274.April 2

Finale Ligure, Italy

We both slept well in our cabin on the train. We are riding along the South-Eastern coast of France. We went to Nice in the morning. We found breakfast and saline solution. Then we went to the beach. We were some of the first to get there. We ate our baguette and jam with butter and put on our suntan lotion to bask in the bright sun. Not a cloud to see, but the wind was strong. My contact blew off my finger onto the beach when I was putting it on, but Lars found it. I put on my green shorts and laid out. Lars forgot shorts, but did the same in his jeans. We stayed until 12:30. A topless sun bather laid one person away from me, (a strange way to wake up when I fell asleep in the sand) and a shock to a Westerner like me. Then we stopped in McDonald's for a loo break, walked to the old town in Nice, where I got to wear Lars' sunglasses again, then back the way we came to buy food on our way to the rail station. We bought wine, pate, baguette, five croissant au chocolate, and oranges from the morning.

We just ate them on the way to a hostel called Finale Ligure, located on the coast near Pisa. When we arrived, we had to climb 200 meters of steps to get to the height, which overlooked the shore and the entire town. First we took showers, very cold, and open to the outdoors, because we were on the roof. From there, through the bathroom we could climb on the very top of the building, a beautiful view. I talked to some women from Carolina out in front of the hostel while waiting for Lars to finish drying his excessive hair. Then some Frisbee, and we set off around the town, out to the shore.

The town had nothing to stop at, but we smoked at the shore on a pier, some French cigarettes that his girlfriend Frauke had given him. We ran from the waves as we walked the shore. As it got darker, we bought some crisps and headed back for the hostel, singing songs as we went. We got through all the words of American Pie.

At the hostel, we got some cards, the crisps and our bottle of wine and sang songs outside, setting chairs around us so others could come sit with us. Someone did when she heard we were Americans. Cynthia was her name, and later we went up to the roof-top with her, our wine, and met Michelle and Nick up there. Nick was very stubborn and annoying. He and Cynthia were talking about the rights of foreigners (like Michelle's German parents) moving to the United States and not getting citizenship there. I tried to leave, but they kept pulling me back in to their conversation. Lars, Michelle and I sat and talked on the roof until 00:30, when we were kicked off, or rather she was. We smoked cigarettes most of that time and got a pitcher of wine. We were quite overcome when we went to bed, and I slept in all my clothes. Lars and I had great conversation back on the roof before nightfall turned to sleep. It was nice to meet people we could talk to and compare experiences.

1994

We spent this rainy day indoors, doing taxes, watching a moving called "Everybody wants to be Italian". Jacob came over, and we loaded his car with wine kits and bottles to deliver to Laurel tomorrow in preparation for the wedding. I set up a scanner for Giants of the Earth, and then we got a lift from my mom over to Lee's house for dinner. We ended the evening collecting more addresses for our wedding invites.

2010