Emily's Adventures

WE got to our hostel at lunch time and we all had a big sleep. then maria appeared which was a surprise as she was meant to be meeting a friend in florence. but her friend ended up being sick and missed her plane. so that was a very nice surprise. maria got a room in our hotel. i was still feeling very unwell, so thought i would go to the doctors while everyone was asleep. i went with maria to where the man at the hotel showed me on the map, which ended up being triage at the hospital. i said i think i am in the wronf place, but she said are you sick and i said yes, so she said i am in the right place. i got seen straight away. she spoke really good english thank goodness, but wasnt a very good communicator. i was lying on the bed and suddenly i was having blood taking and an iv put in. maria was very good at distracting me from the needles. i was on a drip for a little over an hour then was sent home and was told i probably have a virus which should go away in a few days. that evening i at rice while the others got pizza and we sat on the steps of the post office building. then we sat at the marina which was really pretty. the next morning we woke up early to make the most of the complimentary breakfast and to catch the train to the first of the 5 terres which make up cinque terre. the weather was overcast not great for the beach, but we made the most of it. we took lots of photos at the forst terre then walked around to the 2nd. the walk in between is the love walk so there are little messages everywhere and hundreds of padlocks along the way with little inscriptions on them, and a love seat. it was cool to look at. we had lunch at the next terre then caught the train to the 4th, vernazza we were there sitting by the sea for about 40mins watching the waves crash over the doc then trained to the last terre where the sandy beach is. the sun came out a few times, and we went for a swim. the swell was really big and it got very deep very quickly. as the sea was very churned up there was a lot of debris floating around. i didnt enjoy the swim as it was an effort to stay near the shore and it felt dirty with all the floaty bits. we trained home late in the afternoon then got dressed up and went for dinner. we took ages to find a place, but eventually found one we mostly decided on. it was nice, simple italian food, we all got pasta. i got a ravioli with spinich and ricotta. we went to bed after dinner. the next morning we had our breakfast then looked around the shops some more before our bus picked us up at 12. cinque terre was nice, especially to be near the sea, but i think we were there long enough. if we were more interested in doing the walking trails then we could have stayed longer. but we did everything we wanted to. we drove to nice today along the french riviera past monaco. WOW the view from the hills looking down.  so much wealth, you can see why the rich and famous live and play here. we will go exploring tomorrow.