Cinque Terra

With just 2 weeks before Rochelle moves back to the US for good, we decided last minute to cram in one more weekend away to a place that's been on "the list" since we moved to London - Cinque Terra!! Our first Europe trip together was Rome (almost 2 whole years ago), so it's fitting our last trip together would be to Italy as well!!

Views upon arriving in Monterosso - the adorable little town we stayed in!

We immediately changed into our swimsuits and headed to the beach!

Snapping shots of the adorable little streets along the way...

With the all-important pit stop - gelato!

We spent a good few hours at sunset on this beach. Glorious.

The water was so refreshing - it was 90 degrees even at 6pm.

All cleaned up and headed to dinner

THE MOST AMAZING CHEESE BOARD THAT EVER WAS.

Yeah, that would be our pasta dinner dish - ravioli stuffed with sea bass and pink sauce. They lit the pita bread on fire before serving it up.

yummmmm

Holding my food baby - so uncomfortable, but so happy and full of amazing food!

The next morning, we got up early to do the cinque terra hike. The beach was so peaceful early in the morning!

Getting artsy with a beach umbrella shot :)

We started our hike in Riomaggiore.

Super cute town!

Heading away from Riomaggiore to start the hike! Loving the views already.

The color of the water. OMG.

Could have stayed here looking at this water all day long. So beautiful.

View from a window on one of the bridges

Approaching the 2nd little town, Manarola (it's behind us on the rock - a bit washed out)

On the other side of the rock - ADORABLE Manarola!

Yay

From Manarola, we took a train to Corniglia (the road between M & C was washed out in the flood). Upon leaving Corniglia, we saw this cute little cafe with hanging jars for laterns - cute!

The green farmland we hiked through

The other side of Cornigliga

Hahaha - we were such hot sweaty messes! We kept saying we didn't want to be in any of the pictures because we would ruin the beautiful scenery! It was so. hot.

Loved the views of this hilltop town!

Here it is again - a bit farther away.

After 4 hours, we finally arrived in Vernazza!! SO BEAUTIFUL!

We stopped in Vernazza for some lunch - so happy to be sitting down with a cold diet coke and caprese salad!

Views upon leaving Vernazza to head back to Monterosso

Back at home in Monterosso, we spent the rest of the afternoon at the beach!

Warping the chair to keep myself shaded from the sun

When we couldn't be in the sun any longer, we got ready and meandered around town before heading to dinner.

Picturesque little side street

We had appetizers overlooking the water

The headed to dinner at another place near the beach. Chels with pasta and mussels! Has London changed her or what??

Sunday morning, we spent the morning at the beach. I can't get over how gorgeous the water was.

The view from our beach chairs.

We swam in this cove all morning, then right before we had to leave for the airport, we climbed up to the top of the rock.

The views from the top were amazing!

So. happy.

Precariously perched trying to get the pics without falling - on the tip top of the rock!

Last beach shot, on the way to the train station.

This is how we felt about leaving Italian paradise.

my olympic experience

I don't even know how to begin to describe what it was like to live in London during the 2012 Olympics. So, I'm just going to let the pictures do the talking...

Friday evening opening ceremony party at CB and John's house

The next morning, Kyle, Steve, Megan and I headed up to see the men's cycling event - the course went right through our backyard on Fulham Road.

Happily waiting for my first glimpse of an olympic cyclist....

Here they come!

This was the story of the Olympics for us - every night meeting up at random pubs throughout London to watch the action.

Rochelle, Hannah, Megan and I headed to beach volleyball that next Friday morning (we got tickets through the ballot). The venue, Horse Guards Parade, is right near Buckingham Palace, which you can see here at the end of the flag-lined Mall

Life-sized Kerri Walsh - we didn't see her play that day, but still loved her statue!

So excited upon entering the stadium!

Not only is this the most fun venue, it has the BEST views!

In between matches - photo op

America wasn't even playing, but the person in front of us kept proudly waving this flag :)

I love this picture... Big Ben, summer clouds, and a line of Olympic flags.

The 2 matches in our session went so fast! We were being forced to leave before we knew it! Walking out toward Trafalgar Square...

This is the countdown clock in Trafalgar Square... when we moved to London the countdown on this clock was a little under 2 years. It was so weird to see the date ("3-8" = August 3rd) and not a countdown!

Saturday night we headed to Hyde Park and watched, among other things, Michael Phelps' final race of his career on the huge screen. Everyone was gathered around cheering on the USA... you would've thought the whole park were Americans!

There he is - doing his butterfly

The USA swimmers cheering on their relay closer!

USA wins!

Trying to document we were there :) A bit too dark though...

We finished up the evening watching Misty May and Kerri Walsh dominate the quarterfinals.

On Sunday, I headed to Greenwich to watch equestrian jumping. Megan kindly offered me an extra ticket to join her and her aunt, uncle and cousins! It was POURING for the first hour... still an amazing view though. Notice the collection of rain on the umbrellas in this pic!

Soaking wet, but still ecstatic to be watching such a fun Olympic event!!!

Then the sun came out! How cool is the arena?

Loving the sun

Each jump was London themed - I loved them all, but No. 10 Downing Street (bottom right) might be my fave.

Form Greenwich Megan and I headed to the Duke of Clarence to watch the rest of the day's action.

Then we got antsy, so we biked around South Ken

Ended up in Kensington Gardens... this is me in front of Kensington Palace (where Will and Kate will live next year).

The following Monday, Chels and I went to gymnastics event finals at the O2.

We were decked out in USA gear that Rochelle purchased in the Target dollar aisle over a year ago upon finding out we got tickets through the ballot!

Even our shoes were patriotic!

It started off with men's rings... can you see the guy doing the crucifix?

Brazil shocked everyone by taking the gold - here he is on the medal podium

Women's uneven bar finalists processing in...

Gabby Douglas doing her flying squirrel thing.

Team GB's Beth Tweddle doing "the Tweddle" - she was amazing. She won bronze and everyone went crazy.

Women's uneven bar medal ceremony. (How pink is this arena?!)

Picture in between events

The afternoon ended with men's vault. Can you spot the American vaulting through the air??

That Wednesday evening, we headed back to Horse Guards Parade for the bronze and silver/gold medal matches in women's beach volleyball. This was the view from our seats (with no enhancement) - I can't get over it. In this picture you can see St Paul's, the Chard, and the Eye... we could also see Big Ben and Westminster Abbey but couldn't fit those in this picture!

Bronze medal match between Brazil and China

Rochelle was hell-bent on getting on TV, so we were decked out again in USA gear. And she got her wish! When we were in line for food, the BBC came up and asked if they could interview us!! It was SO FUN!!!!!

We had SO many people come up and ask if they could take our picture (we counted 12 in total)... we started taking them with our cameras too. Here we are with some of our fellow super-fans.

Here are the legends!!!!! Misty May and Kerri Walsh coming out for the match.

In action

Big Ben overlooking the excitement... Kerri getting ready to serve

USA v USA

The minute Misty May and Kerri Walsh won their 3rd consecutive gold medal!

Picture time as they were setting up for the medal ceremony

Medal ceremony!!

Yay USA!!!!!

Big Ben at night is pretty cool.

One last night shot of the stadium!

After it was over, we went in search of the players. We didn't find them, but we found their families!!! This is Kerri Walsh's dad. About 2 minutes after this picture, Misty May's dad came up and asked if he could take our picture... he was like "hey girls, you are the best fans of the day! smile for a picture!" Rochelle is convinced we'll make it into Misty May's personal scrapbook haha.

Kerri Walsh's little boys... and sister (in red on the phone on the right)

Yesterday, we headed to the American Olympic House (you had to have your passport and an embassy escort to get in... thanks Kelly!). They had a wall with a picture of everyone who medalled during these games. So cool!

Yay USA!!!

Today, right as I walked out of church,  the men marathoners were running by! Caught a glimpse of the back of a few runners who were toward the back of the pack...

We knew they had one more loop to go, so we staked out a better viewing point so we could watch them come by again. They were handing out whistles to help with the cheering efforts and we gladly took part!

Here are the leaders at mile 21!!! I love this picture - these Kenyans are running in honor of their Kenyan friend who won the gold in Beijing but who died last year in a freak accident. The Ugandian, who is behind the 2 Kenyans in this pic, ended up winning the gold with a time of 2:08:11.

It was such a gorgeous day, and inspired by the runners, Meg and I decided to bike home from East London :)

Final parting image of one of the olympic quotes you see EVERYWHERE throughout the city!!

The closing ceremony is tonight, and I'm mildly depressed it's over. Actually, scratch the mildly part. I am so going to miss the buzz about the city and the excitement every time you walk out your front door of seeing happy volunteers, spectators and athletes alike thoroughly enjoying the city and the games! Such an unforgettable 2 weeks!!! Rio, here I come.