Maria & Drew

May 6. 2019

Finally after a long 4 months, the time has come that one of my best friends came to see me in Italy!!

They were here 10 days, but wanted to see so much, so we had to do a lot in the time available.

They arrived on Sunday night at 10 pm to Torino Porta Nuova. On Monday I had class and then I met up with them and I got to show them around the beautiful place I get to call home! We walked along the River Po and then we went hiked up the hill to go to Monte dei Cappuccini. That day the sky was clear of clouds and the alps were so clear! I was so happy that they were able to see them! After that we went downtown and walked around.

That night Drew made us all tacos for our annual Monday night girls nights! (I will greatly miss these the most). But the food was great and the company was even better!! The sunset that night was so pretty!

The next day was our first day of travel. We began our trip at Cinque Terre, which means 5 towns. We stayed in La Spezia which is a city on the outside of Cinque Terre. The first night we explored La Spezia and ate dinner there. We walked to the water and saw HUGE yachts and sailboats. We ate a cute Trattoria and ordered different things so that we could try different things. Everything was delicious!

Wednesday we woke up around 9 to start our day of exploring all 5 towns. We started on the most southern city and worked our way to the most northern city. We wanted to hike 2 or 3 of the trails, but when we arrived we found out that only 1 of them was open that day.

We started in Riomaggiore which was very cute and small. We ate breakfast and then walked up the pathway to get a better view of both the water and the city. Next we hopped on the train to go to Manarola. In Manarola we climbed on some rocks and took some really cool pictures by the water. It was cool to climb around and see more. The next city was Corniglia, which was a straight up hike to get to. As soon as you get on the train you see stairs that go straight up. But wow was the hike worth it!!! We found a cute wine shop that over looked vinyards and the coast. It was breathtaking. It was cool because we were able to try white wine that was made in Cinque Terre. The fourth city was Vernazza, there we all got some gelato and then we walked to the water and climbed on some more rocks!! (climbing on rocks became on of our favorite things lol).

Finally we were able to hike!!! I was so excited because everyone talks about how the views from the hike are absolutely gorgeous. I was no sign of disappointment whatsoever. I mean wow. It was so breathtaking. There was just a view of the water for what seemed lime miles and miles. Each trip I go on I get reminded of how beautiful God's world is and how lucky I am to be able to experience this.

At the end of the hike we found some rocks to climb on and we found the perfect spot to jump off into the water!!! I was very nervous (heights are just not my thing). SO I needed a bit of convincing so my friends finally got me to agree and I jumped in. I looked like a bird that didn't know how to fly. It was very funny, but super fun! The water was cold and very salty!

The next day we headed to our second destination... Venice! When we got there we explored where our airbnb was and then we walked towards the center of town to get dinner. We found a cute little place and got some wine & pasta! I'm going to miss getting cheap wine and pasta for most of my meals. After that we got Bellini drinks which is prosecco & peach! Talk about yummy!! We walked around some little shops throughout town and ended up going to a bar by our airbnb.

Friday morning we went to Murano which is the glass making island in Venice & Burano which is the lace making island. The glass jewelry were so beautiful. Every store had similar items, but no one item was the same as another. It was cool to see the different types of design that each designer had.

Burano was my favorite place in Venice. The buildings were all painted in all different brightly colored paint. When we got there it was pouring rain and it did not ruin the beauty. The buildings still shined so bright and were so pleasing to the eye. I am so sad that one day Venice might not be a place to visit. It is such a beautiful place.

The next morning we began our travels to Florence. In Florence we stayed in a hostel so that Drew & Maria could get the full affect of traveling! The hostel was clean and close to the train station which was very convenient.

Saturday we took a 6 hour Flixbus to Florence and went to our hostel as soon as we got there. Once we made it we put out things down and changed. By this time we were starting to get hungry so we went to the Duomo and walking around it then got this beautiful gelato that was in the shape of a rose. After gelato we waited for the rain to stop then walked around a bit and headed to Dante's Pizzaria. The cool thing about Dante's is that if you have a student ID you get unlimited wine. We got pizza and bruschetta to share between the four of us.

Once we finished dinner walked up to the Michelangelo steps to watch the sunset. It was a magnificent view of the city and there was an amazing sunset that night. After that we were exhausted and went back to the hostel to sleep because we booked a wine tasting for the next morning in the Chianti region.

We woke up around 7 because we had to pack all our stuff, get ready, and get to the wine tasting bus by 8:30. The bus took us about an hour outside Florence and dropped up off to our first tasting. The first place we tried 5 different types of wine which included a rose, white, and 3 reds (2 Chianti Classico & 1 Super Tuscany). I have truly come to love the taste of wine and I appreciate good wines now.

The second vineyard they took us to showed us their cellars of where they store their wine. Before my two wine tastings I didn't realized that they stored wine in barrels similar to Bourbon. I found that to be very interesting and cool.

During our wine tasting we met a whole group of new friends. They were all visiting Italy from the United States. They were so funny and so fun. They made this wine tasting so enjoyable and unforgettable.

After the wine tasting we had to say see ya later to Maria and Drew because they were heading to Rome for their last stop & Mel and I has to take a 7 hour train home to Torino. I am so glad Maria and Drew came to visit! It was so fun showing them around Torino and exploring more of Italy. It was so nice to see things that I wasn't able to yet on this trip!

I miss them already, but before we know it I will be home!!!

Signing off.

Kayla Nicole