Some bits of Glasgow as we were walking around Friday night
The Duke of Wellington Statue
We started off Saturday morning with a session of Field Hockey. Canada lost 😦
After several attempts we finally got the bike to unlock. However, we could only get one. I managed to sit on the back! We sure did get some funny looks from people. We road from field hockey to the rugby event. So fun!
Rugby 7s
Unfortunately we lost this game…..
On Sunday we had the athletics event – amazing!
This is the view from our original seats, but thanks to our friend…. we got upgraded to the finish line!
Our new seats which would have cost 150 pounds! They had padded seats and arm rests, and tons of leg room!
Women’s 100 M
Go Canada!
The Mens 5000 was incredible! And we got 5th (for the Qualifying rounds)
A couple sunset shots from Dan’s house
July 10 – 15th CINQUE TERRE, Italy!!!
Waiting for the 6:45am plane, catching a little breakfast, and of course the sports news 🙂
So comfortable! Ryanair is not built for men
The view over the coast line before landing in Pisa
The water was such amazing color
Outside the train station waiting for Ben and Tash so we can catch the train to La Spezia
Time to get out of the shoes!
Just liked the brick designs
A pay phone, pretty funny looking
The first shot of the sea from the train, how amazed we were!
We got off the train in Manarola and JUST missed the shuttle up to Volastra (which was a 45min hike uphill). I thought it would be ok to do, but once we saw the steepness, there was no way it was happening.
A shuttle driver (Mirko, who was soon to be our hero) actually picked us up and dropped us off at this point, for free. This was less than half but said he couldn’t go further because he needed gas. So Ben stuck his thumb out at the next vehicle to come by and a little car stopped and crammed all 4 of us and our luggage in his vehicle. He drove us up to Volastra and showed us to our B&B! Wouldn’t take any money or anything from us, besides hugs! We were so thankful for his ride up the hill.
The view from our room window, gives a glance into the steepness of the hill that we would have had to walk up
So pretty
A little decoration outside our room
First night there we hit the winery which was down the road. Had some amazing local wine and learned about the process of making it. Then, we decided to trek down into Manarola. Low and behold, Mirko comes along and picks us up! Another free ride down the hill 🙂
The local Co-op wine that is made in the area
At this point Mirko came driving along and scooped us up
So excited
Coming down into Manarola.
Loved the boats in the street that were ready to be taken out when needed.
Managed to make our way to the water. So pretty
Cooling off feet in the water. Enjoying a glass of wine 🙂
The sun starting to set…
Enjoying the nice views
A great photo taken by Ben (thanks!)
A massive Aloe Vera
Great shot of Manarola as the sun is setting
Marcus and Ben
I love the moon in this picture, so magical
“I’m in Italy!!”
Incredible
The first day of hiking. We went from Manarola to Corniglia and at some food and kept walking from Corniglia to Vernazza. Boy were we tired.
View of Corniglia in the distance
Loving the sun
The sides of the mountain were amazing. We took the higher up trail which gave us amazing views and we were walking through many vineyards.
Had our bottle of wine along with us for the journey.
When in Italy….
So many clusters of grapes, looked so good.
Great shot of the vineyard and rows for harvesting (can’t imagine).
Saw lots of these little guys around, jutting across the paths, on walls and through the shrubs. Quick!
Another view of Corniglia as we were getting closer
The sign that meant we were still on the right path!
Enjoying some shade on the path
Another shot of Corniglia as we were coming around the bend.
Not sure what this bug was but there were a good number of them
On the last bit of downhill section
The girls
Another nice shot of the grapes of the area
Just about there, thinking about food
A little alley way to goodness
The coast were people go swimming, but was a little rough so we headed to the other side
On our way down the stairs. There are many comments online about the set of stairs that go up to Corniglia (as it is the highest of the 5 towns) and we forgot to count them on our way up. However, I like the thought that there are 365 stairs. One for each day of the year. I’ve also read that there are 378 and 388 (guess everyone counts differently).
All the boats sitting there, and the little boat dock where people go into the water
Marcus decided whether to go or not.
Had to jump off of here when the waves were coming in and swim out.
Leaving Corniglia…. off to Vernazza
At least we are on the right way. Monterosso was a good 2 hours, we didn’t even try to make it that far.
A cute little bridge
We noticed this shack looking thing down by the coast. Not sure if someone lived there or what, but looks like lots of hanging sheets!
More amazing coast line. The color of the water was so amazing
A caption of Vernazza
The beach that we were longing for. The hike from Corniglia to Vernazza was super hot, and Marcus saved the day and found us some Aloe Vera.
The old tower in Vernazza
Vernazza Harbour
We went and sat up in the cliff side at a little restaurant for dinner – great sunset
The famous Via Dell ‘Amore trail from Manarola to Riomaggiore. However, due to a landslide the path was closed 😦 So disappointed as this was on my ‘To See’ list.
A little guidance on the paths and trails
Walking through Riomaggiore
Each town has a different feel to it, which is really neat
Lots of laundry hanging outside. Once you get into the towns, most of them have no cars allowed. Due to the streets being small and all the pedestrians. There is lots of laundry hanging in little walkways
An old church that was in Riomaggiore.
We were walking up to the top of the Clock Tower – which is up those stairs to the right side of the tall building
View from the Clock Tower
Overlooking the town
Lemons!
There were a lot of succulants that had flowers on them, so pretty
In Riomaggiore, walking down towards the harbour
We had thought and snorkeling in this area, but decided against it. We decided to hop over to Monterosso and have a beach day instead
The swatter toilet I had to use. At the train station in La Spezia I had to pay 70c to use the toilet, so standing in line here I asked the ladies if you had to pay. They shook their heads… “no pay. You will see why.” haha and they were right
Arriving in Monterosso, ready for the beach
We ended up ‘hiring’ umbrellas and chairs for 15 euros per couple. Pretty decent. Plus, it was great to have the shade when we wanted it, the beach was soo hot
There were about 3 different areas/sections of umbrellas that were owned by different people.
We got 20 min massages for 10 euros. Can’t go wrong really!
We had both hiked yesterday (from Volastra – Corniglia – Vernazza) in flip flops so our legs were both killing us. This lady spoke no english but she gave a great massage!
Waiting for the train to come and bring us home!
Nice sunset rays
The pathway to Via Dell ‘Amore – notice the heart shapes above the gate 🙂
This little riding thing is what they use to get the grapes from down in the vineyard up. We actually walked past one and could see the trail/path of it going down and around through the vineyard. Would be a pretty sweet ride!
Enjoying some local wine while we wait for the shuttle to come and bring us back to Volastra
Our last full day in Cinque Terre, we took the ferry from Riomaggiore to Monterosso. It was a great ride, as we were able to see the whole coast line. To see the towns from the water was pretty great
The path that the train takes to get to the towns
Riomaggiore
Manarola
Can see some of that paths of the landslides….
Corniglia
Corniglia from a distance
Waiting to leave from Vernazza
Vernazza
New town Monterosso
Old Town Monterosso
I just loved the old buildings
Such cool design and color
We hiked all the way up and came to this old church, took a peak inside and then kept walking to the cemetary
So incredible. The cemetery was full of these little memorial blocks.
I love that they all had a picture on them and some flowers. It was so cool to walk around and see them all. Not sure if people were actually behind the walls or not, but not sure where the bodies would be otherwise!!!
So cute
I think the oldest one that we saw along the way was 1850. Might have been older ones….
Walking down back into the city
Looking down at New Town Monterosso beach
We hiked all the way up and then down and round into New Town
Focaccia! I couldn’t get enough of this stuff while we were there. I think I had at least one slice every day. So fresh and with fresh pesto or tomatoes or onions… what is better?
Beach at New Town Monterosso
At the other beach we had to pay for these, but we didn’t see the guy around that you had to pay… so we just sat down and enjoyed the sun!
It wasn’t so busy which was really nice
Enjoying a good bottle wine…
We decided to make some Sangria, so we stopped in this shop to see what we could all gather.
The lady worked in the shop sold us the wine but told us she could only chop lemons for us.
But once Marcus started getting into it and putting it all together….
…. next thing you know she is cutting the orange and nectarine for us!
She said she loved it when people from “America come” (we corrected her) because they are so happy and excited about everything!
She was a great sport and helped us so much, was pretty funny to see the change in her demeanor.
The fresh lemons that were from the local trees. Oh man, how tasty!!
Back at the beach, ready to go. We actually got booted out before we left because we didn’t pay haha, so this time I went down to the guy and asked for a deal. I got 5 euros off… so we just ended up paying 10 for a few hours. As Marcus says “Just do the hair flick…”
My grandma toes after being in the ocean and rubbing them in sand for hours
Meanwhile, later that night back in Volastra…. we got an amazing thunder and lightening storm!!
It woke me up at 5:30 am and I couldn’t help but sit and listen and watch. The clouds just circled the area, and there were some great ‘snaps’ of lightening
The hills that you could once see were gone in 20minutes
We went out for our last pasta meal in Cinque Terre on Monday, before heading towards Pisa. I liked the “little fried fishes”
Good bye Cinque Terre, Hello La Spezia. In order to get down to Pisa, we had to transfer trains here
The little village in La Spezia
Taking a little nap and waiting for the train
In Pisa we found this little spot on the way to see the Leaning Tower. Was air-dried beef, arugula, Parmesan cheese. Quite Tasty!
The buildings along the river in Pisa
Finding our way to the Tower
Can’t see it, but this was an open circular area that looked like a huge round about. However, there were no lines, and people were walking wherever they wanted. The cars would just cruise on through to the next road that they wanted. Pretty strange and would never work in Vancouver
Building beside the Leaning Tower
Ta Da!
My favorite
Was hard to get the hand position right haha
As we are taking our photos, we hear these whistles blowing and blowing. We look behind and its the Police! Blowing their whistles to get people off the grass! Was pretty random. But once we got to the edge, we did notice that there was a rope all the way around and it said “Do not walk on the grass.” I guess with so many people, the grass wouldn’t stand a chance…. but was a weird experience!
The last picture from the trip. Walking back to home for our last night in Pisa 🙂
Nice quiet picture of Green Park after the race
Buckingham Palace, where to race had about 500 meters to go
The race was expected to end around 3:45 and I was talking to one lady who said people started arriving at 12 to get a good spot to see! Lucky for me, I got to sit on Marcus’ shoulders!
We managed to get a ‘spot’ around the 300 meter finish line. Lots of people gathering
July 7th – Tour de France!
However, these are mostly all empty plastic cups from beer. Lot of litter – wouldn’t want to go around picking these all up
They actually had free water at this event – you could bring in your own water bottle to fill up!
Sweet stage set up
The masses of people waiting for the show to start
Love the fake palm tree
The beer and food area, pretty sweet set up
July 3rd – Arcade Fire concert in Hyde Park. Such a great day!
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