Goodbye Florence, Ciao Bella Cinque Terre!

Dear Everybody,

How are you! We are doing pretty great over here! We left Florence yesterday with the faulty directions of the Italians and had to switch a few trains to get here, but we made it and found a place to stay no problem! We are currently in Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre - a really great place right on the coast of the Meditteranean. It was quite a treat when we rolled in yesterday, it was igh twenties and the train station is right on the edge of a big ole cliff, so we got off to look right onto the sea. It was so great.

We are staying in a ten person dorm, but have managed to swindle into a room on our own - which is also pretty great. The beds and pillows arent quite as comfortable, and the kitchen not nearly as equiped as the last, but the scenery sure kicks Florence in the butt. Dont get me wrong I love Florence all in its own, but holy crap. Cinque Terre is already a new favourite!

Riomaggiore is just one of the five villages within Cinque Terre, there are various hiking routes that run through each of the villages - each with its own difficulty level. We were planning on catching the train to Monterosso this morning and hiking back on the main path, which is estimated to take 5 or 6 hours - except that we awoke to a rainy day, and most of the paths are closed due to the fact that they will be too slippery/dangerous to hike through. Bah humbug! So our fingers are crossed that tomorrow will warm up, if not then the next day, and if not then I dont know how long we can wait around in a small town - even if it is beautiful!

For now, we have our beds booked until Saturday when we are schedualed to check out, but the woman promised that we could stay up until November first. I tried to swindle that I would clean the dorms if she let me live for free, but she only laughed..I was serious!


I guess I havent updated much about Florence really - thing is we wandered about a lot, suntanned a fair amount and just lounged around and rested up from Rome. We a slice of pizza three days in a row at this great place called Pizzeria ToTo and a fair amount of gelato. It was HOT while we were in Florence - we are both so tanned. I also had the chance to meet up with the Sheldon Europe 09 group, Mr Sveinson treated Jenna and I to some gelato and a few brews, he also delivered mail from Danielle! Yahoo! We got to visit with him and he strongly urged us to hit up Cinque Terre on our way to Venice - Thank You, Mr S! Tuesday evening we ate out ( how weird!) at a small ristorante called Dell Angollo, where I ate the largest calzone known to man! Then we met with Mr Sveinson and teachers, drank a beer and made our way to Space Electric, a rockin (hahaha) disco near our hostel, where we got in for free because he explained that we were chaperones! Which also entitled us to three or four free drinks! Right on!

I should also mention that we took a five hour saunter up to Piazzale Michaelangelo to catch a view of Florence, hoping to wander through some really great gardens, only to discover that they cost 10€, so we just took the long way instead. We did manage to see some really great houses along the way, and devised plans to marry sleazy Italian men and then divorce them and take the villa in our name. Just kiddig. I think.

Anyway, fingers crossed that tomorrow the sun will come out and we can do the hike. So bummed about this afternoon!

I miss you all at home and wish you were seeing these great sites with us.

Love, Ash