this morning i woke up earlier than any other day so far. i had booked a hiking tour of cinque terre. i walked to the bus and started the day by 8am. we left and headed northwest to the mediterranean coast. it took about 2 and a half hours but we passed through tuscany on the way and got to see la carrara, which is the white marble quarry where michelangelo picked the marble for david, and its one of the only places in the world to find this much white marble!
our tour guides were sandra, a local, and douglas, a brazilian/italian who moved to italy from brazil about 5 years ago. need i say more...he was attractive, even with his hair long enough to pull in a ponytail. :)
as we get to manarola, the first town we visited but the 2nd of the 5 towns, i start talking to this girl named magda. she is my age and is from poland also traveling alone. we got along great and pretty much stayed together the rest of the day! i also met a canadian girl named brenda who has been living in munich for 2 years teaching p.e., she was also very nice. the day goes wonderfully! i did get another blister but, whats new there!
the hike reminded me of macchu picchu at times but it was really not that bad. the towns were beautiful! such pretty colors and amazing views! these towns were built on cliff faces and there a tons of terraced fields for growing grapes! it was a beautiful experience. i full intend to return on day with my future husband and put a lock on the fence of lovers lane. :)
by the time we got back it was about 9pm and i was exhausted from a long day of hiking! magda and i parted ways and i headed towards palazzo vecchio. again, i ran into a free concert there! this time it was a band playing outside. the band was a weird mix of pre-teens, young adults and grandparents! they were alright, but it was fun to watch! they even played jesus christ superstar! that brought me back to my band years! :) i was standing next to the parents of the 1st chair trumpet player, who i thought looked a lot like what i imagine my dad looked like when he was younger! :) it was nice to see the parents there. the band closed the night by playing the italian national anthem! it was fun to see and hear everyone cheering and singing their anthem, althought most were just cheering, some were "lalala-ing", dont think they knew the words. :) overall, it was a great day!!
June 26, 2011 at 8:56 PM
GIRL! You're making my heart hurt! I just saw on Facebook that you're traveling Europe! I went backpacking 2 years ago (5 weeks, 12 countries) and it was one of the best times of my life! One of my stops was Cinque Terre... it was UNREAL how gorgeous the hike was! Soak up this travel! (P.S. I actually started my blog bird's nest when I started traveling!)