Bouncing Between France and Italy

The trip, as everyone said it would, is turning out to be great. I get to lay down in school on beds and couches and we stop school around lunch. My parents are having a hard time teaching all three of us, but in the end they’ll manage. Recently I went wakeboarding; it’s my new favorite water sport. We’ve been to some really cool and interesting cities some of which are of historical importance. Speaking of historical importance, anyone who like movies like Dude Where’s My Car should rent and watch Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, a movie about two teens going back through history. I am really getting into and better at soccer. Who knows, maybe I’ll play when I get back. We are going to spend the winter in Gaeta. There’s an American Army Base so there will be kids to make friends with and such. We came to San Tropez for the last race of a big series and saw some of the biggest and nicest sailboats in the world. We also went to Florence and saw all the things there: The Duomo, the David, Piazza della Signioria, and all the other stuff. If you’re interested in a good book you should read Agony and the Ecstasy.

So far we have gone back and forth many times between France and Italy. Though they share a border, I will show you that they are different in many ways. We started in Cap Ferrat, part of France and we liked it there even though we were all in such a hurry to get moving. They had, like all of France, good pastries and bread. The only problem is the beaches are all pebbles, not sand. Corsica was a great place, with fresh, tasty bread and long sandy beaches. A definite plus for France. Sardinia was more crowded, so it wasn’t quite as much fun, and we moved around a lot near the top. Corsica was definitely better than Italy’s island of Sardinia. From there we went to Elba, where the beaches were great but the water was terrible and dirty. A plus for Italy. To mainland Italy. Italy has great Ice Cream, amazing Pizza, and even better Pasta. Italy’s coast was my favorite place yet. The beaches were all long and flat. The only problem, is what we still don’t understand. How can their neighbors, the French, have such good bread, and all the Italians have is stale baguettes? These features put Italy in the lead, and because I like Italian so much more than French (because it’s so close to Spanish) It’s going to be touch for France to catch up. From there we went back to France by way of Monaco. The classiness of the place, the casino, and the great cars, gain a little ground for France, but wait, Monaco’s its own country. France gains no ground. From there we went to VilleFranche. Here is where the Giants started winning in the post-season, so the French gain some ground out of pure dumb luck. San Tropez, where we are now, has almost brought French back to even. We’ll be here almost a week and we have seen some cool things. We saw hundreds of beautiful classic sailboats that were here for the last race of an ongoing tournament. Everything here is cool, the beaches, good food, good weather, and the best ice cream yet. So a slight advantage to Italy, but not enough to say they win. Oh, wait a sec. I forgot to tell you about the citadels all over France. They are huge forts built high up on hills in the middle ages. Game, Set, Match. Italy wins. You have to walk up hundreds of stairs to get to the citadel.

Here are some things I’ve written in my journal over the last month. (Edit: these updates can be found in September 5, September 6, September 10, September 10, September 13, September 22, September 30 posts)

Goodbye and have a nice day,
Danny Zuckerman
Owner of San Francisco Giants
Former 12 time MVP second basemen for the San Francisco Giants
By courtesy Head of Stanford University
(I wish!!!)