The saga continues (guest written by the Chiro)

We arrive in Milano one day late, skipping our night of planned recovery. Instead, we are forced to take a shuttle bus to the Milano centrale train station. What one woman described as a "very easy short ride" turned into a very long 70 minute journey. Already lacking sleep, we both attempted to conserve energy for the train ride. With multiple train changes coming up, tensions rose as we discovered how poorly labeled the train schedule really is. Now, we end up stranded in some random coastal town, still hours of travel ahead of us, even though we've been without sleep for more than 24 hours now. Please! Let the next train be the right train!

After another 80 minutes of waiting, we catch the train to Vernazza. Molto bene! We have arrived. Our first bit of luck is that Marco, owner of our accomodations for our time here happens to be right near the train station when we arrive. He takes us straight up the hill to our beautiful room with private bath.

Finally we can catch up on zzzz.

After a well-deserved nap, we head down to the heart of Vernazza. We decide to treat ourselves to a pesto dish made by the gods. Local pesto over trofie noodles with gelato as a chaser. We sat under brightly-colored umbrellas with a view of the small beach and harbor. Night fell, people came out of their rooms, children scrambled and the real magic of Cinque Terre revealed itself. With real food now in us and prolonged sleep on the way, our optimism is growing again.