Italy and Norway girls trip 2013 (Part 1)

I am so blessed. Truly blessed. I had the opportunity to go to Italy and Norway back at the end of March into April. I met up with by best college girlfriend, Dory, at JFK airport and we flew to Milan together in business class, no less! There really is no other way to do a transcon flight! :)

 

We arrived in Milan at about 7 am, which was waaay too early! We were both sound asleep and they woke us to ask if we wanted breakfast, that we would be landing soon. Dory ate, as they had an amazing sounding omelet, but I just went back to sleep as long as I could! 

We got our bags and took a cab to our friend Priya's flat. We then decided we should go ahead and head straight to the train station, as we had plans to go to Cinque Terre that day. We missed the first train as all the seats were full being that it was Easter weekend, but were able to get seats on the next train. While we waited in the station I was so jet lagged that I passed out on a table in a very noisy cafe. If you know me you know that I am a huge germaphobe and also can't really sleep anywhere so you know I was tired!

We got on our train and I slept pretty much the whole 3 hour ride there. We arrived in Monterosso and it was everything I thought it would be and more. It had rained the entire train ride and had stopped just before we arrived and the clouds were still low making for a stunning scene.

We made our way to our apartment, which turned out to not be at all what we thought we were getting! We had specifically not inquired on the one we wound up in because it only had a bath and it was slanted up against a wall. Well, such is life. The same people owned the one we thought we were getting owned this one too and thought it was best since there was 3 of us. At least we had a clean place to stay with a pretty view. (photos taken the next morning, btw)

 

 

Our apartment was at the very top of these steps!! I think I counted 165 total!

We got settled in the apartment and got showered in the sideways shower/bath and headed out to a great restaurant that a nice girl on the train had recommended.  

We headed back to the apartment and fell asleep so quickly!

 The beds were about the worst I've ever slept on. The first night we didn't notice because we were so tired from the jet lag that we fell sound asleep, but the following 2 nights were rough. We started calling it our concrete slab of a bed. It was that bad ha!

The next day (Easter Sunday) we got up and met up with some of Priya's friends from Milan who were also in Cinque Terre. We had a nice breakfast on the beach with them.

After breakfast the 3 of us decided to try to hike to Vernazza (the next town over) but because of recent rains, the trail was closed. We wound up hiking up a road for a couple of hours that was not getting us anywhere but allowed for some amazing views. 

 

You can see how high up we were from these shots. It was well worth the hike, but we decided to grab a bus back down the hill! We got back into town, had some gelatto and explored a pretty church and the town.

We then ran into Priya's school friends again and decided to take the train over to Vernazza and have a little lunch. It was such a pretty place and a great pasta lunch with some yummy white wine.

Took this shot below for Adam and Sadie. Her middle name is Makaira, which means Blue Marlin. 

 

After lunch Dory, Priya and myself started to hike back to Monterosso via the trail that was technically closed. Priya turned back after a bit to meet her friends to go town hopping, while Dory and I continued on. It was the most amazing hike with incredible views. We were in awe at every turn!

Below is a photo of one of the many homes that was destroyed during the mudslides and floods that occurred here in October of 2011. Very sad to see. They are still rebuilding.

 

 The views just got more amazing the more we hiked.

 

As you can see, the sun began to set so we started the hike back to Vernazza, where we began. I wanted to get "the shot" of the town, and I did!

After getting "the shot" we headed all the way back down to the town of Vernazza and went to the train station so we could catch the train back to Monterosso. After catching the train, we stopped in a place right along the water and had a wonderful late dinner. Of course, we had some amazing Italian red wine!

(Dory in a cell phone shot at dinner)

We made our way back to our concrete slab beds and tried to get some sleep. :)

Stay tuned for part 2 of this post in a couple of days!