Italy - Day 9 (Complete Monterosso, Cinque Terra & Start Lake Como)

Woke up early this morning to hike to Vernazza. Unfortunately, it was raining and the conditions of the trails here are not super conducive to hiking when the ground is wet. We made the call that we would sleep in and take the coastal path instead. While we were getting ready, the cleaning lady knocked on our door an hour and a half early telling us we needed to leave. Melanie told her we would leave soon. So strange. Then when we were trying to check out, the gentleman didn't know how to use the card machine, so first he charged me 1.30 euro and then kept swiping my card for the corrected amount. I was concerned, but we just needed to get out of there. Oh boy!

We headed out with bags in tow for our coastal walk. We grabbed breakfast on the way, but that didn't go smoothly either. We were both feeling a little bummed about how the last day had gone, but decided to put it behind us yet again. We picked the "old version" of trail 2 first by accident, but made our way to the correct trail. The problem was our packs were extremely heavy and there were endless stairs on this hike. We made it about 1/2 way up with the packs and decided to ditch them on the side of the trail. When we made it 3/4 of the way up, we began to feel that it maybe wasn't the best idea for us to leave our stuff behind. We called it and said it was unfortunate due to our lodging that we couldn't leave our bags with them for the morning, as we had with our other accommodations. If we hadn't needed to carry our bags, we could have made it to Vernazza in the two hours, taken a train back to Monterosso, and made it in time for our train to Milan. Such is life!

We descended back to Monterosso and headed to a local beach. We discovered the perfect nook and stored our bags to change into our suits. Swimming cooled us off and brought energy back to our bummed spirits. We dried in the sun for a while and found lunch prior to heading to the train station. When we arrived at the train station, our train hadn't been posted yet. We thought it was odd, but didn't think much of it. A father and a son that we had been talking to had gone to the information counter and asked for information. We found out that there had been an accident down the line and that the trains would be delayed. We passed the time with Melanie running to get us gelato and we helped a gentleman with his bags so we shared champagne with he and his wife. No joke...she had 5 bags to his 1. The train finally arrived, but we were prepared to be proactive if we needed to book a new hotel or another train.

Train ride was uneventful. Switched trains in Milan after grabbing a quick bite to eat at the station. Arrived in Como an hour behind schedule, but we made it to our hotel and it was quite nice. The attendant was helpful and thorough. Our room was clean and we definitely felt safe here. FaceTimed the family to let them know that all was well! Excited to experience all that there is to see here!