Cinque Terre: July 11-13th

We got in a little too late to Cinque Terre to do much exploring so we walked around for a little bit before having dinner.

The next day we grabbed an early breakfast and then headed out on the trail that goes in between the 5 cities of Cinque Terre. We walked from Monterosso al Mare to Vernazza, the second city, which was quite the hike! We definitely started with the most difficult part but it made up for it with the beautiful views. From Vernazza we walked to Corgiglia where we had some awesome foccacia sandwiches and gelato. I tried peach and cinnamon together and it was the best combination of flavors I had all trip! It tasted like a peach pie.

From Corniglia we took the train to Manarola and then to Riomaggiore, the last city. Unfortunately the trails between these cities were closed. Our visit to Riomaggiore was a quick one, 15 minutes, because we didn't want to have to wait an hour for the next train to come through.

Once we got back to Monterosso we hit the beach. It was nice to relax on the beach after hiking all morning. After dinner we grabbed some gelato and went to check out a German pill box from World War II.

Our last day in Cinque Terre was an early one because we had a long travel day to get to France.

Milan: July 10-11th

We arrived in Milan to monsoon rainstorms. We tried to wait it out in the metro but after 20 minutes, Andrew pulled out his rain jacket, I bartered with a guy selling umbrellas and we took off for the hotel. We were a little wet when we arrived but fortunately we didn't get lost along the way.

Once the rain died down we walked over to Piazza del Duomo adn the Galleria V. Emanuelle II which is a glass covered shopping area. The floor is covered in mosaics and in the center is a mosaic of a bull, the city's symbol. For good luck you are supposed to spin in a circle on the bull's testicles. The city has to replace this particular part of the mosaic every year or so because of the massive amounts of tourists that participate in this good luck activity.

We found the most amazing calzone place for dinner. We each bought a calzone, walked to a park to eat and then went back and bought another.

The next day we went inside the duomo and walked along Via Monte Napoleone to check out the high roller shopping. We went inside an Armani store and a Rolex store. Of course all the stores had private security but you actually had to be buzzed into the Rolex store.

Later that afternoon Andrew and I went to see the Last Supper by Da Vinci. The Last Supper is still on the original wall it was painted on. During World War II the church it is in was bombed and a bomb fell right on the other side of where the painting is, just barely missing the painting.

After seeing the painting we headed off to the train station. We got a bit of a late start because the train was delayed but we arrived in Monterosso al Mare around 7:30pm. Just in time for a nice walk along the board walk and dinner.