Day 71: Beach Bums

I love unexpected surprises -- like when you're folding your jeans after washing them and discover a $20 bill in the back pocket or when you go to buy something and when it's rung up you discover the item is on sale -- surprises always make your day brighter and happier. Well, today our surprise made us tanner and more relaxed. Why? Because our scheduled field trip to Anzio, Italy took about 30 minutes and the rest of the day was ours to lay on the beach! Surprise!!

Another surprise we all loved was that the bus didn't leave until 10:00 a.m! The big blue Smile bus felt like a HoHo (hop on hop off) today because we brought Marco along for our trip and the entire bus ride he was giving us his commentary. He would tell us exactly the road the Allies marched on and where the battles were fought - the amount of information he knew was mind blowing. As I said before, Anzio is a town on the coast of the Lazio region of Italy and is most well known for it's military significance as the lading spot for the Allies in WW2. And Marco basically watched it all happen from his front porch, so he knew everything. When we were driving it was crazy to think we were on the same roads as these brave soldiers were. It's hard to wrap my mind around.

So we got to Anzio in about 30 minutes and Enrico drove us to our one and only school stop for the day -- The American War Cemetery. It is actual American soil so we were pretty pumped about that. We kept asking "Do they have ice here? Free water? Chik-fil-a?" -- if these reactions are any indication of how we are going to be when we get back to the U.S., we're going to go bizerk!

We toured the cemetery and it was one of the prettiest cemeteries I've ever seen. It's probably because they groom the lawn every day and it costs at least $2 million dollars a year to maintain. It better look good for that money! Marco left us after our walk through and then we loaded the bus to go to the beach.

{Some pictures from the cemetery}

I gave my Expert of the Day on the short bus ride (Peek wasn't there to listen, but I got a "very good" from Cinzia). The bus dropped us off and the group who didn't pack their lunch went to find somewhere to eat. We stumbled upon a Doner Kebab stand (Italian for a Greek gyro) and got us something to eat. Delicioussss! Even though we don't have very long left in Italy, we still appreciate a meal that is not pasta or pizza.

{Stacy and I enjoying our Panina (as it is called) at a little restaurant in Anzio}

After or gyro we walked to the beach, marked our spot with our towels and started our surprise afternoon of basking in the sun. Now, you must know I'm a beach bum. I could lay out on the beach for hours and not get bored, one of my favorite sensory memories of summer is the smell of Coppertone sunscreen and there isn't any hair product in the world that can do what the sea spray of the ocean does to your hair. I love it all (even the sand)! So my afternoon consisted of rotating between reading my book, listening to this new CD I got in Milan and sleeping. It was absolute heaven! The Italian sun was very strong so I did have to venture down to the sea for a cool off dip a time or two. Each time I stepped in the water I was taken aback -- it was freezing! At home in the month of July I am used to the lake and the ocean feeling like bath water -- not this cold temperature! But I did the "1, 2, 3 go!" and ducked under to cool off. It felt so good! It made me cool enough to go back to my towel and lay out for another hour or so.

We were there from 12:30-3:30, and when 3:30 rolled around I wasn't ready to leave. So unless I wanted to be stranded in Anzio all day, I had to reluctantly pack up my beach bag and head back to the bus.

{Here are some scenic shots of the beach at Anzio}

You know how the sun drains you and a day on the beach makes for the perfect afternoon cat nap? Ok well my cat nap happened on the bus, which is a miracle considering how Enrico drives like he is Dale Earnhardt! My nap made for a quick bus ride, so we were back to the palace in no time. With free time starting at 4:15, we had a lot of time on our hands again! Most of us started our Capstone Project that is due next Monday -- a 12-15 page paper. Joy joy. Let me tell you how far I got... I wrote Introduction. That's all. I had a writer's block before I had even started writing! So I waved the white flag, gave up and went to procrastinating the rest of the night :)