What goes up must come down...

Whether it is refering to heart rates, morale, the trails or should I say mountains of the Cinque Terre, or the path that we have taken through Italy it really has been a roller coaster. Last time I had posted everything was great....we were in Nice and had planned on going to the beach for the day. On the way we decided to stop at the train station to reserve our seat for the trip to the Cinque Terre. When we finally got up to the desk the lady basically flat out told us get the hell out of the country as fast as you can because all transportation is going on strike in France and Italy. We both looked at eache other with a look of astonishment and tried to figure something out. Adam let out a 'oh shit' which the French woman did NOT like and started hitting him with his beach mat. She then managed to yell at me for interrupting her mid sentence. I came to the conclusion that we needed to book it and get back to the hostel, pack up, check out and get over the border to Italy as soon as possible. I now know what it is like to flee a country...a felt like a Mexican crossing the border it was scary! Everyone in the train station seemed to be in a panic and in disbelief as to what was going on. Luckily on the way back up to the hostel we saw one of the workers who gave us a ride. We were able to get our money back and make it to the train station with what we thought was enough time to get on the train. We asked the lady where the train was and she slowly said we needed to take the train to Ventamille which was leaving in 3 minutes. It was like a fire was lit under my ass because as soon as Adam knew it I came flying up the side of him screaming PARDON PARDON!!! He then went into double time to catch up and we basically threw ourselves onto the train. We safely made it to Italy 4 hours later!
Once we made it to Italy we did not have a place to stay. We thought that relying on our good looks was going to be good enough but apparently not! We went to the hostel that we had planned on staying at the following night and perfavore'd our asses as much as we could. They said there was no room but we could stay at her friends apartment at the top of town. She then told us that it was 'much too expensive - 30 Euro (only 5 more than we would be paying there) I quickly said WE'LL TAKE IT!! She then informed us that it was at the top of town and it was a far walk. I was hoping that her concept of money was about as good as her concept of distance but of course it was quite different. When she meant it was at the top of town she was right on the money. We climbed all the way to the top and I was just shy of resucitation when we finally made it to the top. We got to see a bride and groom walking through the town after they had just been married, which was beautiful. A crazy Italian man ran the place and talked a million miles a minute to Adam in Italian. We quickly got changed and headed back to the bottom for some food. We then strolled around the town with gelati in hand and took it all in. We then unfortunately had to climb ALL the way back to the top. I decided to hand wash a couple of my shirts then managed to get yelled at AGAIN by another man. I am three for three in each country so my new goal is to get yelled at by someone in each country that we go to. So far I'm going strong. We called it a night and showered.
The next day we took it easy and went to the beach. We checked into our hostel which was like an apartment. When we were at the beach we met some Australians who suggested we go snorkling with them on this boat. We decided what the hell and did it. It was pretty cool - the water was kind of cold though but we were able to see some fish. Then when we got on the boat I noticed something wasn't right and I thought some scuba divers were missing. Well it was true although they were not making a huge deal of it. Luckily they had two great lifeguards on board and Adam and I spotted them right away, practically in the next city over. They got yelled at and then it was over. We also met some really cool girls from Germany - Elisa and Lena that were our flat mates in the hostel. They were studying in Florence which was convenient since we were going there two days later.
On Monday night we met up with Mad Mike and 8 of his friends. Mike studied abroad in Italy with Adam. We all went out to dinner that night and went up to the Bar Centrale for the night. The next morning we planned to hike the Cinque Terre so we headed off to bed early. Tuesday morning we were FINALLY able to activate our phone so feel free to call! We then took the train to Montorosso to begin the hike - and what a hike it was! If I thought the hike to the top of the town to get to the hostel was bad I was sadly mistaken. I don't know when but I seemed to have developed asthma and was weezing like a freakin whistle of a train. The stairs were soooo steap I nearly died. The views were magnificent though. After the first trail we took a break and relaxed on the beach. As we began to do the next hike we ran into Mike and his friend Justin and continued the trail together. The second trail was difficult but we knew what to expect. Luckily the last two trails were pretty flat - making it much more enjoyable. At the end we jumped into the water and of course I had a difficult time getting out. Adam had to throw me my flip flops so I could wabble my way out. We were exhausted by the end of the night and grabbed dinner then went to bed.
Yesterday morning at the train station I had asked some guy what time it was. I asked where he was from and it turns out he is from Maryland. I mentioned I went to Towson and he went to CP. We were shooting the shit and it turns out of course he is from Ellicott City (where I interned) and went to Waverly Elementary School - also where I did my student teaching. AND Meredith he knows you!! Their names are Field and TJ Simmons - small world getting smaller. We then hopped on the train and headed to Pisa. We saw the leaning tower, took the traditional tourist pictures then got on a train to Florence.
In Florence we walked around and looked at the Duomo. It really was beautiful. We got some lunch, walked around, then decided we were in dire need of a nap. We were still exhausted from the hike and took a two hour nap. We then met up with our German friends and went to their apartment for dinner on the terrace. The view was beautiful. We shared stories over two bottles of wine and exchanged contact information.
This morning we got on what we thought was a train heading for Roma. Somehow and for some stupid reason we were on the wrong platform and got on a train to Bologna. We were pretty pissed but took it all in stride. We found a train and finally got to Rome. We just toured the city on foot and did most of the free tourist things. We saw Adam's old aparment and the school that he studied at. I feel like there are so many more things to write but I am very limited and people are waiting for the computer. Hope everything is going well and I will write back as soon as I can! Ciao ciao!!!