Falling behind...

Well we are in Prague... and the last blog post I gave you was... Rome/Cortona. The places we've been in between:

• Florence
• Cinque Terre
• Verona
• Venice
• Vienna

Now do you REALLY want me to try to catch up on that?!? I could give you a quick overview, but that's what I did on the last post about Rome/Cortona! And I'm starting to get too lazy to add pictures, but the posts really are much nicer when there are pictures. Oh my. I've been pretty good at keeping pictures up to date (somewhat) on Facebook, but to sit down and write about everything seems like so much work. On the contrast, I've been journalling regularly...

Okay fine. A quick overview. Just because I like to share our adventures. I'll even post a picture of each :)

• Florence - The whole renting a car bit was a good idea until we reached Florence. Then it proved to be a pain. We were so happy to be rid of the crazy thing. Highlight of Florence - shopping way more than we should have. Mom bought a leather jacket, we both bought shoes, presents, etc.
• Cinque Terre - Round two for me. Equally as stunning the second time around. We lucked out with a gorgeous day, and basked in the sunshine as much as possible. One thing I noticed is that as we are much closer to tourist season, a lot more shops have opened up. Despite this, we went to the same restaurant that I had gone to the last time, and ate the same dish that I ate the last time - penne with crab flesh! Amazing and delish! Finished off the day wading in the Mediterranean Sea in Monterosso.
• Verona - Finally a new city for me. Not that I don't enjoy all parts of Italy, but it was nice to have a chance to explore somewhere new. Here we saw the Verona Arena, Juliet's House and Balcony, and the Castle Bridge. Beautiful, beautiful city. Ate out in a cute, classy little restaurant tucked away in a side street called "La Groccia".
• Venice - Last stop in Italy! Turns out our hostel was a much longer walk away from the train station than we anticipated, and we were exhausted by the time we arrived. Not so much fun to walk with those big packs after all the shopping we did in Florence! Venice was as charming as always, but it was nice to see it slightly quieter than it was during Carnevale. Here we took the water bus to tour the grand canal, and saw NB (A friend and Cortona Alumni) relaxing on the side of the canal! Small world! We also started getting creative with our less-expensive meals, and bought all kinds of ingredients for a salad. Lettuce, peppers, zucchini, ham, mozzarella cheese, and a mediterranean dressing... very yummy!
• Vienna - Pictures aren't up from this one yet, so you won't get a preview on here. Sorry! To get to Vienna we had to take a three hour intercity bus from Venice to Villach - right across the border into Austria. We got to sit at the very front on the upper level of a double decker bus! Cool!! After the bus ride it was another 5 hours by train to Vienna. Long, long day of travel. The first full day in Vienna we bought concert tickets to a show in the hall where Mozart performed at the young age of six. It was an incredible concert - Mom said she almost teared up it was so beautiful. There were three violinists, one cellist, one pianist, one opera singer, and two ballerina's. So worth it. We also toured the State Opera House, which was really cool as well. Afterwards we went out to eat a typical Austrian meal at a restaurant recommended to us by the receptionist at the hostel. It was a small, intimate setting with live music and amazing food at reasonable prices. Perfect way to end a perfect evening. Day two in Vienna - we toured the Schoenbrunn Palace and Gardens. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about some of the history of the Hofburg Dynasty. And palaces are just plain cool. Afterwards we toured the MozartHaus - one of the apartments where Mozart lived during his stay in Vienna. Also the apartment he was living in when he wrote "The Marriage of Figaro". Not as cool as I'd expected, but still fun to visit. In the evening we bought standing room tickets for the Opera "Elektra". Standing room is exactly that... standing... for the entire performance. And we were silly enough to wear dress shoes. Silly girls. Regardless, it was a worthwhile experience.

Now lets all cross our fingers that it doesn't take me so long to post about Prague. Which, by the way, we've fallen in love with already. It is beautiful!!

Cinque Terre & the Mediterranean Sun

Cinque Terre = 5 towns nestled away on the mediterranean coast of Italy. Gorgeous regardless of the season. Definitely worth going to.

From Camucia this meant 3-4 trains, and about 4 hours of travelling. Since we wanted to make the most of every day we planned to wake up early Friday morning and catch an 8am train. Torn between walking down to the train station and catching a last minute bus, we waited long enough to see if the bus was even coming. Buses in Italy seem to be rather unreliable and unpredictable. When it became apparent that the bus was either excessively late or not coming at all, we glanced at our watches and turned to RUN down the hill to Camucia. I am so not a runner. But, we needed to catch that 8am train, so I ran anyways. My muscles had warned me of the consequences last weekend when we walked up and down that very hill. Clearly I hadn't learned my lesson.

We still missed the train. By two minutes.

The next adventure was catching the last train to Monterosso, the northern-most town of Cinque Terre. The fine print that we hadn't read upon purchasing our ticket, was that this train was an inter-city train. NOT a regional train. The difference, you may ask? Intercity trains are faster and more expensive. Oops. We ended up paying the supplement on-board... at least we were not fined.

One of the biggest attractions of Cinque Terre is the walking paths between each town. These walking paths were the reason we planned to spend two days in Cinque Terre. What we did not know is that there had been landslides, and most of the paths were closed. The only other way between each town was by train. Trains that only took 3-7 minutes each. Darn.

The sight of the beautiful blue Mediterranean made it all worth it. Oh the crisp smell of saltwater, the warm unrelenting sun...

Highlights of each town:

Monterosso

A beautiful, wide, sandy beach. I can see this being one of the biggest tourist attractions in the heat of summer.

Vernazza

This is where we had booked a room to stay the night. Had we done the walking path, it would have taken us 2 hours to get here from Monterosso. Instead we spent those hours sitting on rocks near the water, watching the sun set into the Mediterranean.

Other highlights of Vernazza: Wine and cheese appetizers in our cute little apartment and a typical Cinque Terre seafood dinner.

Corniglia

Waking up the next morning, my muscles quickly reminded me that I am so not a runner. Good thing those walking paths were closed and we had no choice but to take the train... oh darn. Corniglia is the least coastal in the sense that it is nestled highest into the cliffs. Easy to access by the cliffside stairs though, I might add. Stairs are not so much fun when you're already sore. Biggest highlight of Corniglia was the seafood pasta we ate for lunch. Penne with Crab Meat. YUM! We also spent about 40 minutes basking in the sun while we waited for the next train. The heat was unbelievable considering it is only February.

Manarola

Manarola had the cutest little cove, with the most inviting turquoise water. Oh how I wished it was summer and that I had my swimsuit. As hot as it was this weekend, it wasn't swimming hot yet. Just below the surface of the water we could see sea urchins on the rocks! I've always wanted a sea urchin as a pet!

Riomaggiore

The last of the five towns, and the only town accessible to us by a walking path. Via Dell'Amore. Only twenty minutes, and by far the easiest walk (as we've been told). Called the "Lover's Path", along the walk there were many spots covered in locks. Not locks as in blocked off paths, but locks as in the symbol of everlasting love. Quite common in Italy, romantic locations are often covered in locks from couples who have visited and "locked in their love." The other highlight of Riomaggiore was the beach. Not a wide sandy beach like Monterosso, but a rocky beach. Regardless, we had time to take off our shoes and socks and feel the crisp water on our feet.