Days of Schnoebelen: Italia.

ITALIA.

The Less than Magnificent Seven. As pictured below and mentioned throughout the post. From left to right: Engman, B. Wilde, Thompson, Havey, Schnoebelen, Goodbinder, Smith.

The hike.

Hard to explain how much fun I had in iItaly. We went on a whim and a cheap flight, everything worked out perfectly. We went from London Stansted Airport to Parma to La Spezia to Riomaggiore to Monterosso. So we get our hotel, spend the eve in Monterosso. Wake up with a champion of a hangover. Start the hike around 10, go from Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Monorola, Riomaggiore. We started the hike with 7, Adam "Thompson" Thompson, Derek Smith, Mike Havekost, Jay Goodbinder, Brad Wilde, Erice Engman, and myself. Engman and I pressed on after the ridiculous uphill battle of a hike from Monterosso to Vernazza. Made it to Riomaggiore by dusk and I've never felt more refreshed in my life.

Postcard picture by Schnoebelen

It made me a little mad to find out that there weren't clown horns aloud in the area.

Don't bend your legs all crazy when there is a sea storm.

Engman and the crack of Gibraltar.

The beautiful city of Vernazza. Home of great pizza, lemonade, beer, gelato.

The rest of our squad lagging behind.

Lots of fun houses. Gives a whole new meaning to neighborhood.

And she's buying me a stairway to.....the top of a very tall tower.

Prime real estate for the deceased. Great view. Sea-side.

Gelato break #3.

Engman, Schnoebelen. Water, land. Earth, Wind, Fire.

Ahhh. The hike. To the hike. Eric Engman, Luke Schonebelen, 5 cities, 1 day.

!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?

Finally after 23 years of being told "No Diving" a sign from God.

There are lemonade stands and then there are lemonade stands. When the girl walks around the corner with a basket of fresh picked lemons and she then proceeds to have her older sister cut them. 50 pence for the first cup of "LEMON"ade that made the hair on my neck stand up.

Ok. By far one of the most interesting stories to go along with this picture.

Setting: Bar in Monterosso, Italy. Top floor of bar.

Surroundings: TV in background with Playstation 2 as pictured. About 50-75 Italians and 7 American guys.

Story: Arrive at bar around 11pm, grab a corner booth and proceed to have a good old time. Havey fals asleep, Thompson recites Dane Cook in Italian, then we switch the TV to the Playstation and commence a game of Winning 11 soccer/football. Thompson picks Italy and picks Cameroon for me . Totally fair match-up. Game begins and for the first 10 minutes I have no control over my Cameroon squad. I finally get my players working and it's halftime. Second half begins and this is where it gets interesting. Thompson has given up and handed the controller off to one of the 75 Italians. We continue to battle on the pitch and end the second half with the score nil-nil. At this point the entire bar is watching our game on the is flat screen TV. Extra time begins, with everyone ooooing and ahhhing at every shot, Italy scores. The crowd goes nuts and Italy wins. Thank God. If Cameroon would've won, I think my American counterparts and I would not have made it out of the bar.

Thompson gave Camelback pack a whole new meaning.

Lots of locks on bridge in Firenze.

To those of you that don't know him, his name is Mike Havekost, he is a co-worker and a good friend of mine. He has been on my blog before and is a great gent. He has a reputation for bogarting the leftovers, taking anything that is free, inconveniencing you with his size, and known for his impeccable vocabulary. To quote him, "Look at that, an apple de-middlizer. Below are two pictures from the same meal where Mike had stuff on his face and below those are two where Mike decided to fall asleep at bars. Classic Havey.

Havey with food on face, incidenct #1

Havey with food on face, incident #2

Havey passed out 1

Havey passed out 2

We went swimming in the sea at some unnamed hour in the evening/morning.

Thompson had a hell of time getting his clothes back on.

Thompson's dressing order:

1. Sock

2. Boot

3. Pants

4. Oh $hit I forgot my other shoe and sock.

Attention grabber.

Thicky thicky thick pasta. If I were to describe Italy in short it would go something like this, pasta, house wine, water, trains.

My favorite street in Firenze.

Only 3 Euros for The

Firenze, home of great caricaturererers.

Standard Florence Italy Picture.

Thompson with David and mini-car getting a caricature.

The beautiful Hotel California, ahhh I can see it now. The Eagles stumbling down the streets of Florence drunk and looking up only to see the backwards sign. I'd sing a song about it too. However, I prefer the Gypsy Kings Spanish version.