Because I can't go on a vacation...

Because I can't go on a vacation...but, desperately wish I could...I decided to share some pics of what I consider to be one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever been to. I stumbled across my study abroad pictures the other day and was filled with such wonderful memories as I looked through them, I just had to share a little vignette from the trip! I studied abroad in Innsbruck, Austria for 6 weeks in the summer of 2004.  It's so hard to believe that was nearly 8 years ago!! We had 3 day weekends to travel Europe and 3 "flex" days that we could use to make our weekend getaways a little longer.  One of my best friend's Lindsey and I decided to take a trip to Milan, Italy then head on to Cinque Terre to the city of Monterosso.  Just a side note...I give Lindsey sole credit for starting this blog.  She begged me to do one when I got pregnant with Ella.  I told her I wasn't sure about the pregnancy blog, but that I would promise to do it once Ella was born.  I'm so grateful that she stayed on me to do this.  Thanks to her, I have over a year of life in the Herrin household documented, love to spend my down time writing, AND have received what I like to call "free therapy" from being a blogger.  Thanks, Linds!!

Back to our trip...We started the first leg of our trip with a large group of people in Milan (a.k.a. Milano as the Italians call it) and planned to separate from the group to head to Monterosso just the two of us.  Milan was interesting to say the least.  The town has some gorgeous parts and some okay parts.  Perhaps the most memorable part of Milan came when there was argument between two of the guys we were traveling with who both wanted to sleep in the room with Lindsey.  We had to sleep 3 to a room so that meant Linds and me plus one of the guys (these were Brent's best friends I studied abroad with so it wasn't like these were just some weird random guys...just FYI).  One of the guys slapped the other in the face during this argument as Lindsey and I watched from the window.  We still joke about the time two guys fought over sleeping in the room with her!  One of them did end up sleeping in the room with us (the slapper)...unfortunately for him, we had a king bed and I slept in the middle--so he didn't even get to sleep next to Lindsey...ha!  Funny memories.

The next day, we headed to Monterosso without any set plan or lodging accommodations.  We were told that an American named Sean was a tour guide there and that he could "hook us up" with finding a place to stay.  The train ride from Milan was so overcrowded that we had to sit on the floor of the train and there was NO AC in the dead of summer. Thankfully we sat next two British girls who were on their way to "summer" at their house in Malta...that must be the life!!  They had just graduated high school and were taking the next year to travel before they started "University"...um once again, how amazing.  It was hot and sweaty, miserable, and stifling on the train, but at least we had them to talk to!

We switched trains somewhere along the way and the second train was much better.  We arrived in beautiful Monterosso early that evening.  It was a gorgeous hodge podge town of color by the sea.  Amazing and perfect.  Unfortunately, it was some big weekend there and everything was booked-- NO AVAILABILITY!  We found the Sean mentioned earlier and he got us set up with the hostile from H***.  That night, we went to a little local restaurant and got a huge bottle of wine, vowed not to go back to the hostile, and decided we were going to sleep on the beach.  As we laid on the beach chairs flipping out about our lodging situation, some college age guy from Spain approached us.  We informed him "no speak Italian" and he informed he us he spoke Spanish and Italian... With Spanish as our only semi-common language,  we attempted to have an hour long conversation in the limited broken Spanish Lindsey and I knew with this random dude.  This continued until the security guard told us he had to leave the private resort.  Eeeewwww...back to the hostile.  Adios amigo...we never saw "our friend" again that trip.

We woke up the next morning with a positive attitude ready to take on the town.  Sean took us on a paid boot tour of the ocean and coastline that was amazing.  There is nothing like seeing all the colors from the see.  We went snorkeling and it was awesome. We also spent the day basking in the sun of the Mediterranean with was perfect! That night, we discovered this FABULOUS restaurant on a rocky cliff.  The food was delicious and the local wine superb.  After a delicious meal and a couple of bottles of wine...we were okay with heading back to the hostile that night!

We were planning to leave the following day, but there was some sort of train strike going on so we couldn't get tickets until Monday.  So...we checked ourselves into a NICE hotel that finally had availability and enjoyed the luxurious (compared to the hostile) accommodations!!  We spent the day enjoying the gorgeous Mediterranean Sea and Italian culture.  All in all, it wasn't perfect, but looking back it is a wonderful memory in one of the most GORGEOUS locations on earth.  I would definitely go back AND definitely plan to go back someday for a well planned, more high-end vacay with Brent.  But, Linds, I'll never forget our first trip together and I'm convinced I wouldn't have had more fun with anyone but you!! xoxo!  Friends, enjoy the pics of the the beach...what a perfect day to reminisce!

Linds and K in Milano!!

Apparently they have Blockbusters in Milan!

Random Italian men (still in Milan)...they let us sit on their motor cycle

Arriving in Monterosso...hot, sweaty, and tired...but excited!

View from the ocean

You can barely see our little restaurant on the cliff

Boat excursion

Our dinner date at our amazing restaurant...night #1

Dinner with our Aussie friends...same restaurant...night #2