Cinque Terre & Pisa Days

...but before all that, we last left off in Florence, right before Amanda and I departed for a river cruise on a gondola.

The beautiful Florence waterfront. 

Lighting was harsh, and we were the only couple on the boat that didn't get to sit next to each other, hence the disinterested Indian woman on the right, but our guide surprised us with Champagne after we passed under Ponte Vecchio, the bridge in the background with built in small houses and store fronts.

We left Florence at 6 am the next morning for the Italian Riviera and the Cinque Terre, 5 coastal villages connected by beautiful hiking trails, all set in a national park.  This is the Lardarina, 33 flights of stairs leading from the train station to our village, Corniglia.  All in all it is 100 meters or 382 steps.

After checking in I got changed and we started our hike.  Notice the sexy hat... and our village, Corniglia, in the background.

This is us, nearing the next village on the trail, Vernazza.  

Vernazza, is obviously set at a lower elevation, right on the sea.  It had a lot of nice shops and some beautiful architecture as the town is built up on a small peninsula.  We stopped here for a refreshing drink before moving on to the next village.

Monterosso, is the final village along the path and is very beachy and resorty.  It has a beautiful coast line though and is unique in that you can see all five of the Cinque Terre villages from it.  We stopped here for a few hours, renting an umbrella, chairs, and grabbing some gelato. 

Guess who isn't thinking about work?... This guy!

Manarola, the second village along the Cinque Terre, from the terrace of our hotel.

Tan lines!

We enjoyed sunset at a local restaurant overlooking the water.  Tragically, I left behind my sexy hat. :(

The view from our hotel room window.  Notice Manarola in the center right.

We departed for Pisa and trip back to Florence the next morning.  It was much easier walking down the stairs.

We arrived in Pisa and found a new hat.  With my sexy hat power restored I felt I'd help out the cathedral for a little while and hold up the leaning tower.

I celebrated with a Birra Moretti.

We climbed the leaning tower after lunch.  Here is Amanda on the shady side of the tower looking cute.

A view of the surrounding city and mountains from the top.

And a view of the cathedral below.

After my performance earlier in the day Amanda decided to show me up, holding up the tower with just one finger.  We have no idea what the tiny Asian woman on the left is doing. 

We took a break from holding the tower up to take this photo.

We're a little worried about the tower's future, without us, but had to go.  We're now back in Florence for one more day.  Look for a final blog post and round of pictures sometime early next week.