We’ve had a busy Fall (or Autumn as the Brits would call it) this year. Plenty to do to wrap up our first year at work and in our home lives; so we were happy to have some good friends visit and take holiday with us to relax. This post is what we did at the end of October, we have a few others to finish up that will be posted very soon as well.

Cody and Taylor are two friends that I met in my first year of college at MTU and once Amber came into the picture we’ve all four had some great times spent together. It was so nice to have them see where we live and create more memories together in Italy!

Cody and Taylor arrived on Friday morning flying from Toronto. I picked them up before work and brought them back to our house to shower and rest while Amber and I got through our Friday at Husco. Brindle had fun visiting with our guests and she enjoyed showing them around our town on a walk once Amber was home. Cody and Taylor got a full English welcome complete with rain and flooding.

The next afternoon we flew from Manchester to Pisa and then after some dinner we took a train to Monterosso. We stayed in an AirBnb up 70 stairs from the town. It was a quiet place with a nice view of the city around us. Unfortunately, the hiking we’d planned to do the next morning was cut very short due to landslides washing out most of the footpaths prior to our visit. The bright side is it was the warmest day of the week (low 70s and sunny) so we were able to enjoy a dip in the Ligurian Sea! We also grabbed a yummy lunch by the water with a beautiful view.

Our second day, we had a van pick us up in the village and drive to the top of the nearby mountain where a little restaurant was. Taylor had signed us all up for an Italian cooking class. There were eight of us in the class – we enjoyed getting to know the Canadians and British couple. The chef instructing the class was an interesting man who had us do most of the work ourselves which was a good way to learn. He also quizzed us on our knowledge of vegetables and other cooking related questions. As we hadn’t studied beforehand, Cody and I were not good under the pressure and failed to name many vegetables that were satisfactory to the chef, but we were eventually allowed to have some wine anyway. We made dessert first – an Italian sweet bread, so it could bake while we prepared the rest of our meal. Not a bad way to start! Next up was the appetizer – onions and tomatoes stuffed with bread crumbs, milk, ham, egg, and cheese. The homemade pesto and gnocchi was one of the highlights. The was quite fun to make! Lastly, us guys filleted sea bass and seasoned the fillets before everything was taken to the kitchen for baking. The meal was filling and delicious and the views made it even better.

The train was a quick way to explore between villages of Cinque Terre and we managed to see them all during our stay. We were happy with our choice of staying in Monterosso as it was our favorite of the 5. The next two days were spent eating delicious gelato and getting our steps in. The weather didn’t cooperate, but we made the best of it – exploring in the rain and plenty of laughs, card games, and wine on tap were shared and enjoyed together.

We caught an early flight out of Pisa, taking the train back to the airport. Our final day with our lovely travel buddies ended at one of our favorite restaurants back near our town – Fishpool Inn. It was so great to have Cody and Taylor visit and catch up. Looking forward to the next time!