Cinque Terre and the "United" States

If you haven't heard of this place yet, don't feel bad. Until the wonderful Kylie Brandt told me about her travels there, I never had either. But, if you haven't, I highly recommend that you google it, and, if at all possible, visit. I thought mid April was a great time to visit- not quite the high season, where I can imagine it would be overrun by tourists, but still warm enough (or at least it was for us) for t-shirts and some quality beach time.

our friend with the snack cart on the train from Milan
(just like Harry Potter, minus the chocolate frogs)

our home for 2 nights

It took pretty much 2 full days of travel to spend 2 full days in Cinque Terre- we flew into Milan Malpensa, took a train to Milan Central, and then took a 3 hour train to get to Levanto, the town we stayed in just north of Monterosso, the top town of the five, and reversed this process when we left. These days were definitely exhausting, and the before mentioned train ended up being the resting place for my high-tech piccell phone, but definitely worth it.

view of Levanto from the trail

We had planned to hike all day on the first day, and then relax

beach view at Monterosso :)

more on the second- I had high hopes of spending my day doing virtually nothing on the beach, and taking a dip in the Mediterranean. However, our plans were slightly daunted when we found out that the main trail was closed due to fallen rocks- bummer. We were still able to make the beautiful 2 or so hour hike from Levanto to Monterosso, and from there, of course we decided to try to make our way to Vernazza, the next town, anyways- a few fallen rocks never hurt anyone, right?

trail closed. whoops

back on the trail!

We encountered a German couple, maybe in their mid 30s (but then again, guessing ages was never my strong suit) trying to do the same thing. Our plans were daunted early on by an active construction site working on repairing the path- after unsuccessful attempts to make our own trail farther up the mountainside by climbing under a fence and over a gate, we ended up sneaking through the site while the workers were at lunch, the Germans leading the way. [I want to still be this adventurous, and in shape, when I am older and married.] The husband waited to give Danielle and I a hand up over the wall to get back onto the path, and then caught up to his wife. We were able to follow the trail for a little bit, but then we ran into another road block; this one wasn't active, and it was blocked off by metal fence and barbed wire- going over wasn't exactly a viable option.

terrace farming

German friends- SPOTTED! (they were clearly ahead)

We all decided to try to hike up and around to meet up with the trail, and eventually found a path through someone's terraced farm, but Danielle and I fell a little behind (I 

told you those Germans were in good shape!), but once again, it was the Germans to the rescue! The

about that... 

wife came back to point us in the right direction, and we headed straight up the mountain to the main road. When we to the top, the Germans had already started on the path back down to meet up with the trail, through the clearly

machine for farming on mountainsides

marked private vineyard (gotta live on the edge, right?). We stopped at the top, unfortunately, for a water/picture break, and ended up getting caught shortly into our descent by a nice, old Italian man who thought we were lost and yelled at us to come up (in Italian, of course). I think he thought we were lost, so using hand gestures, we deciphered that he was telling us that the road would lead to Vernazza. So, we turned and headed up the winding road, leaving the trail behind. I bet the Germans made it to Vernazza- they rocked.

at least it was beautiful :)

We continued walking, and the road continued winding around the mountain peaks in the complete wrong direction. But what choice did we have? We kept walking, probably for about 3 kilometers, and finally got to a map and road signs that said we were indeed headed to Vernazza, and had somewhere around 15 kilometers to go. Clearly, that was not going to happen. Instead, we headed 4 kilometers BACK down to Monterosso, where we decided to relent and buy the train pass, since we had lost so much time on our detour.

Riomaggiore

Corniglia

We took the train to the end (semi-unintentionally), and got off at Riomaggiore (although we

 ended up not realizing where the main part of the town was in relation to the train station, and I think we missed most of it), and then worked our way back up towards Levanto. All of the towns

Manerola

Vernazza

(Riomaggiore, Manerola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso) were super cute and picturesque. I can only imagine that the trails connecting them all would have been breathtaking, since they overlook the cliffs and sea for much of it, but it was still amazing. The towns all had so much character! I loved the brightly colored buildings crowded together, the beaches (of course), the way that people adapted farming practices to be able to grow right on the mountainside, etc. 

sunset :)

The next day, as planned, I camped out on the beach- there is nothing I love more than the feeling of warmth from the sunshine while lying on the beach with the sound of waves crashing in the background.  I also explored Levanto a 

cool tunnel road

little bit, and found a cool road for walkers/runners and bikers with tunnels through the cliffs that led to the next town over, which Danielle and I ran on later that night. I did go in the Mediterranean, but it was much windier than the day before, so it was a little too chilly to really swim around, which was slightly disappointing. It was still a great day overall though! and we ended it with a run, then I watched the sunset over the water, and we had a dinner of delicious pizza and wine from a place near our hostel, with a scoop of nutella gelato (literally had this every night) to finish it off.

We met some cool people during our days there. First, we ran into an older, retired couple from Florida at the Monterosso train station. It seemed like they spent much of their life traveling, which would definitely be an expensive and busy, but cool life. They were currently on a cruise that lasted around 60 days, and had been on one for 118! Not sure I would want to spend that much time on a crowded cruise ship (okay, I defintiely wouldn't), but they had been to some incredible places. Then, at one of the other train stations, we met another couple whose child had studied abroad a few years ago, and spent some time talking to them about studying abroad, traveling, and school.

I've found it slightly funny, but also pretty cool, the way that Americans abroad are truly united by our nationality. In the US, it is unlikely that strangers would talk to each other just because they were both speaking American English, or because one had a "Florida" or "Seattle" sweatshirt on. But in foreign countries, although the subcultural difference between regions of the country and between different states  are huge, people truly are from the UNITED States. When we first arrived in Budapest in January, a man helped Danielle and I find the right platform without even asking, probably because he was American, and we were confused and clearly American. It was right after the NCAA football championships, and he was sporting Auburn clothing, so I asked if he was an Auburn fan, and if they had won. It was a cool source of unification to see such a familiar site in such a foreign country. At home in the US, if I saw a person wearing Auburn clothes after a win, it probably wouldn't be a conversation starter.

A couple days ago in the Czech Repubic, a group of us were at the Prague Castle, and a few guys standing next to us, who were just out of college there for work, turned to us and asked where we were from, what we were doing in Prague, etc. When at the Cliffs of Moher, a mom was sitting on the edge of the path and as we passed she asked us where we were from and what we were studying, and told us a little about her son. It's been really great to be able to meet so many more people, and really feel a connection with other Americans while abroad (though I have met lots of cool people from other places as well!). 

Even though the geographical distance from California to Connecticut is around 3000 miles, not much less than the distance from Connecticut to Denmark (abour 3700 miles), and far more than the distance between various European countries I've been to, there is something about being from the same country that offers an amount of connection and comfort while abroad. I think people should always be this open to getting to know others, not just when traveling in unfamiliar territory and connected by a shared language.