Leaving Nice and on to Badesi, Sardinia

Well, as anticipated, internet access is quite limited, so I'm at Internet Point in Valledoria. I had put the following on a card, and was able to copy it from that. I actually came over here yesterday, and wanted to use my computer, but he said it has no anti-virus, which is because I get it from Comcast. Anyhow...not sure when I'll be back!

August 31st

Well, I did have visions of sitting on the free, very rocky beach at Nice again, but Gloria suggested a museum. (Neither materialized.) Two Turkish students from her English class were coming to lunch. She did some packing first, and I went across the street to McDonald’s, since “trying” to get a signal to go on-line was getting old….After they left, we went to get a gelato, and enjoyed the famous Promenade des Anglais and the last walk along the beach. Gloria loves Nice, as she lives in a small town the rest of the year. She treated me to dinner at the Hippopotamus, which is the same place where Melissa and I had our first meal last year. (NOT great-sort of along the lines of the 99!) Service was dreadful. The plus is that we sat outside; there were two other tables of two alongside ours, so Gloria could talk with them, as they all spoke French. Getting salt and pepper and oil and vinegar at these restaurants is difficult sometimes. So we borrowed the salt and pepper from the next table, only to discover there was no salt in the shaker. (The waitresses were all overworked and NOT too happy to help any of us!) After we were through eating, I looked down on the ground and saw a pile of salt plus the stopper! Earlier I had seen our neighbor bang the salt shaker on the ground, and instead all the salt came out. OK! Guess you had to be there, but it was FUNNY!
September 1,2010
I didn’t sleep well, but I don’t usually sleep well, when I have to get up to leave…While my flight wasn’t until 11:10AM, I wanted to get to the airport in PLENTY OF TIME. Well, I was awake at 5:30, and off to the train station (ONLY across the street next to McDonalds) to catch the 6:25 bus to the Nice Airport, a mere 20 minute ride. OF COURSE, I couldn’t check in for my Air France flight back to Rome, until 2 hours (to the EXACT minute, as I tested). Arrived back to Fiumicino on schedule, and then I had decided to take an airport shuttle to Ciampino to fly to Alghero, Sardinia. This was really an extravagance at €45, since there were other ways to go from “A” to “B”, but I REALLY had no interest in missing the plane to the island! So once again, I had plenty of time to “enjoy” hanging around an airport?!
I had written earlier about HOW CHEAP Ryanair flights are….Ah, the proverbial “you get what you pay for! First of all, checked bag-ONE only-is supposed to weigh less than 15kg (33 lbs.), and the ONE carry-on (to include purse, etc.) is supposed to weigh less than 10kg (22 lbs.) I knew this, so I was prepared. (This sure does insure you buy nothing extra or throw things out along the way!) My checked bag weighed a few ounces over 15, and she didn’t charge me. I’d read that it was £10 (maybe $7.50?) for every kg over! I had a big salad with tuna and large water for lunch (€9.10). I still had lots of time, but went over to the gate, where they weighed my carry-on at 8.6kg. (Whew! Sure it felt heavier than 18.92 lbs!)
Second point is that Ryanair assigns no seats, so it is “first come, first serve”! I wondered how many people would be flying to Alghero, one of the three bigger airports on the island. Well, there looked to be a full plane when everyone lined up to take the shuttle bus out to the plane. Plane was clean; trip was uneventful-one hour plus. ALL food was sold, including €3 for bottle of water. Luckily I opted for €1.50 Snickers bar, as that was pretty close to what consisted of dinner….
Rented a two door Lancer from Hertz, and I was off…I hoped. (Of course, the car has a manual shift, as automatic shifts are WAY more expensive over here. As I was leaving, I couldn’t shift it into reverse, so I had go BACK in and ask for help! You have to push the handle down when you want to put it into reverse.) UNFORTUNATELY the directions were poor, so it took me three hours. (In Rome, I had tried to use the Garmin GPS I’d bought, but it wouldn’t pick up the satellite. Many emails to Garmin plus Gloria called Milan, and it still didn’t work. So I didn’t even try it-didn’t even think to.... ) I ended up going into Sassari, a city of sorts, so getting out was the trick. Anyhow, I arrived fifteen minutes after Luisella had sent me an email saying they were worried about me.(The road is quite hilly and narrow.) It didn’t seem to make sense to call until I got to where they were supposed to meet me. So about 9:10 I pulled into the SISA supermercato parking lot. They were here in seconds, and the irony of it-for those of you who know that I do like grocery stores-is that the apartment is just above the SISA parking lot! The exchangers are Luisella, a schoolteacher, and Piero, an engineer; they were very nice! (They usually rent this apartment and have some Brits coming to one nearby on the 11th.) They had bought some fruit, milk, juice, and bread, so I didn’t starve last night!

September 2, 2010
I woke at 9:10, which was amazing….I’ve been grappling with a cold, so it was good to sleep. Of course, after I had tea and some of the cookies(Papassinos Glassati-probably a kind of biscotti with frosting) that Luisella had brought. TASTY!!!
My first project was to do some washing. Experienced as a I am now after Rome and Joan’s in Paris and last summer, it wouldn’t work! I knew that Luisella and Piero were going off today for a few days, so I got them just in time. (They are due in Weston on September 9th.) The problem was that the door wasn’t closed tight enough. DUH! When they were here, Piero said, “Don’t be surprised if you hear a sound outside in the night, it is a wild boar!” (There are actually not a lot of windows to the outside, as there is only one bedroom, and there is air-conditioning. I’ll never hear it, unless I’m sitting outside at night, and we know what happened the last time I sat outside having a glass of wine on a house swap!)
So today was grocery shopping, laundry, and some exploring. There is a lovely beach here which I will go to another day. This is really beautiful country, albeit a bit desolate. I could see the farmlands from the plane….It is quite hilly; I’m not sure how high the hills are, but sometimes I feel like I’m driving in the canyons of California. (What is the difference between a mountain and a hill?)
I went into the pool a few times; there are very few people here in this small complex-maybe twenty units, and , of course, they all speak Italian. I drove over to Valledoria, where I was told they have internet cafes, but I didn't try too hard to find. (Again I reflect on the bards of old who had NO internet, etc. to follow their travels!) On my way over-it is about 7 km-I had noticed several little “farm stands”. So on the way back, I stopped at several. At the first one a little Italian man-maybe 5’-came out; he hugged me and kissed me; LUCKILY another customer came who did speak some Inglese-used to work for Sears in the states-and he rescued me. I bought an onion, a clove of garlic, and two small zucchinis for €1. He added some fresh basil and parsley! He tried to sell me a jar of artichokes in oil for €10, but I passed. At the second stand I bought two red peppers for .63; there was a little girl there that I tried to talk to, but guess she’s not working too hard on her Inglese!
I did want to have a gelato-guess it is good I had all that I did in Rome and Nice-as I found none. I really not only wanted the gelato, but also I had found in Rome that the little plastic cups make GREAT ice cube trays. I was also looking for peanut butter…well, there was no room in my suitcase! No Luck. However, when I left the supermercato parking lot-another one-I took the wrong turn, so I was on my way to St. Theresa di Gallura. DEFINITELY not where I wanted to go. So I had to go up to Isola Rossa JUST to turn around!
I did figure out how to turn the TV on, but can only get one talk show, so I’m CERTAINLY enjoying my Kindle! I actually am now reading Around the World in 80 Days ,which I had never read! It was a freee download, so I have plenty to read. I also bought a Barbara Taylor Bradford book in Nice, as I don’t want to take the Kindle to the beach or pool. Ciao and Bonna sera!

September 3rd

I was off to the wonderful sandy beach, which was not crowded by 11. You pay an attendant .50 per hour you plan to stay, then you scratch off the ticket the year, month, date, and time you arrived-like a lottery ticket. I paid for three hours, but only stayed for 2 1/2 hours, since it got windier and windier. I went intot the water when I arrived sans "lovely" beach shoes, as it is nice sand-not black like Ostia had been-or rough like Nice. Looking out at the water, it really was like a greenish blue. There weren't many people left on the beach when I left!
I found a Larsson paperbook (about Lisbeth Salander), whose title I cannot remember, and that kept me entertained until after midnight.

Today....up early to iron and come here...will go to Sassari to see what can find there! I'll see Luisella and Piero on Sunday before they leave for 02493.
Well, I just tried to download some pictures with no luck. IF Luisella does bring her computer tomorrow, maybe I'll have luck then. CIAO!:))