a couple of weekends ago, my friends becca and jamie came to visit me from the US! despite their getting basically screwed over in the flight and luggage department, they got here on a friday and we took off on a long train ride for the italian riviera. we were headed for cinque terre, five villages on the coast of the ligurian riviera that are rapidly becoming famous tourist destinations because they are just so damn beautiful. see for yourself.

we stayed in the southernmost town of riomaggiore in an adorable apartment that had the worst shower i've ever experienced in my life. it was not really a shower; it was basically a trickle of water on your head. this is the little alleyway outside of our door.

the five towns are linked by a long hiking path (about 12 km [i've started thinking in the metric system; this is an awful thing]) that goes through a national park. this is right near the beginning of the path. i think riomaggiore can be seen a little bit in the distance.

from riomaggiore, we hiked to the next town of manarola. there we encountered this cat. i generally dislike cats, but i wouldn't mind being this one. i also think cinque terre, along with the ruins in rome, is one of the coolest places in the world to be a cat.

convo over the balcony in manarola. those pace flags are everywhere. no, they are not gay pride flags. they mean "peace". the italian public is totally and completely against the war.

i believe this is the view of manarola from a hill up above. what makes the villages so astounding is that they are basically built directly on cliffs that stop right at the sea. it's amazing to think that anyway could live such a steep life, but they manage to do it. they also cultivate tons of gardens and lemon trees and olive trees and vineyards on the cliffs. in fact, it's actually too steep to walk around and harvest the grapes, so the people invented these weird things...i wish i'd taken a picture of one, because it's hard to explain...but they are basically little motorized chairs on top of what look like little rollercoaster tracks. they strap themselves into the chair and follow the twisting tracks through the vineyards, stopping to collect the grapes. make sense?

here's jamie and me, precariously perched on the path between manarola and corniglia (i think. the villages are starting to get mixed up in my head). the water really was that blue, and completely clear.

i am a sucker for pretty flowers.

i normally don't post pictures of myself, because i'm horribly unphotogenic, but i consider this one decently flattering, so i'm okay with it! it's on the path between corniglia and vernazza, which kicked our asses. this was at the beginning, and we're all like, ooh, look at the pretty flowers and olive trees. let's put flowers in our hair and dance around! at the end we were panting and sweating and cursing, etc.

the same path. one of the few pictures of all three of us, because i refused to ask anyone to take our photos because i'm lame and hate annoying italians with my subpar language skills. jamie becca and me!

this is a view from far above vernazza, the fourth town, and probably the most charming (therefore also the most touristy). there's a pirate ship! and that little outcropping contains the remains of a castle lookout tower. we wandered up there in the afternoon and took an hour nap. we stuck around in vernazza most of the afternoon and unfortunately never made it to the fifth town, monterosso, because we suck.

boats! in the main waterfront piazza of vernazza. they just keep their boats in the tiny piazza and i guess take them out on the water when they want.

my last shot of cinque terre...it's the sunset as viewed from the harbor in vernazza. is anyone else getting sail away stuck in their head? i would highly recommend a weekend in cinque terre. it doesn't get much better.