Day 3 cont. Luggage? Definately tonight!

I'm in to day 4, in route to Florence, Tuscany, But I should finish my last post about Cinque Terre.

I Have yet to have good pizza, but I'm sure it's just around the corner. The dinners we've had have been the best in my life. Vernazza is known for Pesto, I have never really liked pesto, but I guess, I just never had a real one. I can't explain the difference, but it really is great with the right pasta. The fish has been really good, but a lot more work. bones in the fish are a given, and you have to pick through the whole fish. Last night we had sea bass, It was great. Mussels and shrimp are also real good and prepared in almost every plate we've had. I really have a hard time explaining why the food is so good, it's not different flavors than I am used to, as much as it's quality fresh food that work well together.

We spent the majority of the day hanging out in Vernazza again waiting for luggage, which I really enjoyed. Allison and I sat on some rocks in the sea, soaking up sun, drinking a few beers and people watching. We were surrounded by German kids at one point, well more like late teenagers, they were extremely entertaining, playing in the water and goofing off. They reminded me of my buddies and I, acting way younger than we are. Goofballs! I really can't imagine what it must be like, when you are 17 or 18 and you can just take a day trip by train to a different country. Looked pretty great to me.

Around 3 o'clock we talked to our host, and she and the cleaning guy said they would call the airport and get our luggage delivered right a way. Without the language barrier, they could get answers! They said go enjoy yourself, and we'll deal with the luggage, we decided they were right.

So I'm not sure if I explained, but Cinque Terre is 5 villages, they are all along the sea, and about a mile or 2 apart from one to the next. There is a regional train that brings you from one to the next if you are too lazy to walk.. We really wanted to take the day hike and check out all the villages, but since we only had a few hours left we decided the train was the only way to go. That luggage situation messed us up, but I have no regrets or complaints with the Vernazza visit.

Each village has it's own personality: (North to South)
Montorosso is a beach village, very touristy, but lively and fun.
Vernazza where we stayed, is more like an old fort like city. With shops and a harbor. Little more lazy and relaxing.

Corniglia is a up on a cliff, we had to walk up about 380+ switch backing stairs to get there. On the top are little alley ways filled with shops and art.

Manarola was allison and my favorite. It's one giant hill with shops and restaurants lining both sides of the street, all colorful yellow and red homes above the shops "Little boxes on the hillside", you can tell this place was redone and very well kept. At the bottom of the hill is the ocean with a real nice swimming area, huge rock structures to jump off and swim around, and real nice restaurants.

RioMaggiore was a real quick stop, we really didn't see what it's all about, but it didn't seem very lively. But I can't judge it.

We headed back to the hotel to see if our luggage arrived, it was a little scary opening the door, but awesomeness!! They were all there waiting for us... Clean clothing rules!

We're arriving in Florence so I'm done typing, I'll upload pictures and add this when I can. Life's good! Hope all is well back home.