July 13th: Are We Allowed to Have Gelato Twice in One Day??

 

(Nick lotioning up, in denial that he is now peeling ;)

Today we went to Cinque Terre! One of the places that is always at the top of Italy must-see lists, and for good reason! Beautiful, colorful little towns built into the cliffs of the coastline. We hiked and took the train between towns and just wandered around the narrow streets full of people!

We conquered 4 of the 5 towns and noticed on the way that each one kind of had its own flavor..........The first town we visited, Riomaja-something, (Riomaggiore) had the flavor of nutella and banana crepes!!  Here is us stopped at a happy little Creperie right when we hopped hungrily off the train.

So.  Sometimes when you travel you come prepared.  Sometimes you don't.  Sometimes you outthink yourself and un-prepare when you were previously well prepared.  Sometimes it doesn't matter that much.  (Too much?) For example: We brought our swimsuits in the car to cinque terre thinking that there may be something to jump off of into the water.  We changed our minds and decided to leave them in said car (shout out to Yoshi who we love and adore).  When we got on the train we talked to an American couple who asked if we were doing several things we had never heard of including jumping off of a "cliff" into the Mediterenean ocean.  Cliff jumping!?  Oh-Yes. 

We were super excited to do that-except for the fact that we left our swimsuits (that we even thought ahead to bring) in the car.  We then discussed the possibility of jumping anyway in our underwear.................. but quickly dismissed the idea.  We were dissapointed.  Sad.  Our sails; less wind.  Oh-No.  

The tables turned and we were excited to find out that the "cliff" that the snoody lady from the wine country in California was talking about was really only about 10 feet high. We had both seen more action on the high dive at the local pool when we were ten or twelve years old! The swimming area was pretty picturesque and refreshing looking but in the end we were only mildly dissapointed that we couldn't jump.  

Funny side note: Just after finishing our first Gelato of the day we went down to the swimming area for a look.  I had tiramasu all over my hands because it was so hot. To cure the stickyness on my hands I edged over to the water that was rhythmically crashing on the ramp down to the swimming area. Each wave pushed water up the ramp a little bit further away than the last.  I probably looked liked a little kid as I leaned over and chased 3 or 4 waves unsuccessfully as they came in, and quickly went back out.  I just wanted to wash my hands...............

Inevitably, the exact moment I really committed and took 3 big steps toward the retreating water, a huge wave came in and completely soaked me from the knee down; including my shoes and socks. 
:( Jen could probably interject and tell you her version better, but the point is, I walked the rest of the day like this: Squish.  Squish.  Squish.  Squish.

This is Jennifer.  She's pretty.  :) 

The first trail we did was the famous Via dell' Amore.  This trail traces the edge of a cliff over looking the ocean.  It goes all the way to the next town.

On the way through the trail many couples leave little momentos. Locks are the most common thing to leave on the trail, but others left scarves or shoelaces. 





We left some momentos of our own...........






On the left was our good advice.  On the right shows another one of our momento's.  Yep.  See that red and white waving majestically in the wind? We weren't prepared with a typical little cute "something" to leave on the trail............... We did however have an American flag bandana hiding in our backpack.  Jen tore the flag in a perfect straight line, wrote our names and a message, and climbed as high as she could before it got dangerous. (Not that danger ever bothers Jennifer, as proven in the log walking video on our hiking trip in Interlaken.  Sorry Danny,  I know I shouldn't have let her do that. She just goes sometimes.)

The Beatles made the trail!!  The quote says, "and in the end, the love we take, is equal too the love we make." -John Lennon

This is Vernazza.  The last stop we had before catching the scary train to Levanto.  (The passing trains were loud and kinda scary.  We joked that it seemed like dementors were going to come out of the tunnel and steal our souls after the train left.  Harry Potter reference. Terrible.)  We ate dinner on the ocean still in search of the perfect pasta dish.  We snagged our SECOND gelato of the day and hit the train station.  Game.

What an incredible day!!

-Nick