Some Beach

On my free day in Florence, I decided to go to the beach. It was an hour and a half train ride, but it was totally worth it. It was about 2 when we showed up and we snaked out way through a small town to the beach. It was a huge beach with tanning chairs and umbrellas everywhere, too bad they were all reserved for some reason. The public section of beach was ten meters at the very end of the beach by the levy. It was crowded and all the reserved parts were empty. It was a beautiful beach, though. One of the only places that you can look from the water and see mountains in the background with small snowcaps. It was so much quieter at this beach than any american beach I have ever been to. From thirty meters away we could still hear the surf. I swam for a while and we hung out in the water. Then we all laid out in the sun and took a few siestas. I only got a small area of sunburn on my shoulders. It would have been worse had I been back home where the Texas sun is way harsher than the European sun. By the time we left, we were completely relaxed and content. I really missed the beach and the sea. It is very peaceful and rejuvenates me. I believe it was Melville that wrote “I take to the sea when it is a dreary November in my soul.” We had a bit of an issue getting back, however. We had just gotten our tickets and the train was about to take off. So, we go and open the door and when the first person got on the doors shut and the train abruptly left with him on board and the other three of us watching it fade into the distance. It took us another two hours to get back to the Florence hotel, but we found that he made it back okay. By then it was really late so we left quickly to go back to a nice restaurant. We ate so much!! It was like Epic Meal Time. We had mixed appetizers, wine, pasta, and a mixed cheese platter. All for 20 euros a piece! That mixed cheese platter was outstanding. It had different kinds of cheese and bread and it had fresh honey. The brie was like heaven in your mouth. You would take a piece of bread and a piece of cheese and then top it off with honey. I said “I never want to eat anything else again in my whole life!” It was that good. A fitting ending for Firenze.