We flew into Milan from Boston. From there, we took a local train to Cinque Terre. It means five towns in English. Cinque Terre is a very beautiful and relaxing place to spend the weekend. By the time we arrived in town, it was around dinner time. After getting all settled, Dave and I went into town for a walk. We had dinner at a local seafood restaurant. Compared with the seafood in North End (Boston's "little Italy"), seafood is pretty reasonably priced. I remember I had seafood pasta. Of course, we had a little wine.After breakfast the next morning, we started our one-day trip in Cinque Terre. The five towns are connected by hiking trails. There were two options for us to choose, the coastal trail and the mountain trail. I forget who suggested it (it might have been me) but we finally ended up taking the mountain trail. When we were on the first part of the trail, I felt myself full of energy. Not until we started the second part of this trail did I realize this might be a mistake. Very few people take this trail, by the way. I was so afraid that we might come across snakes. It took us about three hours to finish the trail between the first two towns. But it was worth the efforts. We had a very good view of the towns from the top of the mountain. We rewarded ourselves with delicious Italian seafood for lunch. Afterwards, we started hiking on the coastal trail. It was fun, too.
Our next stop was Florence. To enjoy the Italian culture, Florence will definitely be the first option. What impressed me most is Michelangelo's David in Academia. He was so huge and so real. We went to Duomo and Campanile. They were so magnificent. Walking on the streets of Florence made us feel we were in North End because there were a lot of American visitors.
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