My American Family in Cinque Terre, Italy

Eight months after their visit to Milan, my American family came back to Europe. This summer they were on a cruise in the Mediterranean sea. Departed from Barcelona, they stopped in Marseille, Monaco, La Spezia, Rome, Naples and then back to Barcelona. They told me they were going to be in Cinque Terre and wanted to see me. It was not long, something like eight hours at the most, but it was still a very good day.

On our way

My mom and I arrived in La Spezia the night before, which gave us all the time to walk around and eat an ice cream. There were a lot of people around and it was nice to be back to the coast. When you are in Milan you never see the sea. Back to our hotel we spent hours just talking, it was really hot and we just had a fan, and it was so loud outside with cars and motorbikes passing by that it was hard to fall asleep. Anyhow, the next day we wake up and go have a coffee before meeting my American family and their new exchange student.

Cinque Terre, are you ready for us?

We met at the train station in La Spezia at around ten minutes past eight, we got our passes for the whole day and then left and arrived in the very first land of the five: Monterosso Al Mare.

(The weather looks like shit, but it cleaned up eventually).

Here we walk around and then my American mom notices that the residence we walked by is the same one where she and her husband stayed at years before, so she wanted to go inside to check it out. Weirdest but coolest thing ever: as soon as she walks in she hears a man talking about Breckenridge Colorado. So she kindly asks the man if he is from there because she is also from Colorado, of course. He says he is, so they start talking and my American mom brings up the fact that they have a condo in Breck. Now, what are the chances that the architect of the condo they just bought is just walking down the stairs of the same residence? Basically none, but that is what happened. The man who was talking to my American mom is friends to the architect. Well, they took a picture together and talked for a little while. "We need to go, Kim, or else we will lose our train to Vernazza".

Lunch & gelato

Once arrived in the most beautiful land of the five, according to me anyway, we walk around and then try to find a good place to eat. My mom and I are Italian, but this does not mean that we have a radar or something to understand whether a restaurant is good or not, especially because we do not live in Vernazza, we just have to go with the flow and read the menu. Alright, we sit down, my Trofie Al Pesto is good. But this is not enough because when you are in Italy you also have to order gelato, otherwise you... suck. So we leave the restaurant and go to a gelateria I knew was good (Hunter and I went there last year).

After that, we decide to go because we want to briefly visit the remaining cities: Manarola and Riomaggiore. Sorry, Corniglia but you are not the one. In Riomaggiore the two ladies stop in a bar with air conditioning, my American dad, the guys and I went for a walk and then also stopped for an iced-tea.

Alright, believe it or not, it is time to go back to La Spezia where my American family will take a cab back to the Harbour and my mom and I will have time to chill at a bar for a while because our train does not leave for other two hours.

Goodbyes are not easy, but every time it is just a promise that there will be together again in the future.

- Cristian

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