Cinque Terre

We couldn't leave Europe without spending more time in Italy, so watch out, loyal blog readers, here come a slew of Italian posts! We had an absolute blast spending 12 days road tripping our way down and back to Tuscany.

After an overnight stopover to break up the long drive, Jeff, Will and I arrived at our first stop: Cinque Terre!

CT has been on Jeff's and my list of places we want to visit for a long time. We were sooo excited to be there!

The glimpses of simple Italian life in these tiny fishing villages overrun with tourists (Thanks, Rick Steves!) didn't disappoint.

At the recommendation of Jeff's parents, we stayed in Vernazza. It was perfect!

Our hotel room was great; even the 100 or so stairs we climbed to get to it everyday didn't bother us too much.

We arrived in Vernazza in the late afternoon, so we enjoyed just hanging out around the central square/harbor/beachfront. Will loved watching the beach goers and boats.

We also found a newly-built playground by the train station that allowed our little traveler to burn off some energy. A playground in Cinque Terre? Who knew?

* At this point in my blog post I've got to let you know that our arrival day in Cinque Terre was my birthday. Jeff and I bought Will a piece of pizza for dinner and had the intention of putting him to bed, then enjoying a nice take out meal on our terrace from the restaurant below our hotel. Poor Jeff had been nursing a sinus infection all week and was still feeling miserable. When thinking about our huge hike the next morning, he felt he just needed to go to bed with Will. So I put my two boys to bed, took a shower, then took myself out for my birthday dinner. I watched the sun set over the harbor, read some of my book, ate delectable pasta made only in Cinque Terre, sipped two glasses of wine, and didn't have to share a bite of my tiramasu. All in all, quite an enjoyable evening. Happy Birthday to me!

The next morning we made sure to get up and out early to get going on our hike to the towns south of Vernazza. We had to reconvene our plans because not only was one part of the lower trail closed for repairs, there was a train strike too. Luckily, I saw this warning on the town's map against wearing high heels on the trail. I went back and changed into my hiking boots and we were off!

Climbing up the trail out of Vernazza

The Zabels on the trail!

Approaching Corniglia

Lunching in the winding streets of Corniglia

Oh the places you've had your diaper changed, William!

My adorable boys

The lower path between Corniglia and Manarola was closed. Rather than take a boat, we chose to take the strenuous trail that went straight up the mountainside, south along the mountain ridge, then back down into Manarola. WHAT WERE WE THINKING?

We had come to hike, and hike we did. Unfortunately, the hike took so long we didn't have time to get to the other two towns (Riomaggiore and Monterosso). Oh well, all the more reason to return someday, right?

After boating back to Vernazza, our little man blew off some more steam after being our super trooper in the backpack all day. (Not that Dad isn't a super trooper himself carting him up and down those trails!)

The highlight of our day happened when Jeff and I decided to stop off for a cocktail on our way to put Will to bed. These local Italian women in the place literally took him from my arms and began dancing and singing with him. I LOVE ITALY!

Thank you, Cinque Terre. Our stay didn't do you justice, but you amazed us with your beauty. Until we meet again . . . .