Our Party Will Be On the Beach Tonight

September 3, 2010

The last time I was in Cinqueterre, I was full of ambition. A day after hiking between the towns, I went on a journey up through the hills above Riomaggiore, hiking up nearly vertical hills to the highway and then walking many kilometers to the next town, running through leaky tunnels, dodging cars.

On this trip, I woke up late, and got an omelette (savory crepe with ham and cheese) at Bar Centrale, before wandering slowly around town, and dropping by the internet cafe to update blog and find itinerary for tomorrow's trip to Florence.

I walked down to the marina (a much different place during the day than during the night, I've noticed), laid down my towel (which I use as both a beach towel and a shower towel -- gross!) on the rocks, and sat for a bit before cautiously stepping in the water. The large stones under the water were difficult to step on, slippery sometimes with moss, so I tread carefully. Again, no sunscreen for at least an hour in direct sunlight and no tan or burn to be found. The crowd on the Cinqueterre beach was not quite as pretty as that on the San Sebastian and Barcelona beachs -- lots of oldish, very wrinkly Italians, baking in the sun, and younger guys in much too small bathing suits with big gold crosses around the neck. I went back to the dorm and took a nap.

And woke up feeling fresh for dinner. Another plate of spagetti, took along the book My Stroke of Insight by Dr. Jill Taylor (about the brain surgeon who had the stroke and lived not only to tell the tale, but explain the process in terms of neuroanatomy -- her specialty), and read for a few hours (including news article on my Blackberry), until people started showing up that I knew, and "partied" with some Americans and Italians until late in the night. Strangely enough, was somehow invited to hang out with a group of mostly Italians out by the beach in near total darkness, listening to mostly Italian music. The night sky was dark, and all the stars could be seen clearly. Two months into my trip, and I'm on the beach at night in this tiny town in Italy looking at the stars. How far away is this from the highlands of Iceland, Irish bars in Copenhagen, BBQs in London, or the opera festival in Savonlinna, Finland?

Jonathan Richman -- Our Party Will Be On the Beach Tonight