Friday morning I went horseback riding for free with Pepperdine. Of course I rode the only white horse, and named him Traveler. It was only for an hour, and then we left for La Spezia. We were not able to book any rooms in the 5 towns, so we stayed in a two bedroom apartment on a hill in La Spezia, a city south of Cinque Terre. That night Matt cooked dinner and we rested up for our hike the next day. We started at the southernmost town Riomaggiore, where we spent a few minutes taking in the view. It was a bit foggy/cold, which felt good while walking to the next town, Manarola. Luckily for us, we were following the great Rick Steve's guide on Cinque Terre. This helped us out a lot at the second town when we followed his "walk" around the city. It was a scenic route that ended with a vineyard trail that connected us to the 3rd town. On our way to Corniglia, we found a very small swimming area that had a spot to get in and out of the water. After spending some time there, we continued to Corniglia, where we at lunch and prepared for the harder leg of the hike to Vernazza. It was a tiring section, but we arrived to a beautiful view of the town. The whole group, minus Parker:
We laid out on the flat rocks along the harbor just as the sun was coming out. Then we decided to take a train to Monterosso in order to find an appropriate place to watch the US vs. England game. We walked around looking for a bar to watch it and randomly stumbled upon an American bar. Because it was early in the tournament, I had to ask someone what time the game started. A group of American's in their twenties informed me and told them I would be back to watch the game. We went to dinner and returned, finding out that the same group of Americans were actually students from LMU, studying in Rome. One of the guys was one of Krista's best friends from high school. The bar was packed with all Americans, except for a few England fans. There were one dollar bills with words and names on them, posted all along the walls (we added our own Pepperdine signed bill the next day). Once the national anthem started, everyone sang in unison, even while the bartender muted in midway through. During the game, the bar filled up to standing room only, so it made for an exciting atmosphere to watch the game.
The next morning, we took the train to Vernazza and hiked the last leg to Monterosso. This town is nown for its stretch of beaches, so we decided a full day spent in the sun was necessary. They had several small areas of free beaches with no umbrellas in the way. There were also a couple soccer fields secured off with nets around them. I was a beautiful sunny day with perfect weather. Cinque Terre was fantastic.
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