Well after breakfast on the third day Tony and I had to find a new place to stay since we were supposed to check out of the room we were in that morning and we wanted a better view. So after calling a couple places we found a woman who had a room with a terrace available. Wonderful! So we drag our bags down the "stairs of death" and start up the stairs towards the new room. After going up about 30 stairs we stopped to rest and Tony went ahead bagless to make sure we were even going the right way. We were...and there was about another 50 stairs to go...Not Wonderful! These weren't even normal stairs. The stairs were crumbling steps through alley ways with no hand rails. Well after a lot of huffing and puffing we made it-and it was SO worth it!
The apartment had a bedroom and bathroom downstairs (yay for our own bathroom!) and upstairs there was a couch, a dining room table, and a mini fridge. But the best part was when you walked out the door from upstairs there was the balcony. The balcony was huge and actually built into the mountain. We were directly below one of the town's pirate lookout towers. 
The views of the town and ocean were amazing. 
The views of the town and ocean were amazing. 
So before getting too comfotable we walked down the zillion stairs and bought some fruit, salami, cheese, crackers, beer and a couple bottles of wine. Then, or course, we had to go back up the zillion stairs. But it was still so worth it! After a little bit of snacking, we decided to relax and spend the whole day on the balcony. 
I pulled out a book (surprize, surprize) and Tony pulled out all of the lenses for his camera and began to play. The only time we left the balcony was to grab some to-go dinner. Ok, ok "we" didn't go get dinner...Tony went a got dinner and brought back some delicious pesto pizza! 
Tony took some beautiful pictures of the sunset from the balcony. 
I know nothing about cameras, but Tony's has this feature with an extended shutter speed where it collects all the light for thirty seconds...or something like that. The result is amazing pictures like these. When Tony's took these it was pitch black outside!
Well, after the sun went down we went inside to look at the pics we had taken the past couple days and as we were sitting there who do you think sauntered into our room? 
Yep! The black cat from the cemetary! Scarey huh? Well he walked around a bit and eventually came and sat with me on the couch and let me pet him while we finished looking at pictures! All in all, it was a great day of doing nothing. Don't worry-we made up for all that relaxing the next day!
Next our hike took us to the first church which was built in the 1300's. The church was closed but the outside was absolutley beautiful. 
Here's the view from above the church. 
The turret you see is actually a pirate lookout. Turrets just like these are sprinkled along the whole coast of Cinque Terra because until the 1500's pirates would raid the villages stealing supplies and wenches. And here is one of the reasons we decided to take a hike. It was still a holiday weekend (and, as we learned later, one of the first weekends this spring where it didn't rain) and the town was just packed with tourists coming by train and boat so we decided to get out of town!
Next we hit the second church that's further up. It has a beautiful cemetary with gorgeous views. The two churches both have clock towers that chime the hour every half hour. The funny thing was that the clocks were five minutes apart which means we got to hear the bells almost constantly which I loved! Hey-it's better than hearing the mosques in Abu Dhabi! The cemetary was really beautiful. 
It turns out that when Napoleon was in power he declared that cemetaries were a health risk so they had to be a certain distance from the towns which, in Cinque Terra, means they had to move uphill resulting in gorgeous views.
On our hike we also ran into some fun critters! The lizards were kinda creepy because as you walked they would run back into the bushes. 
There were also tons of butterflies!
This little guy was a bit of a diva because he kept posing for Tony!
Here's a couple other pictures from our hike. 
Afterwards, we went and sat on the rocks on the harbor for a little while. 
Tony wanted to play with his camera so he set it up the tripod on the rocks and got out the remote. He was so scared about knocking the camera into the water he was shaking....shaking so hard he droped the remote into the water...ooops!
(The town you see in the background is Moterosso, the first village.) 
First we grabbed some grub and I found an "Italy" hat for Tony...you'll see it in almost all the other pictures. The guys in Abu Dhabi were teasing Tony for it-but I think it makes him look like a stud!!
Well that's about it for our second day-stay tuned for more!
Well it was Tony's first trip ever on a train so I had to take a picture!
Well, on the train I keep telling Tony how wonderful Cinque Terra is and how there's almost no one there and nothing to do-and the train stopped in Monterosso (the first of the five villages in Cinque Terra, Vernazza is the second) and there are literally hundreds of people waiting to get on our train. Crap. So I tell Tony to hurry and take the bags by the door or else we are going to get stuck on the train. So Tony took one of the big suitcases and made it about half way to the door before the train started to leave for Vernazza which is only 5 minutes away. We were jammed in like sardines and Tony was stuck in the isle; meanwhile, I had the other big suitcase, two carry-ons, a back pack, and my purse. CRAP. Well the train stops in Vernazza and Tony is still trying to reach the door and I realize he isn't going to have time to come back to help me with the rest of our stuff. So I literally start bulldozing my way down the isle poking and running over many people, but the amazing thing is-they tried to move for me! When I got to the door I was stuck. There was no moving going on. Hundreds of people outside the train were trying to get in and Tony and I were trying to get out. Then this tiny, young Italian woman looks at me and asks me in Italian if I'm trying to get off the train and I said "Si." Wow-that woman had some lungs on her! She started barking orders at everyone ahead of her and I actually got through! It's so nice to be a girl!
Originally, Tony and I had planned a busy vacation (like the one we had in Germany & Austria) where we visit a new city every other day. That involved a lot of driving and hotels. This time we plan on staying in the Cinque Terre region which is made up of 5 villages that are about 15 minutes apart by train-which means no car this time! Of course, we are leaving everything open and I wouldn't object to a day in Tuscany.
When my mom and I went to Cinque Terre last year we only visited one village-Monterosso and I fell in love with it. I've seen the biggies of Italy with my mom-Rome, Venice, Florence, Pisa...but Tony hasn't. When we were planning the vacation I asked him what he'd really like to do, and he said NOTHING. Cinque Terre is the perfect place for that because there is literally nothing to do. There are some hikes, and an old church, and the beach....and that's about it! 
I cannot wait to be back there (36 hours!). We haven't even left yet and I'm already dreading coming home! Oh, speaking of which-this is weird: a friend of ours, Matt, flew back to the States last week to spend time with his family. Well we were talking to him online the other day and we realized that his flight has a layover in Milan which is where Tony and I are flying out of. Come to find out-we are on the exact same flight home! Weird! The other great thing about our flights is that they are both straight through-no layovers. It's rare to find flights to or from Abu Dhabi that don't stop in Bahrain or Doha.
So I'm sure I'll be posting all of our beautiful pics as soon as I get back. Love you all! Arrivederci for now!
While Kasey and I enjoyed our strawberry daiquiris and the ocean, Tony had his own toy to play with. He just bought a new fancy-pants camera. I wish I could tell you all the reasons why it's the best camera ever, but that's more Tony's area-I just know it's a Nikon D380 and it's accessories have taken over my kitchen table! 
So while I played in the water-Tony went chasing birds!
