GIORNO DELLA SPIAGGIA

It is the strangest feeling to not be in the U.S. for the Fourth of July. Even with all of our traveling, this is the first time I’ve been out of the country for the Fourth. It is hard to imagine all of the festivities going on at home when it’s just a typical day here. No fireworks for us today.

Dad left early for a run and Mom was up coughing, but Joey and I slept past 10:00 am. Yesterday must have really worn us out. Eventually, we got up and going. Breakfast consisted of pizza in town around noon. There is only one pizzeria in town, and I’m tired of pasta. That meant eating at the same restaurant as last night.

Making our way back to the bungalow, the heat started to get to us. It was hot today. In the air conditioning of our bungalow, Joey read for a little bit, and I worked on summer homework. Wanting a little more activity, we grabbed our beach stuff and headed down. It is a hot day and the Fourth of July after all.

Joey and I are both into our books, so we read in the shade for awhile. However, pebbled beaches aren’t the most comfortable to lay down and read on, so we stood up to get in the water. I waded in to just above my knees before I decided it was too cold. Just for Joey, I dipped my shoulders in real quick and then ran out to the hot rocks. Joey, on the other hand, loved it. She and Dad went out for a swim while I stayed by the bags and read. When they got back, the guilting began, and I ultimately ended up in the water. It took me a little because of how cold it was, but soon enough I was swimming. Once we got out a little, Joey said, “touch the bottom.” I obviously thought I could given that I could see the ocean floor from where I was. I was wrong though. That was just the clear ocean water. I couldn’t touch, and it was such a weird feeling. We swam out to a rock that is barely sticking out of the water, and the cold water started to feel nice. I was adjusting. We stood on the rock for a minute before hopping back in the water and swimming to shore. We went straight to the nice hot rocks, which the sun so kindly heated. We then went back to the shade where Mom was to dry off, lay down, and read. Eventually, the uncomfortable beach rocks got to us again and we headed up. I can now say that I’ve swam in the Italian ocean though.

Dinner time now, we headed back into town. We went to a restaurant we had lunch at a few days ago. I was not psyched about more Italian because that is literally all we’ve had since we’ve arrived in Italy. I ended up getting fried calamari and mussels, which were both really good. The fried calamari is not what you would imagine. It was very lightly breaded, and the best calamari I’ve ever had. The mussels were delicious as well, except for the bee attacks. I ended up fighting the bees for my mussels. One of the waiters even had a zapper-swatter that didn’t win. For dessert, we walked up to the town gelato shop, again, for fresh pineapple. Joey and I ate it all before we made it half way back, just like last night.

After a day at the beach, I was so excited to shower, until I realized the hotel’s hot water was broken. A guy from the hotel came to look at it and went to work on it, but, eventually, I just braved it. Man, that was a fast shower. The hot water never did come back on. Cold now, I started packing up and then snuggled into bed. As we were drifting asleep, fireworks were heard in the distance, but we couldn’t see them. I guess we do get some fireworks for the Fourth after all, at least sort of.

Tomorrow we fly to Paris, so this is my last Italy post. Start checking the France tab for the last leg of our trip.

Reading on the beach

Easing into the cold water

Swimming in the cold water

Made it to the rock

Warming up with hot rocks