Being American in Italy

Thursday afternoon I read some more of my book  (Something Borrowed) and then made my first venture to H&M with Lizzi and LJ. My first shopping trip for myself J I came home and went out to dinner with my roommates at a Ristorante near Via Ghibellina and had focaccia bread and bruschetta for appetizers followed by Tagliatelle with a truffle cream sauce and crumbled sausage, chianti, and for dessert – profiteroles and my first espresso. Such a good dinner.. Yum.

Friday, I woke up and went to Cinque Terre – five towns that are connected by a hiking path along the somewhat Northern Italian coast. It was a perfect day with the weather in the 70s, sunny and NO rain whatsoever! We took three trains totaling 2.5 hrs: Florence – Pisa, Pisa – La Spezia Centrale, La Spezia Centrale – Monterosso. In Monterosso, our journey began. We walked into the nearest bar (at 11:00 AM), grabbed a load of Coronas and hit the trail. Note: we forgot that Coronas were not twist offs, so we found random rocks to smash our beers against to get the lids off along the hike. Rookie Move #1. The Brits behind us were laughing when we all realized we needed to go to the bathroom just as we were approaching the 1 hour mark. Did I mention it was a 2 hour hike to the next town? Halfway done and already our teeth were swimming. Rookie Move #2.

Monterosso

Ready for the hike with our Coronas

Alyssa & Donny

Tri Delta made the journey

View of Monterosso from the trail

After hiking the 2 hours from Monterosso to Vernazza, I had to go to the bathroom from the drinks and of course, got in line at the restaurant we picked for lunch to find a line of ~12 people. It was torture! I had a salami, mozzerella and tomato sandwich with a Coca-Cola light. Then, it was onto the next trek. The trails between Vernazza – Corniglia and Corniglia – Manarola were closed due to construction and a mudslide so we bought the train ticket for 1,80 euro and hopped on over to Manarola where we walked down to the bay area and took some photos of the water.

The last trail was a quick one – about 30 minutes to Riomaggiore. Emily decided it would be funny to sign the wall for Alyssa & Donny as if they wrote their own names in a heart.. I guess you could say delirium had settled in nicely by this point in time.

After our train ride from Riomaggiore – La Spezia Centrale (15 minutes), we raced to buy tickets for a train to Pisa that was leaving in 4 minutes. Not only did we make it, but we got on the WRONG TRAIN! After realizing our mistake, we sprinted off the train, down the platform and got onto the correct train just as the doors were closing. It was perfect timing and the next train to Pisa wouldn’t have been for another 40 minutes. An hour train ride to Pisa, and then an hour train ride from Pisa – Florence, which featured the same quick change in La Spezia Centrale, we were home. I hit up McDonalds as I was starving. Best meal of the day. I got a double cheeseburger and 1euro fries. (I was charged 0,20 euro when I asked for ketchup, damn Europeans.) We all took a nap when we got home and showered, then headed out to dinner at Gatto on Via Ghibellina for a DELICIOUS dinner. I got Penne e Salsa alla Vodka (Penne alla vodka with peppers, and sautéed onions), Alyssa got a balsamic chicken dish, Emily got fettucine alfredo, and Donny got Chicken in a truffle cream sauce. We got a bottle of wine and then headed home as we were all exhausted from our long day and knew we had another one ahead of us.