After Paris, Andee flew to Pisa and met up with me. I flew over a few days before the rest of the family, so Andee and I could have a little last minute fling. Kind of bachelorette party thing I guess. Since she is getting married in a few months, and traveling will be nil for a while. It sucks to grow up and have to be on your own. Especially when Dad and Mom have such great flying benefits. So we flew into Pisa, hopped a train to Cinque Terra and hiked for 2 days this 7 mile stretch of 5 villages that you could only reach by train or hiking. It was an incredible time for us both. So very beautiful that the pictures do it no justice. You had to be there hiking along the ridge with the ocean below, the mountains above, the wind, saltwater smell, and sweat. Yes it was hot at times, and the next minute we would be in a rain down pour.

   The villages were so dang cute, with little walkways around the housing areas, quaint little shops and restaurants. Then when you were ready to hike to the next village, you had to find the little signs that headed you off through some farmers land, and up the next mountain. We hiked up and down mountains and it was so fun to see the next village off in the distance and get closer and closer. I really loved this area. If you ever go, I would highly recommend staying in one of the bed and breakfasts in a village along the coast. We stayed in a village a couple miles away, which we had to catch the train to. It was fun to see more country side, but the villages would be a high recommendation for accommodations.

  After hiking Cinque Terra, we caught a train to Venice (by the way, we got a the wrong train, a 1st class train, and we should of been on the poor mans train)  and spent a day shopping and sight seeing. I LOVE Venice. I want to go back so bad and spend some more time there. We actually spent a lot of time shopping for some Venice lace that we wanted to make Andee's wedding dress out of. But NO luck. We did buy some hankies, and other lace items. We had to hurry back to the airport and catch a flight to Ireland that night, so off we went after a full day of hurry, hurry, hurry to see as much as we could.

Pisa, Cinque Terra & Venice Click picture to see album