Cinque Terre

Getting sprayed by a wave

View from a swing I found

The view from my balcony, you could see the ocean too but this photo just can't do it justice







Bright and early Friday morning my 8 friends and I took off for Cinque Terre. All of us put together made for a very loud but fun trip. On the trains people would get up and move away from us. When we finally got to our final destination the stop was in a long narrow tunnel, really narrow! We didn’t know we were suppose to get off until it was too late, 3 people got off the train before it started to move on us. So that left 6 people (me included) going too far in the wrong direction. We ended up having to by tickets to get back to where we were suppose to be. Oops! I couldn’t stop laughing because it was just that ridiculous. We were split and only Addie had the hostel information.

When we finally got there and got checked in, it was SO nice. We paid 15 Euro a night and it came with a full kitchen, 3 bedrooms for the 9 of us and 2 bathrooms. And all the rooms were large. O and we had a huge balcony that we could see the Mediterranean Sea from. The weather was great until Sunday, but it is probably good that it rained on Sunday because otherwise I wouldn’t have left.


Friday after we got to the hostel we went on a walk along the coast. It was incredibly striking and I got sprayed by the waves. We just strolled, climbed, and laid on rocks for hours.

On Saturday I woke up early and made an American breakfast for everyone because that is something we have been craving like mad. It seemed like it was the best breakfast of my entire life, even though I know it wasn’t. LOL. After Breakfast we broke into 2 groups and one went hiking in the mountains and mine went hiking along the coast to get to the other towns. It was just Leighanna, Maggie, and me. It was nice to be in a small group for this walk because we could just take our time and soak it all up. I wanted to cry because I wanted to know what I did right in life to deserve this.

One of my favorite parts of the day was when we found a coffee shop that was on the trail and hung over the side of a cliff so I drank my coffee over a cliff watching beautiful waves crash on rocks. For lunch we went to the beach in the furthest town (Monterosso al Mare) and ate lunch close enough to the water that it would come up and touch our toes. It was warm and I just laid out afterwards and soaked up my first bit of sun for the year.
picture from my coffee break



where I ate lunch


Saturday night I realized I was homesick but not for Kansas City or Atchison but for the Villa in Settignano. It has become my comfort zone in midst of all this commotion and traveling.

Yesterday on the train I sat next to a lady from Ireland. I told her I was from Kansas then she went on about how beautiful it was when she was there in October last year. All I could think about was how much I wanted to go to Ireland and how beautiful it would be there. I guess the places you come from never seem as perfect as the places you visit.

I am so glad I had my friends with me for this incredible weekend because by myself it would have been nice but it is always better when you have someone to share it with.