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August 18

I woke up to the sound of water running through the pipes. I figured it had to already be morning because someone was taking a shower but it was pitch black. And then I remembered I was in the basement and there were no windows down there. Every time I stay at the house in Wurmlingen, I sleep in the basement. The temperature is cooler and perfect for the summer.

Sadao returned the senior-citizen-mobile in the late morning. I practiced a bit and got ready for our trip to Lecco. The plan was to drive Jim’s car and meet Federico in Italy who was coming from Switzerland.
As Jim was backing out of the garage, I spotted a dent on top of the trunk. As the black Honda Accord exposed itself further into the daylight, it revealed its scars from a major hailstorm. Jim said the size of the hail ranged from golf balls to baseballs. He watched from a cafe in Trossingen as rows of parked cars got battered and shattered.
And upon a second glance, the Accord resembled a golf ball with all its dents. The good news was that the vehicle was more aerodynamic now. Here we come Autobahn!

We hit 210 kph with the remodeled Accord. This was more like it! Within the hour, we crossed the border into Switzerland. The air seemed immediately sweeter from all those wonderful chocolates the country boasts of and that’s exactly what we bought when we stopped for gas. I knew we were driving through the Alps but I couldn’t see it in front of us. Shouldn’t we be able to see one of the largest mountains in the world? Jim explained to me that the road was on a slow incline and we would be in the middle of the Alps before we knew it. Sure enough an hour later we were all singing, “The hills are alive with the sound of music…”
There weren’t any snowcapped peaks but the enormity of the mountains and their reflections against the expansive lakes were breath taking.
The other awesome part of this drive was man made. Switzerland boasts the 3rd longest tunnel in the world at just under 17 km. It’s called the St. Gotthard tunnel and one should think twice before going in if they have Closter phobia since it takes about twenty minutes to drive through.
When we got to the proverbial “light at the end of the tunnel”, we decided to take a break at the next rest stop. The St. Gotthard acts as a divider between the German-side of Switzerland and the Italian-side. In fact, on the other side, it’s called the San Gottardo. Sadao noticed that the atmosphere at the rest stop was already different. People were speaking Italian for one but they were also more affectionate and the salami looked fresher in the ready-made sandwiches.

We crossed the border into Italy and arrived in Lecco shortly after. It’s one of the many towns surrounding Lake Como. We had a nice meal at the hotel that evening and went to bed.

-Yosuke Kawasaki


（訳文）

８月１８日

パイプを流れる水の音で目が覚めた。誰かがシャワーをしているから、朝だろうと思ったが真っ暗闇だった。そこで思い出した。私は地下室にいるのだ。そして、ここには窓がない。ヴルムリンゲンの家に泊まる時はいつも、私は地下の部屋を使う。気温が涼しく、夏には完璧だ。

禎夫はその朝遅くに、‘シニアシチズン携帯’を返した。私は少し練習して、私たちのレッコまでの旅の準備をした。ジムの車でイタリアまで行き、スイスから来るフェデリコに会う予定だ。
ジムがガレージからバックで車を出し始めると、私はトランクに凹みを見つけた。黒のホンダのアコードが日にさらされて出てくると、大きなひょう害にやられた傷があらわになった。ジムによれば、ひょうの大きさはゴルフボールぐらいのものから野球ボールぐらいのものまであったそうだ。トロッシンゲンの喫茶店で、何列もの駐車した車がひょうに打たれ、ぼこぼこになるのを見ていたらしい。もう一度見ると、アコードは凹みのいっぱいあるゴルフボールのようだった。良かったのは、ぼこぼこだが空気力学的には良くなっていることだ。さあ、アウトバーンだ！

改造アコードで２１０キロを出した。いいぞ、その調子だ！１時間もせずに私たちはスイスに入る国境を越えた。空気は突如として甘くなった。この国の誇る、チョコレートの数々のすばらしい香りだ。ガソリンスタンドに停まり、私達はもちろんチョコレートを買った。