In any language it’s so easy to take a word, pronounce it different, and end up saying something completely different. Today we went to the beach. However if you ask Alfredo, we went to the “bitch.” I guess that’s what we get for not rolling our r’s.
Nice easy morning, no rushing out of the house and walking up to the university. Lexy, Claire and I were meeting our ride, Alfredo, at 11. I think I rolled out of bed at 9, and only that early cause of the darn pigeon cooing outside my window. I attempted fried eggs for myself today, and I think I’ll wait till I get home to repeat that. The eggs here are so neat. First off, they don’t keep them in the fridge at the stores. Makes me a bit nervous (I think I’ve mentioned this before.) However, still not sick, so whatever. Normally I scramble the eggs, so I don’t notice how different they are. Today after I put them in my pan, I noticed how dark yellow, almost orange the yolks are. Are these just not mass produced eggs or something? Makes a lot more sense them using egg yolks in those fresco paintings if this was the color they were starting with. Anyway, the poor eggs, I ended up breaking one yolk, (totally not used to using olive oil in place of butter), and I overcooked them. Hard yolks are not yummy. The other odd thing about them was they tasted like lemons. I promise I wasn’t on any drugs this morning!
Took of to Piazza de Sacrario, aka the winged statue, to wait for the rest of our posse. We were all so grateful that Alfredo was willing to drive us, makes everything so much easier. It was about an hour and a half drive to the coast, and the entire way Alfredo was pointing out different ruins or crops. Love having a tour guide. We passed a nuclear power plant. This one used to be in use, however they closed it after Chernobyl. Sometime in the 90s they wanted to reopen it, but it was voted against. Sooo, there it sits. Alfredo joked that they have concerts there. I didn’t fall for it.
The beach was beautiful in a very different way than I expected. First off, it’s not on the sea, so there aren’t waves. I really felt like I was at Tahoe, till Alfredo pointed out it was just a bit bigger. This also isn’t considered the Mediterranean since it’s too north. It’s just the Terranean. At least so says the people up at the university. I can’t find it on google, so they may have been picking on me... Seems to be happening more and more... They are getting to know me! So, no waves, no trees, but this very long strip of black sand along the water. I think us three girls spent more time looking at the sand than the water. It was very hot to walk on, but it was so different. I’ve seen the black pebble beach by the light house up in Newport Oregon, but nothing this dark. We followed in fashion of the other beach goers and put up our umbrella castle, then went to test the water for a bit. For having such a Tahoe feel that salt water certainly does surprise you. I always figure if it has waves it’s salt, if not, it’s fresh. I know that’s totally wrong, but for the places I frequent it’s perfect.
Just to the north of the beach is a beautiful cliff that juts out into the water. Apparently Scott has a friend with a restaurant over there that serves wonderful fresh caught sea food. Unfortunately for us the friend is in Bangkok opening a restaurant, so we don’t get to go. North of that is a wildlife reserve. We girls wanted to see it, but the beach was just so nice we ended up not having time. If Wikipedia would hurry up and load I could tell you a bit about it. I may have to just add it in later...
We stayed at the beach for a good five hours. I won the lobster award. But, haha, wait till tomorrow. Mine will be gone, Alfredo will still have his. Emmanuelle joined us on the beach with his 7 year old son Leo. That little boy is so adorable, and Emmanuelle is such a great dad. The boys and Claire played beach tennis, basically ping pong without the table. Alfredo and Emmanuelle certainly took it very serious, both boys were covered in sand by the time they were exhausted. Claire still looked fresh as a cucumber. And she did very well!
Around 5:30 we packed up, and took off. On the ride home Alfredo stopped at a cute little fruit stand. I really felt like I was in California! All of the fruit sold is from their farm, and I was surprised at the wide variety they had. We picked up some apricots and peaches. The country side is just so beautiful. Even the farms. It’s not flat, but constant hills all over. I also love the buildings, so typical Italian with the yellow-orange stucco and the tile roves. We crossed one spot where lavender is typically grown, however because of the recent rains you couldn’t smell it.
One more stop before we hit Viterbo. We’ve been bugging the locals to tell us about the hot springs, there are so many right around Viterbo. Alfredo took us to one that is famous, mentioned in some book or movie called “Dante” or something... Honestly I had no clue what he was talking about, although the other two girls did. That was a total smile and nod moment. I suppose I’ll be looking that one up too, huh???
Well, that brings me to where I sit now. Just finished a home cooked meal with Lexy, and now we are waiting to go out again with Alfredo and Stefano. Not sure how long we are going to last night, that sun was exhausting. Tomorrow the boys are going climbing, which Claire is dyeing to go do, so we are tagging along. Sounds like it’s a beautiful spot in the forest, so I’m looking forward to getting some quiet reading in. Now, I should probably put some more lotion on this bright red skin of mine...
No comments:
Post a Comment