitions but it was used for other things as well. Before the underground passages on the main executions in it as well. Even nowadays, on Good Friday, the Pope leads a procession to it. It has been destroyed quite a bit by stone robbers and earthquakes but considering it was built in 72 AD, there is still alot left. I was really impressed. The outside of the stadium has the three types of ancient columns.ere used to be a colossal statue of the It could hold a maximum of 50,000 people. There were different seats for each class of people (the richer you are, the closer you are, just like in today's stadiums). The underground passages were built so that the organizers of the events could move animals and people around below, leaving the person abovve clueless as to where they will come from (like when the tigers come out in Gladiator). Very ingenious.

So Vanessa and I walked around the outside of it a little bit to get to the entrance (picture 3). It costs about 10 euros to enter. Totally worth it. We walked around the ground floor. The morning light casted a very nice look over the whole thing (picture 4 with underground passages on the bottom left, there is no floor now). There weren't that many people there when we first entered. We moved up to the upper level and walked around some more (me from the top level picture 5). There is an elevator inside which I thought looked very out of place (which it is). It was really cool reading in my book about the Colosseum and then looking at it. I tried hard to imagine it with 50,000 people all cheering the death of someone down below. Kind of hard to do. As we were walking around, these fake gladiator guys were getting into an argument below us (picture 6). There was a stage thing in front of the Colosseum and one guy was standing on it (apparently waiting for people to want to get their picture with him). Another guy came up and starting arguing with this guy and eventually was literally pushing him. The guy wouldn't budge really but eventually did leave. It seemed to me that the guy who came up had "called it" and this other guy just went up. Anyway, a weird situation involving guys in fake Roman costumes.

When you buy a ticket for the Colosseum, you also get access to the Palatine Hill which is above the Forum. We left the Colosseum (picture 7) and walked over to it. It's where the Emperors had their palaces. Mostly just ruins or not even really ruins, some rocks and stuff (picture 8). The whole thing is basically a garden which was really pleasant to walk around. It was also hard to know exactly what you are looking at because throughout the years, emperors built on top of other buildings and torn down other buildings so there's just a jumble of walls and gardens and ruins. We just sat in the sun for a while because it felt so good. Then we walked around and saw one of the private stadiums for the Emperor. We also saw where there used to be a huge fountain. We walked to a place that overlooked the Circus Maximus. The Circus Maximus was a giant track where they would have horse races and foot races. It could hold about 50,000 people as well. It is completely gone now though, all that remains is a worn down circle in a hole that outlines where the track used to be. People can walk on it and stuff.

While we were overlooking the Circus Maximus, a guy was talking to a group of students our age about it and just about the whole area in general. He had a REALLY good voice. Vanessa and I stood there and listened to him talk for a long time. He was really eloquent and smart and, as I said, his voice was so good. I was sad when they all left. We walked around some more and saw where they think they found Romulus's, the guy who founded Rome, house. I find that kind of dubious but what do I know. We continued walking around and got our picture taken by some people from Boston (picture 9 with Colosseum in the background and Forum to the left). They were nice. We had to walk back out through the Forum and it was much better in the sunlight. In the clouds, it seemed really old and depressing. The sunlight made it much more alive and it made the colors of the rocks stand out more.

We headed over to the Tiber River and crossed it at the Island of St. Bartholomew. In Angels and Demons, this is the island where Robert Langdon washes up after falling from the sky. Legend has it that the island has special healing powers. A hostpital is located on the island because of that. There is also the church of St. Bartholomew. I went inside and it was nice. Smaller type church but the columns were really cool. Vanessa wanted to go some place for lunch but it was a 30 minute walk away. We walked it anyway. It turns out that that place was only open for dinner but there was a pizza place across the way that we went to. The pizza was delicious and ridiculously cheap. We walked through the neighborhood of Trestaverde. Not much to say about it.

Our destination was a were on. There were more viewpiazza up on a hill that overlooks Rome, just like the Piazza Michelangelo in Florence. We walked along a tree lined road up and up and up. We passed by a church with a little Oratorio in the middle of it which I thought was cool. While I explored it, Vanessa laid out on the grass across the street (picture 10). We walked on and up to the square. The views were ok but nothing like the ones in Florence (picture 11). Because of the height requirements (lower than St. Peter's) everything is about the same height and it was hard to see the important buildings. The road kept going along the top of the hill wes along the way. Vanessa saw a house on the other side of the hill that she said she wanted to live in. It was surrounded by trees and looked very Italian. The road eventually went down and ended at St. Peter's Basilica. We went back there for the daily mass that happens at 5 pm everyday (if you ever go to Rome and are even remotely interested, GO!!!!).

We got to the square at 3:15 however. We sat and read for a while on the steps of the column things but I got bored so I walked around and took some more fountain/sun pictures which was really fun (picture 12). Finally, it was time to go in. We walked around but there didn't seem to be a place to go and Vanessa said that maybe we should just leave. Um, no. I walked over to a guy and asked if we could go in for the mass and he said sure. So we went in. The Mass was held on the other side of Bernini's canopy and the High Altar. The backdrop was Bernini's Starburst stained glass window and some other guy's really cool altar (picture 13). I think the presiding guy was a cardinal. He had a cane shaped like a shepherd's and the inside of his hat had red (picture 14). I don't know though. The mass was half in Italian and half in Latin. There was a program (thank God) so I knew what I was going on. Same format as always. I loved the mass. It was so cool and the setting of it was just other worldly. I couldn't believe I was there. Plus when the choir sang, it echoed a lot and sounded so good. The Mass lasted over an hour so we were a little behind schedule. After the mass ended, I stopped and took one last pic of St. Peter's, it ended up being my last picture of the trip. We walked pretty fast back to the hostel.

On the way, Vanessa bought some apples and pears and that's what we had for dinner as we walked (healthy, I know). We were in a hurry and not that hungry. We got our bags from the hostel and hopped on the Metro. There were 13 stops between where we got on and where we had to get off. It was only like 4 or 5 miles. So dumb. We got off the Metro and got on a bus that was headed for the airport. We got there in plenty of time. Vanessa's bag was too heavy (reminiscent of my leaving for London experience). She got it fixed up and we got through and on the plane. The plane ride was un-interesting. When the plane touched down, we had to ride a coach bus from the airport to Victoria Station. Then ride a night bus back to Hyde Park. Then walk to our flats. It was so much switching buses and planes and places that I was totally confused when I got back.

This was definitely one of my favorite days. I was glad that we didn't like leave Rome on Thursday or something. I had a bad impression after my wallet fiasco and the clouds. It was much better on a new day and sunshine. The mass at St. Peter's was soooo cool. The whole trip was jsut a whirlwind tour and I was wish I could have had more time there but I think I did a good job of seeing what I wanted in the time I had. It was also nice to have a little bit of a primer for what I am going to be doing after the program is done. That is going to be a lot of work (setting up hostels and such) but it is going to be so much fun.

Ciao Italy!

When in Rome...

So as started from the last entry, I fell right asleep on the train. I woke up like 5 minutes before we arrived in Rome and hurriedly got my stuff and woke Vanessa up. We got off the train and I looked at my backpack... All the zippers were open. I didn't remember doing that so I looked in the one where I kept my passport, cell phone number, wall... Oh crap. My wallet was NOT there. I immediately knew what happened. I did run back on the train and check all around the room we were in but it was no where to be found. I looked in my backpack all around and it wasn't there either. I had only had about 3 or 4 hours of sleep so I was freaking out. Vanessa calmed me a little and we found the train we needed to get to the train station we needed by our hostel. I kept looking through my bag but I knew it was a lost cause. I had read about stuff being stolen on overnight trains and all those guys getting on the train were just creepy and scary.

We got to the right train station and walked to our hostel. It was kind of a long walk and was still kind of dark out (it was like 6 am). I felt really unsafe. It was a residual effect from feeling violated by someone coming into our room thing on the train and I didn't like it. Plus I was just super tired and stressed out. So we got to our hostel, the Roma Inn. Turns out they had overbooked. The guy at the desk had to call like 5 hostels near by to get some beds for us. The guy said that it happens all the time, how dumb. This just fried my nerves more. I went to try and find a calling card while he was finding us beds. I got one and tried to call my bank but the 1-800 number wouldn't work and I kept trying and it wasn't working and the phone only spoke to me in Italian and it was just a bad situation. I never even thought of calling my mom or dad to have THEM call the bank at this point. I was so tired and beaten down that I didn't know what to do. I went back to the Roma Inn and had some free breakfast. It was good. The guy finally found us beds at this hostel called David's Flats which were 5 minutes away.

We got to David's Flats and got our beds. The ladies there were not super friendly about the situation that wasn't our fault so it was annoying. We got ready to go out for the day and left. Our first stop was the Roman Forum (pictures 1 and 2). This is the big area of ruins in Rome. The Forum was the political, spiritual, and social center of the city for something like 500 years. There used to be a TON of temples and buildings and palaces all around. Now its just kind of depressing looking columns and blocks of marble. A lot of the buildings in the Forum were torn down or taken apart to use in other buildings. It was cloudy and I was still depressed so the Forum was not very much fun for me. It all just seemed like a waste, all the tearing down and splendor gone. We walked through the whole thing and then up to Capital Hill which is at the end of the Forum. There is a museum on top of the hill and was where the seat of government of Rome has been for 2500 years. Michelangelo designed the square that is now on top of the hill. He also designed the steps leading up to it from road (picture 3).

We walked to the Pantheon next (picture 4) and along the way I was still worrying out loud to Vanessa about my debit card and she finally told me to call my mom which I did. She canceled my card for me which made me feel a lot better. We walked around and got lunch (paninis). The Pantheon was built by the Romans and is now a church. Alyssa told me that when she went to Rome she went to a Catholic mass inside it. Weird. Anyway, Raphael's tomb is in here. The most famous part of the Pantheon is the dome (picture 5). It 5 inches wider than the dome on St. Peter's Basilica (that dome is a lot taller though). It has a hole in the middle of it that lets rain and sunshine in. Overall the building is a masterpiece of the Roman's engineering abilities. So much so that when Brunelleschi was doing research for the Duomo in Florence, he came to the Pantheon and studied the dome. He even made a hole in it to see how the Romans did it.

Next up was Piazza Navona, an oval-shaped square (yup, that's what I said) with a couple of fountains in it. For those who have read Angels and Demons by Dan Brown, this is where the Fountain of the Rivers is located. The Fountain was under construction and completely blocked off however. There was a fountain of Neptune right by it though (picture 6). Very cool. We walked from there to Ponte Sant'Angelo (picture 7). Its an old bridge that leads to Castel Sant'Angelo (the place where the Hassassin in Angels and Demons works out of). The bridge and castle were built by Hadrian for his mausoleum (he was actually never buried there). Bernini redid the bridge in the 1600's by adding 10 statues of angels holding the 10 symbols of the passion of Christ (cup, cross, etc.). It's all very cool looking. We walked by the Castel and on to Vatican City.

St. Peter's Basilica is amazing. The square in front of it was designed by (who else?) Bernini. It has two halves of an oval split down the middle. Each oval half is a terrace with four rows of columns. In total, there are over 400 columns I think. When you stand in the middle of the square, it looks like there is only 1 row of columns because the 4 rows match up so well. Inside the oval is two super cool fountains and a giant obelisk from Egypt that has no hieroglyphics on it. From one side of the oval is the road and on the other side is the steps up to St. Peter's (picture 8 has the oval shaped terrace with columns on the right and St. Peter's behind the fountain).

it but wanted a Greek cross plan. When he died, St. Peter's was built on this spot because it was on this spot that St. Peter was crucified upside down (what a terrible way to die... ugh). St. Peter was then buried inside the hill that used to be here. A church was constructed by Constantine in 280. That church was taken down around 1500 and a new one was constructed. Michelangelo designedhe new designer made it into a Latin cross to accommodate more people. It can now hold over 50,000 worshipers. The church is the biggest church in the world. It has the tallest dome in the world as well. All the buildings in Rome have been required to be shorter than it which explains why Rome doesn't have any kind of a modern skyline. Inside the church is the sculpture by Michelangelo of the Pieta. That being a sculpture of Mary holding the dead body of Jesus. It is a spectacular statue.

We had to go through metal detectors to get inside and then leave our bags. The inside of the church is aweinspiring. I could have spent an entire day walking around inside looking at all the statues and paintings (hopefully someday I can, I really want to). There are probably over 200 statues inside it, most likely more. Each one is just so well done and so life like. Along the top of the outside of the church is Jesus, John the baptist and 11 apostles. St. Peter's statue is inside and you can go up and rub his foot for good luck which I had to do after my wallet incident (picture 9). The main focus of the church is at the center where an incredibly ornate 70 foot canopy by Bernini covers the main altar (picture 10). The altar is placed directly above where St. Peter's body is located. There are candles around the stairs down and altar lit at all times. In the back of the church is the more functional altar (still just amazingly ornate and extravagant and beautiful) with a stained glass window above it. The window was done by (him again!) Bernini. It is called the Starburst. There is a dove in the middle with rays of sun coming out of it. All the art in the church is either a mosaic or a statue, no paintings. We walked around some more and finally had to leave.

We walked back to the hostel which took about an hour (it was probably 3 miles or more). On the way, we stopped and at a Chinese restaurant. I had chicken with green peppers and onion and garlic sauce and fried rice. It was just so good. I loved it. It made me miss my friends at SJU a lot though. We went to a Chinese restaurant every other Sunday last semester. We rested at the hostel for a little bit and then headed out to see the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps. The Founatin (picture 11) was really cool but I had forgotten my change back at the hostel so I couldn't toss a coin in (you're supposed to turn your back to the fountain and toss it for good luck). There were a ton of guys walking around trying to sell flowers. They wouldn't leave us alone. I kept saying no and walking away but then another would come up. Stupid. I bought some gelato from a place right by the fountain, banana and caramel. AMAZING!!!!!The Spanish Steps were next (picture 12). It was dark by them and the top monument was under construction which kind of ruined the mood. I was still glad we went there though. I wanted to see them. In the summer during the day, a ton of people just hang out here.

We walked back to our hostel and both of us went straight to bed. After all the stress and depression of the day plus all the walking plus getting only 4 hours of sleep the night before, I was a little sleepy.

Cheesy Pisa

When Vanessa and I were discussing the possibility of going to the Cinque Terre, I had really wanted to stop in Pisa because it was right on the way. Well, we didn't stop and there wasn't much in Cinque Terre that I wanted to do (too cold to swim or whatever) so I decided to go to take a train to Pisa on my own. I just really wanted to see the town and the Leaning Tower so I did it.

(I learned this after I got back) Vanessa woke up kind of late and walked on trail back to the spot where we ate lunch. She sat there and read for a while then headed back. She only got back about an hour before I did.

I, on the other hand, took a train at 8 am. I saw the guy from the University of Florida on the train. He didn't see me and I didn't feel like making a point of saying hi so I didn't. Maybe I should have. Too late now. I must say, getting on the train and being alone for the first time in 5 or 6 days was weird. I was really used to always having Vanessa there to say something to or whatever and she wasn't. Sometimes I would turn to one of my sidees or look behind me for her. I know its kind of weird but oh well. So I got off the train in Pisa. The Leaning Tower is on the complete other side of the town from the train station. I walked through the town and over the river. The river was really calm and the reflections of the houses was really cool (picture 1). Its interesting how every city we have visited in Italy has a different type of architecture. There are some similarities but the buildings in Pisa didn't really look like any other buildings I had seen yet. They were all yellows and browns and oranges.

The Leaning Tower is so cool. I was so glad I went. Its crazy how much more the Tower looks like it leans in person. The pictures just don't do it justice. The Leaning Tower is actually the campanile (bell tower) of a cathedral. The cathedral was built first and then the baptistery and finally the Leaning Tower (picture 2). The square that they are all located in is called the Square of Miracles because of how beautiful the three buildings are together. The Leaning Tower is circular (unlike the Campanile in Florence) because the architect liked the circular shape and arches of the asps of the cathedral. The cathedral also started a kind of fashion trend of cathedrals in the area. All the churches in this area of Italy use green and white marble (the one in Monterosso does, for example) because the Pisa cathedral did. Instead of going into the cathedral or the baptistery, I decided to climb the Tower. It was kind of expensive but I figured I might as well do it while I was here. So I did. It was so cool. It was very disorienting climbing the stairs up to the top. Sometimes I felt like I was going down but still up and sometimes I felt like I was going up steeper than I should have. It seemed like a carnival ride almost. The stairs were also very warn down by people walking so they were slippery which added to the difficulty (picture 3).

I made it to the top and had some people take my picture for me. I liked it up on top. The views were cool with the town and the hills (I can't really call them mountains) surrounding the town. Just very pretty. I went back down and asked two girls to take my picture for me with the Tower behind me (picture 4). We got to talking and I shared my thoughts on Venice and Florence with them (they were going there next). It was nice. They were from the South. I walked around the rest of the town but it was kind of blur. I walked pretty fast and none of the piazza's or palazza's were particularly interesting. I kind of wish I would have tried to make more of an effort to have more of it memorable but I just didn't really care. Nothing compared with the Leaning Tower. I did see a lot of students around my age walking around talking and holding books. Pisa is a big University town.

It was only about 1 pm when I felt like I was done with Pisa so I caught a train to a town near Pisa called Lucca. Lucca is known for its basically completely intact medieval wall. The wall surrounds the city. First, I walked to the main Lucca church. This church was done in a similar fashion to the Pisa cathedral. I liked it a lot. I had a panini in a square for lunch. Delicious as always. Just the perfect amount of meat, cheese, and bread. I walked by another cool church. From there I climbed to the top of a pallaza's tower (picture 5). Another 250 or so steps. I think I have climbed a lot of steps on this trip... The top of the tower had some big trees which made it look kind of weird from the ground but were pleasant once you got to the top. Similar views as from the top of the Leaning Tower except the hills (Aupine Alps to be exact) were closer. Plus it was sweet seeing the ring of the wall around the city and all the red topped roofs stretching out before you. It all looked very Italian.

I climbed back down the tower and walked over to a square that wasn't a square. It's a Piazza that is in the shape of an amphitheater (picture 6 is of that but its not very good). There used to be a Roman amphitheater here but it was taken down and the buildings were built in the same shape. Cool feeling in the middle of it. I meandered my way around the medieval wall back to the train station. The top of the wall is now a park (picture 7). There were people running and stuff. The battlements are all picnic areas. I thought it was a cool use of the walls. There is also a moat (barely a couple feet across but still water) that added to the medieval wall feel. I took the train back to our apartment.

At the apartment (living room type area with kitchen behind me picture 8), I hung around and rehashed my day with Vanessa. Then I made dinner (noodles; what else?) and read some more. We stayed in the apartment until around 10 and then went to the train station to catch a train to La Spezia where we were going to take an overnight train to Rome. We got to the Monterosso train station and thought that we had missed the last train for a couple minutes. We were freaking out a little. But one appeared luckily. When we got to La Spezia, we got our tickets. We were about an hour early so we had to sit and wait. While we were waiting some super creepy, scary looking guys were walking around. Honestly, I felt really uncomfortable and a little freaked out at the situation. We powered through and got on the train. We got on the train and both of us pretty much immediately fell asleep... (story to be finished on the next post, keep some suspense).

Five Wonderful Towns

I am going to give you a little primer info on the Cinque Terre before I begin on my day. As stated previously, they are five small towns perched on cliffs along the Mediterranean Sea on the Italian Riviera. They are HUGE tourists spots now that the word is out on them. Well they are huge tourists spots when it is warm and sunny there all the time (i.e. summer) in February the only people there are locals which is interesting. The five towns, from north to south, are Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggoire. Each town has a different identity sort of and cool in their own way. They are all within a 7 mile stretch of coast. If someone visits Italy and doesn't visit the Cinque Terre, they are truly missing out.

I started the day out at around 6:30 am because I went to bed at around 9 the night before (felt so good). After waking up, I walked from the Old Town to the New Town by way of the ridge above the tunnel. It was really cool up there. There was a convent and a statue of St. Francis. It was really quiet out. Even the waves seemed to be softer than they were the night before. I love the sound of waves by the way. There is pretty much nothing as calming as that. On the way back to the apartment, I got some fruit for breakfast and Vanessa already had yogurt. We got ready to do the hike between the towns. The hike is 7 miles long. The toughest part of the hike is the part we did first, Monterosso to Vernazza.

The start of the hike was up, and up, and up. There were a ton of stairs and uphills to get out of the town and high up on the ridges between the two towns. The sucky part was that there were clouds. It made it super hard to take pictures because there wasn't enough sun to make everything show up right. It was really annoying. The trail was super green though and very pretty. Vanessa and I didn't say much to each other during this part. We were breathing pretty hard, it was early, and I think that both of us kind of enjoyed the immense quiet. Along the trail there were terraces for farming (picture 1). All the ridges around each town had been cut into terraces for grapes and other plants to grow, kind of like in the Andes. We ran into a group of three cats who had their own little encampment on the trail. It was very strange. There was a cat tent and water dishes. At the highest point on this section of trail, we ran into two couples from Cleveland. They started talking to us because I was wearing my MN Twins shirt. They were all older (new retirees maybe) and seemed pretty well to do. They were nice. From there all the way to Vernazza was basically downhill. There was a metal track thing that we later found out had a chair that powered people up the hill to the top of the trail. The chair and track looked super unsafe if you ask me.

We made it to Vernazza. This is probably the most beautiful city to see. It has a horse shoe shape because of a small bit of rock that juts out to sea (picture 2). Just incredible to look at from above. We walked around in the city and at the marina. We bought some more fruit as a snack from a farmer guy. One of the pictures I took is the exact same one as on Rick Steve's Best of Europe 2005, a book I had with me on the trip. From Vernazza, we continued walking on to the next town, Corniglia. On the trail we saw a sign that said, "down to beach". So we followed it. It was insanely steep and very rugged. There were a few places that I slipped a little. I felt like I was bushwhacking. Anyway, we made it through that trail and then followed a road through an orchard to the sea. It was just super beautiful. We ate lunch here (picture 3). I had crunchy bread (like wassebrot or however you spell it) and jam. Vanessa had tuna. Like usual, very gourmet. While we were eating, the sun started to break through in a couple spots. I was so excited. We headed back up the super steep trail and got on the regular one. We ran into a guy from the University of Florida. He took our picture (picture 4). We talked to him for a while about Minnesota. He said he knew someone from Eli (that's how he pronounced it). I laughed. Because of my Twins shirt, we also talked baseball.

We got to Corniglia. It is the only one of the 5 towns not located directly on the sea. It was up on the cliffs. Not much else to say about the town. There were 363 switch-backing steps from the town down to the sea and the next part of the trail. It reminded me of the Wiggles at Angel's Landing in Utah (except we didn't have to go up them). We walked along a pebble beach and the sun was poking through the clouds and it was super amazing (picture 5). I loved it so much. I could have spent all day there. We had to move on though. At the end of the beach, we met a couple from Australia who told us that while we were traveling, we should visit Poland. They thought Krakow and Auschwitz were very interesting. The rest of the trail from Corniglia to Manarola to Riomaggoire is pretty flat and easy. So after the beach we continued walking a little above the water and came to a marina. I walked out to the end of it and had my picture taken. Finally, we got to Manarola.

Manarola (picture 6) is the smallest town I think. It has some rocks as a breakwater for marina where people sun tan in the summer. We went out to these rocks and had our pictures taken. Vanessa got wet getting to the rocks we sat but I didn't. Some awesome pictures were taken (picture 7). The trail from Manarola to Riomaggoire is called Via dell'Amore or Road of Love. It is paved and almost completely flat. There is a tunnel with "love graffiti" all over it. Another spot along the Road is a railing where guys come with their girls and lock a lock to a railing to signify the fact that their heart is closed to all others or something (picture 8). The Road also has plants on either side of it, cactus, flowers, etc. Super romantic and beautiful.

We reached the last town, Riomaggoire (picture 9). We walked along the water in the town and then all the way up the hill to a church. Some little kids were playing football (soccer) outside it in the square. Very cool. We continued on to the castle on the edge of the cliff. There were some benches that we sat on and watched the sunset. I have said this a ton of times but it was insanely amazing to see. The sun was just all different colors and the clouds were so cool (picture 10). I took a ton of pictures of it and each one is spectacular on its own. We took the train back to our apartment. I had spaghetti and sauce for dinner and Vanessa had lentils and vegetables (just like the night before). I got into bed and read and then fell asleep early. This hike is definitely in the pantheon of hikes I have done (Skeleton Point, Angel's Landing, Skyline Trail, Lake Odessa, Cascade Canyon, Half Dome, etc.). I loved it.

So We Meet Again

Like I said, Vanessa and I talked about going to a whole bunch of places but we ended up deciding on the Cinque Terre. Our plan was to spent one or two nights there and then take an overnight train to Rome. I e-mailed the Roma Inn (our accomodations in Rome) about canceling for two out of the three nights and they said it would be fine. Then I called Hotel Souvenir in Monterosso al Monte to see if they had any rooms available for the next two nights. The woman who answered did not speak one word of English which made things difficult. I got one of the hostel workers to translate for me. Apparently, the hotel was closed but the woman had an apartment with a kitchen available for €50 a night. I'LL TAKE IT!! That's the same price we paid for that itty bitty hotel room in Venice. So we went to the train station and bought our tickets. They were only €10 or so which was good.

Before we left, I had one thing that I really wanted to do (more like 10 but I only had time for one) which was climb up the Dome. There were 463 steps to the top. That's a lot by the way. About halfway up, there is a viewing platform of the painting on the inside of the ceiling of the dome called the Last Judgment. Needless to say, it did not paint a very happy picture for the people going to hell. There was one part with a dragon biting a person in half (picture 1). The painting went from Hell on the bottom, to Purgatory, and up to to Heaven. I didn't like it much but I don't really like the Apocalypse so that would make sense. Also on the way up, I saw the herringbone brick laying scheme Brunelleschi used to create the dome. Very impressive. There were a few tight spots but I made it to the top. As soon as I poked my head out, someone headed me a camera and asked me to take a picture for them. Lo and behold!!! It was the same Canadian family as the day before. What a crazy coincidence! We talked for awhile and they took my picture again (picture 2 of me at the top with the bell tower behind). The dad told me that when I was traveling I had to go to Crete and hike in the gorges on the southern coast. He said its his favorite place in all of Europe. We said goodbye and I went into the actual church. The views from the top of the dome were far reaching and amazing to see (picture 3).

The church was just massive (4th biggest in the world, picture 4). The part of the church under the dome was blocked off because they were having some kind of event in there so I couldn't walk under the dome which was a major disappointment. I walked around and looked at the stuff I could. Then I left and went back to the hostel. I really enjoyed Florence, Vanessa not as much. I want to come back some day and visit all the art galleries we didn't go to. We got off the train in La Spezia and bought panini sandwiches at a McDonald's. The sandwiches were actually really good. Next we hopped on a train to Monterosso. It is just fantastically beautiful there.

The Cinque Terre are five small towns along the cliffs of the Italian Riviera (the towns are along the cliffs you see behind me in picture 6). They are major tourist hot spots in the summer. February, not so much which is fine by me. Monterosso is divided into two parts, the New Town and the Old Town. They are separated by a cliff with a tunnel through it. We waited at the Hotel Souvenir for Pay (the boss of the place) but she didn't show up for a while. While we waited, Vanessa practiced (I suck at Italian but it was hilarious listening to her try). One of the workers who was doing repairs (this was happening all over the city, gearing up for the big tourist season) could hear us and probably got fed up by the poor Italian so he called the boss and she brought us to the apartment. It was so cool. A kitchen, dining table, big bed, bunk beds, bathroom, towel rack with warmer, dishes, and a tv. We were so excited. The wife left for a minute but sort of communicated that she would be back soon. Her husband came and showed me how to turn on the hot water for the kitchen sink and some other stuff. He didn't speak any English either so it was interesting trying to communicate. There was a LOT of hand signals and showing. He would say OK? all the time. They were both extremely nice.

They left and Vanessa and I walked down to the beaches. We walked along the beach of the Old Town (have to pay in summer) and the beach of the New Town (from the Old Town to the New is picture 5 and from the other side of the New Town is picture 7). Very pretty. It was cloudy so there was no sunset but that was ok. We stopped and got groceries which were cheap and a nice change of pace from eating out all the time. I had my usual spaghetti with sauce and Vanessa had lentils and mixed vegetables (I still say that's weird). I read and had some Almond Apricot Cookies which were out of this world. I slept in the big bed which I must say was the best sleep I have had in a long time.