We woke up very early to take down our tent and make our hike to the train station in Lucerne. There we caught our train and made our way to Italy. The train ride through Switzerland was incredible. The tracks took us right through the Alps, giving us wonderful views of the mountains.
It was at our first layover in Italy where we had our first taste of real Italian food. Amy got pasta and Craig got a pizza and all of it was absolutely wonderful. Plus, it was much cheaper than we had expected. For example, Craig's pizza (the same size as a Papa John's Large) was only 4 euros.
As we got closer to Levanto, our views from the train turned to the beautiful blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
The campground's website informed us that it was within walking distance from the train station. However, what it neglected to say was that this would be the most dangerous walk of your entire life. We made the 2 km trek, mostly without sidewalks or any place whatsoever to walk, through the winding country roads of Italy. We arrived at the base of an uphill trail that would deliver us to the campsite. Amy was very hesitant to take this path at first, not knowing exactly where it would lead us to. Thankfully, it dropped us off at the campground with us swearing to never make that walk again.
At first glance, the campground was nice. Then it was time to go to the Toilet. Craig went first, and came out to tell Amy, "You won't believe this.." Amy knew what he was talking about, for having already experienced this at the train station. The "toilet" was not a "real" toilet. It was instead a hole in the ground and there was no toilet paper in sight. Here is a picture to give you a good image of what we are talking about..

The grooves are where you put your feet.... ewww
The next day we took the bus back to Levanto and wandered the streets of Levanto for the morning. We checked out some market places and then took the train to Monterosso.
Monterosso is AMAZING! You get off the train and there is the beach. We spent the rest of the day wandering the narrow streets and playing in the water.

Craig wandering through the narrow streets.

Amy posing at the beach in Monterosso.

Craig jumping into the clear water.

Taking a break with the best Cannoli ever!
When we arrived back in Levanto from our amazing day at the beach, we waited at the wrong bus stop for an hour and ended up taking a taxi back to the campsite.
On day 3 in Italy we bought Cinque Terre (5 lands) passes. These passes allowed us unlimited train rides and to access the Cinque Terre paths.
**Here is a little blurb on Cinque Terre courtesy of wikipedia.com:
The Cinque Terre is a rugged portion of coast on the Italian Rivieria. "The Five Lands" comprises five villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. The Cinque Terre is noted for its beauty. Over centuries, people have carefully built terraces on the rugged, steep landscape right up to the cliffs that overlook the sea. Part of its charm is the lack of visible "modern" development. Paths, trains and boats connect the villages, and cars cannot reach it from the outside. It is a very popular tourist destination.
We ate delicious pastries in Monterosso and then began our hike to the second village.

Amy making the Cinque Terre walk.

There were A LOT of stairs.
After an hour and a half of strenuous treking through vineyards and olive groves, we arrived in Vernazza.

View of Vernazza.

In this picture you can see Monterosso (in the distance) and Vernazza.
We stopped here for a quick lunch of pizza, and then it was off to the third village. While treking to the third village, we heard a very loud noise. We looked up to see a helicopter hovering over us. We also noticed two men on the trail wearing huge orange "headphones" and reflective vests. Behind them was a pile of items the helicopter was picking up. Sounds okay.. right? Well, being on a side of a cliff with the force of helicopter winds isn't always the most fun. Amy told Craig that she wanted to get far away from the helicopter. They saw where the helicopter was dropping off the items and tried to time it so they would stay out of its way. Back and forth went the helicopter to pick up stuff from one side of the cliffs, over the water, and then drop it off. Unfortunately, we made it to where the helicopter was dropping stuff off the same time it did. We then started running to try to get away from it's powerful winds and the mess it was kicking up. Isn't there supposed to be a clearance of 'don't get so close to this helicopter?' We made it into a covering with trees and could hear the helicopter just on the other side. Amy was on the verge of panic attack.

Scary helicopter.
We made it alive to the third village, Corniglia. This village was built on top of the cliff far above the Mediterranean.

Corniglia
We stayed here long enough to take a few pictures and buy a bottle of water, and then we headed off. We were looking forward to the next stop because we had read it had really great swimming coves.

Craig posing on the suspension bridge.
Another hour of walking and we ended up in Manarola. Here we went straight for the water and cooled off.

If you look closely, you can see people lining the rocks. This is where they would jump off of into the waters. The locals were very impressive with how high off they were willing to jump--especially since a lot of them looked around 10 years old.
After cooling off in Manarola we made the short walk to the fifth and final village, Riomaggiore. Here we just wandered around, did a bit of exploring, and then took the train back to Monterosso.
In Monterosso we had dinner at a small alleyway restaraunt. The food was incredible. The meal began with a sald, and from there we moved on to the main course. Amy had spaghetti with red sauce and Craig had homemade spinach and ricotta ravioli in a homemade pesto. For dessert we shared a heavenly homemade tiramisu and Craig had a teacup espresso.

Yummy..
After our delicious dinner we took the train back to Levanto with hopes of being able to take the taxi to our campsite. The workers at the train station had left for the night and all that was left was the bartender and a guy eating an ice cream. We went in to ask her how to call a taxi, but unfortunately she spoke no english. She did manage to make out that the taxi driver would be very hard to track down even though his car was outside. She convinced her friend, the ice cream eating man, to drive us to the campsite. And, the nice guy that he is, he did so. He wouldn't even let us pay him. For any asprining traveler reading this, especially you young ladies out there, NEVER do this.