Don't try this away from home
May 05, 2003 ~ 4:32 p.m.
SAN REMO, Italy�Three things you should never do, especially if you plan to enjoy your sun-and-fun vacation:
(1) Fill your system only with alcoholic beverages and not eat.
(2) Sunbathe for hours until you're lobster red.
(3) When you finally do get around to eating, have an anchovy and olive pizza.
When I started moaning in the restaurant and couldn't finish my wine, I thought it was because I had gotten too drunk. However, after getting back to the hotel, I determined that I was suffering a bit from sunstroke and dehydration. I woke up at 1 a.m. and my thirst was so horrible that I threw on my shorts and walked three blocks to a vendor to get four cans of jus d'orange. I sucked down three upon getting back to the room. After rubbing skin cream on my body and with three cans worth of orange juice in my tank, I felt better and attempted sleep.
But honestly, I have never in my life been so dehydrated. Also, the exertion of my swim around the pier must have contributed to the depletion of bodily moisture as well.
But today is another day, and we're in San Remo. About 20 miles into Italy (from the French-Italian border), it is like almost every other Meditteranean port city I've been to (Barcelona, Nice, Palma de Mallorca). It is warm and muggy in the open, but very cool and windy in the alleys and awning-covered piazzas. Everybody speaks Italian. Not only is English not well known, but unlike the border town of Ventimiglia, not even French is widely understood. We had to order our lunch of paninis and coffee in a desperate mix of Franglais in an attempt to be understood. It was difficult, but we managed.
San Remo is lovely, I must say. It is a pleasant town to explore. There are signs pointing out the directions to places everywhere; city planners ensure that you have to be pretty thick�or illiterate�to get lost.
Well, time to head back to France and perhaps have another dip in the ocean this evening. And besides, this Italian keyboard is confusing to use. Heh.
Buongiorno!
� M.E.M.
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Copyright � 2001-2007 by M.E. Manning. All material is written by me, unless explicitly stated otherwise by use of footnotes or bylines. Do not copy or redistribute without my permission.
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