Every year, the final day in town is filled with highs and
lows. The lows are saying goodbye to friends and family, as well as getting the
last of things, like the last pizza, the last cornetti (croissant), or the last
souvenir. It was also my last time to hit the beach. After three days of rain,
seeing the sun today was like welcoming back an old friend. The people who were
sitting near me for the past month were all gone, my guess is they had a half
month that ended on the big, rained-out holiday Ferragosto on Wednesday. Many
people left last night after the earthquakes, which is still what everyone is
talking about today. Leaving the beach was sad as usual. It’s been nice and
relaxing the past month, reading, swimming, catching up on YouTube videos
during the middle of the day when everyone leaves. During part of my morning
walk I went to do my weekly weigh in and lost four pounds this week. In total I’ve
lost 10 pounds since I got here, and I’ve eaten well. Not as many desserts as
normal, gelato only four times so far this summer, but bread and pizza and
pasta was on tap almost every day.
As tomorrow is my birthday, I wanted to give myself a gift.
So I’m heading to Rome tomorrow, then I‘m hopping on a plane Sunday bound for
London. I have two days there, then back to Rome for a night, then back to New
Jersey (by way of Atlanta) on Wednesday. The time really flew by this summer, but I got a lot done here.
