La Spezia and Cinque Terre

FINALLYYYYY.....It's taken me four whole months, but here is the blogpost recapping the final leg of our trip that we went on in October/November.    Writing it up made me nostalgic and kind of antsy to go on another cool trip someday.    

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Sunday, November 6, 2016

(as taken from my travel journal)

The day started blustery, cold, and rainy.  We got quite wet as we made our way to La Spezia for church.   We had to descend the gigantic staircase to the train station in Cornelia, take a train to La Spezia, then we took a taxi to church.  The La Spezia Branch was pretty small--maybe about 30 people or so and the Branch President was all of about 25-years-old.  After church we wandered through La Spezia and discovered that it's a much cooler, more charming town than we realized from our trip there in May.  We went all over creation, constantly looking for ways to go up, up, up the hills to see a better view.   Eventually we headed back to Cinque Terre and we visited Manarola and Riomaggiore.  Both were great little towns with their own charms.  We got a little more hiking in, ate dinner in Riomaggiore, and just enjoyed exploring some more.  

HIGHLIGHTS

The pianist in the La Spezia Branch was blind and played all the music from memory.

La Spezia really was an unexpected surprise.  Our time there in May was so short and so close to the train station, that we didn't realize how beautiful and charming it really is.  

We logged 127 flights of stairs and about 30,000 steps today.

The rain eventually stopped and the end of the day was much more pleasant than the beginning.  

LA SPEZIA BRANCH

Of course, we had to get pictures with the missionaries.  :) 

After church,  we explored La Spezia.  

We'd stayed in La Spezia on our trip in May and honestly didn't think much of it, but actually being able to explore it this time, we found that we really liked it.  

It was bigger than the official "Cinque Terre" towns, but was still quite picturesque.   

Some of the 127 flights of stairs we climbed that day.   We were obsessed with going up, up, up the hillsides to get a better view.  

THE VIEW!!! 

The rain let up and we finally got to explore Manarola and Riomaggiore....

Dinner in Riomaggiore! 

Monday, November 7, 2016

The weather stayed clear and we woke up early and went on what we thought was the Corniglia to Vernazza hike.   Too bad we messed up and got on the wrong trail.  We ended up hiking 1-1/2 hours to some point called Ciggaletto before officially realizing that we were definitely on the wrong trail.  So we turned around and headed back (about 2-1/2 hours in total).  It was disappointing to have taken the wrong trail, however we still got to enjoy some lovely views and I liked being able to push myself as we hiked up about 1500 feet in elevation.   Spence got annoyed in the middle and went back.   

Afterward, we packed up all of our stuff and got on a train to Pisa...

In Pisa, we got gelato one last time....

Got a little silly...

And then headed to the Pisa airport and flew to London....

Adam and I didn't do anything in London, and just flew home the next day...just in time for me to vote in the presidential elections.  Ugh.  

Kristina and Spence stayed a couple of extra days and explored London and visited with Matt and Karey.   It was a great 8th grade trip for Adam and we were happy to have had the opportunity to have gone.

I think we may have officially caught the travel bug now, because I'm already daydreaming about what our next trip is going to be.    

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