The past couple of days have had very busy mornings. It's also been terribly hot. I know a lot of you reading this are also dealing with heat, but it was 109 degrees yesterday in San Severo before the heat index, and 115 with the heat index when I returned to Campomarino. Today was similar and I feel like I'm perpetually covered in a layer of sweat. I did manage to get a little late afternoon beach time in both days, but the water has been really warm and not refreshing.
Yesterday I hopped on a morning train heading south to visit Zia in her hometown of San Severo. I'd never taken the train there, but it was really easy. Only about 30 minutes on the train, and she lives about a 20 minute walk from the station. Sadly, her air conditioner is broken like mine, so we just kind of sat around in a hot apartment, talked and had lunch. I had a train ride back a little before three in the afternoon, but luckily my cousin Renato and his wife Dorette were able to stop by for a quick visit. It was definitely a hot day (did I mention the heat), and Zia's condo complex is under renovation, meaning there was a lot of banging and construction dust in the air, but that's progress.
The train ride back was great because it was blasting the AC. I had my phone out on my way to the train station and it had overheated after only a few minutes outside of my pocket, so the AC was very much welcome. When I got back to Campomarino, I exited the train and thought it's not so bad out. I was just feeling cooled and refreshed from the AC. The heat caught up with me, so I decided to have my first gelato in Italy this year. I stopped in town at Shangri La. I got three flavors, selecting pistachio and mandorla (almond), straciatella, and melograno (pomegranate) with pistachio butter. Taking a rest on the way home, and the delicious ice cream was a perfect boost for the rest of my walk home.
I had emailed back and forth with the bank in Italy this week and my rep asked me if I had time to meet up today. This morning, bright and early again, I trekked to the train station. This time I was taking the bus one stop north, about ten minutes away, to Termoli. After handling the banking, I grabbed some breakfast and walked down to an overlook to eat. I had a beautiful view of the Termoli beaches, the Adriatic Sea, and a castle with walled city from the 1300's. Termoli is ideally beautiful and looks like a postcard in most directions. After walking around the city, shopping for a couple of people, and having a drink, I decided that I was going to get some gelato from the best gelateria I've ever been to. YoGo in Termoli hasn't lost a step. I got three flavors again, straciatella, Kinder Cereali (which had a layer of chocolate and crispy cereal on top), and salted caramel. When I got back to the house, I rested a little, then went off to the beach for a couple of hours.
Tomorrow I'm scheduled to have someone come to fix the AC. It will be nice to get the house cooled at night, and remove some of the humidity in the house. It's also the Friday flea market tomorrow and I have my shopping list ready. It's paper towels, just paper towels.
