slowing down in san remo

To start, let me tell you a funny story. I Google image-searched for a picture of La Pigna, hoping to find the cute map that we used during our visit. No maps, but I scrolling through their first page of offerings I saw a picture of David Bowie. "What?" I thought, "How do these two things fit together? What awesome person did this?" When I clicked on the image, it took me to my blog post from two days ago (my link near the labyrinths).

I realize that this makes it less awesome & more sad that I would be drawn to the same Bowie picture twice...

So what this all means is that I failed at finding a picture of the map. In normal circumstances, I would scan the picture in & have nothing to whine about. As it is, I'm whining. I can't show you how La Pigna was set up, & I'm struggling to explain how we spent our vacation in Italy.

Joe called it early on. "I think this will be mostly a food adventure," he said. And it was. Oh, it was, and it was glorious–pizzas, pasta with pesto & nuts, more olives than any one person should consume, mussels dyed red from their sharp tomato sauce. But I worry talking about this, because I've reread the image I've painted so far. And it's true: Most of our time was spent (1) reading in the hotel, by the sea or at a café (2) sitting at a restaurant or café consuming something. For the first time in Europe, on this visit or my trip in 2008, I felt like I was really on vacation. I thanked God for having my first vacation with my husband be in Italy.

There is a feeling of obligation, when you come to Europe with a group of other foreigners, that you will see all of the countries, all of their biggest cities. You will take pictures of each big thing & prove that you were there. You stop traveling for yourself & start traveling for others–to say you've done it. I admit it: I was starting to feel this, too.

Joe & I are on a limited, limited travel budget to keep ourselves ahead in other parts of our lives. We see our friends taking trips to ten countries at a time, from Rome to Barcelona to Zurich to Prague... & it starts to feel like we haven't done anything, like we're not doing what we're supposed to. When we told people we were going to San Remo–not Rome or Florence or Venice–they were surprised. What will you do there?

This can be a legitimate question. If you're on a tight schedule, you're better off having four days in Rome & two in San Remo. You don't need the time to see the city in the way you need five days just to hop between popular attractions in the big guys like Paris. When we were there, we were bustling, & we had to force ourselves to slow down & take time to just be in the city. We didn't want that again, didn't want to be surrounded by tourists & attractions for four days.

We also had a very special reason for going to San Remo. As I've mentioned, Joe's favorite author was from there. For us, this trip was about stepping into that way of life, letting it wash over us like the warmth after drinking half a bottle of wine–or, at times, like the chill of dropping your feet into the braking sea.

On our way to our hotel, an Italian woman stopped to ask us a question. As she crossed the street, she was shouting farewells & funny bits of broken English to continue our conversation. This doesn't happen in France. People don't talk on the sidewalk unless they really know you, & when you part you don't continue the conversation in a crowd of other people. I quickly understood that this was how San Remo worked. There were tourists, but the town showed no real difference in their treatment of them. I felt like I could easily belong to San Remo.

The town, to an extent, relies on its tourism. The casino & the old part of town are its biggest draws, but you don't see the casino-goers out in the town much. The visitors to the old part of town often come in tour buses & travel as units. This means that when you're out, you're more likely to be surrounded by Italians at home than fellow travelers. This, to me, is perfect.

We felt truly immersed in Italian culture & got to know the history of San Remo & the present face of it rather well. I know that I could never have felt this was in Rome after four days; I would never have let myself spend an afternoon at a café instead of in the next museum. I wouldn't have had as many awkward moments where we weren't sure if English would work. I wouldn't have felt that, if we moved here, it would feel like home in no time.

So with this post, I say goodbye & give thanks to San Remo. I keep clicking through the pictures, holding onto the weightless happy we had there. We have four more months of adventure, & our next one is in the making...

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