Cinque Terre = Tre amici

There are 5 towns (cinque) and we planned on hitting all 5 today, starting at the furthest and working our way back towards La Spezia where we are staying. Normally you can hike between all five towns but due to a land slide in 2011 two routes are off limits. We started our morning at Monterosso and started a two hour hike to the next town, Vernazza. It seemed more like the line to get to Ho Chi Mihn's mausoleum than a hike because there were soooo many people, especially older folks with hiking boots and sticks which was a little intimidating at first but we soon realized they were just over prepared. We stopped briefly to eat some yummy focaccia bread and had a chance encounter with a group of people who we took a picture of. We started back up and ran into the group again, it was an American couple and their adult son who now lives in Geneva, Switzerland. We ended up spending the rest of the day with them.

Before I get into that let me talk about the Cinque Terra. It is absolutely gorgeous, it's like fairies are flying around sprinkling dust on the crystal clear water. The towns are aligned so you can see all of them from our start point. Why anyone would want to live anywhere but here is beyond me because it's down right beautiful. Our last host told us that's it's where people go on their honeymoon and I can absolutely see why. Green hillsides covered in grapes and lemons, clear blue water, a speciality wine in every town. A must see if you are traveling to Italy.
Our hike dropped us off in Vernazza, where we ate lunch with our new friends right on the water. Holy moly it was windy, trash, food, napkins and hats were flying every which way but we all made it out unscathed. From there we took the train to Corniglia grabbed some gelato, took in the beauty and caught a train to Manarola. From there we walked up a few hills to some extravagant view points before starting the 20 minute hike along the coast to the last town, Riomaggiore. Our new friends were staying in Riomaggiore and had a place picked out to have drinks and enjoy the view. Apparently the wind wasn't working in our favor because the place they wanted to take us to was inaccessible due to the wind. We settled on a place slightly up the road but still in view of the ocean hitting the large outlying rocks. After many beers and glasses of wine we skipped up the road for dinner. The conversation and alcohol flowed and before we knew it was was time to go. Dan dropped us off at the train station which was great because I don't know that we would have found it in the state are were in.
It was another wonderful day in Italy! We've said before that meeting people generally makes it a better experience and this was no exception. Jill and Tim were like parents we picked up along the way, buying us drinks and meals and offering advice. Dan was someone our own age to talk to and I think he threw another wench in our already full barrel. He works in the finance world (his parents are accountants as well) and seems to really like it, Michael just got accepted to another school but for a masters in Financial engineering which he was kind of blowing off until today... They all thought he should go for it and the prospect of a 1 year and half instead of 4-5 years is really nice but it's a complete career change.
After arriving back in La Spezia we found a wonder dessert bar where we got yogurt with strawberries. There were two policeman at the stand so we finally go to ask one of our burning questions...what's the difference between police and the Carabinieri (military police). Michael and I both had Carabinieri with us in our deployed locations but they seem to be everywhere here as well as regular police. He said police are like our state troopers. One thing I love about Italy is that we also see the police and Carabinieri talking with the locals. At least from an outsiders point of view they are more friendly then American police.

Pics:
- Overlooking the water in Monterosso before we started the hike
- view of Vernazza from the trail
- Michael in geek mode at the train station after a long day
- ocean view
- me in Riomaggiore