Day one in cinque terre

So this morning Julie and I woke up early to goto the beach! We were so excited. When we walked out into this little square we noticed there was a van there with supplies like toilet paper and soap. We didnt really inderarand why but after watching for a bit assumed it was For the townspeople to get the stuff they need. Send one person into town for everyone. How crazy! We later asked matteo. The boy from last night, and he said it was just for the elders to get their supplies. Sill pretty crazy and also a good idea! We got breakfast at this cute little bakery and headed down the long stairs to the water. 3/4 of the way down you can see the beach and there was no sun on it. It was too early. Bummer because we were going down there to lay in the sun, not the shade. So we decided to hike back up and layout at our hostel... Also in the shade. Onto plan c. Talk on the bench until the shop opened. Ar was still sleeping so we went to get her at 10:15 and she was already gone. We were supposed to meet at the beach but we obviously weren't there. Ooops. So Julie and i went to the shop to get floaty rafts!!! After much debate we decided on 3 personal rafts that you would lay on in a pool. Except we were laying on them in the Mediterranean! Haha one better. Turned out to be the best purchase of the trip!! I also got a mask and snorkel which sucked because it let a lo of water in. Oh well...  So after we made our purchase we headed back down to the water and luckily ar was waiting for us. We blew up our rafts and got in the water asap. Ahhh it was amazing!!! We layed in the water on our rafts from 11 to 3. Best plan ever. You could get off and swim or just float and toss a leg in. So great. When I went snorkeling there were definately some fish but I was taking on water so it was a short lived experience. Ar and I went up to get lunch around 1 and we decided on a sit down place but had to run and get more money first... Hostel closed from 1 to 3. Grrr so we got pizza instead. We went back down to the water and floated some more and then around 3 decided to get out and head back to start our hike. We got all ready and walked all the way down to the train. I swear this place should just be called the stairmaster. No wonder Americans are fat. We don't have 365 stairs to get to the village from the train or god knows how many to get from the village to the beach. Whew. We took the train from the 3rd village, corniglia to the 5th village, montessero. We toodled aroud for a minute and then started our hike back to our village. 7km in total. We thought we were doing the easy hike but turns out we were doing te hard one. Bring it on. A crap load of stairs later (keep in mind when I say stairs in not talking about equal perfect stairs, I'm talking about bricks from rocks or just rocks that are all different sizes and heights and ugh stairs) and ups and downs later we made it to the 4th village vernazza. Ahhh. Ohh and i fed the homeless and unloved cats along the way! The bucket told me to! And arleigh pushed the button to call the fire brigade for help. She didnt read just started pushing buttons. Haha oops! We were singing the whole way! It was so much fun! We got into the village and looked around and then found a place to eat. Mmm I tried a spaghetti with clams and muscles. Clams and muscles I know. I actually like them! It was really good. After dinner we grabbed some gelato and headed off on our second leg of the hike. I specifically said that I dint want to be hiking with my ice cream but of course I barely got one bite on and we were off. We got some amazing pics on these hikes!  We ran ino some grad students from ???? And ??? Who were pretty nice. We hiked and talked with them for a while but they were too slow so we left them. We ended up hiking so fast! Practically running! I don't know where we got all the energy from but somehow we found it! By the end of the hike it was getting dark and we were all starting freak out while not breaking our ankles. Hard to tell what's a step or what's a rock or what's a rock step in the dark! We finally made it into town and we all started celebrating. I turned my head around this little building and saw this couple so I said ooh! And kept walking. Arleigh didn't see them. She layed down on the road right next to them and was praising the lord that we made
It. Meanwhile I'm laughing my ass off
Because I know those people are just sitting right next to her and probably think she is crazy! Haha about then she noticed them and we were all on the ground laughing so hard! We made it back to the hostel and took some showers and then headed off to the pretty spot to see what we could see. We ran into Matteo and talked to him for a second. Arleigh looked at the stars... We sang some more and then went to bed. Another day in paradise!!! Misses