More photos of our trip to Italy. From here on, these photos are from one of the most
beautiful parts of the world - Cinque Terre, Italy!
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Natalia and I did what most backpackers do on trains in Europe - we drank wine!
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Here's Natalia looking out the window of our home on the water in Vernazza. This opens up to
a beautiful terrace overlooking the ocean.
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Here is our terrace looking out on the Mediterranean. You can see lemon trees below us.
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This is the view up the rocky shores from our terrace. I love how people here just build right
into the rock.
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This is the view down to the cove below our terrace.
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In order to make the hillsides arable, the Italians have been terracing the land for many years.
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The town of Vernazza is quite beautiful and is stuck right alongside the ocean. As a function of that
they don't have a lot of room for luxuries, like sidewalks or roads. This is the walkway to our
rental for our stay.
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Natalia with the town of Vernazza and the bay below her. We were out for a walk before dinner.
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I give the town of Vernazza the Paul Perrault stamp of approval.
A map of Cinque Terre and the main hiking trail in blue.
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Natalia and I chose to walk the Sentiero #2, which connects all five of the towns of the Cinque Terre.
Here is Natalia hiking from Vernazza to Corniglia.
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Here is Natalia stopping to smell the flowers.
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I set up my camera to take a photo of us. Unfortunately, it's a little dark.
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There were some random stray cats on the trail that the Italians feed. I think these cats get fed better than
we do.
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A nice photo of Natalia with the hiking trail behind her.
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We took the train back to the far side of the area, to the beach town of Monterrosso al Mare. I
took this photo for my brother in law Eric since he enjoys speedos so much.
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A nice panoramic shot of Natalia and the Ocean. She can't say too much since her husband took her
to the Italian Riviera! However, it was in April...
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Natalia dipping her feet in the Mediterranean Sea.
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After all of the gelato Natalia had over the trip, it turns out that chocolate wound up being her
favourite kind after all.
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Natalia is looking back at Monterrosso and wishing the trails would just keep going!
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I told Natalia about my first trip I took here where I took a photo under this bridge with Jason
Leuschen. Natalia thought that trolls lived under here so she's pretending that she's a troll.
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The view looking back to Monterrosso is quite magnificent.
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Vernazza town square with Natalia posing in front of the main church. Every hour the bells toll
and there's at least 3 other clocks going off somewhere in the town.
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I love the homemade pasta in Italy. This one is called trofie I think and was served with some of the
best pesto I've ever had. I sincerely crave the pesto from Italy every time I sit down for pasta.
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Here is my glorious wife enjoying her last day in Cinque Terre.
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I took this photo for Natalia's sister Donni.
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We took the train back to Florence to catch our morning flight home to Canada. Here is a gorgeous
shot of sunset in Florence along the Arno River.
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We had a great meal at this wild boar restaurant. Natalia ordered exclusively in Italian and the
waiter actually complimented her on her accent (while working on his tip...). This is a nice
caprese salad to start.
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And I think this was some kind of lemon pork dish.
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Here is the wild boar that this place is known for.
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Since Air Canada hadn't really treated Natalia well on the way over (about a 12 hour delay), karma decreed
that we should be upgraded on the way home. Natalia enjoyed the higher end of living ("I can eat the whole
chocolate bar??!!") and actually slept on the flight back from Frankfurt to Calgary.
