After a crazy, jam-packed journey to Rome, I was rather
tired. I had only a day, and in that time I cannot claim to have seen very
much. It was ninety-five degrees in the city, preventing me from walking around
as perhaps I should have.
In the afternoon I walked to the Trevi Fountain and
day-dreamed about the Lizzie McGuire Movie.
*It should also be noted that for the entirety of my time in
Rome I listened to three songs. They were:
An Evening in Roma- Dean Martin
Arrivederci Roma- Dean Martin
Wonderful World- Sam Cooke
That evening I decided to take an adventure to one of the
pizza places in the city. I looked up some food blogs and was on my way. I took
the Metro to a new part of town, where I found myself walking around for a
quite a while. I couldn’t seem to find the place I was looking for. Tired and
slightly disappointed, I stepped into a hip looking bar/restaurant. I didn’t
know the find I had made until the host said the words “happy hour.” There was
a ten euro charge for the drink of my choice. But wait! It gave me access to
the entire buffet. Yeah das right, turn around and there’s a whole spread on
the bar.
There’s lasagna, pizza, garlic bread, pesto and noodles, vegetables,
desserts. It was a dream.
I ordered a mango mojito, which ended up being the strongest
drink I’ve had on the program. It was delicious and got me glowing all the
more.
By the time I walked back to the Metro, the sun was setting.
Knowing that my voyage to Vernazza would start all too soon the next day, I
decided to drop by the Collosseum.
It was lovely. I circled around for quite a while, snapping
pictures and people watching. The deepening blue of the sky created a beautiful
contrast with the orange glow of the lights in the Colosseum.
After my filling meal, and enjoyable walk, I returned to my
B&B feeling triumphant. I checked out the next morning and took a train to
the west coast of Italy, to Cinque Terre.
I took a train to La Spezia, where I found the local trains
that run to the five different towns in Cinque Terre. I stepped off at Vernazza
that evening, slightly astounded that all went to plan.
There I waited for my friend, Hallie and her parents, Emily
and Peter, to arrive. I ate dinner on the main street of Vernazza. It was a
prosciutto, mozzarella, pesto, and tomato sandwich on focaccia. I never had
such good prosciutto before in my life
For dinner we ate right on the water at a very popular restaurant. We were one of the last ones to be served and one of the last ones to leave the restaurant. After the check was signed and we were preparing to leave, we observed a pair of young guys drinking this lemon liquor we saw in town. Curious what it was, we asked our waiter. He proceeded to bring us all shot glasses, along with the owner of the establishment. He insisted we all try it.
Then
the fam arrives
I enjoyed my time in Italy, but it was such a relief to see
such close friends arrive. Peter, Emily, and Hallie centered my trip so much.
We ate pizza and drank wine that evening. I got to hear more about Hallie’s
time in France, and told more than a few stories from my time in Europe.
The next morning we ate breakfast outside our apartment.
Before the day got too far ahead of us, we set out for a hike from our town,
Vernazza, to the neighboring town of Montirosso.
After our hike, we were pretty tired. Those hills were no
joke, and we all know that fitness isn’t exactly my game. We settled into a
restaurant in Montirosso for lunch. There I ate my first version of Italian
spaghetti.
With full bellies and a deep desire to cool down, we found a
comfortable spot on the beach. The water was chilly, and brought a good balance
to the heat wave that hit Italy that week. Hallie and I sat on the beach for
quite a while, playing two truths and a lie about our programs. We found that
she is a much more skilled liar than me. :/
Later that afternoon we took the local train back to
Vernazza. THE GELATO. OH. You know the feeling, when you order exactly what you needed to eat in
that moment? I had one of those times. It was a fruit and fresh yogurt scoop,
along with a scoop of Kit Kat. They blended together so well. And the yogurt
flavors of Italy really are their own league. It’s all very unprocessed, which
brings a sourness to the yogurt that I really enjoy.
After a late afternoon snack, Emily and Peter headed into
town for some ‘sploring. Hallie and I walked to the water of Vernazza, which is
perfect for deep water swimming. You can also see directly down into the water,
even though you can never touch the bottom. We sat out in the sun, floated in
the water, and watched young people from town have a good time.
This is also when I became aware of the small cliff diving
that people do in Vernazza. It’s nothing too extreme, but definitely clocks in
as being more than your average high-dive. To get on the cliff, you have to
jump into the water from the elevated concrete slab most people hang out on.
You then swim across the water, climb onto the cliff and crawl up its side.
From the top you can jump. Of course, it looks much higher from up there.
We watched lots of people do this before I decided to try it
out. The feeling was phenomenal. The swim across, coupled with the coolness of
the water, the climb, the jump itself…it’s a charge of adrenaline. The first
time I didn’t linger at the top before jumping in. That decision was a good
one. It’s much easier to look down into the water from that height when you’ve
already made the leap once.
So...that’s how the fam got to doing shots together our last
night in Vernazza. It tasted very sweet and was a hilarious cap to the dinner.
Before heading back, we returned to the water’s edge for some stargazing. The
moon was almost full, and reflected in the calm waters perfectly.
We also got to Florence, and perhaps I'll write more about that in the coming days. But for now, I must go to bed. I got back yesterday evening, and I'm still recovering from jet lag.
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