Pizza, Pasta and Piazzas

I recently just got back from a 6 day tour through 3 beautiful cities in gorgeous Italia.  Myself and two of my friends here (kim&sarah) planned a nice little getaway to the land of pizza, pasta and wine!  We started out in the quaint little town of Riomaggiore, one of the 5, now popular, towns of Cinque Terre.  If you have not already been to Cinque Terre, I HIGHLY suggest adding it to your bucket list! Unfortunately the timing was a little off and we ventured there during it's off season, but regardless it was still absolutely stunning.  It's quite rough and definitely hasn't had any recent renovations to the town, but that is what makes it so perfect.  We arrived in the early afternoon, and immediately checked into our hostel and began exploring.  Little did we know it only takes about 25 minutes to cover the entire ground and get your barrings.  After walking around and scoping out a coffee shop for the morning and a good place for pasta dinner that night, oh, and of course the local convenient store to buy a bottle of wine for the night, we set off to the water.  There was no beach, just rocks lining the coast, and stairways leading up to ledges that overlook the beautiful ocean, and give you VIP view of the sunset.  We took about a bazillion pictures of the rustic, multicolored houses stacked up on the hill before we sat our butts down and ordered a cocktail to accompany our first italian sunset.  There really are no words to describe this absolutely, breathtaking scene.  I could not have asked for a better first night in italy.  My boyfriend and I spent many nights running down to the beach with bottle of wine or some beers and watching the many San Diego sunsets, but this, well your just going to have to experience it for yourselves!  I can not wait to come back one day and watch the sun fall from the sky and create one of the most inimitable views of my life.  I wish so badly that pictures did it justice ( I only took about a thousand!) but it's just one of those things you have to see with your own eyes.

After exploring the cinque terre and a couple of the other towns we were on to our next adventure, Florence.  A familiar city to me, but not the others, as I had met my parents their for a weekend when I first arrived in Europe.  This charming, romantic and friendly city never gets old.  The weather was not quite permitting but it definitely did not stop us!  We sucked it up, bundled up and set out to explore the town.  Wandering from piazza to piazza, gawking at the mounds of gelato staring back at you from the other side of the window's and smelling the sweet smell of fresh tomatoes was absolutely perfect.  Guess what we all enjoyed the most though!... the FOOD. obviously.  We did not even come close to having one bad meal.  The first night we stumbled upon this great restaurant called Yellow Bar and I had the best spicy spaghetti I have ever dreamed of having!  We loved it so much we went back the next night!  It just so happened we were there for halloween, and we all know how excited North Americans get about halloween.  I loved the fact that the city embraced this tradition and lit up the town with spooky signs and cobweb displays.  Unfortunately the three of us got a little too excited for the festive evening and struck out at about 11:30pm... haha whoops! The next day we all woke up laughing and promised to never discuss the previous nights events ;) Those of which we could even remember.  Friday morning we had an early start into Rome so we could take full advantage of our shorter stay in the city of ruins.  We docked at the hostel and took off to see the colosseum.  Took us about an hour wait in line before we got in, then we were too cheap to pay for the audio tour but instead just decided to take in this vast monument with our own thoughts.  I couldn't believe how massive it was, and how beautifully broken it is.  We stared and wandered around with our jaws open for about an hour then went and explored more of Rome that day, and again the next until it was time to say goodbye to the land of Pizza, Pasta and Piazza's.

It was so nice to get away and the three of us had such an amazing time!  It was a new experience for all of us, travelling alone, in a foreign city, where no one spoke the language.  It was challenging at times, but in the end we always managed to figure it out!  It added so much to this entire experience, being lost in a new city and facing and overcoming the challenges to get you where you want to go.  I loved everything about Italy and can't wait to go back someday in the future.