Our last day in Cinque Terre was supposed to be beaches and exploring the cities. Being the first day it rained on our trip, we decided wine tasting was a better option than the beach (personally, I think this was a fair trade). The rain in Cinque Terre is not like that in Vancouver at all. When it rains it pours, forcing us to seek out cover and wait for the break in the rain (usually only a few minutes each time). After walking through the shops of Riomaggior...

Today was the day we did the hike. After filling up on free pastries and juice, provided by our hotel, we started the hike from the Riomagiorre train station. The first section of the path is a paved path, and very picturesque. It is called the Via Della Amour, and is filled with locks that have been put there by couples pledging their eternal love to each other. The keys are then thrown in the ocean. We arrived in Manarola (the second city), knowing that the pa...

Today we headed to beautiful Cinque Terre, which meant leaving our Venice apartment at 8am. As most of you know, I am not a morning person, so describing my mood as grumpy was probably being nice. Our day included a luxurious 2 hour train ride to Florence, including free water & juices, cookies and reclining seats (not as common on trains as planes). In Florence we made a dash to the far end of the platform and grabbed another train to La Spezia. In compar...