June 9: Lido di Nazione

Luca picked us up and we went for a quick coffee and pastry. We then went to a mountaineering store so he could get some boots for his upcoming climb up Mt. McKinley.

We stopped at the country house to pick up Micol, who is now 4 years old. I gave Micol the gifts we had brought for her (a doll in Burano and a Swatch from the US). Micol and I sat in the back seat reading Il Piccolo Principe all the way to his folks house. She was quite attentive, considering she's only 4! She was also very good at correcting my pronunciation when I stumbled over a word.

We arrived at his folks' house. I had met his parents before, but Kurt had not. His parents are very young and fit, probably from playing a lot of tennis! His mom used to be a school teacher, and was very good at speaking slowly which was a big help for me. His dad loves to talk politics, and he also knows a little bit of English, so we were able to have a deeper conversation this time than last time I was there.

His mom made us a fantastic lunch which included a delicious piatto of spaghetti con vongole. After lunch Micol, Kurt, Luca and I headed over to the beach. Lido di Nazione is just south of Venezia and Chioggia, and is thus on the Adriatic. The water was warm and Micol had a lot of fun running around in the water.

After the beach we went to visit his Dad's tennis club. Roberto and the fellow that managed the club were there. We visited for a while, and then returned to the beach house after visiting another church.

We drove home, and Kurt and I went shopping in downtown Ferrara (I had to find the shoes to match the dress). I was unable to find the shoes in the correct color, but we had a nice time strolling around town until the shops closed. We walked back to the house and Luca took us out to his favorite gelato place for a gelato. It was very good.

By now we were pretty tired, so we returned home to get our stuff organized to leave tomorrow.