Cinque Terre, Italy

Actually had to set the alarm for 8am this morning after our rocking night at Sigur Ros.
Grabbed the bikes for a quick ride in to town to grab a coffee and a couple of last minute purchases, then back to the apartment, pack and head to the train station.
Fortunately we only to catch 2 trains to get from Lucca to Monterosso in the Cinque Terra. We boarded our train and were pleasantly surprised by the comfortable compartment we had to ourselves until we realised we were in First Class and had to move another 3 carriages down until we came to our more suitable cattle class.
Arrived in Monterosso a couple of hours later and it is as beautiful as the postcards depict. Very similar to Amalfi, in that it is on the coast, has plenty of ceramics and sells Lemoncello.
We felt right at home.
A couple of hours after arriving we started to receive text messages from Sal, Kate and Maddy advising us of their impending arrival.
Kate uses the time honoured system of measuring distance by the length of her finger against the map.
At one stage the girls were one fingernail to the first knuckle away!?
Then, a fingernail….
Not surprisingly, they got lost!
Finally, at 4pm we were all united and settled in to the Hotel Margherita. Hugh was in his element, 1 bloke and 4 chicks, he was the envy of all Italian men.
It was great to see the girls, we exchanged stories of our trip so far whilst sitting by the water before deciding to find the best wine bar in Monterosso to introduce the girls to the Spritzer.
Success!! The girls loved the Spritzer and just to make sure they did, another round was ordered.
Time flies by when you have so much to catch up on, so at 7pm we left the bar, went back to our Hotel to freshen up before disembarking again ready to hit the town for dinner.
We had dinner at a great little bistro near the bottom of the old town, filling up on seafood dishes, salad and a glass or two of vino.
A wander around after, and time to call it a night. The girls had travelled far and the eyes were hanging out of their heads!
Lovely to finally be here in the Cinque Terra with the girls…not sure if the locals will to too happy by the end of our stay if the noise levels tonight are anything to go by?!