Ciao again!
Picking up where left off, we hopped on a train from Verona
toward Cinque Terre. However, it wasn’t just one train. We had 4 changes to
make. However, the third train of the day made an unexpected stop. Confused and
unable to understand a lick of Italian that was coming over the loud speaker,
Brynne and Katie sprinted through the train while Meagan stood post with Maggs
to figure out what the heck was going on. They figured out the train was now
headed back to Florence (aka the opposite direction we wanted to go). Upon
learning this news, they frantically sprinted the length of the train (through
the train cars), and we all grabbed our stuff (chargers in the wall, cards on
Maggs, starbursts in the seat, Maggs, 3 backpacks and 3 purses) and jumped off
of the train. We finally found a new train to Cinque Terre that resulted in 2
more changes and arriving in the dark. Not thrilled about this new itinerary,
we grabbed our stuff and waited on the platform for the new train to arrive.
Naturally, the first train came late, so we missed the rest of them. Then came
itinerary number 3 along with an hour wait in a sketchy train station with lots
of stares. We were starving at this point, but the only edible dinner option
was a Magnum bar. Annoyed and ready to get there, we finally got on, what was
supposed to be, our second to last train of the day. There were about 10 of us
on the entire train, it was pitch black outside and our destination was La
Spezia Central. However, when we arrived, the only sign we saw said La Spezia,
so we decided to hop off and catch our final train to Riomaggiore. We quickly
found out that we got off at the wrong La Spezia stop and were standing on a
deserted platform in the middle of Italy. There were not taxis nor people in
sight, the buildings surrounding the train station looked like they were out of
horror movie, and the only sounds we could hear were cargo trains flying by.
Not to mention, there were no more trains from this station for the rest of the
night and absolutely no hotels in sight. Luckily, after having a brief panic
attack and lots of prayers, we found the control center at the station. The
lights were already off and the workers were walking out of the door, but after
seeing our horrified faces, they went into dad mode, called us a taxi and
stayed with us until it arrived. Praise Jesus for people like them. Our taxi
driver was a sweet older man that was only supposed to drive us to La Spezia
Central (the train station where we were supposed to get off), but he happily
took us to our hostel in Riomaggiore. The poor man was so stressed about the
winding roads on the side of the mountain with cliffs heading straight to the
ocean in the pitch black. However, we finally made it and thanked him
graciously. We checked into our hostel to find out that we had to walk up a
mountain to our hostel room. When we say mountain, we mean we were at the
highest point in Riomaggiore. Don’t forget, we had Maggs. Fortunately, after
such a fun day, the elevator was broken, so we got to take the stairs all the
way to the top. Thankfully, the hostel owner helped carry Maggs, and we arrived
to a refreshingly clean hostel. Compared to the last two, it was a 5 star in
our book!
Tuesday morning, we woke up and grabbed breakfast at a local
café. Just for clarification, Cinque Terre is on the coast of Italy and it
consists of 5 separate villages. We decided to make our way to the next village
but found out the coastal path was closed. Instead, we took the inland route,
which literally consisted of walking OVER a mountain. After 680 massive steps
to the top, the view made it all worth it. We made it down to the next village
and enjoyed a refreshing lunch before catching the train to the farthest
village, Monterosso. Once there, we got some gelato and relaxed on the rocks in
the Mediterranean Sea. When we returned to Riomaggiore, we relaxed at a seaside
café and enjoyed the beautiful sunset.
Wednesday, we took the train back to Monterosso to book the
remainder of our train tickets and enjoy a little more of the town. We had
yummy milkshakes and sandwiches overlooking the sea and soaked in the sunny
weather. After that, we climbed a rock out in the sea and then began the
‘coastal path’ to the next village. 
Let’s clarify coastal path. Coastal path
does not mean a flat path on the edge of a mountain. Their version of a coastal
path is being about to see the sea from all altitudes of the mountain. An hour
and a half later, we made it to the next village and all wished we had on our
short sleeve t-shirts again. We can’t complain too much though because we were
hiking the coast of Italy… Vernazza was an adorable village that we enjoyed
wandering around until our returning train to Riomaggiore. We went back to the
same café as the night before to soak up our last coastal sunset. 
Thursday morning, we got up early to catch a train to Pisa.
We tried to find a yummy breakfast before leaving, but Riomaggiore is lacking
in the breakfast department. Instead, we enjoyed goldfish for the 3rd
day of this trip. We arrived in Pisa an hour later and only expected to walk
700 meters to the leaning tower. We
quickly found that Google maps lied and instead got to drag Maggs all the way
across the city. It was cool to see the leaning tower and we had fun taking our
touristy pictures. We rolled Maggs back to the train station (just in time) and
got on our train toward Florence with no lunch. The lack of lunch, however,
paid off because after checking into our hotel we found the yummiest pizzeria.
We all ordered our own pizza and left with happy stomachs. Our first stop was
the leather market where we bargained and found some fun new Italian-made
goods. From there, we wandered the streets, saw the Duomo and eventually made
it to the palace. We enjoyed the atmosphere and found a cute café to complete
our day.
Friday morning, we woke up and found bagels with cream
cheese!! It was the perfect breakfast, and we hurried off for our date with
David. We loved the intricacy of Michelangelo’s work and enjoyed bringing
textbook pictures to life. We continued our day Michelangelo style by seeing
the church where he was buried and visiting his square for the best view of the
city. We café hopped throughout the day and finished with a concert on the
steps of Michelangelo’s square. Katie’s parents visited Florence earlier this
semester and fell in love with Buca Mario, a famous steakhouse in Florence.
Since filets originated in Florence, they said we must go to this restaurant.
Her parents treated us to a wonderful dinner of filets, potatoes, drinks and
strawberries with cream. Feeling very full, we returned to our hostel and went
to bed.
Saturday morning, we woke up and hopped on a train to
Arezzo. It was raining when we arrived, but we got Maggs to OUA where they let
us store our luggage for a few hours! We spent the rest of the morning seeing
Katie’s favorite places from this summer and enjoying some yummy gelato at
Cremi and Gnocchi at Ciao. Then, we took our final train to Rome! After
checking in to our final hostel, we grabbed dinner in the Trastevere area then
went back to Giolitti for gelato! It started pouring down rain, so we hopped in
a taxi and went back to our hostel! 
Sunday morning was Easter, so we got up early and headed for
Vatican City. We got there just in time to make our way to the front of the
crowd of 150,000 people!! The Pope told the Easter story in Italian and
Spanish, which we completely understood!! We were so excited about that! It was
an experience none of us will ever forget. We spent the rest of day eating
gelato and pizza and people watching at the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain.
Exhausted, we went back to our hostel early for a good night of sleep!
Today, we are headed back for our final week in Barcelona!
Our Italian adventure is over, but needless to say, we made
many memories and will be telling these stories for the rest of our lives.
Here’s the video!
Happy Easter and lots of love from Italia!
Brynne, Katie & Meagan
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