Sometimes the weather is bipolar in Cinque Terre

This Saturday, I decided to go hiking through Cinque Terre with three friends. Sadly, when we arrived we learned that a landslide has caused the path along the shoreline to be completely closed.  

This is the closed path :(

The alternative route we took turned out to be even better.  Although we had a much more steep and difficult climb, the views were definitely worth it.  About a mile in, a dog started following us and stuck around for the next 5 miles, which concerned us a little but he had a collar (his named was Puck) and clearly knew the trail.  We eventually ran into someone at the end of our hike who knew him, so we luckily lost the the fear that we had lead a dog miles away from home only to abandon him.

The view from the path we ended up hiking

Immediately after our hike, during which I was a little embarrassed at how much I was sweating, huge snow flakes started pouring down.  This was a little difficult to comprehend considering we had felt like we were hiking in sweltering heat a few hours before.  As the sun went down the temperature did as well, and by sunset, it was downright cold.

We concluded the evening watching the sun set over the Mediterranean and I had a delicious chestnut pasta with pesto for dinner (apparently chestnut flour is common in Cinque Terre.  I'm definitely a fan)

Our train home was delayed an hour, which was not enjoyable considering the train station was completely outdoors, but overall it was a totally fun and pretty exhausting day. 

Sometimes, the weather does not really matter, snow or shine, when you're seeing the Mediterranean for the first time. 

Sometimes, you visit Venice in hurricane weather

My first organized excursion with school: the trip started off smoothly, with our entire tire blowing out and the bus sitting in a gas station parking lot for close to two hours waiting for assistance.  We then arrive in the beautiful city of Venice, greeted by freezing rain.  We toured Saint Mark's Basilica, which has a wonderful mosaic ceiling, and then hopped back on the boat to Murano, an island dedicated to glass blowing.  This was one of the most interesting things I have ever witnessed, and the pictures really do it no justice.  That man made that horse in less than a minute, I have a video of it, but unfortunately I can't figure out how to upload it here..  The second picture is the only one I got inside the gallery, because they didn't allowed pictures there, but the entire place was amazing.

After Murano we got back on the boat for Burano, and the weather took a turn for the worse.  Burano is a small island, historically inhabited by fisherman who painted their houses bright colors for distinction since they were built so close together. While this was cute, the torrential downpour and gale force winds which rendered umbrellas useless pushed everyone into cafes for the entire stay on this island.  We then got on the boat for the final trip of the day, back to the bus.  We exited the boat and found that there was now a mixture of rain and hail pouring down.  The bus also somehow got lost, but some moderately helpful officers of the law finally allowed it to come where we were in the bus parking lot and we were on our way somewhere warm and dry! 

We were greeted in the hotel by these cookies, the green one is supposed to be a mask, since the start of Carnival was the next morning, and after all the time in the rain, this hotel seemed amazing!!  After drying off and warming up in the hotel, we headed back out for a delicious 4-course meal, and the end of which I tried my first espresso. I'm definitely sticking with hot chocolate.

Luckily, the weather improved greatly the next day!  We started our day with a visit to the Guggenheim, where I saw my first Picasso, and by the time  we left around 11am, the sun was out in full force!  We then enjoyed the opening of the carnival, which is like Halloween on Franklin except everyone is wearing Renaissance Italian garb.

The view from the Bridge of Sighs 

Dad, doesn't painting my ceiling yellow seems like a cakewalk compared to this ceiling in the Duke's palace?

We ended the day with a visit to the Duke's Palace, and a sunset boat ride back to the bus for our 3 hour trip home.  All tires stayed intact for the trek.

Sometimes, Venice is a beautiful city.

Sometimes you go to a wine tasting and hate wine.

Luckily, at the wine tasting I attended, there was also delicious food and gorgeous views!  This wine tasting, in a Chianti vineyard, was part of a "Tour of Tuscany".  It began with Sienna  where I experienced my first Italian hot chocolate, which is essentially chocolate melted and poured into a cup.  It was so rich I had to have help finishing it... which is really saying something.  After lunch and the wine tasting we visited San Gimignano, a very small town that still has its renaissance-era towers and walls for protection.  The day ended in Pisa, with quite a few typical tourist-y pictures holding up the tower, and a guided tour of the many palaces of Pisa.