Breakdown of Christmas. feat: Jared-Flat-Butt.

10am wake-up call.

Coffee plus a Ham & Cheese sandwich from the only place open on Christmas morning.

{Apparently, eggs & toast are hard to come by in Italy.}

11am began our Cinque Terre hike, starting in Monterosso.

Stopped to do a yoga pose on a kick-A bridge somewhere between 

Monterosso and Vernazza:

2 hours in, reached the next town over: Vernazza.

Enjoyed amazing spaghetti and a litre of red wine for lunch.

{Truth be told, I could have had more wine and been just fine.}

After lunch, began our next trek over to the town of Corniglia.

About an hour in, took a little break to work on our mad camera timer skills enjoy the breathtaking view:

2 hours after lunch, we reached the next town of Corniglia.

{Calves and glutes on fire by this point.}

Met a man named Jared {from Washington}.

Annndddd, I think this lone stranger needed a friend or something, because from there on out, we couldn't shake the fellow.

So I ended up having to stare at this the rest of the time:

And let me just tell you, there are MANY uphill climbs on this hike.

So I was staring at "Jared Butt" a lot.

Moving on.

Now this is the part where I don't know what went wrong.

We may have taken a wrong turn, or chosen the more "advanced" route, 

because all of a sudden, we were climbing up.

and up.

and up.

and up some more.

Walking along treacherous, tiny pathways, staring down into a dark and deep abyss.

And before I knew it, it was dark. Very dark.

But bless Jared and his flat little butt, because he had a flash light!

And if it weren't for that, it's quite possible I would not be here today to write this post, because I surely would have fallen off the side of the mountain to my perilous death.

{So Jared, thank you and your butt for leading the way and saving us.}

What seemed like a bajillion hours later, and a million steps downward, we finally made it to the next town of Manarola.

{Thank sweet baby jesus. If my glutes were burning 2 towns prior, just imagine how they felt by this time.}

Annnnd this is where Mishi had to be a little baby and call it quits.

There was one more town to hike to: Riomaggiore.

However.

I quickly shook Flat-Butt-Jared's hand 

and said, "Nice to meet you, but no, thank you."

Then hopped on a train back to our home turf of Monterosso.

So yeah, okay, I whimped out.

But hear me now: I will be back.

And I will conquer the Cinque Terre in full.

I hope you all had wonderful holidays!

We just got to Florence today and I'm putting these sore glutes to bed.
Maybe I can get a certain someone to give me a nice glute massage...

TMI?

...

xoxo