I thought that after Rome and Florence my parents would like a little break…me as well. I had been to a beach during my trip, but my roommates had gone to Cinque Terre while I was in Paris with John and told me I had to go.
So my parents and I decided we would stay there for a few days. There are five cities in Cinqe Terre (hence the name), and we stayed at the last one, Monterosso. It was a sleepy fishing village that was known to have to best beaches.
Just the view from the train was amazing. It looked like something straight out of a postcard. The water was clear and you could see where the color changed from light bluish green to dark blue. The beaches were lined with striped umbrellas and lounge chairs. People we floating in the water, and sun bathing on rocks.
We took the first night to settle in. We went to dinner near the beach, and then walked around the town, with a few stops for gelato.
The next day we walked down to the beach, got our umbrella and chairs and settled in for the day. The beach we were at was less crowded and a bit calmer. There was a line of rocks a ways out and my dad immediately got in the water and swam out to the rocks. After a bit of persuading he got me out there. I climbed on them and sat there for a bit. It was such a relaxing day. We later ate; I had sea bass, which was amazing. And after dinner we called it a night.
The next day we were planning to kayak and see the next city over. We woke up to grey clouds and a little rain. When we got to the water, we saw the grey day had not only affected the land but the ocean as well. The waves were crashing against the rocks and there was a red flag up announcing, “no kayaking”. So, we decided to take a look at the next city, Vernazza. It was supposed to be the most picturesque according to Rick Steves', but I would have to say the Monterosso was.
I liked Vernazza very much, up until we went to the cemetery. My dad really wanted to see it so we hiked up to it. I found myself a bit ahead of my parents and I began looking at the graves. These graves were large wall like marble structures. The coffins or bodies were placed in the wall. On each tombstone there was a vase and most of them had flowers (many fake). I fixed one of the flowers that had fallen to the ground. As I was walking by some of them I grazed past the flowers and read the dates and looked at the pictures. My mom caught up with me and was looking as well. I reached the end of one wall and went to look at the one behind me. As I walked up to the wall something moved in the flowers closest to me. I quickly examined it and saw a SNAKE! (for all of you who don’t know me when it comes to snakes, I really really dislike them. I used boast that I never saw one in the wild and asked that the Lord take me home before I did…that obviously didn’t happen…but it was close). I screamed as loud as I could (and I am not a screamer). My mom looked at me like she wanted to help but it was in between us. There was a cliff next to me and I could have jumped off right then and there…thankfully the Lord gave me restraint. The snake slithered down the wall and we were waiting to see where he was headed. He was black with yellow stripes and in between 4 to 5 feet long. His belly met the tile floor close to me, and I screamed again (I don’t listen to the whole stay calm and quiet). He slide across the tile to the other wall where I had just come from and parallel me to the brush. When he was gone I ran to my mom who said, “Where is your father we are leaving.” Dismissing all quiet rules in the cemetery, as I had done earlier with my screaming, my mom quickly walk to the different sections yelling, “Michael!”…”Michael!”. My dad finally came out and we told him we were leaving.
We got to the bottom of the hill and back on the train to Monterosso. We all headed to the beach to read and enjoy the rest of the sun.
When we were on our way through the garden to dinner, we were met with another snake, a baby one this time. Baby or not, I really really really do not like them.
That night I had dreams of snakes and Gatorade (don’t ask me about that Gatorade), needless to say I didn’t sleep well…and was ready to get going to my favorite city in the world…Venice (snake free Venice).
posted by Michelle @ 12:24 PM
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