Special Thanks, Weather, Luggage, Music and Cinque Terre

I have lots of topics today but want to write a little about all of them before I forget!

Special Thanks
This thank you goes to my dad and Jason's mom for paying for our deluxe accommodations last night! They gave us money for our anniversary and we used it last night when we diverted our plans. Our plan was to arrive in Cinque Terre and find a hotel. This is the only place where I didn't reserve a room ahead of time. But due to various circumstances...described below, we would have arrived very late and thought it would be difficult to find a place to stay. So instead we stayed at La Spezia which is a much bigger city just about a 10 minute train ride south of Cinque Terre. The Rick Steves book even had a little section about this town and recommended a nice hotel right next to the train station. All of the hotels I booked for this trip were fairly budget (would rather spend $$ on sight seeing and food!), although much better than a hostel. Some have had showers in the room, others down the hall and the one in Siena didn't even have a sink in the room. So we decided to treat ourselves in La Spezia to a very nice hotel and the only room they had available was the suite! Thanks dad and mom! This room was very nice with a living room and 2 full bathrooms. It was nice to get back to the modern world for a night.

Okay, so the events that led us to a really late arrival in Cinque Terre included our terrible map of Siena. We knew the train station was not very close to the Il Campo (the main tourist area) but we decided to walk in the direction of the train station and then look for a cab. Well we couldn't find a cab nor did we know how close or far we were from the train station. I managed to ask for directions and we saw signs so we kept walking. We had to wind down a steep street with virtually no sidewalk but miraculously finally found the station.

Then the next ordeal was the train ticket. I bought the ticket at the counter but couldn't figure out which train to take. The train we took from Venice to Florence was direct but last night we had to make changes at a few different cities. We wandered around the station helplessly looking for someone to help or a sign. The only people we saw working there that were not behind a ticket window with a long line were 2 policemen. Jason asked them if they could help but they turned him away saying they didn't speak English. So we kept looking. I found a board that looked like it might help and as I was standing there by myself Jason saw the same 2 policemen look at each other, smile, and then walk right up to me! They truly did not speak English but were VERY helpful and friendly to me. :-) Jason and I had a good laugh about that later on the train. So we managed to transfer in the correct cities until the end we got off when we shouldn't have and the next train was almost 2 hours later! That's when we decided to stay in La Spezia. It was a great decision since we lucked out with a really nice hotel room and found a good pizza place (fire brick oven) just down the street.

Weather
So far the weather has been perfect in Italy. Mid 70s and sunny! But last night there were some viscous rain storms. The pounding of the rain and thunder woke me up several times. I do really miss the thunder from SLC so I enjoyed listing to it this morning but was also dreading heading out into it. Fortunately when we left the hotel the rain had stopped and hasn't started again! Although in Cinque Terre today it is quite cool and very windy.

Luggage
This topic deserves some attention for those of you who have never traveled through Europe and changed cities every few days. We did pack light, but both realized after we got here that we could have packed even lighter. I brought a small suitcase, the carry-on size. It was not completely full, only had about 5 complete outfits. I also packed an empty backpack to start filling with souvenirs along the trip. I have now maxed out my suitcase and started filling the backpack although it's not completely full. But my suitcase is heavy and we've had to walk up and down soooo many stairs carrying our luggage, not to mention walking down stone streets through crowds. I don't know how someone could manage a bigger suitcase.

Music
We have both been very surprised at the music. The Internet cafe I'm at right now is playing techno music in Cinque Terre! Yesterday in Siena we had lunch at a very authentic Italian restaurant, didn't even list the food items in English, and they were playing American pop like Avril Lavin. Oh, and today in Cinque Terre we were looking for a cafe but passed on one because they were blasting House of Pain! I think everywhere we've been in Italy they have been playing American music. Not what I expected....

Cinque Terre
And now to where we will be spending the next few days. We chose to stay in Vernazza and so far it's been great. Finding a place to stay proved easier than expected. The first 2 places we passed didn't seem to have a reception area but soon enough Sergio, a very friendly Italian, asked if we needed a room. He had private room to rent in his house, no view but very quiet, so we decided to take it. We are now contemplating a hike. The weather still looks very ominous, hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Ciao!