We almost died in Italy... seriously. Okay, funny story (except for the almost dying part). So after spending a couple days in Rome and then Lucca, we jumped on a train and headed to the coast to stay for two nights in Vernazza, one of the five cities that make up the Cinque Terra region. Now, I don't claim to be a light packer. I like to have options, 'cause ya never know what you might wanna wear, right? Never mind that Kylie packed for 11 days in one suitcase and pretty much nailed the wardrobe needs with only one left over unworn shirt at the end of the trip. I had 2 left over pairs of pants, 5 shirts, a sweater, three... whatever, that's not important here. The point is we had 3 sizable, fairly heavy bags in tow the whole trip, in addition to my camera and lenses in a backpack. We jump off the train and met a lady at the station that would lead us to our much anticipated "Honeymooners Paradise" room at a bed and breakfast in town. Our friends Trace and Kristie stayed in this room during their honeymoon last September and highly recommended it to us in their trip notes. BTW, when I say trip notes, that's an injustice... seriously, their itinerary and notes they gave us from their trip made Wikipedia look like a third grader's book report. SO much info and detail... it was AMAZING! I digress. One thing Trace and Kristie left out, though, was that Mt. Everest climbing experience was a prerequisite to get to the room. We're walking through town all fat, dumb and happy still on a gelatto high from previous days, and then we see a few stairs. Oops. Okay, no biggie... there's only a few. Then we turned the corner... At this point, I'd like to take you on a little visual journey. Come with me, won't you? Keep your hands and feet inside the car at all times. The next series of images shows our trek to our room starting at step one and ends with the last steps leading up to our door which was right across the walkway to the Doria Castle at the top of the city. All in all, 105 steps later, we nearly passed out. Enjoy the ride.

[insert sound of me gasping for air and cursing my packing skills here] We had to stop like 3 times on the way up as my shoulder muscles almost detached from the bone and I nearly pulled my aorta. Our lungs were on fire by the time we piled in the front door. I'm glad we didn't actually need 911 because 1) I'm not sure 911 is the right number to call in Italy, 2) even if it is, I didn't know how to say, "Help, we are lazy Americans spoiled by modern inventions like the escalators and elevators, and we're about to go into cardiac arrest from this stupid hike to the front door of our room" in Italian, and 3) I don't think they could've gotten a gurney up the stairs to take us down. I think I almost vomited from the light headed-ness. Now that I've over-dramatized the whole story, let me show you the little pot of gold waiting for us at the top after we finally recovered from the stairmaster workout with luggage. Here's the view from the bedroom through one set of the walk out doors to the patio.

And here's the breathtaking views that made it all worth it. Simply. Amazing.

And finally, here's a view from the ground looking back towards our room. You can see the castle right behind us.

Lots more to come...