Italia

I continue to be amazed at how fast the days pass by. Time flies when you're having fun.

On Monday I woke up at 6:30am. I was planning on getting more sleep, but the hostel was oppressively hot. Italy in general has been very warm and I have long abandoned any hope of going outside without breaking a sweat. This probably sounds worse than it is - in fact, it is kind of nice to have a change from cold, rainy weather.

I decided to delay my sightseeing around Milan for a little while and therefore opted to go on a day trip to the town of La Spezia. I had heard from several folks that the Cinque Terre region was a must-see, so from La Spezia I took a short regional train to Monterosso, the fifth of the Cinque Terre towns. Well, it was supposed to be a short train. There were two trains leaving in quick succession from the same platform, so I accidentally boarded the wrong one and did not have a chance to get off until the first stop, which was past Cinque Terre! I reckon even a seasoned traveller has a thing or two to learn about traveling. It was no major problem though; I finally made it to Monterosso and had about three hours to go exploring. The town was utopic: it was nestled in the side of a hilly coastline with a small but quaint beachfront. The entire village was along a lagoon of sorts, and the emerald water was absolutely transparent- you could easily see twenty or thirty feet below the water. I know it may sound as though I am going on and on about Monterosso's appearance, but this was unbelievable. The ocean was completely devoid of waves; it was so smooth it seemed someone could skip a rock on it.

From Monterosso, I went hiking along a coastal trail to the next village, Vernazzo. This town didn't have as many beaches, was even smaller, and had about 50 houses of all different colors wedged on an outcropping of land. There were people boating and kayaking everywhere. It seemed to be the sort of place that had miraculously escaped development; so few of these places exist nowadays that it makes Cinque Terre even more special.

I would absolutely go back to Momterosso and Vernazzo again. Unfortunately, I didn't have time yesterday, so I checked out of my old hostel in Milan and into a new one ( I wasn't able to reserve contiguous days at just one). From there, I travelled about an hour East to Desenzano, which is a small town by Lake Guarda. It didn't have quite the same hiking or sun-bathing potential as Cinque Terre, but it was still really pretty and peaceful. There was a large contingent of boats and jet skis on the lake and it reminded me how nice the water is -