Europe, September, Week Three, Part 1: Cinque Terre!
Ahhhh, Italy! What a wonderful place. Kris and I met in Zurich, Switzerland on 15 September and took a train directly from there to Milan, and then caught a connecting train to La Spezia, which is the southern ‘entry town’ to the Cinque Terre. The Cinque Terre is comprised of five towns: Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso al Mare, going from south to north. They are all perched on the Mediterranean coast of Italy, which means sunshine, warmth, and swimming! This is the life! We spent a night in La Spezia to take a break from a full day of traveling and took the train to Riomaggiore first thing the next morning. Each of the towns was beautiful and quaint, and full of American tourists! Let’s just say that Rick Steves has that whole area on lockdown; it's awesome! After getting settled in our room at the very top of town (quite the hike with our many backpacks and lots of stairs!), we walked back to the main part of town and decid...