A full day of Ocean at Cinque Terre

After we arrived at our hotel in La Spezia, we were in complete shock at how awesome this place was. On the 6^th floor, with an elevator the size of a portapotty, we had the most beautiful apartment with amazing views above the city. We were excited for the next couple days we had in the town, as well as Cinque Terre, about 30 minutes north of La Spezia. After the most delicious dinner of ravioli and coke, and a couple glasses of wine back at the apartment (on the deck, which was awesome!), we passed out and looked forward to the next day in Cinque Terre.

We woke up slightly later than anticipated, but chose to not stress about it since all we could think about was being lazy, especially on the beach. We all got ready and headed down to the docks to book our boat ride to Cinque Terre. Rachelle gave me the honor of being the new navigator, and I have to say, I am kicking quite some butt at it! We got to the docks and realized we had a little over an hour before we could buy our tickets, so we walked back into town to get some lunch. More pizza! Yay! After lunch we headed back down to the docks to find a huge line of people getting ready to board the ferry. We decided to buy a full day ticket so we could take the return boat back to La Spezia or any other areas in Cinque Terre. We made a couple stops before we got off the ferry and onto a much smaller boat that took us on the most scenic ride ever. Cinque Terre consists of 5 villages spread along the coast. We decided to take the boat all the way to the west most village, Monterosso al Mare, since this village had the beach with sand rather than pebbles. On the boat ride we stopped at each of the villages before making it to Monterosso. We arrived a couple hours later and searched the town for a public restroom. We stopped to buy some beach towels as we hunted for a restroom. We finally found one back where we got off the boat and it cost 50 cent to enter. We changed into our suites and then made our way to the sandy beach. Rachelle asked when the last boat back to La Spezia left, and we were told it was leaving at that exact moment. So, we bought the all day pass to use it once going one way. We decided it would be the train that we would take home. We hung out on the small, crowded beach for several hours and the water was actually much colder than I anticipated, but I still forced myself in, not all the way, and not for very long though.

After we played on the beach, we decided to take the train to the second village, Manarola, and have a nice dinner there. The town was absolutely beautiful and quite hilly. People have taken their boats out of the water and pull them into the streets and leave them in fornt of their homes. It was so neat to see the streets filled with these little boats. We had dinner where I had the best pesto lasagna and also tried my first anchovy. I never eat fish as it is, but this village was one of the Cinque Terre towns well known for its anchovies, so I was forced into eating one. No, I did not like it however, it was not awful. I didn’t go back for seconds though, unlike Rachelle’s two daughters.

There is a path along the coast called the “Via dell' Amore” that leads to Riomaggiore, the first village in Cinque Terre. It takes about 20 minutes, so we decided to work off our big dinner and move along to the last village. It was dark at this time, which would have been perfect for any couple on this walk. “Via dell’ Amore” in English means “The Path of Love”. People have locked locks or tied knots along the fences of this path to symbolize their love for each other. As much as it annoyed me being single and pretending to take pictures with my non-existent man, it was quite romantic to see all the locks and knots tied to the fence. When we finished the night time walk we finally arrived in Riomaggiore. It was more difficult to get a true taste of what this village was all about since most things we already closed down, and the fact that we didn’t have very long to explore because we had to catch our train ride home. We walked only a little way into the village and got some coffee, then decided to go wait at the train station. By the time we got home, it was sleepy time for all.

Cinque Terre is an absolute dream. The pictures I took do it no justice at all. You will never experience the blueness and clearness of the ocean watch until you are standing right above it. The tiny streets filled with authentic Italian’s will never truly be experienced until you are there in the flesh listening to them, watching them and enjoying all the different scents of food, laundry and other random things. I would definitely go back to Cinque Terre, but would make it a point to spend several days in at least a couple of the villages. It has to be one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever visited.

Rained on in Pisa

3:30am Wednesday morning we got in the car and made our way to the airport for our flight to Italy. Once we arrived at the airport we pushed through the intense crowds to stand in line for our visa checks and to check my bag. A common thing in England is rude people cutting in line, as childish as it is. I had not really had it happen to me yet until we got into this line. Now, I know people crowd around so cutting is easier that way, but we were the next people to go to the counter, standing behind a yellow line, when some tall, skinny legged woman comes and stands right in front of us. She says something to Rachelle, something like “sorry I just need to give her my bag” I was thoroughly confused, and even more annoyed, but kept my mouth shut. Then she calls over her husband who also has a kid to go check in!!! I was in shock!! Luckily they were quick and we got through quick as well. We go over to security and I have never seen so many people in my entire life! And we’re talking ALL kinds of people…. Which also means all kinds of smells! We walked through the medal check thing and we all buzzed. Well, Rachelle went through with both the girls, so who knows who’s fault that one was, but I, alone, buzzed as well. We were then frisked! The woman patting me down pretty much touched my boobs and definitely grabbed my toosh! None of us were happy about it, but we were in the clear and given the go ahead to move along. We stopped at Starbucks, which again had a billion people, and the guy ringing me up asked me to sign the receipt and then write my number on the back “just in case”. It was awesome!

A fairly quick flight later, we landed in Pisa and were on our way. Wait, on our way where?! We asked where the tower was and how to get there. We also needed to know where the train station was so we could take it to La Spezia where our apartment was. We took a bus to the train station and then walked through crowds and crowds of people trying to figure out where to get the tickets and where to put our luggage. We found a Left Luggage place and paid 9 euro for our 3 bags. We were frantic, and pretty stressed through all this, but finally, we were off to the tower!

It was a beautiful walk though the town making up our own path to find the tower. As we got closer it started to sprinkle… more like mist. We turned the corner and there it was! Yep, it’s crooked! We did our typical tourist pose and let the girls run around for a while. We stopped at our first pizzeria and ate some delicious margarita pizza. By the time we were done, it was raining pretty hard, and we still had to walk all the way back to the station. There were people at almost every block trying to sell us umbrellas. I just wanted to say, “do you see us!? We are already soaked! What good will that umbrella do now!?!” But I held back. Dripping wet and with crying children we slowly but surly made our hike back. We could see the train station, but needed to go around a large blocked off construction section, and once we passed that, the station had disappeared. We had less than 30 minutes to pick up our luggage and get to the station. I ran though the street where the construction was to see if I could find the station, since it was the middle of a circular intersection, and still no luck. It was like it sprouted legs and just marched off! I was attempting to figure out where we were on our drenched map, but had absolutely no luck. At this point, I had forgotten about the rain that had gotten me so irritated before becasue I was so freaked out that we would miss our train. We finally asked some friendly people and turned out it was right up the street and the building we kept looking at thinking it should have been the station, but looked different, was in fact the station, just the other end of the building. A big sigh of relief and yet slight frustration that we were unknowingly looking right at it the whole time.

We got our luggage, found our platform, after going up then down then back up many stairs (yes, with luggage, 2 kids and a stroller). Through all that, we made it on the train and finally had a chance to sleep and eagerly wait to get to our apartment in La Spezia. Time to dry off and relax. Up next... Cinque Terre!

Shopping and Sore Feet at Bury St. Edmunds

Today we took a trip to a cute little town about 30 minutes from Rachelle's house called Bury. We packed up a lunch and headed out to have a picnic in the park. This park has ruins of an old castle spread throughout a great deal of land. It was quite difficult to imagine how this castle would have looked, even after I examined a 3-D layout. Regardless, these ancient artifacts had people scattered all throughout them, making it slightly less historical, but cool enough that you could actually touch the structures. We laid out our blanket and pulled out our food and drinks. Rachelle decided to buy a fancy fruit drink in a glass bottle. Thinking these had screw off tops, we twisted and twisted with no success. We soon realized, no, they were not twist offs, and unfortunately we did not have any bottle openers, so we attempted to use our keys, and Rachelle tried to even use her teeth. After I slightly freaked out and yelled at her to stop, she tore up her hands just to give us liquid. Some blood and spilt juice later, we were able to open them both. And yes, I actually managed to open one myself!

After lunch, we walked around this enormously large park letting the kids run around, play on the playground, get dirty in a sandpit and then feed the ducks. We then realized that our time was just about up at the car park and needed to make our way back through the town to pay more money for more time. I soon realized my high-heel boots I thought would be so cute to wear were a very bad choice. By the time we got to the car, I thought my feet were bleeding! We dropped off a couple things, I sat and put my feet up and tried to ignore the fact that we were about to go walk around and shop for a few more hours. I sucked it up like a big girl and forced the tears back with each step I took.

We went into multiple stores, because Rachelle wanted to buy a couple sundresses. It's funny, but I don't believe Rachelle bought any sundresses, but I managed to buy my share of accessories and an expensively, adorable purse. I justified the purse because it had a zipper, and seemed safer to bring while exploring Italy.... good excuse huh?

It doesn't sound like a real busy day, but the second I sat in the car for the drive home, I instantly passed out. Rachelle's youngest daughter, Jaydn, and I both woke up at the same time... right when we pulled into the driveway. Go ahead, call me a baby all you want... but naps are a lovely thing, especially with the relaxing movement of a driving car!

My goal for the rest of the night and tomorrow is to rest my feet and I've learned to never wear those boots again!!! Tomorrow we will go to the store for some last minute shopping and then pack our bags for our flight to Italy Wednesday morning. Oh no airport... here I come again!







Here are a couple short video clips.
Password for both is: Bury

Driving to Bury St. Edmunds - First video of the trip! from Megan on Vimeo.

Picnic at the Park in Bury from Megan on Vimeo.

Arrival in Philly is a Success!!

I have one hour before I take off for London. So far, my day has been pretty successful, but I've still had a few hiccups. But NOTHING compare to 2 years ago!

I realized this morning as we were getting ready to drive off to the airport that I forgot to refill my prescription and would be 4 days short. After multiple whispers of all kinds of cuss words so my parents wouldnt hear, we decided they would refill them and overnight them to me in London. Way to save money Meg! But my parents reassured me they would take care of it all, which is really very awesome!

We get to the airport and I'm checking my bags hoping that they didn't change any policies in the last 2 years, but I was wrong, very wrong. I was charged $55.00 for my second bag when 2 years ago the first 2 were free. I had to face the fact that there was nothing I could do, and say goodbye to more money.

I've done a good job with not making any eye contact or socializing with a single sole, and it has resulted in my flying experience being great so far. Although, when I landed in Philly, I walked across what felt like the entire airport to get to my next gate, sat for about 5 minutes when they announced the gate had been moved.... all the way back to where I came from! I get over to the gate and it's no bigger than a small restaurant and is packed like sardines with annoying people. I found a spot to sit on the floor and some big dude decided he wanted to stand next to me, almost on top of me! I tried to deal, but ultimately had to move, when I did, the jerk walks away!!! How ironic.

I will be boarding soon. Wish me luck that the rest goes just as well as it has so far. See you soon from across the world!!

It's That Time, Once Again

As the days get longer and the weather starts to burn, I think to myself 'Oh summer, how I need to get away!' There have been a lot of ups and downs and unexpected events that have happened recently, and it's made me realize that another international vacation is much needed. It was almost as if one day I woke up and decided, if Rachelle will have me, I'm coming back! It only took one email and she welcomed me yet again with open arms. Then a couple days ago, without a second thought, I just went to the US Airways website and booked my flight to England. It's official.

This time, we will make our way to Italy. It's not set in stone as to where all we will be going over there, but we have discussed Rome (obviously), Florence, Venice, Pompeii, The Leaning Tower of Pisa.... wait, that sounds like the entire country. You're driving, right Rachelle?? Or is this going to be another Bath experience!? Either way, I foresee some amazing stories.

I leave for this adventure the end of July and will be gone for two weeks. However, I've already made it pretty known that if I find something better over there, I may not return. Just ship me my dog.

This year, no airport security fiasco, no delayed flights, and no stolen airplane seats! Fingers crossed, I'm sure I just jinxed myself.

In any Adventure, Someone is Always Bound to get Hurt

The last couple days have been perfect weather up here. Not too cold and pure sunlight. Although, you run into some problems when it’s cool and sunny out, at least I do. I have so many different tan and burn lines now, I look like I should be doing some show in the circus. Let’s just say, aloe vera is my new best friend.

Monday we took a trip to the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport. Unfortunately, Jeremy was pretty sick this day and was unable to go along with us. I believe Carter really enjoyed seeing all the sea creatures, mostly because they were behind glass, and not blowing any loud horns at him like in the parade. I think Carter’s favorite places were the birds and the shark tunnels. I would have thought the tunnels would have scared him to death, but he did surprisingly well, and even walked by himself through them. I can’t say I learned a lot at the aquarium because I didn’t read one sign about the fish we were looking at. My job was to snap photos of a child’s first visit to an aquarium. I felt like a wedding photographer I was taking so many. What Jen and Jeremy don’t realize is that they will be receiving a pretty large bill in the mail soon. And that’s including a family discount!

On Tuesday, Jen, Jeremy and I decided to take advantage of the perfect weather and take a hike down to some tide pools near Boiler Bay. Luckily Jeremy was starting to feel better, but as the day progressed, it turned out to be a different story. We first started by hiking down a very steep cliff to get to the tide pools at the bottom. Once we did get down to the bottom the only thing we really had to worry about was taking careful steps over the hundreds of stones. I was surprised to find a pretty large starfish on the side of a rock, which I got more excited over than all the overly huge ones at the aquarium.

We saw a cave in the distance and decided it would be cool to make our way to it and explore through it. On the way there Jen and I were getting extremely hot, and I was getting tired of carrying my jacket with me. Since we were the only ones in sight for miles, we decided to leave behind our jackets on some of the rocks. Both jackets were actually mine, and were both very expensive. One of which was my Cambridge University sweater, so you can imagine how worried I was. As we got closer to the cave we realized we needed to get to the other side of some rocks. Jeremy was first to make his way, and ended up getting one shoe wet. Jen was next, and was a little wiser. She took off both shoes and rolled up her pants. After tossing her shoes over and a little helpful hand from Jeremy, she made it successfully to the other side.

I then realized that if they both did it, I needed to as well. After I safely made it over, we left behind our shoes and sock and made the last few steps to the cave. We then realized that we couldn’t even get in it. A slight disappointment, but we continued on with our exploring. After taking as many pictures as possible, I could see the waves getting bigger and realized that high tide was probably making its way in. I thought of my sweaters, and our shoes that we left behind and we decided to stop and turn around to go back home. It would have been a perfect trip but on the way back Jeremy took a different route than Jen and I and ended up falling on a dangerously slippery rock, landing full force on his elbow. After a loud scream from Jen we made our way to him to find a very deep cut on his hand and a bloody scrape on his elbow. And we weren’t even close to getting back to the beginning. However, Jeremy being the trooper that he his (although maybe it just has to do with the fact that he is a male) we made our way back to the cliff we originally came down, thankfully with our shoes and sweaters. Quickly making our way up, I somehow ended up leading the way and saw a snake in my path. I think my scream scared him more that I was scared, because when he heard and saw me he quickly scurried off, as did I. In the car, at last!

Despite the slight injury and my odd looking sunburn, we had a great time and quite an adventure. Definitely worth doing again!

It’s time to get to bed, because early tomorrow morning, dad, Jeremy and I are taking another adventure, this time out in the sea to catch our fish!

Temporally Out of Service

I realize I have been here now for one full week, and have managed to write zero posts. I’d say the first few days were pure, solid relaxation. Jen and Jeremy arrived on Tuesday, which was another lazy day for all of us.

However, come Wednesday, I hit a speed bump. I’m not quite sure what I did, but I somehow managed to move in a way that made my back go out. I spent all Wednesday night screaming in absolute agony and 100% immobile. I slept on the floor with mom in my bed attempting to keep me calm. It hurt so bad that I couldn’t take deep breaths, which in turn resulted in an anxiety attack. When I have an anxiety attack, the only way I can feel better, is to take deep breaths. So you see my dilemma here? Regardless, Thursday morning the pharmacist up here in OR gave me an emergency supply of the muscle relaxers I was given from a car accident I was in a few weeks ago. Each day, I’m a little better. The best part is that I’m actually able to walk now. However, what really puts me down, is that I had planned on going to the sand dunes that are about an hour away and ride an ATV through them. Considering, I can’t even pick up my baby nephew, I don’t think it would be the safest idea to do something that requires that much movement.

Despite this unfortunate setback, I have still had a great time up here. Yesterday we went to the Saturday market in Newport. While waiting in line for some tasty crepes, a group of 3 young guys, who looked to be poor, but likely faking it, decided to provide the shoppers with some pleasant entertainment. We had a trumpet player assisted by a melodica player. Let me just say, I was not entertained. The third guy must not have been blessed with a musical talent, but rather poetry. I don’t believe the writing of poetry, but rather, the reading of it. I felt a little awkward when he stood in front of the other two, and began Shakespeareicly reciting a very strange poem. Once our crepes were ready, I darted away from the creepy guys and tried to find a safe place to sit to avoid the strong winds. Because it was so windy, we decided we had enough of the market.

We then made our way to Historic Bayfront Newport. I love this part of Newport. You are always guaranteed to see some strange people. A few years ago when I was here I walked right by a girl who was being pulled by another girl with a dog leash. She did not have a shirt on, and had black tape X’s over her nipples. Unfortunately, I didn’t see anything that extravagant this year. The best I got, was a man skillfully carrying his groceries.

Oregon likes to celebrate the 4^th of July on both the 3^rd and 4^th. It must be their way of trying to guarantee visible fireworks, as every other day is covered with thick fog or huge rain clouds. That was tonight, July 4^th. Yesterday, however, was perfect. We purchased our own fireworks and had a bonfire in the driveway. This morning there was a Fourth of July parade about 5 minutes from our house. I’d like to remind you that we do live in a pretty small town, so it was a small town parade. More like, people just hanging signs with their store or restaurant names over their everyday vehicles. Carter got pretty freaked when the fire truck blew his horn and when the steamroller plowed through. It even scared me because when it revved the engine, the entire street shook… a little strange if you ask me. At the end of the parade, Santa decided to show up. I’m not sure why, but he was riding on one of the floats waving to all the kiddos.

The rest of the day was cloudy and foggy, but as soon as the sun went down, around 9:30pm, lots of people on the beach blew off all their fireworks. As I am still sitting here on the couch, and it is now 10:30, there are still many people blowing them off. We have a front row seat to the Fourth of July celebrations. Which is a lot nicer than freezing our bagungas off on the beach.

Tomorrow we’re off to the aquarium, and later in the weeks we will attempt our deep sea fishing. Happy Fourth everyone!!