The second weekend​ in Italy, a group of four left to do the Cinque Terre hike. Getting to La Spezia was a journey in itself. We left from Orvieto on Friday around 1:00 pm. When we arrived to the train station, our train was shown as on time. When our train was supposed to be there, it was nowhere to be seen. The departure board now said the train was going to arrive 10 minutes late. This was an issue because we only had 6 minutes to get on our train to Florence without the 10 minute delay

      We met some nice people who told us that we were going to be alright and that the train to Florence was going to be on the same platform as our current train. Thankfully they were right, and we were on our train with plenty of time to spare. 

      After another train ride, we arrived in La Spezia where our Air BnB was located. The first night, we chose our rooms and, tired from the long day, fell asleep in them. 

      We woke up early and walked back to the train station to purchase passes for the hike. We received our tickets at the perfect time because our train arrived as we verified our tickets. We decided to start on the opposite end of the hike so we could finish closer to La Spezia. 

      We started off hiking towards Vernazza. None of us thought to eat breakfast or bring snacks. The ascent up the first mountain was refreshing. Up to this point, the most physical thing we had done was walk a couple of miles. After a short descent, we happened upon a store selling fresh fruit. We bought a couple of peaches, I bought a liter of peach juice and two peaches, then we ate our fruit with our feet in the water.

      To our dismay, we found out that every time we visited a town, we were going to have to climb another mountain. After a more intense hike, we were rewarded with a some shade and a nice breeze. We got too comfortable and finished all of the water. After our descent, we were delighted to see a water fountain and a convenience store. I bought a two bottles of water, each two liters, and I was already carrying a liter in my insulated, metal water bottle. I brought a hiking backpack, so I offered to carry Caitlin's two liter water bottle as well. 

      By the time we decided to hike to Manarola, I was carrying between 7 and 8 liters (close to two gallons) of water and juice on my back. I was not aware that this leg of the hike was the most difficult. When we reached the top, we all had to sit down and contemplate our decisions. My legs started to wobble on the descent into Manarola. 

      Caitlin and Cassidy decided to stay in Manarola while Lexi and I hiked to Riomaggiore. We finished the last portion of the hike in less than 30 minutes and decided to walk around Riomaggiore. We found an ice cream shop and stopped for milkshakes. We really earned them by that point. After relaxing in the AC, we started to explore the town some more. To our dismay, where we walked was filled with stairs. 

      By the time we walked the whole town, we were exhausted. Lexi and I found a bench to sit on, and where we remained collapsed until Cassidy and Caitlin arrived by train. After we showed them around, we caught the train back to La Spezia.

      Our weather apps had predicted rain the entire day, but we did not receive a single drip until we arrived back in La Spezia. When the first drops hit us, we were so thankful because of how cold the rain was. 

       We happily walked through the rain to a grocery store. After eating close to nothing but pasta and pizza for a month, we were excited to make something different. We bought food to make an American feast. Cassidy cooked teriyaki chicken and turkey with fried rice. 

      After we finished gorged on the food, we all gathered around my laptop and watched baby driver until we all fell asleep after an exhausting day.