Riding with Cosimo, custom cycling tours in Tuscany: Day at the beach in Forte dei Marmi

Yesterday, Emily and I went to see Kate and the kids at the house they are renting / sharing in Forte dei Marmi, a beach town on the water, about a half hour from Pisa by train. Em and I were on the train at 7 am, and Kate picked us up at the station in Forte dei Marmi around 8:45, a pretty easy travel. We went to their house, basically just got on the bicycles they have rented, and rode to the beach. They belong to a beach club, as different clubs have different areas they control, and each member has a cabana, changing area, etc. There is also a good restaurant at the beach club, where we had lunch, then at the end of the day a glass of wine before we left.

We had a great day at the beach! We spent most of our time in the water, it is still quite hot here, and the water felt great. Viola continues to make great strides in the water with us, and Vittorio is relatively fearless as long as every so often someone throws him up in the air - one, two, three. By the end of the day Viola was quite happy with herself as she walked / bounced in the water with the waves coming up to her chin or occasionally higher. We played games in the water, built sand castles, a bath tub in the sand, buried Ludovico (Viola and Vittorio's cousin) in the sand, ran around and generally just had a great time. We left the beach after a glass of wine around 7, and rode back to the house, then Kate took us to the train station where we took the 7:49 train back to Firenze. We had a really fun day - thanks Kate! Sometimes you have these moments when generational changes meet, and there were times yesterday when that happened for me. Viola and Vittorio were so much like Kate and Ben at the beach when they were young, and to see Kate giving them that same experience brought tears to my eyes. Happy tears.