Moonlit Excavation
Trip Start
May 28, 2008
1
54
60
Trip End
Aug 26, 2008
Rimini, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Monday, August 18, 2008
Each attempt I made at reserving a room was unsuccessful for one reason or another. I finally secured something through a booking service, and even that was cancelled a day later. I simply couldn't believe I could handle every city from Ulaan Bataar to Venice, but that Rimini was somehow getting the best of me.
Ultimately, I decided to stay our first night in San Marino, giving me an arrival day in Rimini to sort out accommodations locally for the following night. I would gladly have stayed a second night at our hotel in San Marino, but we needed to wake up in Rimini to make an early train for our next westbound connection.
Rimini is a major Italian seaside resort, marketed as the epicenter of the Adriatic Riviera. The stretches of beach here are insanely developed with private hotel umbrellas and deck chairs 50 deep from boardwalk to water and extendnding literally for kilometers in both directions across some of Italy's best known beaches. More hotels per square meter than anywhere else on our trip, and none of them wanted us!
My plan worked on arrival, and an agent in the local tourist office was able to call around and find us a room, so I put a deposit down on the spot. The bad news is we'd need to take the beach bus some distance from the central station, complicating our morning departure, but at least we had a room at last.
I foolishly thought that was the end of the story, but when we arrived later than expected from San Marino the next night, the hotel had already resold our room and was completely full.
After much back an forth in English and Italian, we managed to secure what seemed like the last room in Rimini - a single that they squeezed in an extra bed for us. I'd have taken the space under the staircase at this point, firmly believing that the hotel cartel in Rimini had been notified of our pending arrival and instructed to hide the welcome mat.
So there we were, one block from the beach at night, with two impatient children trying to convince me that we still needed to go to the beach no matter what the hour. I figured they must be right, and that they should get something out of Rimini after all.
I didn't want to take any valuables to the beach at night, so I locked up everything in the hotel and safe, picked up three sets of cheap flip-flops that wouldn't be missed if lost or stolen, grabbed a big bottle of lemon soda, some cups, and headed for the shore with absolutely nothing of importance in hand. Not even the camera (batteries quite dead today, anyway).
How completely refreshing to shuffle down the main beach street after dark, free from cares, and people watch as the hordes of tourists, touts, and locals overrun the bars, nightclubs, and restaurants. When we arrived at the sand, we made note of our location - near tower number 100, no joke - before we disappeared into a giant forest of lounge chairs and sunbrellas in search of the sea.
It's in here somewhere. The Adriatic is big, can't miss it.
We know - we saw it from San Marino. Can't see it from Rimini, but it has be connected to all this sand.... just keep moving away from the sound of nightclubs and it will be -- Eureka! Shoreline!!
The air is warm, the breeze is warm, the moon is full, the water is warm, and the surf is pounding the shore with huge sets of... 4 to 10 inches! Perfect! I find a comfy spot on a waterslide mounted to the end of one of dozens of rental boats beached near the waterline, and now have an impromptu recliner to keep a watchful eye on both delighted children right in front of me.
We aren't the only ones on the beach at night, but the few Italians socializing are far back in the chair forest and we have somehow managed to secure the entire shore of the Adriatic Riviera all to ourselves for as far as the eye can see. With hotel spotlights and a full moon, we can see perfectly.
There's just something special about unstructured play in the sand and water, and I could hardly believe the primal enthusiasm with which Gailen and Stirling suddenly set about excavating and terraforming the beach! I can barely get these two into second gear when racing to make a train connection, but with moonlight, sand, and warm water it looked literally like I was watching two characters in a cartoon on fast forward. Must dig. dig dig dig dig dig dig Need white sand! Bring dry sand!
Construction efficiency was nowhere to be found as the two ran back, forth, and in circles carrying handfuls of sand from over there that just had to be over here, and burrowing moats to nowhere what just had to be built one way and then relocated. These two ran around at the top speed for what seemed like hours, and the concentration and enthusiasm on their faces was astonishing. I swear they were able to dig as fast as any meerkat, marmot, mole, or gopher -- as the never-ending stream of sand arcing up behind them attested.
I tried to figure out how much time had passed as I sipped Italian soda and watched the moon slowly transit across the sky. Wading into the sea periodically to stay awake, I wondered if these two would ever tire out, or at least slow down, while I tried to hang on as long as I could for them.
It was well after midnight by the time I tore them away from the shore, and much later by the time they were showered and in bed. Tomorrow will be hell, I thought, but how often do you get to reshape the Adriatic coast by moonlight?
- Demian
