I've been everywhere man...

Day three in London proved to be just as amazing as day one and two. I got up bright and early again to get a good jump on my day. I wanted to get to St. Paul’s Cathedral before all the other tourists, so I jumped on an early metro which was more difficult than I imagined. It was packed full with people commuting to work. I think tomorrow morning I will just walk to my destination! Anyway, I got to St. Paul’s around 9, and there weren’t many people there so I took advantage of it. Pictures “weren’t allowed” so I don’t have many, but I spent a lot of time inside just taking in all it’s glory. It is an absolutely beautiful place – go if you ever find yourself in London!

St. Paul's Cathedral

Before I left I wanted to climb to the top of the dome… it’s been a tradition this semester so I thought I should keep it up. Not to mention the views were pretty cool to. 528 stairs later, I was at the top. It was pretty incredible. You could see forever even though it was cloudy. After spending some time up at the top, I worked my way down and headed to my next destination.

Made it to the top!

Westminster Abbey was calling my name. I went and was not quite as excited with the content of it like I was with St. Paul’s. It was beautiful, don’t get me wrong, but it was full of tombs you had to squeeze by… and when there are other tourists everywhere it gets a little nuts. I didn’t spend as much time here as I did at St. Paul’s, but it was a pretty beautiful place to be.

Westminster Abbey

Since I was at Westminster and by the pier already, I decided to take advantage of my pass for a boat tour down the Thames River. It was pretty cool to see everything from this perspective. It reminded me a lot of the Chicago boat tour I took a couple summers ago. We saw everything from the London Eye and Tower Bridge to Globe Theatre and the tallest building in Europe currently being built. It was pretty cool to see the transformation from the historical area with Parliament and Westminster Abbey to the modern business district we ended at. I really enjoyed the cruise.

Cool shot of the London Eye from the boat

I was feeling a bit famished so I made a stop for lunch – plenty of places to choose from at these big touristy areas – then headed to All Hallows Church. This is the oldest church in London… although it didn’t look like it. It definitely wasn’t as cool inside as the others I had seen that day. Don’t put this on your list of things to see if you only have a few days. It’s not really worth the trip – only to say you’ve been to the oldest church in London haha.

Ehhh...

Right next to the church is the Tower of London, so this is where I went. I started walking with a guided tour, but then realized if I kept that up I would waste an hour just looking at things from the outside and listening to the guy talk… although he was pretty funny. So I grabbed a map and began exploring on my own; I like it better this way anyway! It was really cool, kind of like a giant stone city or playground you can explore. They have paths taking you in and out of towers and along the outer walls of the fortress, and along the way they showed different artifacts and what those particular towers were used for. Within the fortress was also an armory which was pretty cool to look at, but I think the best thing I saw at the Tower of London was the Crown Jewels. So… many… diamonds. Apparently they used to be kept at Westminster Abbey, but they kept getting stolen so they moved them here, and there is a guard outside of it like at Buckingham Palace!

Tower(s) of London

After the Tower of London I went to my next big destination – Tower Bridge of course! There is an exhibition my London Pass got me into that was pretty neat. You take a lift up to the walkways at the top of the bridge, watch a video about why it was built, walk across the walkways, watch a video about the construction of the bridge and even where the gears and everything are that run the bridge. I really enjoyed this stop.

Tower Bridge

As I was walking towards the metro stop I walked by city hall, which has gained the nickname “The Armadillo”… look at the picture and you’ll know why! I was able to go in and see a little bit of it, and it blew my mind. It was a very cool building, and it was a nice change to see this new modern work of art after seeing all the old historical buildings. Both are amazing of course, but it was a nice change of pace.

Coolest City Hall building you've ever seen right??

I hopped on the metro and headed towards the theater because guess what?? I got cheap tickets to see Wicked! I was so excited; I had heard all about this musical and was excited to finally see it for myself. It began at 7:30 and ended just before 10:30… it was so good that it didn’t feel like it was that long. I ended up sitting by a nice lady who started talking to me during intermission, and she found it pretty funny that I was from Kansas considering what we were watching. I just had to laugh along with her haha.

Cast from Wicked

After the musical and this long day full of walking, I was ready to be done for the day… ready to pass out again tonight! One more full day left here which is perfect for what I have left to see on my to-do list, then it’s off to Prague. It’s probably a good thing I will be going home in a week because I don’t think my legs could handle much more of this exploring I’ve been putting them through! But I am enjoying every minute of it!

Random shot of the day

Cheers!

When in London...

Day two… ohhhh day 2. Where to begin. I got up bright and early to begin my explorations. I started off on foot towards Kensington Gardens to see Kensington Palace and Princess Diana’s Memorial Fountain. As I was walking I realized it was taking longer than I would like – I had plans to get to Buckingham Palace to see changing of the guards so I was on a bit of a time crunch. I hopped on a metro and was to the gardens in no time. I wandered through – saw the Elfin Tree along the way which was cute. It wasn’t until I got to Kensington Palace that I realized Princess Diana’s fountain was in a different park right next to Kensington – oh well, it was still a nice stroll!

Blooming Flowers :)

So I cut across the gardens and made my way towards Hyde Park to see the fountain. I found it! It looked cool… except it wasn’t on. Turns out they only run it during a certain time in the day and that time happened to be 10am. Since my ultimate destination was Buckingham Palace, I decided to leave and come back later to see the fountain so I could go get a good spot. I finished my stroll/speed walk to the edge of the park, and the next task was to figure out how to get to the Palace. I knew the direction I needed to go, but the lack of crosswalks and the pedestrian subways made it difficult to find my way – but I finally got to Wellington Arch marking my successful journey toward Constitution Hill and the palace.

Wellington Arch

There were more people around here so I picked up the pace to get a good spot. According to my man Rick Steves, one of the best spots is right on the fence since the main part of the ceremony takes place right in front of the palace. When I got there, there appeared to be no open spots along the fence (apparently everyone else got that memo too…). So I picked a spot that looked like I would get a good watch. Then you’ll never guess what happened next! The man in front of me just decided to leave – so I got his spot on the fence! Front row action!

This is his "ready to get off work" march

I can’t even begin to describe the ceremony… It was incredible. I would hate to sound like a stereotypical tourist, but it is by far one of my most favorite things I’ve seen so far. I stood in the wind and rain for a couple hours to watch, and I enjoyed every minute of it. After the ceremony was over I recruited an old man to take my picture. The only bad thing about travelling alone is that you have to find random people to take your picture… some are better than others haha.

The band and guards

The ceremony was over at noon, and I decided to go off to find food. Along the way I found the Horse Guards – yep guards sitting on horses. Then I kept walking and guess what I ran into… Parliament and Big Ben. No big deal. I took my fill of pictures, and recruited a couple different people to take my picture this time. I actually got some good shots! I continued across Westminster Bridge and was starving at this point. So I hit up a Subway. I know, I know… but I haven’t had turkey or ham since I’ve been here!

Parliament and Big Ben

After lunch, I hopped on the metro and went to Trafalgar Square. Not only is this a famous square, but it contains St. Martin-in-the-Fields (a church we learned about in history) which was my main destination. It was so beautiful inside, and the organ pipes were incredible. It was an amazing church… then I went down to the “crypt”. I put quotes around this because they turned what used to be the crypt into a restaurant… I wasn’t so thrilled to see this.

Organ Pipes in the church

After the church I back traced down The Mall towards Buckingham Palace, but instead of walking back to the palace, I wandered through St. James Park. It was so beautiful, and they had lawn chairs sat out all over the place in the grass. It is a very cool little park. I ended up following my ears to the edge to see a sort of military barrack where they seemed to be training up-and-coming guards. They were definitely getting yelled at after they marched. Guess they have a long ways to go…

Views from the St. James Park

By the barracks there was a guards museum and shop I went to. It had uniforms, medals, weapons, instruments… anything you can think of throughout the time of the guards. A nice little piece of history. After hanging out on this side for a while I went back towards Kensington Park to see the Science Museum I had heard all about. They had a gift shop inside with more gadgets and fun toys you could imagine! I resisted the urge to buy any of them… mainly because I have to limit the weight of my bag for the rest of my travels haha. The museum itself was also really cool. There were a bunch of different exhibits, and they were all interactive. I think that’s why I like science museums the most – they are hands on instead of just looking at stuff. Maybe it’s the kid inside me haha.

Display in the museum

I began my journey back to meet up with Ryan to go to the musical, but made a stop back by Princess Diana’s Memorial Fountain along the way. It was definitely worth the stop; it was beautiful. It is a ring with one point at the top higher than anything else. The water then flows two directions and ends at a calm area at the bottom. I could have spent a lot of time here… but again, I had places to be! Maybe I’ll go spend my last afternoon there. Also, while walking through the park I found something else that was a pleasant surprise. The squirrels here will come right up to you; they love people! So on my walk I made a couple friends. It was pretty cute :)

Part of the fountain

I walked back to meet Ryan, and before we went to see Chicago we stopped for some dinner – London style! I had fish and chips and London gold beer. I don’t tend to like fish much, but this was delicious. After dinner we walked to the theater. The musical was nothing short of amazing. I love the movie so I knew this would be good. I loved it – it was a great end to a great day!

Chicago!

Now I’m ready to pass out and enjoy another fun-filled, packed day tomorrow!

One of my squirrel friends posing :)

Cheers!

Random shot of the day.

London!

So Saturday afternoon and evening were full of travels – I’m really liking this public transportation thing. Train to Rome, bus to airport, plane to London, bus to city… it’s really quite nice! Anyway, I left Orvieto at 3:30pm and got into London at about midnight. Lots of travel time, but it was well worth it. I met up with my friend Ryan and got settled in. I began planning what my first day in London should be filled with and then headed to sleep.

The tube...

I got up bright and early to begin my adventures – I didn’t want to waste any time in this great city. My first stop of the day was King’s Cross Station – just for all my Harry Potter friends. Yep, I went and gave platform 9 ¾ a visit haha. There were quite a few people gathered around it, but I waited my turn and got a picture pushing the cart into the wall.

Gettin' my Harry Potter on

My next destination – none other than the Olympic grounds. I was a little bummed out that I couldn’t get any closer to the buildings, but it was still pretty cool to see the stadium and aquatics center and everything. The Westfield shopping mall is right by the grounds, so I decided to make my way in there. From inside there is a mezzanine you can stand on and see the grounds, but sadly it wasn’t any better of a view from the outside. At the mall they also had a world food court… what did I pick you might ask? The Chipotle knock off of course… and it was gooooood eatin’!

Lunch! Chipotle knock off - equally delicious!

Before I headed back, I went to the Olympic store. From here there is an overlook that is much better. You can see everything! I’m actually kind of surprised that they aren’t further than they are, but I suppose two months is enough time to finish up. It better be anyway! After picking up some souvenirs I headed back towards the middle of the city.

Part of the Olympic Grounds

I met up with Ryan, and we took a walk down a very touristy street full of shops on our way to the British Museum. What’s nice about London is that although it is expensive in most aspects, the museums are free. Too bad I don’t like museums that much haha. But we spent a couple hours in the British Museum – saw a lot of things including the Rosetta Stone.

British Museum

After walking around so much, we decided to go grab some dinner. Along the way we walked through Covent Garden Market. It had a bunch of little shops and booths set up – and street performers of course. It was a pretty cool little place. We continued our walk and ended at Byron, a delicious burger place. I haven’t had a great burger since I’ve been here, so this was definitely welcomed. I had a cheeseburger with fries and an Oreo cookie milkshake. Could this day get any better?? Haha

Yes… yes it could – we headed to Abbey Road after dinner – so of course it could get better. The Beatles bring smiles to everyone’s faces! I was kind of surprised that there wasn’t much around… just the crosswalk. I think it’s funny how something so small can attract tourists from all over. If only the Beatles could be here now. We took the legendary picture and headed back home.

Being a loner on Abbey Road

Along the way we walked through part of Regent’s Park which is a HUGE park by Ryan’s dorm. It is very pretty right now because things are beginning to bloom – it was a great, peaceful way to end the day. Now I’m just planning out what the rest of my time here will be consumed with now that I have my London Pass! I can get into a lot of things for “free”! haha.

Regents Park

Can’t wait for day two! Stay tuned!

Ciao! I mean… Cheers!

Ciao Orvieto... Hello London!

Friday… last full day in Orvieto. I was glad I had been packing because I was able to just relax and enjoy the day. Katie and I hadn’t used our passes to get into the Duomo to just walk around so we decided to get up early to beat the crowd. I had been in the Duomo many times before for church and the concerts, but this was pretty cool because I was able to walk around and really see everything. There are some pretty incredible frescoes by Luca Signorelli, and since we had been learning about it all semester, it was nice to be able to look at them and understand what was going on. The Duomo is so beautiful. I still can’t believe my eyes after being here for four months.

After the Duomo we had to go to the school to help tear down our exhibition and to get our apartment deposits back – 100 euro richer! Haha. Well 50 because then we decided to go mail our wines so we didn’t have to worry about them breaking or getting them taken away in the airport. The rest of the afternoon was rather lazy. I laid outside and prepared my “to-do” list for while I’m in London. So much to see! Good thing I will be there for four days! I also started reading the second hunger games book… can’t get away from them now!

After a lazy afternoon, it was time to get dressed up for our final dinner together as a group. We all went to a nice restaurant and had several courses of food and wine. I was beyond full! I was so glad we had the dinner though because it was nice to have everyone together one last time before we all go separate ways for the summer. I thought I was so ready to go home, but after hearing the professors talk and a group of us talk about the teachers, I realized how much of a family we have become, and it’s going to be hard to leave it. I was able to get up and talk about my Italian teacher, Roberta. She truly is an incredible person along with Serena, Marina and Diego. They’ve all helped make this experience an amazing one.

Roberta and I

After dinner, Rachel, Katie and I walked around with Serena, Marina and Roberta for a while just to talk, and then we went and hung out with some fellow K-Staters. It was a great last night in Orvieto. I’m going to miss this place so much. Guess that means I just have to come back!

Talking during our walk through town

Today has been spent finishing up packing (making sure I meet the weight limits). Katie and I went to Pozzo della Cava which is another sight we hadn’t seen yet. It is a well within a cave. It was pretty amazing. Orvieto just has so many incredible sights to see. We also went and got our last Kebab – when you come to Europe you have to try them… so good! And I got my last cup of gelato. Ice cream will never be the same!

The well in Pozzo della Cava

It’s hard to believe that in a couple hours I will be leaving Orvieto and heading to London and Prague for the week… and then back home. I feel like I just got here and now I’m leaving home. It’s a bittersweet feeling. I’m so glad I took this opportunity; it’s been one of the most amazing experiences in my life… and it’s not quite over yet!

Katie and I after dinner

Stay tuned for my London and Prague adventures!

Ciao!

Running Out of Time!

Monday afternoon we decided to mark some things off our Orvieto list that we hadn’t hit yet. One of those was the Underground of Orvieto. See, there are thousands of man-made caves in Orvieto; the public only has access to two of them because the others are private-owned by families. It was really cool to see the caves and where families kept their pigeons… yep, pigeons. Haha. After the caves we hit up a few of the museums, quickly of course because… you know… we don’t really like museums.

The Underground

That night Katie, Cammie and I decided to hit up a restaurant we hadn’t been to yet, La Grotta Fumare. It is a pretty nice restaurant, and the cool thing about it is that it is underground. You walk in and immediately go down a set of stairs and you eat in a cave. They were having a special menu, 4 courses and wine for 25 euro, and for that food it was not a bad price at all. I was in heaven! We had an appetizer with bread and beans, an amazing pasta, stuffed rabbit and a coffee flavored “ice cream” for dessert. It was delicious. I gave away the second glass of wine they gave us, however, because I had a job interview right after dinner! Couldn’t mess that up! So I had my interview, which went very well, and then read the rest of the night. The Hunger Games pulls you in!

Dinner

On Tuesday we didn’t have anything going on. We had planned to go to Arezzo, but it was supposed to rain all day. Well guess what… I woke up and it was a gorgeous day. I went for a run and sat outside in the sun. Then we decided around 12:00 that it was going to be a beautiful day so we should go to Arezzo anyway, so off we went. We got in and stopped for lunch… cue downpour. Yeah… It rained pretty hard for a while. We waited it out and then began our travels. It rained off and on all day, but Arezzo is such a cool town I didn’t really care. We saw a bunch of churches (surprised?) and nice little parks and squares. It is cool to be able to take a short train ride and get to see all these cool little towns with so much character. It was a good day.

Duomo in Arezzo

We got back to Orvieto (an hour late because our train was delayed… surprise surprise) and went to another restaurant we hadn’t been to yet… again! It is a little restaurant by the cinema, and it was amazingly delicious too! First I had duck with honey and orange (so good!) and then I had a pasta with wild boar sauce. Dang… Food is just not going to be the same when I get home. So much for Olive Garden; they can’t touch Orvieto!

Duck for dinner.. mmmmm

Wednesday was our exhibition for studio. We set up our room to display all of our work from the whole semester and invited people we had met to come. Not too many people showed up, but it was kind of cool to see all of our work displayed. Sadly, none of the people I invited showed up… the market people and our landlord and cleaning lady. But I still love them!

Exhibition

After the exhibition, I went around souvenir shopping a little more, and then we prepared for that evening. Since we have a patio and a grill, we invited everyone over for a BBQ! It was awesome. Everyone came over and brought meat and other foods, and we just cooked, hung out and had a great time. It’s awesome to get everyone together, especially now that our time is coming to an end over here. At the end of the night we sent everyone home and cleaned up… to prepare for the next day.

Why you ask? Because we invited everyone over AGAIN Thursday morning for a brunch. We wanted to have Serena, Marina and Roberta over, and Roberta loves pancakes… so naturally we decided to have a potluck brunch so she could enjoy some pancakes American style! We had biscuits and gravy, fruit, potatoes, cookies, lasagna, pasta salad, regular salad, bread pudding, breadsticks, juice and wine. Anything you could ever imagine! Again it was a blast having everyone over. It’s our one last hoorah before we depart for the summer.

The rest of the day was spent packing… since I do leave in 2 days for London after all… and getting everything ready to go. I can’t believe how fast time has gone by. Almost a week and I’ll be home. I also found out today that I got the internship that I interviewed for on Monday; so excited for that – get to spend the summer in KC with my family and friends. What a good day, and it wasn’t even over. We went, yet again, to another restaurant we hadn’t eaten at yet recommended by Roberta, Il Cocco. I feel like a broken record, but damn it was good! I got an Umbrecelli pasta with truffles and a chicken dish. These places here sure know how to do food.

I am looking forward to some American style food when I get home though… don’t get me wrong! But I need to enjoy this while I can! Well… this has been a decent update… back to packing.

Another Sunset

Ciao!

Just Another Week In Italy

Well the last post left off on Monday night.. Tuesday we just had to turn in our journals in Marcos class and continued project presentations – nothing too exhilarating. Wednesday was also spent in presentations – I had mine this day. I got it over with first thing in the morning and proceeded to begin reading The Hunger Games the rest of the afternoon. By the end of the presentations I was on chapter 8. It sucks you in!

Wednesday night we celebrated being finished with some wine from the professors and a dinner at Da Carlo – a place we hadn’t eaten yet. It was really good! We told him we wanted to eat “Italian Style”. So he proceeded to bring us out plates of bread and tomatoes and meats. We ate on this and sipped some wine until our pasta came out. I got Umbrichelli pasta with  a peppery sauce… more pepper than I was expecting, but it was pretty good. We finished off dinner with Tiramisu – which was also pretty appetizing.

Waiting for the sunset one night

Thursday was basically our first official day of summer. We turned in all of our work and were finished with everything! Of course I had to go to the market… what will I do when I don’t have this?! Then Katie and I spent the rest of the afternoon souvenir shopping and laying out in the sun soaking up some Vitamin D. All in all it was a very pleasant afternoon. And this rolled over into Friday. We got up and made our way to Castiglione del Lago to spend the day on the water. A group of about 15 of us packed up and headed to the lake where we spent 4-5 hours… and yes, I did get fried. But it was such an enjoyable, relaxing day I didn’t really care that much. When we got back to Orvieto we decided to go to Sfizio’s for dinner one last time for our favorite pizza. It was delicious as usual… and kind of sad since it was our last time. We finished up and went home to enjoy a bowl of ice cream and homemade hot fudge made by Cammie (what will I do without her next year?!) and a movie. What a great day! This will probably end up being my favorite week of Italy.

Watching the sunset

Saturday morning we had to wake up bright and early to begin our Val D’Orcia trip with Marco. It is in Tuscany – in the countryside of Siena. It is absolutely beautiful. We made three stops – the first was at a monastery. The grounds for it were pretty large and very beautiful – lots of green and paths. We weren’t able to spend much time here so all we really got to see was the monastery itself, but it was pretty amazing too.

The monastery

Our second stop was in a small town where we had our group lunch. It was so good! We had a plate of breads with different kinds of spreads on them, some meats and some cheeses. Then we had a pasta with wild boar sauce and meat and a salad. And to top it off, some wine that the owners of the restaurant make themselves. It was a great lunch! After that we walked down to another church and were able to hear them do their chants inside. It was pretty incredible.

Church-stop number 2

Our final stop was Pienza. We were only able to spend about an hour here so we didn’t see much, but it was still a pretty cool little town. There were a lot of spots with good overlooks and a lot of artisan shops. I spent most of mine in leather shop admiring all the handmade products he had… and I love the smell of leather… We wrapped up the day and headed back to Orvieto. We made reservations at Mezza Luna so we could go eat the famous Carbonara (again for me) because it is delicious! And of course I got the sorbet again… can’t pass it up!

All the yellow in Pienza

Sunday was another day filled with Italian fun! We paid a little money and got to take part in Orvieto con Gusto. This is an all afternoon event filled with Orvieto style food and wine. Our first meeting point had a bunch of cheeses and honey to take samples of. Then we headed to our first stop for our appetizer. This was a plate filled with different meats and cheeses and breads and a few different types of Orvieto wine you can taste. It was a lot of food for an appetizer, and we still had three stops left! We finished up and walked towards our second stop where we were served two different types of pasta and some more Orvieto wine. After this stop I was already full… but we had to keep moving and keep eating. You can’t say no to this food! Our next stop was a meat and potato course, and yep, you guessed it, more Orvieto wine. Don’t underestimate Italians! After this I was still very full… but the final stop was dessert, so of course I made room for it! They had three different dessert samples, a muffin, a lemon/chocolate bar, and something else with chocolate so good I don’t care what it was. And yes, a dessert wine that tasted like apple juice. After finishing up with everything I was about to fall into a food coma… but I resisted the urge.

The two Pastas we were served

Instead, we decided to be good kids and take a walk around the rupe. I have been running it, and every time I do I think to myself, man I need to walk this so I can take pictures of all the beautiful plants blooming. So this is what we did. It was a great walk – just a stroll through beautiful Orvieto… I will miss this place when we’re gone.

Beautiful trails

After our walk we headed back home for a small dinner (obviously we weren’t too hungry after eating all day). And then we got a group together to make cheesecake for Marco. He has made reference to them all semester long so of course being the awesome teacher he is, we had to make him one. We made three of them so our class could enjoy them too – and they turned out a lot better than I anticipated. It was delicious. If you don’t believe me listen to this… They said Marco only took a couple bites of the one they made last year… but this year he ate the whole piece! He loved it, and so did I haha.

I don't have a picture of the cheesecake... so here's another trail :)



So today was our final lecture by Marco – it was a great semester with him. I wish we had more professors as passionate as him back at home. He just loves what he does and it is very obvious. The rest of the day will bring figuring out details of my travels for next week and possibly some packing… I should probably get on that. Haha.
Long enough post for now… I’m sure there will be many other stories coming up the rest of this week. Stay tuned!

Ciao!

Cinque Terre... and a million stairs

Bright and early we boarded our train and headed to Cinque Terre. This place is a series of five small towns on the coast of the sea. There are hiking trails that connect all of them so you can hike through every town and get some beautiful views while you’re at it. We stayed in the first town, Riomaggiore. When we finally got there we were so excited… and then soon found out the train was going to be on strike from 9pm that day to 9pm Sunday… We were supposed to go home Sunday afternoon to get back to Orvieto. So we just went with the flow. We extended our stay for an extra day! We got into our room, which was basically an apartment, and changed to go begin our day of hiking starting at about noon.

Riomaggiore

Our first walk from Riomaggiore to town number two, Manarola, was not a hike. It was just a flat trail right on the coast, but it was beautiful nonetheless. We walked around Manarola for a while because we had to find our way. There had been a flood and mudslide back in October so a lot of trails were closed, including the easy one from Manarola to Corniglia. So we hiked up the town and found the second trail… which consisted of stairs after stairs after stairs. It took about 30 minutes of walking up stairs to get to Velastra, which isn’t the town we needed to end up at, but it has to be a pit stop to get to Corniglia. After we finally made it, we continued on the trail to Corniglia which was more stairs (more down than up this time, but still quite the work out). I was glad to finally get some hiking in, but once we got to Corniglia we needed a little break. We wandered the streets and small shops and then took a load off at the overlook. And by take a load off I mean a short siesta in the sun :)

Manarola

Corniglia

After a little rest, we needed to head to the next town, Vernazza. This town had been hit the worst by the floods and mudslide, so every trail to it was closed – so train it was. When we got off the train, I was speechless. I knew this place had been devastated by the floods, but I wasn’t expecting what I saw. It was still pretty damaged; they were still working on a lot of repairs and clean up. You could see where the waters reached about 15-20 feet up the buildings. It was a shocking place to walk through. It really was saddening because you could tell that this was one of the most beautiful towns of the five. I hope to go back one day when they have everything back to normal and see how it is different.

Vernazza

We were able to finish the hike from Vernazza to Monterosso. On our way, we ran into this man who had a stand off the side of the path where he sold his own wine and limoncello. He was pretty entertaining so we decided to buy a glass from him. We stayed for a few minutes and chatted with him – it was a nice little break – then we got to Monterosso. This town was also hit by the floods, but not as bad. It had a couple sandy beaches… but sadly it was closed because the waters weren’t very safe – they were angry while we were there! We made it to Monterosso finally at about 7:30pm… Yep, that’s about 7 hours of hiking. Despite the sore legs, this was such an amazing experience. It was so beautiful! I would recommend this to anyone!

Monterosso

We took the train back to Riomaggiore – no way would I walk back! Haha. We took one of the last trains before the strike started and got back to our town around 8:30. We went straight to dinner; we had worked up an appetite! We went to this restaurant recommended by our hostel that was very delicious! They gave us free focaccia first; then I ordered gnocchi stuffed with cheese and tomatoes and also some fried calamari. It was a great dinner! Right before we left they gave us a free drink of limoncello and a biscotti. I love the hospitality of this place!

We went home (which was about another 80 stairs up), and I went straight to bed… it was probably 10pm at the latest… and I didn’t wake up til 9am the next day. It was a glorious sleep! Since the train strike was going on, we had another full day ahead. I didn’t do too much except walk through our town to explore it some, and then soaked up some sun in the small piazza. It was cool to sit there all day because it is where all the kids of the town gather to play. It was very entertaining. After we got a little bored with sitting around all day, we decided to hike back to Manarola since it was a short, easy hike.

We got there and sat and watched the waters for a while. It really is beautiful – I would love to live by the water! The sun started setting so we decided to go buy a bottle of wine (made in Manarola of course) and go find a spot on the path to watch the sunset. It was a very beautiful, relaxing day, and this was going to be a great ending to it. The wine was delicious, and the sunset was great… well, until the clouds covered it up. :( We made our way back to Riomaggiore and had some dinner before calling it a night. We had to get up early again – 4am to catch the first train out to get back to Orvieto for our presentations.

Exploring Vernazza - the waters were angry..

We made it up that early, believe it or not, and began our trek back to Orvieto. 7 ½ hours after waking up, we were home. Whew… We got cleaned up, and made it to school for the presentations. It was a little rough considering we had been up since 4am! Haha. After class Katie and I made spaghetti bake, which was delicious! Then the rest of the night was spent finishing up Marco’s journal, which wasn’t too bad considering I only had the weekend to write about. But I had to finish it up because it was due first thing in the morning.

Sun setting on a wonderful weekend

Now I only have a couple real days of school left, then its a few trips and heading home. Can’t believe my time here is coming to an end so quickly! I’m gonna miss this place, but I’m so excited to see you all again!

Ciao!