So this morning 7 of us woke up bright and early to catch the 7:45 train to Monterosso in Cinque Terra. Can I just say 3 hours on a train packed with sweaty beach-goers is not ideal. Amtrak anyone?

The mediterranean sun is HOT and the beach was rocky. Mountains surrounded a clear blue sea. We decided to be adventurous and hike some trails we'd heard about. Oh boy....

We headed up the hills on the trail... or what we thought was the trail. Oh no, that was just the trail leading to the trail. I don't know what got into us to make us want to climb a bazllion stairs almost vertically up a mountain. The trail connects all 5 coastal towns in Cinque Terra. Naturally we had to pick the farthest, steepest stretch. One of the girls claimed she, "felt like the fat kid on Made." But we stair-mastered that mountain and view was incredible.