The major goal of my Italian Spring Break was to visit quite possibly the most picturesque place in Italy, Vernazza. Most people don't know the name of the town...well, honestly I don't think you can call it a town being that you can't drive cars nor is there a grocery store. Anywho, I searched the internet and found that the name is Vernazza and it part of a collection of towns in Cinque Terre.
I should have realized that if you have to search for the actual name of the town, it is going to take quite a bit to get there. I didn't realize I would have to SCOUR the Earth to find this place. Scoured.
From Venice, we would have to take 4...4...trains to get here. We thought we could take a 'night train', the Italian women who was helping us get tickets thought we were the stupidest people ever. She broke us the news that there no night trains, ,just trains that run at night. She then advised us to just go in the morning but there was no room at our hostel that night so we had no choice but to take the 'night train'. From Venice we had to take a train to Florence then transfer to Pisa then La Spezia then Vernazza. So we get our tickets and start our adventure. It was pretty smooth until our train to Pisa. We are on the train just relaxing when these Italian hoodlums get on. They literally were spray painting the windows, smoking, and throwing stuff at passengers....it was just great. Moving along, we get off at Pisa....at 12:30am. Remember here that I am running off 4 and half hours of sleep and I couldn't sleep on the train because I was generally scared of the hoodlums. Also, what people at the Venice train station neglected to tell us that 1. Traveling at night isn't really safe and 2. Pisa is really the safest place. We were welcomed off our train by numerous homeless Italians. So we decided maybe staying at the train station wasn't the best place to wait for our next train which was at 3:30am. We ventured out into Pisa hoping we could find the tower (we never did find it). Let me paint you a mental image, 3 American girls with their suitcases who haven't sleep in hours venture out into an unknown city at 12:30am.
In the US, people are rapping up their night at 12:30...in Italy, anyone who is like 12 and up, is just starting to rap up dinner and head out to town. They love congregating all over the streets. The looks we got when they saw us wheeling around our luggage. Oh my gosh. Eventually we gave up on our tower quest and searched for a cafe with wifi. We sit at the cafe and are relaxing before our next train when all of a sudden we looking at our clocks and crap!!! We forgot about day light savings!!! We grab our bags and run to the train station. There was no way we would miss our trains! NO WAY. We get to the station and of coarse our train was delayed. Of coarse. My stubborn butt decided that I was going to sit at the train station on a nice homeless person's bench and wait for the stupid train. I didn't care what anyone else was doing but I was sitting until that train came and I would be the first person on it.
A few minutes go by and a nice homeless man approaches me. Great. Well him and I had the most riveting conversation. What the conversation was about...I have no idea. He only spoke Italian. She showed a picture of a child/niece/daughter...I have no idea. Meanwhile, I noticed he has a PEE stain on his pants!!! We communicated for what felt like forever and finally we went to wait by our train and as I was leaving he wanted to say goodbye.....so he gave me 2 kisses. There was lips to check action. (I sanitized my face afterwards). Longest night of my life.
We get on our next train to La Spezia. Train is fine..so fine we all fell asleep and almost miss our stop. We got off just in time and we quickly board our last train to Vernazza.
VERNAZZA!!! Finally, we arrived...at 5:30. It was pitch black and we had no where to go until our 10am check in. We literally made camp, like homeless people, in the very small train station.
From Venice, we would have to take 4...4...trains to get here. We thought we could take a 'night train', the Italian women who was helping us get tickets thought we were the stupidest people ever. She broke us the news that there no night trains, ,just trains that run at night. She then advised us to just go in the morning but there was no room at our hostel that night so we had no choice but to take the 'night train'. From Venice we had to take a train to Florence then transfer to Pisa then La Spezia then Vernazza. So we get our tickets and start our adventure. It was pretty smooth until our train to Pisa. We are on the train just relaxing when these Italian hoodlums get on. They literally were spray painting the windows, smoking, and throwing stuff at passengers....it was just great. Moving along, we get off at Pisa....at 12:30am. Remember here that I am running off 4 and half hours of sleep and I couldn't sleep on the train because I was generally scared of the hoodlums. Also, what people at the Venice train station neglected to tell us that 1. Traveling at night isn't really safe and 2. Pisa is really the safest place. We were welcomed off our train by numerous homeless Italians. So we decided maybe staying at the train station wasn't the best place to wait for our next train which was at 3:30am. We ventured out into Pisa hoping we could find the tower (we never did find it). Let me paint you a mental image, 3 American girls with their suitcases who haven't sleep in hours venture out into an unknown city at 12:30am.
In the US, people are rapping up their night at 12:30...in Italy, anyone who is like 12 and up, is just starting to rap up dinner and head out to town. They love congregating all over the streets. The looks we got when they saw us wheeling around our luggage. Oh my gosh. Eventually we gave up on our tower quest and searched for a cafe with wifi. We sit at the cafe and are relaxing before our next train when all of a sudden we looking at our clocks and crap!!! We forgot about day light savings!!! We grab our bags and run to the train station. There was no way we would miss our trains! NO WAY. We get to the station and of coarse our train was delayed. Of coarse. My stubborn butt decided that I was going to sit at the train station on a nice homeless person's bench and wait for the stupid train. I didn't care what anyone else was doing but I was sitting until that train came and I would be the first person on it.
A few minutes go by and a nice homeless man approaches me. Great. Well him and I had the most riveting conversation. What the conversation was about...I have no idea. He only spoke Italian. She showed a picture of a child/niece/daughter...I have no idea. Meanwhile, I noticed he has a PEE stain on his pants!!! We communicated for what felt like forever and finally we went to wait by our train and as I was leaving he wanted to say goodbye.....so he gave me 2 kisses. There was lips to check action. (I sanitized my face afterwards). Longest night of my life.
We get on our next train to La Spezia. Train is fine..so fine we all fell asleep and almost miss our stop. We got off just in time and we quickly board our last train to Vernazza.
VERNAZZA!!! Finally, we arrived...at 5:30. It was pitch black and we had no where to go until our 10am check in. We literally made camp, like homeless people, in the very small train station.
Italian weather is beautiful, sunny, and warm during the day but at night it is freezing!!! So cold.
Katrina and I leave Julie with our stuff so we could find a bathroom. Well, we found it alright. Most interesting bathroom I have seen in my life. It was literally a hole in the ground. I don't know how the elderly would even be able to use it being that you have to squat over the hole. We finish up and wash our hands and use the hand dryer. The hand dryer. It was warm. Katrina decided we would make the disgusting bathroom our home because we could make it warm. So resourceful....and so disgusting but we did it anyway. The picture below is Katrina warming herself.....new all time low for her. Luckily, we were so cold, so tired, so out of it, we could laugh in the situation. At 7, we ventured out into town and found a restaurant and had breakfast and sat and waited for our hotel to open. Thank goodness, all these struggles were worth the trip to Vernazza.
Katrina and I leave Julie with our stuff so we could find a bathroom. Well, we found it alright. Most interesting bathroom I have seen in my life. It was literally a hole in the ground. I don't know how the elderly would even be able to use it being that you have to squat over the hole. We finish up and wash our hands and use the hand dryer. The hand dryer. It was warm. Katrina decided we would make the disgusting bathroom our home because we could make it warm. So resourceful....and so disgusting but we did it anyway. The picture below is Katrina warming herself.....new all time low for her. Luckily, we were so cold, so tired, so out of it, we could laugh in the situation. At 7, we ventured out into town and found a restaurant and had breakfast and sat and waited for our hotel to open. Thank goodness, all these struggles were worth the trip to Vernazza.
Day 2: Sleep. We had to sleep. I could barely make it up the stairs to my bed. Julie woke me up at 2 and I very grumpily agreed to venture out into town. First stop into town, gelato. Soooooo good and much needed. (I didn't feel the need to smile for this picture, gelato made me feel better but not enough to smile.) We ended our evening very early so we could catch up on our sleep so we could be lively enough to go on our next adventure.
Day 3: Hiking from Vernazza to Monterossa.
This was definitely my favorite part of the whole trip. I have never seen more amazing views in my entire life. It was truly breath taking...the sights and the actual hiking. I made sure I took frequent breaks to just take in the world. So different then my farm town in New Jersey. I was surrounded by mountains, vineyards, and the Mediterranean.
Day 3: Hiking from Vernazza to Monterossa.
This was definitely my favorite part of the whole trip. I have never seen more amazing views in my entire life. It was truly breath taking...the sights and the actual hiking. I made sure I took frequent breaks to just take in the world. So different then my farm town in New Jersey. I was surrounded by mountains, vineyards, and the Mediterranean.