A while in the making.

So it's been a while since I've posted anything. I've been pretty busy and haven't had much time. That's not actually entirely true as trains are a perfect time but I've been reading Harry potter and not wanting to put it down. How good is that last book?!

I'm currently in sorrento. Which is an Italian town just south of Naples. Since my last post I've done cinque terre and Florence so I have a bit to write about. Starting with leaving Venice.

I mentioned I think in my last post that I wasn't sure about accommodations in cinque terre. I was going and attempting to find a hostel there that've friends were at because the one I had booked was closed by the time I got there.

I arrived at about 830 and started walking up the street (there is really only one) it was a nice night so I was hoping my friends would maybe walking around or sitting in a restaurant. I realize that this hope lies somewhere between doubtful and stupid but I was hoping. After walking around for a half hour I passed by a laundromat. Sure enough, there were three canadians I had met in Venice! They took me back to their room which had extra beds in it and I stayed there for the night! Sweet ass free room!

Next day we went out on the walk through cinque terre. It is about a 5 hour walk between 5 villages along the coast. It is a stunningly beautiful trip. I really can't describe how amazing it looks. You have to climb really high up stairs at some points and at other points your walking along 2' narrow pathways beside cliffs. It's simply breathtaking.

Breaking for lunch

Jared, Morgan Sharla, (the 3 who saved me from the street) , Me, Ada, John

We got to the last village, and after stopping for lunch decided to go for a swim. Now I know I'm in Italy and it's supposed to be hot. It's pleasantly warm I would say. Not all that hot. And this is the Mediterranean in October, kinda chilly. I didn't even have a bathing suit. Before we were going to swim I needed a suit. I went into town on a mission. Well actually 2. Bathing suit AND gelato. I'm serious the gelato here is stunningly good. More on that later.

I found a nice bathing suit (your opinion of nice may differ from mine, remember that my sister has made a rule that I'm not to shop by myself). I must admit that the suit is a little "Italian", meaning small. Kinda like short shorts and bright red. Meh, what do I care? Ten minutes later I was proven correct in my theory that the water was not at all warm and o plunged in and came up blue.

Earlier on the hike the girls we were with had the brilliant idea that we should make a nice dinner that night. There were 3 girls and 3 guys on this trip. What they actually meant is that the guys should make them dinner. We said ok (the other 2 said it reluctantly before I informed them that it would be ok and we wouldn't burn down the hostel (especially since I was still staying for free, and I liked that)

Ada Morgan and Sharla

We went shopping when we got back and planned and executed a pretty damn good 3 course meal. Keep in mind that our cooking utensils consisted of a 2.5 burner gas stove (don't ask) and an oven we needed to light (in trying to do so I considered revoking my comment of burning down the hostel). We also had at our disposal; a serrated butter knife, a spatchula(?), a couple pans that looked as though they had been used to play baseball (unfortunately I'm familiar with that look in a pan), and that's about it.

We created the meal as follows:

Crostini with roasted fig, pecarino cheese, and a red wine reduction.

Fennel, orange and walnut pasta with a cream sauce

Oven roasted peaches (halved and cored) with a blueberry, blackberry and red wine sauce to top.

It ended up being pretty damn good and we surprised the hell out of the girls. For the whole meal for 8 people (2 joined late) and 10 bottles of wine the total came to 50€ which is like 6.25 each! Fuck yea!

That night we went down to a rock beach near the hostel. We took a bunch of wine down with us and sat down in the pitch black watching what little waves we could. It was a ton of fun. (ten bottles of wine fun)

The next day, due to a drunken promise, I had to make the best french toast in the world. I made ok French toast. It had an apple and burned topping that was pretty good.

One note is that in our bathroom, we found this note beside the toilet.........what would you do?

We went back to the scene of our drunken escapades the night before and hung out on the beach again. It was pretty sweet. Then we all left for different locations. The 3 canadians, Jared, Sharla, and Morgan were off to Rome and Jason, lizzie, John and I were off to Florence.

Florence is another story all together...