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Published: April 29th 2008
Hi all
For once, this is Lyndsay starting the blog. This will be an early blog tonight both because we have little to share and because our hostel internet is shutting down in 2 hours. It is really expensive to get on the internet here. Over $1.00 per 10 minutes. So we awoke this morningto rain! of course. We left the walled city of Lucca and grabebd a train to Levanto. Well, still raining here when we arrived. However, before I jump to the day in Levanto, let me regress to what is arguably the 2nd most emabrassing moment of this vacation. I was walking quickly behind Jason in the rain when I stumbled on a divot in the path. I tried to get my footing, but could not and I kep proppeling forward. I tried with all my might to get my feet underneath me, but with the forward momentum and a backpack on, I could not stop, and I fell ... except, we were walkgin outside the walled city, and intead of simply falling on teh sidewalk, I fell into a ditch, and tumbled to the bottom - backpac, umbrella and all! Seriously, embarassing. Jason rushed to help me, as did a tiny Italian woman on a bike, who I think was offering reassuring words - but who knows?
ONce we arrived in Levanto, more rain! It was not pouring, but drizzling pretty good. We got off the train at 12:50 and attempted to rush to our hostel, which closed for "siesta" at 1:oo pm. We did not make it. So, we decided to throw out backpacks over the gated wall and hope for the best. We did nto want to haul them around until 4 pm when teh hostel opened back up. We proceeded to walk around town looking for soemthing to do, and something to eat. We repeatedly struck out. I will leave the afternoon activity discussion to Jason, as he has some choice words for the local tradiiton of "siesta" and can share our random afternoon of wandering into a local social club.
We have spent teh last 2 hours sitting in the park, people watching and sharing our bottle of wine. Of course, NOW it is sunny and beautiful. The city itself is gorgeous and quaint, and it nestled into the seaside cliffs. More picutes to follwo tomorrow as we go further in our travels. Being that it drizzled most of the day, we do not have much to share by way of fun stories or photos, but this is our best attempt.
Love, Lyndsay
PS-Sorry no pics today, first none too exicting that we took and second the computer is not liking our camera
HI all-
As Lyndsay suggested, I am not too thirlled with this whole "siesta" thing. I understand that all of these peopel take the afternoon to nap and realx during the "hottest" part of the day, but today the temp did not go above 60 degrees and every store was closed. Heres what I dont understand, if I owned a shop and it was going to be open for 7 hours a day, why would I want to come and open it up in the morning, close it in the early afternoon, take a couple of hour break, reopen the stoer in late afternoon and then close it again in the late evening? It seems like a waste of time and energy to me. It was funny today wandering around the raining streets of Lavento. Everyone we passed was obviously a tourist and not aweare of the strict "siesta" timeline in Levanto. We all smiled at each oteher as we walked through the rain knowing that the local residents were laughing from their flats above. People huddled at the one open tourist cafe passing the time away, even the tourist office was closed. Being the "advetnures" we are we decided instead to search out the local hangout. We found a nice little bar in the center of town near the police and fire station. The bar was actually some social club with membership but we were welcomed out of the rain. Upon entering we noticed a large cooler of beer which upon further further inspection was colder than anything we have drank in the last week and a half. First before I carry on my story, I want you all to know that we are not drunks. We merely are looking to "explore" the local customs to there fullest. Anyways since neither of us had drank a beer since Malta we thought we would try some Italian beer. It was lovely. Cold, crisp and tasty. The bartender served up some peanuts in the shell and chips and we were set for a couple of hours and rounds. We watched the Simpsons in Italian, gambled some euros on the slot machines and then watched the Nirvana unplugged dvd (as apparently the bartender thought we wanted to watch). No tourists arouind. We confirmed this when Lyndsay, feeling the effects of teh beer, needed to use the ladies room (really it was a unisex bathroom). After locating the restroom it was noticed that a door for the restroom did not exist. IN our broken english we attempted to communicate with the italian speaking bartender with little success. Lyndsay was close to peeing in the toliet without a door when a kind bar mate informed us that the door was gone because it was being painted! Yes painted! How many times have you removed your bathroom door to paint it? This was a new one for me, but definatley worthy of a few laughs. As an alternative, Lyndsay had the opportunity to venture upstairs to a real life working fire station to use their bathroom complete with bunkroom, kitchen, living area, and fire pole. We would love to show you the pictures, but she was so excited being in a real firehouse she forgot she was carrying the camera.
Other than that, we left the "bar" after a few beers, checked into our hostel, and are now hoping for a great sunset and dinner as the rain has stopped and the views are improving. Doing some laundry ($12 a load) and getting rested for our treks tomorrow. Lots of hiking and uphill, but from the views we could get from the train today, I am really looking forward to expoling this part of the seaside. Stay tuned for some good pics tomorrow. HOpe all is well and talk to you soon.
Love- Jason
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How was your trip?
Well, Ms. Howard...Now I know we are related! Every year I take a public tumble somewhere! You've taken it to new hights by having one in a foreign country! Congrats! Yes to happy hour upon your return and it occurred to me that Pfieffer only asked you not to think about her when you bathed because she was jealous that you thought of me, too! Wink wink. Loving your blog updates!! I check them immediately when they come in!