Ma's and the beach = relaxation to the extreme

It's seems like its been longer than it actually has since I last wrote. I am now at Luca's home in Bologna, Italy. Let's rewind a bit so that I can tell you what i've been up to.

Wednesday afternoon I took the train with Quitterie and her friend Marie to
Ma's house. She took us up to her house (about 20 min away up in the hills). There were a bunch of cousins there because Ma takes care of one family of cousins on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. It was great to see them all. This bunch I didn't know too well, but one of the other cousins, Jean Gualbert (Babert), who I got along with really well last time was also there. After dinner Quitterie, Marie, Babert and I all played outside for a bit because it we could and it was great weather. Thursday we took a trip to Lourdes (about an hour away). This is a big pilgrimage site for Catholics and Ma works there often. We were all enlisted to address envelopes to bishops from around the world who had visited in the last 3 years. We were inviting them to come in September when the pope will be there. The kids got lost on our walk to lunch which let us explore a bit. Then Babert and I did the touristy stuff and he was a great guide since he's been there many times. Friday we just hung out at the house. I helped collect potatoes and plums from the garden and make lunch. In the afternoon I went for a long walk and then visited the neighbor to see her cows (including a week old calf), chickens, and pig. The Montpellier cousins arrived Friday night for the weekend. This family (Babert's family) includes 5 kids ages 18, 16, 14, and 12 year old twins. I had a long talk with the oldest about life, society and politics which was fun.

Saturday was my train day. I ended up being on trains for 25 hours including a bit of a delay. I took a 6 hour train from Tarbes (ma's) to Paris, then my night train from Paris to Bologna was 3.5 hours late. I met a bunch of Americans and we passed the time with ease. My first night train
went smoothly and I slept well enough. I made a connection from Bologna to the beach town where Luca's grandma has a house and he picked me up from the
station. His grandma is very nice. She doesn't speak English, but speaks French, so we used that to communicate. We spent most of our time hanging out at the beach with other kids, playing pingpong and beach volleyball or reading at the house. It was very relaxing. We've just arrived in Bologna and he has a very nice apartment in the center of the city as far as I can tell. It seems like we'll be going out for real Italian pizza tonight!