Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th. Supposed to be an unlucky day or a day filled with superstition. For me, Friday the 13th is just another day in Italy/MN/WI/where ever I am. This is the 2nd Friday the 13th this year, the first being last month. Kayla was the one to actually remind me of this little fact.

So today we went to Cinque Terre. I woke up like I normally do, 8 am, and started to pack. When Betsy and I went to eat breakfast we found a bottle of Champagne outside our room from ‘Bob.’ Bob doesn’t acknowledge these little gifts: flowers for Valentine’s Day, flowers for Women’s Day, wine for birthdays, etc. We know they’re from Bob and thank him accordingly but he always insists they’re not from him.

After catching the bus down to the station, we all got on the train to La Spezia. Close to 3 hours later we disembark the train at La Spezia, purchased our tickets to Monterosso, and hopped back on another train. When the train left La Spezia, it went through a lot of tunnels before the landscape changed. After leaving one tunnel, instead of hills and tress and homes, we saw water and waves and rocks. All or most of us gasped and ran to the windows on that side of the train. Pictures were taken, heads were stuck out the window, and the excitement began.

We passed through the first four of the five Cinque Terre towns. Each time we stopped at the town, we marveled at the views. It was gorgeous to see. I believe Bob told us it is the Adriatic Sea, but it is really the Mediterranean Sea. It was just amazing to see and amazing to behold.

Upon disembarking the train in Monterosso, the fifth town, we walked along this boardwalk type place on our way to Manuel’s Guesthouse, the place we are staying at. Many stops were made along the way for more pictures. We met up with Manuel at this wine bar, where Betsy said he’d be waiting, and walked up the 132 or so steps to our place for the weekend.

We had four rooms, each with a different number of people occupying them. The guys shared a room with two queens and two twin beds. Courtney and Michelle are in a room with a queen bed; Nikki, Bailey, and Jill are sharing a triple room; and Betsy, Ania, Allyson, and I are sharing a quad. We thought we were getting two triples and 2 quads but this way worked out better for us all.

After dropping our stuff off in our rooms and taking care of paperwork, we headed out to explore the town. Wine and food was bought for the weekend and it was decided that we would eat out tonight and grill our tomorrow. We then found the restaurant to go to for dinner. It was right near the beach and had a good variety of dishes. Then came the beach.

We walked down to the water and behaved like tourists. Many of the group, not me though, rolled up their pants and took off their socks and shoes and walked along the shoreline. I did walk out near the water and put my hands in. It was pretty cold water, definitely not warm enough to swim in. But that did not stop Lorenzo from taking a little dip. Betsy accidentally pushed him into the water so he went in totally figuring ‘why not’ since he was mostly wet already. It was a great relaxing time since most of the day was spent traveling and being uncomfortable on the trains.

We went back to the hotel/Guesthouse to prepare for dinner. Allyson straightened my hair and Ania did my make-up. We just had fun dressing up for dinner; Betsy even wore a dress. Maybe I forgot to mention it, but we came to Cinque Terre because it’s Betsy’s Birthday tomorrow and because we wanted to see these cities. We’re killing two birds with one stone in a sense. So this weekend is a celebration for Betsy since she’s turning 21.

Dinner was fabulous. Ania and I shared spaghetti with seafood for our first course. The dish had octopus, clams and mussels in it along with a tomato sauce over the spaghetti. It was a delicious meal that was very filling. Unfortunately we didn’t think it was going to be that much so we also ordered Grilled sea bass for the second course. OMG!!! It came out Grilled but looking like a fish. Our waiter proceeded to clean it for us at the table. It was really amazing to see. He skinned the top, took away the spine and head and left us with a great fish dish. With lemon squeezed on top and a little salt, we both ate our fish right up. Did I mention it was a whole fish; the size of like a woman’s size 8 shoe. A pretty big fish. Thank goodness it was good otherwise I would have regretted the bill. Overall it was a pretty expensive meal for Ania and I but we both don’t plan on spending much more this weekend since we brought food with us to tide us over and because the grilling out tomorrow night.

Monterosso is a beautiful city and I cannot wait to hike to the other four cities tomorrow. It is going to be a great weekend and a memorable birthday for Betsy. I hope for no drama but it’s bound to happen. But, I’m off to bed. I need to rest to build up my strength for five hours of hiking tomorrow. That’s how long it’s supposed to take to hike through all five of the cities, not including browsing the individual cities. I’m going to get postcards here to send home and to keep. Maybe I’ll even find some gifts for people.