Day 15: Cinque Terre

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Today's highlights:

   -Left Venice, fleas?

   -Beach Day in Monterosso

   -Pear and cheese pasta for dinner

Happy Pioneer Day everyone! We made it to the Cinque Terre today! And it was awesome! Even if it was super hot and crazy crowded (more crowded, I dare say, than anywhere we have been so far), it was still so beautiful! 

We woke up in Venice to something slightly alarming. Because our hotel had no AC, we had to sleep with the windows open and the fan on all night. Throughout the night, I vaguely remember having dreams of scratching my legs furiously. When I awoke, I realized it was no dream. I was COVERED in little red bites all over me. Now, this would be an annoyance to anyone, probably just stupid mosquitos since we left the window open. But to one who had been hit by the flea train a few too many times (10 separate times on the mish, to be exact), it was terrifying. Yes, fleas. I had fleas 10 times. Even though in my mind, I am SURE this time it is probably just mosquito bites, I can't help but have flash backs of being in the middle of the discussion about Joseph Smith, while intensely scratching the back of my leg with my other foot, wishing it would all go away, only to wake up the next morning and find even MORE bites on my flesh. So only time will tell, but maybe if we all cross our fingers together, I somehow won't have fleas and these bites will go away. 

So we made it to Cinque Terre, to the town of Vernazza, which will be our home base. It is beautiful, and what's more important, the AIR CONDITIONER in our apartment is beautiful! We just laid for like 20 minutes to stop sweating for the first time in awhile, and it felt marvelous.

Then we immediately hopped on the train to the next town, Monterosso (since we were already using our Eurail pass that day, it was free! Plus, we saved money on the hiking pass you have to buy by making it for just one day instead of two). At Monterosso, we hit the beach and WOW, it was crowded! I have never seen a beach like that in all my life. Of course, Robbie and I were still in what I like to call "honeymoon beach denial" meaning that for the rest of our lives we will hold beaches to the standard of that amazing honeymoon beach in Cancun. I mean, why shouldn't you have a whole white, sandy beach to yourself while people follow you around with a big umbrella, ice cold waters, and fresh smoothies? But really, even crowded, Monterosso was a beautiful place!

Here are the lessons I have learned from spending a day on a European beach: 

1) Swimsuits for little girls under age 10 apparently don't come with tops. It was a sea of little girls in underwear and floaty wings.

2) One-piece swimsuits for women DO NOT EXIST. (Unless you are under 10, and your one-piece is your underwear.) I felt like a nun wearing my tankini amidst all those string bikinis. On 80-year old women. 

3) Speedos for men are not only common, but respected. And if you have the nerve to wear a suit that is NOT a speedo, the length had better be NO LONGER than six inches above the knee. If you have any self-respect at all, that is. 

4) Sometimes adult women follow the example of the young girls and decide tops are not necessary. And what's more, they don't warn you! There should be some kind of public service announcement, with lights flashing, "Do not look this way. I am now going for an even, line-less tan!"

Valuable life lessons, no? Well it was fun anyway, and we swam in that ocean like crazy. We'd come back in and lay on the beach for about 10 minutes before we'd be sweating like crazy again and need to take nother dip in the ocean. It felt AMAZING!  We also rented kayaks for the first time! And man, they are way more fun and way easier to row than a row boat. We rowed out as deep as we dared, and then jumped out. We just floated there, feeling good until I started talking about the movie Jaws, which Robbie has never seen, and we both started getting freaked out. All of a sudden it was a rush to get back in our boats. One of us had no trouble. One of us did. I thought I was going to die. Luckily, Robbie helped me back into my kayak (without punching me in the face this time) and we rowed on. It was so peaceful and relaxing. I am now a fan of kayaking!

So we grabbed dinner in Monterosso before heading back to Vernazza and discovered this amazing pasta. It was filled with pears and cheese and covered in this amazing white sauce. Mmm, it was delicious. Unfortunately, it was a tiny portion, just enough to make us crave it for the rest of the night. So so good!

So we made it back to Vernazza, enjoyed some gelato as we perched on a big boulder and watched the sunset, and I just couldn't help but think about how awesome this whole experience is. 

So we got back to our ice cold room, excited to sleep without  sweating. And wouldn't you know it, the cold kept me awake! Why can't this body of mine ever be happy? I was freezing all night to where I had to put on the warmest clothes I brought, get an extra blanket, and constantly change whatever side of me was snuggling Robbie so I could use his body heat to warm me up. What a night. But we made it through, excited to do some hiking tomorrow!