Since the majority of my readers are soaking up the sun in Destin (don’t have too much fun without me, family), I don’t feel so bad for not posting all weekend. Our quaint little Cinque Terre apartment had no internet, so I’ll catch you up on the whole weekend.
Saturday, before leaving for Cinque, the class spent the day in Rome. I loved Rome this time around. We visited lots of churches (as usual) that had famous artwork. The coolest thing I saw was an ultimate Baroque artwork—Bernini’s Ecstasy of St. Teresa. Mitch, this is your time to shine. Remember, we studied this in art history? Kulture lesson: Baroque categorizes a period, after the Renaissance, when art was very dramatic. We also zoomed past the Trevi Fountain to throw our coins in before getting on the bus. I’ve never been around so many tourists in my life.
Throwing my coin in the fountain. You’re supposed to throw it over your shoulder, wishing to return to Rome. I was too concerned about the picture I forgot to wish.
Ecstasy of St. Teresa. (Look familiar, Mitch?)
From Rome, a group of us traveled to Cinque Terre for the weekend. Upon our arrival in Corniglia (one of the five towns), Cristiana was waiting for us! I rented the apartment from her, someone Rick Steves highly recommended. She met us at the train station to help us drive our luggage up the hill. What a great host. Then, she showed us to our cozy apartment.
Our apartment.
We unpacked a bit at the apartment then took a quick stroll around town before going to bed. The five of us in the apartment decided to be good tourists and wake up early to hike the next morning. Cinque Terre is known for its hiking. There is a path that runs along the coast which connects each of the five towns. At 7 am on Sunday, we started on the path in Corniglia and went through Vernazza, ending in Monterosso. The hike was tough but rewarding. The finish line of our hike was the beach. Relaxing on the beach for the rest of the day made the three hour cliff hike worth it.
Corniglia behind me.
Vernazza.
End of the hike..finally made it to the beach!
Monterosso (beach town).
We spent the rest of Sunday and then some of Monday at the beach in Monterosso. The beach is not exactly what I expected, but still very relaxing. There is no sand, only rocks. After purchasing a blow up raft, my sunbathing experience was exponentially more comfortable. Also, while lounging in the water on my raft, I met a guy from Britain. He and his friend had planned to bike around Europe. After their bikes broke, they changed plans and spent the day at the beach.
On Monday when coming back from the beach, Jenna and I were riding the train together back to Corniglia. Trains constantly run through the five towns. You just buy a ticket and hop on when you want. We looked at the schedule and picked the next train to Corniglia, leaving in about 15 minutes. After buying our tickets, we saw a train pull up. It had been about 15 minutes, it must be our train (total Sam moment). We sprinted to it, raft in hand, knocking people the whole way there. We sat down, pleased with our successful board. After the first stop, we both look at each other in confusion. “Riomaggiore? Is that what you saw?” Riomaggiore is the town PAST Corniglia. Apparently we got on a fast train that sped right through our town without stopping. Laughing at ourselves, we bought new tickets and eventually made it back to Corniglia. My Italy trip wouldn’t be complete without messing up my train ride at least once.
Monday night, even in Italy, we celebrated the 4th as best we could. Lots of American music and cigars (for the guys) got us all in the patriotic mood.
With our gelato.
For the first time the whole trip, I finally slept in today. Our train back to Orvieto left in the afternoon, and we didn’t have any plans for the day. We turned in our keys to Cristiana and made our way to the train station. We had a couple of train switching to do and lots of riding through Italy. Getting McDonald’s at the train station made the whole day of travel worth it.
Boarding the last train to Orvieto.
