5.31.2011

italia: cinque terre + pisa + arrival in firenze

We arrive in Riomaggiore (first of the 5 towns) on Monday of our trip, and this was our immediate view:


We looked at each other in awe thinking, "is this place for real?"  It's so quaint, and quiet, and colorful and we just loved it.  After we climbed up the STEEPEST hill I've ever walked in my life (with all our luggage) to get to our hotel, we spent the rest of the night and watched the sunset at this little wine bar overlooking the water.  They had free wi-fi and delicious local wine!




The next day we were exploring all the towns, and enjoyed a nice breakfast at our hotel.  Loved the coffee there.  We walked the Via Dell'Amore aka "lovers hike" between Riomaggiore and Manarola.  Lovers have a chance to sign their names on the wall and place a padlock in between the two towns sealing their eternal love (oops, we forgot to get a lock!).  I absolutely loved this little walk between the towns, it was just so beautiful!








We went to the rest of the towns and explored each one (I won't bore you with a long explanation of each town), and then ate a late lunch on the beach in Monterosso (the last town).  It was a wonderful/relaxing/beautiful time in the five towns!


 so colorful!

 T loves waiting on trains

T called this Cinque Terre Wal-Mart

 Vernazza


 We liked this guy's huge boom mic

 the beach in Monterosso

where we ate lunch


After lunch we meandered back to Riomaggiore, and walked through a few of the little shops on the way up the STEEP hill.  Cinque Terre was so beautiful and colorful and we loved the chill factor that came with it.

The train schedule showed us that any train we took from La Spezia to Firenze would stop in Pisa, so we decided to head there a little earlier to leave time to see the leaning tower.  And that tower is for SURE leaning.  I think it looks more leaning in person than in these photos we took of it.  Crazy!  We finally figured out the bus situation with getting to the tower, and with our bags in tow, we found it.
baptistry, church, bell tower (leaning)

 there she is

 typical tourists...

you can see all the people down the street doing the typical pose with the leaning tower :)

Finally time to train to Firenze to see our friends!!!  Waiting in Pisa Centrale....


Reunited! Some of the best days we've all spent together are ahead!

We were so excited to see our friends and to explore their home.  The bus to their apartment was right down from the train station, so we hopped on, and arrived at their cute, homey apartment!  Laura has become Giada since moving to Firenze, so she whipped up some peas and panchetta pasta for dinner that night, and we spent hours catching up and laughing.  Next up, our days in Firenze....

1 comment:

laura stephens said...

i wish i was reliving it as you are writing it. i love that pic of us because i love how i felt right then! ok, getting too mushy on a blog comment, sorry, love you!