Second day in Cinque Terre

There are 5 villages that make up Cinque Terre. We are staying in the furthest North (or West) village, called Monterosso. It is the only village that is built on flat land. We have been going nonstop since arriving in Italy and this was our first opportunity to sleep in a bit. So we woke up around 9:00am and went down for our standard Italian breakfast.
Our plan for our only full day in Cinque Terre was to complete the hike through all 5 towns. We took the boat from Monterosso to the furthest south village, Riomaggiore. The boat was a great way to see the Cinque Terre region from a different perspective. The boat ride lasted around 20 minutes and when we arrived we walked through the village looking for the route to the trail which we passed early on. The hike from Riomaggiore to Manorola is the easiest of the 4 legs. From Manorola to Corniglia we had to take the train as the trail was closed for maintenance. We walked up 300 stairs to the town of Corniglia once off the train. Here we had a seat for a quick lunch and had great panini sandwiches on focaccia bread, which originates from Cinque Terre. The final two legs of the hike were upcoming and this is where it began to get difficult. From Corniglia to Vernazza it took 1 hour 30 mins and the home stretch between Vernazza and Monterosso took 1 hour 40 mins.
Once we arrived in Vernazza we took a seat on a bench in the village square to take it all in. There were two local boys about 3 years old kicking the soccer ball back and forth. One of them was about as coordinated with receiving a pass and kicking a soccer ball as any child in the U.S. the same age. The other was ultra advanced and certainly being groomed to be a future Italian soccer (or futbol) star. Some of the family was hanging around in the area and one of the men wore a t-shirt that read 'I'm not a tourist. I live here'. It was quite obvious that we did not.
The final leg between Vernazza to Monterosso was by far the most difficult. There were many very steep climbs up stairs made of stone that varied in size from 6 inches high which you could step a few at a time to about 18 inches. Yes, very tiring. We were surprised at the age of some of the people completing the hikes. Many in their 60's and 70's. You can always spot the Germans because they have walking sticks in both hands that look just like ski poles. We didn't reload on water while in Vernazza thinking that we had more than we did. So after about 20 minutes of hiking we realized that we had not even a 1/4 of a water bottle remaining. We drank only tiny sips infrequently in order to keep hydrated. Luckily, this is the perfect time of year to visit Italy and we had sunny weather with a slightly cool breeze at times. With about a half hour left in our hike we were beginning to get very thirsty so we each had a piece of gum to at least create some saliva. Our saving grace was a man that was behind a chain linked fence inside a little shack. He was squeezing fresh lemons to make his own lemonade and also sold his homemade wine and lemoncelo. We each bought a glass of lemonade for €2 and a small bottle of lemoncelo for €5 that we took with us. The lemonade helped us finish the hike strong which is mainly downhill the last 45 minutes. Each of these villages are remarkably beautiful and the hike provided breathtaking views that even the gorgeous photos we took don't do justice. The hike was fun, rewarding, and challenging, but absolutely worth it.
On our way back to the hotel we stopped for a gelato at Colusune where they make their gelato in house. Many of the gelateria's have it shipped in. Colusune won an international gelato contest for the best strawberry gelato and the best hazelnut. They were both fantastic. We got cleaned up and went to a restaurant right around the corner from our hotel with Bob and Olga, the couple from Austin that we met the day before on the train to Cinque Terre. We all enjoyed the food and midway through our meal the owner of our hotel made his way there and sat next to us. He is 71 years old and has lived his entire life in Monterosso. He speaks 5 languages and has several language/literature degrees from Cambridge where he did his schooling in his 20s. This guy is a character. He had us in stitches for over an hour! Telling all the stories he told would make this blog much too long so I will tell just two.
His name is Andres and his daughter, Maria, pretty much runs the hotel and she is only 20. He is quite wealthy from the 30 properties he owns throughout Italy and his vineyard. He's so beloved by his guests that he receives 3,000 Christmas cards annually just from the U.S. and about 5,000 in total. Sarah asked if he had a girlfriend because he does not wear a wedding ring. Andres replied, "Noooo!", keep in mind that he has a strong Italian accent and speaks English well but you must focus intently to understand each word. So Sarah asked if he had a wife and he said yes, and that she is only 49.  Andres went on to tell us, "I dated many many women in my younger years but then realized that as they get older they became voluminous and bulgey". This resulted in a large outburst in laughter from our table. He carried on, "so rather than marry a woman that would become voluminous and bulgey I told them that I would wait for their daughters!". And that's just what he did, his mother-in-law is 5 years his elder.
Another conversation was held regarding the hotel that Bob and Olga are staying at. They didn't have a reservation when they came into Cinque Terre. They looked at the only available room at Andres' hotel but it had a small bed and no ocean view. They ended up finding a room at the hotel next door. They told Andres that they wanted to stay at his hotel but next door they found a room with a larger bed and an ocean view. He said, "Ohhh... at Tweety Bird's hotel?" We then learned that he calls the woman who owns the hotel Tweety Bird because her last name means 'small sparrow'. Bob and Olga then jokingly told him that they are paying only €10 per night. He replied, "Tweety Bird doesn't need your money because she makes so much on the street!". Again, uproarious laughter ensued.
Andres left the restaurant and the four of us talked until we were the last ones there and it was clear they were about to close. Then we talked again with Andres in front of our hotel where he gave us recommendations to eat in Barcelona and Bob and Olga recommendations in Tuscany. Sarah and I hit the pillow exhausted from a full day at 1:00am and it was up at 5:30am to catch our train. We'll miss Cinque Terre.