The morning greeted us in a beautiful way when we woke but we had read the weather forecast. Rain was due about noon. The weather gave us a clear allowance until about 1 pm. This gave us a chance to catch up on email in no hurry, get dressed and walk down the tall hill for lunch at the Restaurane Elite. It's at the foot of our hill and was highly recommended. We were ravenous, at least, I was. We took the easy way out and ordered from the simplified menu. Stan asked for mussels and fried symphony of the sea (shrimps and calamari); I chose minestrone, swordfish and salad. We both had insalate mista and shared a half carafe of white wine. It was all we had hoped for. It was soooooo good, soooo fresh and so Italian. Toward the end of our meal, the weatherman checked in on us. Our table was next to the window. Rain drops began to fall. By the time we ended our meal, rain was coming down full force. We lingered over our last tidbits and our wine. The rain continued.

When the food and the wine were gone, we thought about walking to the bus centre and simply board a bus to see some other sights. We started walking. By the time we reached the bus centre, our feet were soaking wet, completely drenched! My shoes where squeaking with the intake and out-take of water. We are good sports indeed. But we are not fools. We walked back to our cute, cozy little house, and figured out how to dry our shoes, socks and pants. On our walk back up the hill I snatched some cuttings of red and green tiny succulents from the planter on the wall below our apartment. I hope they will live until I can re-plant them in Atlanta. What a wonderful momento they might be!!! If these plants live I will share sprouts with everyone.

We cranked up the radiators and turned on the hair dryer to dry our clothes and shoes. Then we logged on and watched three episodes of The Good Wife. I am truly sad to leave this place. It has shown us the best and worst of itself. What a wonderful place!!! But heavy rain and all, today was a rare, fantastic, miraculous day.

Arrivederci, Italia! Until we meet again, Italy! Bon jour, France!!