ITALIA

"Happiness, hit her like a train on a track.
coming towards her, stuck still no turning back.
She hid around corners and she hid under beds.
she killed it with kisses..."

Finally our trip led us to Italy - a place I have waited for forever. We took a train from Nice to a border town in France, where I enjoyed my first salami sandwich of the trip. Here we took a train to the Cinque Terre, which are a collection of 5 small villages on the west coast. The are on a very rugged coastline and quite amazing to see. Our first taste of Italy was a little strange because on the train we came across a bunch of Italian women who treated us pretty bad. Haha, either we stank really bad or they just really didnt approve of what we were doing... When people see our backpacks and everything they usually are either really friendly and awesome or they look at us like we are trash. Anyway, when we finally got to Monterosso, the first village of the Cinque Terre, we luckily got a hotel and managed to find a place open for dinner... where we enjoyed our first pasta in Italy.

Here is a picture of what we woke up to after our long travels into Italy. A quiet little seaside town, early morning sun.

Our second day in the Cinque Terre we went to the middle town called Corniglia. This was the most genuine little Italian town we visited, I think. A man from Monterosso told us to look for Mario in Corniglia, because he would have rooms for us. We literally went to Corniglia, asked one guy if he knew where mario was.. and he was like "mario ma papa" haha, so mario was his dad and he directed us. Then mario wasnt there so we got directed to lorenzo, who also wasnt home... we worked our way down the tiny ally looking for these people and eventually, after being physically led to the house, we found two rooms in this ladies house to stay. I think she was Cristiana Lorenzo. Anyway, this town was ridiculously charming and our rooms looked right out onto the mediterranean. We couldnt figure out the hot water or the heat, haha, but we spent hardly any time in our rooms. We spent the day exploring one of the other towns then drinking beer and reading on a sort of balcony area in Corniglia. Perfection.

This is the dining room entering the rooms we stayed in. Literally, someone elses house haha.

The beds, bedding, and decor reminded me sooooo much of my Nanna... it was nice.

Karoll and i talking from our windows haha. Soooo stoked on the place we are staying... or at least its view.

We took the train to the other village, Vernazza, for the afternoon, then enjoyed the sun in Corniglia. We got to walk around lots, up and down many hills, and all to the smell of wood smoke. Someone was burning something nearby and it smelt wonderful.

Corniglia from down the road

Boats in Vernazza.

Im goin to post this now so i dont lose it, then ill continue on.