A Little of This and That

I went for a long, long walk today, so long that my thighs hurt. I am slowly venturing off my island and into the surrounding city. I saw a really interesting looking church with a huge green dome, however I was disappointed to find it wasn't open as I would like to have gone it for a visit. Instead I walked along the river under a leafy canopy of trees, then back across a pedestrian bridge lined with planters of lush flowers to my island.

This week I met a Japanese man at the coffee shop named Toru. He is my age with long, salt and pepper hair tied back in a bandanna. He is traveling in Europe for the first time and his wife has been hospitalized with pneumonia for the past week. What a way to spend a vacation! He went on to tell me he has been sightseeing alone and was really amazed by the astronomical clock in the cathedral, which prompted him to write a short story about a man in circumstances very similar to his own culminating in him have a sexual dream about a French lady at his hotel. Fortunately, he didn't give me any details about the dream!

To combat the cooler temperatures, and so that I could return Francoise's wooly neck-wrap, I walked to the mall and bought a very lightweight scarf of my own. The first I ahve had in about 20 years! It's off white so will go with the gloves I brought with me and has tiny, silvery threads which give it a subtle shimmer in certain lights. Also, I bought myself a pair of long, brushed silver earrings, rather old-fashionedand lacy in style, which end with a glittery, light gray teardrop crystal. I am wearing bigger earrings with my shorter hair and I wanted something special to remember Strasbourg by. The shop where I bought them, Olivine Bijoux, has wonderful, very feminine jewelry displayed in tall, glass cases backed with mirrors. A very girly shop! I found a ring I like, with a pink tourmaline and two pearls, but it was out of my price rage, so I settled on the earrings.

I borrowed my landlord's phone last night to call Maria to make sure she is going to be able to pick me up from the Camucia train station in two weeks. I dialed and dialed and dialed and had the hardest time reaching Italy. Eventually I looked up dialing information online and found I had been dialing incorrectly, so I tried again, and at last was successful. The connection, however, was terrible and we were cut off twice. Not being entirely sure she understood my arrival time, I emailed her daughter, Laura, and asked her to relay the information. Laura is a singer and composer and the other day I looked at her MySpace page and listened to some of her original music. I will place a link on the blog so anyone interested can listen to Laura. There are some lovely pictures of her as well.