8/05 GIBRALTAR - the entrance to the Mediterranean
We have finally made it to Gibraltar. We are
docked here, our first real Med mooring. It wasn't as difficult as I had imagined. I guess I frequently
imagine things as worse than they are. We walked into the main street of the town and it was just packed with shoppers.
There was a cruise line in and I guess that means shopping. Our shopping meant the cruising guide to Croatia and trading
used books. The books are always exciting for me. We went grocery shopping. Gibraltar is British and it
made it interesting to go into the grocery store. I got pork pie for dinner and Glenn got a Ploughman's lunch. We
also bought Scottish eggs. They are eggs, ham, and mayonnaise rolled into a ball covered with bread crumbs.
They make a nice healthy snack to bring in our backpack.
We went back to the boat for our dinner and ate it to the
accompaniment of an Irish pipe being played by a man two boats over. It was so pretty to sit in the cockpit, look at
the beautiful scenery with lovely music in the background. The Irish pipe is like a Scottish bagpipe but smaller, it
is pumped under the arm.
8/6 MORROCO
Up at 5:30 a.m. to be at a corner to be picked up by a bus
to take a ferry to Tanger, Morroco. Our tour guide from Gibraltar is Miguel and we will meet our guide, Rashid, in Morroco.
We had to drive back into Spain to get the ferry. We all had to get out of the bus to cross the border. I was
first in line and the guy said something and pointed down. I thought he was talking about my shoes. We're
all kind of shoe paranoid in the US. He wanted to look in the bag that I was carrying. We first looked at the
beach and some boys came with some donkeys for us to take photos. We passed the houses of the different countries leaders.
Tanger was controlled by 7 countries until 1956 when it joined Morroco. We then stopped to ride some camels. It
was more fun than I expected. I thought that they really swayed from side to side, but it is a lot like riding a horse.
A little bit more difficult to get on and off. We also toured a place called Hercules Cave. It's a cave that
opens up on to the water.
From there we went back into town and got out to walk through some markets.
The dates, figs and almonds looked wonderful. We were walking too fast to get anything. We went to lunch and had
a tomato broth soup, lamb satay, couscous with chicken, onion and raisins, a cookie and mint tea. The mint tea was delicious.
They boiled mint leaves for ten minutes and added honey. The tea had mint leaves in it and it smelled so good.
We had music the entire time. Bathroom experience. I went upstairs to go to the bathroom and the toilet wouldn't
flush. ( no water) There was an attendant there so I went out to tell her and a man and his son were washing their
hands. She was holding a bottle of water and pouring it over their hands so that they could rinse the soap off.
She then handed me the bottle and walked off. Have you ever tried to rinse soap off with one hand? I don't
know if she helped the men because they're helpless or superior.
After lunch we walked through another market
only with a higher quality of leather, carpet, jewelry, etc. The carpets were made from hand knotted wool, and others
of silk. They were absolutely beautiful. The designs and colors were wonderful. From there we went to a
herbalist who was like the local pharmacist. It was interesting and fun. The herbalist asked if we knew what was
used as an aphrodisiac and a woman immediately answered ginseng. He asked how she knew and she pointed to the bench
next to her with four kids on it and said, "Those are mine." There were a lot of jokes going on, he picked
one man and kept looking at him as he talked about herbs that make your husband "not tired."
Every time
we left these shops and walked down the narrow alleys we were ambushed by men trying to sell jewelry, purses, scarves, you
name it. They just followed you and kept on badgering. You could say no 6 times and they kept coming. Of
course, some people say no 5 times and then buy the 6th time so I guess they've learned to not give up.
The
last place we visited was Hotel Continental. I think they said it was built in 1875. It was the hotel in the film
Casablanca. It is in the process of being refurbished. The tile work and ceilings are just out of this world.
The pictures just don't do justice.
We took the ferry back to Tarifa, Spain and the bus back to Gibtaltar, walked
back to the boat and it was 8:30. Quite a day.
8/6 We walked over to the base of Gibraltar mountain
and took the cable car up. Yes, I took the cable car up. We even stopped midway and I didn't puke. It
was the only way up besides a very expensive taxi ride so I just did it. There are tailess apes all over that they keep
telling you not to feed and the guides keep feeding. One of them got a guy's backpack and was sitting up on a railing
at the edge of the mountain with it. Everytime the guy tried to get it the ape bared his teeth at him. Then he
was afraid that it would just drop it over the edge. He finally got it back by being very aggressive.
We
went to St Michael's Cave which is the most magnificent cave we have ever been in. It is so large they give concerts
there. From there we walked to the tunnels which were cut into the mountain and used by the British in 1873 and then
used again in World War II. The day was extremely hot and the tunnels weren't really that much cooler. I can't
imagine the work it took to build them and then live and fight in them. We walked all the way down the mountain and
then fortunately found a series of stairs that went down through the middle of town down to sea level. That saved a
lot of walking and it was neat because it went right between the houses. Another long, tiring day. To me these
are the fun days.
8/7 We fueled and headed for Ibiza, the southern most island of the Balerics. It is
345 miles away. There was too much wind from the east and we had to take shelter midafternoon the next day. We
made it 166 miles of the 345.
8/11-13 IBIZA
We're off again. 49 hours later
we made it. We pulled into a very crowded anchorage and everyone on their boats just sat and watched us. Especially
the guy right beside where we were anchoring. We finally got anchored and decided that it was just too crowded and we
would move over to the next cove. Glenn went back out onto the bow to pull up the anchor and realized our mainsail was
still up. How embarressing. Here we were the only representatives of the US in the harbor and dah. In our
defense we had been sailing for two nights and there was no wind to bother the sail, which had 2 reefs. Strangely, we
have only seen one other US boat this entire time. Portugal was all British and Austrailian. Since then we have
seen a lot of French and German also. Someone mentioned to us that only 10% of Americans have passports. They thought
it was because we were such a big country and we had everything, mountains, beaches, etc. Any way we scuttled out
of there and anchored in the next cove.
8/14 MALLORCA
We started sailing by 4 a.m. to beat the storm
that was headed for Mallorca and supposed to be there by midnight. We didn't want to wait a day for it to get to
us and then another to sit it out. We made it to Pte de Ponca at 7:00 p.m. We spent all of the next day
sitting it out. It's a holiday here so there was partying going on all night. I guess with daylight until
9:30 they have to start late. I've also figured out that they are putting all their play into the summer season.
Living in a place without seasons makes me forget about those things. They Med moor here but boy is it jammed.
There is barely fender space between the boats. I'm surprised the US doesn't do this. You can fit more
than twice as many boats in this way. Another difference that I have noticed here is the VHF radio useage.
We've only had experience with Spain so far but they rarely change from channel 16 to talk. In the US the Coast
Guard is right on you telling you that the station is for hailing and emergencies only. No one says anything here. Plus,
there is very frequently someone (grown men) playing on the radio, calling each other monkies, swearing and making weird sounds.
It goes on so much it's actually annoying. Then there's the couple of times in the night when I heard a ship's
captain yelling at another ship asking if they were awake. "What are you trying to do - run me over?"
That's exciting. This could be happening in the US waters but they've changed channels and I don't hear
it so I feel much better. On the other side is that in the US there are a lot of calls to Towboat US, etc. with boats
asking to be towed, out of gas, dead battery, etc. There is nothing like that here.
8/16
We're
on our way up the west coast of Mallorca to Soller. We are passing the most beautiful scenery. There are a lot
of tall craggy cliffs. It reminds me of Newfoundland, but as Glenn says, "A lot warmer." What
a lovely place Soller is. The mountains around the harbor and the lights of the restaurants at the water's edge and the
houses up in the mountain are just so pretty. The village is just the right size with several small shops and restaurants.
The bathing of the beautiful blonde couple and their two young boys next door did much to help the scenery too. The
European attitude is just so different. The boys were about 12 & 14 and paid no attention to their mother bathing
and shampooing her hair and weren't the least self conscious when they were bathing. I had to go inside (and
look through the salon window) when dad took his turn so he wouldn't catch me staring.
8/17 Today is our
touring day. We dinghied in to the village of Soller and then took a 20 minute tram to the town of Soller where we were
told to go visit the cathedral. We went to church. There were no tours allowed as it was mass so we went in and
sat in one of the back pews. I miss the days when they used to do the mass in Latin. It had even less meaning
for me with the mass in Spanish so we left. We then got a little something in the bakery to tide us over on the long
one hour train ride. I got the most delicious pastry with apple, orange and almond inside. Glenn got pizza.
The train is over a hundred years old in beautifully restored dark wood. It was neat looking inside also. It was
a pretty ride through the mountains and farms. They grow oranges, lemons, olives, and almonds here. We arrived
in Palma with no map and didn't really know where to go. A group of people ahead of us strode forth with definite
purpose so we followed. We tried not to look too obvious which was difficult to do in some of the old, narrow, windy
streets. Two blocks before we got to the sightseeing area we figured out where they were going and managed to get ahead
of them. We're so clever. Well the Cathedral was huge with intricate carving on the outside - and closed.
It was closed for about 4 hours in the afternoon, right when we were there. There was a palace converted into a museum
next door and it was closed. We had expected the shops to be closed since it was Sunday but not the museums. So
we sat on the steps and listened to a classical guitarist playing. We ended up buying his CD. My Spain souveneir.
I got a t-shirt in Portugal. We were on the ocean with a nice breeze and it was really pretty there. We walked
through the old district and stopped for lunch. I had some sangria with my lunch. We strolled back to
the train station and arrived at 3:40 to find that the train had left at 3:30 and not another until 7:30. They were
every two hours until this gap of 4 hours. Now our pleasant, strolling, everything is closed on Sunday day became
a what are we going to do for 4 hours day. We spotted a movie theater and got all excited to find that all of the movies
were in Spanish. Don't say dah. In Portugal we went to an American movie in English with Portuguese subtitles.
These were all American movies but I guess they could afford the dubbed ones.
So we went to Burger King for fries
and a coke to satisfy our liquid, salt need from so much sweating. Okay, they were good!
We strolled
around and finally went back to the train station. Of course, I had to use the bathroom before the long, one hour train
ride. My choice was no light, no seat, no tp or the one I settled for no seat, no tp. There wasn't even a
holder for the missing tp. Add this to my book. You realize all of these visits to the bathroom are research.
8/18
MENORCA
We spent the day sailing to Fornells. The next day we walked the town where we found 2 small markets
and an internet. We seem to spend a good deal of time onshore searching for markets and internet. Our refrigerator
is small and my typing patience is short. We went back to the boat for siesta time and took the dogs on a walk up to
a point. It was hot enough to make them sit down in the shade panting. I had to carry Lucy part of the way.
She isn't in nearly as good a shape as Ricky. She's like me (into resting) and Ricky is like Glenn (go go go).
We went back down the path to this nice little beach and I even got in the water. I had to creep in as it is still too
cold for me. Even Lucy walked in up to the top of her stubby little legs.
8/20 We had planned to stay
another day and walk around the castle on a small island in the middle of the anchorage that had a castle on it but
a good weather window called and Glenn couldn't resist it. So off to Sardinia, a distance of 210 miles or 36 hours.
We are rushing a little as we are hoping to winter in Croatia. We have heard that it is cheaper.
8/21
SARDINIA
We arrived in the port of Alghero at 7:30 p.m. , right on schedule.
8/22 Happy Birthday
Glenn. To celebrate we went to the harbourmaster's office to clear in. It took 1 and 1/2 hours, one hour of
that waiting for the woman to finish her paperwork from the case in front of us. She appeared very stressed as she spoke
little English and we spoke less Italian. But we made it through laughing at the end when trying to get permission for
the dogs to come on shore. All of the paperwork that we had on them and no one looked at it. The captain just
said collar and leash. It has been so easy to get the dogs into all of these countries. All of the paperwork and
testing we went through for them has been ignored. The poor things have 2 microchips and a tattoo on their tummys.
No one has paid a bit of attention. However, Great Britain won't let them in without a 6 month quarantine and Malta will
put them down if you bring them ashore.
We shared a pizza for Glenn's birthday lunch and got an Italian SIM
card for the phone so he could call his kids and allow them to tell him happy birthday. We rested on the boat during
the hot afternoon. We have finally begun to figure out how to live in this extreme heat. We might
as well follow the Med schedule as everything is closed anyway. In the early evening we walked along the shore where
a bunch of tents were set up with all sorts of things for sale. It's so pleasant in the evening with a cool breeze.
We are back to a blanket in bed.
8/23 We had a nice conversation with the owner of the marina here in Alghero.
His name is Federico and the marina is Ser-Mar. We would like to winter here. It is a convenient location for
coming back from Italy, very family oriented and a smaller marina without the restrictions of the large impersonal marinas.
He has managed to find a spot to fit us in. We have found that a catamaran is an inconvenience when it comes to marinas.
It's wonderful at anchorage but the marinas charge at least 50% more than the regular fee. We can't blame them
as we take up two spaces at the dock. The price is reasonable for the Med but twice what we were paying in NC.
It's stressful to think of all that money but it is a huge load off our minds to have the issue settled. Federico
seemed interested in getting to know us as people, not just customers. He invited us to a barbecue at the marina that
night. Now, I know why they are in such good shape. The food was 2 types of eggplant, some pasta, a relish, different
breads, cheese and some salami, tomatoes with mozzarella and basil. The meat was grilled panchetta which was like a
small thin pork chop, one each. We had plenty to eat and it was mostly vegetables. There were also two huge bins
full of wine bottles. We managed to find one person who spoke English and we had quite a nice time.
I have
to mention, at this point, that Italians are very good looking people. I already knew the men were good looking but
the women are so beautiful and dress with such style. I feel so frumpy.
8/24 catch up on cleaning and maintenance.
8/25
time to clear out with customs, fill the water, fuel, food and catch up on the internet. We are off early tomorrow morning.
8/28
CORSICA
We spent three days hopping along pretty little harbors with the mountains behind a lovely beach and then
arrived in Pt Vecchio at around 2:00 and started looking for the port authority so that we could clear in to France.
We walked and asked and got sent to where the ferry comes in and finally after many gestures and few French words managed
to make the nice young man behind the desk understand what we needed. He pointed to a door that led outside and upstairs
to le captainerie. It was closed. We went back to our young man, "ferme" (1/5 of my French vocabulary
gone there). The Gaelic shrug of the shoulders and that was it. We tried. The French courtesy flag was flying
on our boat and we were done.
We had been running into a German couple since Alghero in Sardinia, who wanted to
get together to talk about cruising the USA. We ran into them again at the dinghy dock here in Corsica so we made plans
to meet at 8:30 for drinks. We walked up the road to the citadel and the old town. I thought I would pass out
from the heat and walking up the hill. Show me a town and I will find the cathedral and the citadel up on the hill and
that is the attractive old town area. Unfortunately, the majority of these along the coast have been inundated with
stores and restaurants. The narrow streets and high old buildings are neat to look at but there my interest ends.
So tomorrow we will rent a car and go in to the country. Sorry, I had to stop writing Glenn just called me out for male
nude spotting. He's finally learned my taste. I'm not really interested in nude women or the men's
back. This one was too far away to see anything. Whether that speaks for the man or the binoculars I don't
know.
Where was I? Our German friends. They were at dinner so we joined them for a beer and dessert.
Glenn picked the one with chocolate in the description and I went for something different (unknown). His was great,
mine turned out to be thin slices of pineapple and a small mint chocolate chip ice cream cup. What a disappointment.
I thought I was going for exotic.
8/29 We rented our car, went to the grocery store for French bread, cheese,
ham and drink and a map and headed up the mountains. Glenn found the twisty mountain roads stressful to drive as we
always had someone on our butt as we were going too slow for the locals. He was constantly pulling over to let them
go by. Our first stop was an archaeological site that we walked across a farmer's field to get to. Another
site that we visited later was much larger and very impressive. It was in Filitosa. There was a very impressive
foundation with several huts, a monument and 9 statue menhirs approximately 7 foot stone standing vertically with faces and
weapons carved into them from 8,000 years ago. There was also a 1200 year old olive tree. We went through four
towns on our drive through the mountains and each one was attractive. They are built on the side of steep mountains
with the houses built on terraces on different levels joined by stone steps. The houses are made of granite and look
as if they have been there forever and will continue to be there forever. One town had a single lane road with a stop
light at each end so that you took turns using the road depending on your direction of travel. I finally had a crepe.
In France - I had to have a crepe. I got a chestnut one as that was the speciality of the area. It
was good.
All of the towns on our trips have had church bells ringing throughout the day and it makes such a lovely
sound. We got to hear the French police siren in Corsica and it sounded just like it does in the movies. That
made me really feel like I was in France. Every customer in the grocery store brought their own bags and the cashiers
get to sit on stools. It has been like that since we got to Portugal. I don't understand why cashiers aren't
allowed to sit in the US.
ITALY
9/3 We have arrived in Livorno. This is mainland
Italy. We are there. We plan to spend the month of September in Italy.
The next day we are walking the
town looking for the bus station to take us to the train station to take us to Florence. It is going to be quite a trip
back and forth every day. It's 1 1/2 hours on the train alone. We can't stay there overnight because of
the dogs. We have been walking Livorno looking for the tourist information booth to get a decent map. It is an
ugly town. It has ugly buildings, a lot of closed buildings and traffic is heavy and noisey. We are only here
as a transit point to Florence. We went into a market in a beautiful old building and found a 100 booths selling foods
and clothes. We love the ham in Italy. For some reason it tastes so much better. For one thing it isn't
as salty. The fish section was interesting for the creatures that were sold. Anything goes. When we were
in Alghero the woman behind me in the grocery line had an octopus in her basket. It was in a tray just like we buy our
meat.
9/5 PISA
YES, it's still there. And, yes, it's still leaning. According to the
literature it is permanently fixed at the lean that it has now. It's as much fun watching people posing as if they're
holding it up as it is taking our own photo. We went into Pisa's cathedral. The outside is very impressive.
It was begun in 1064 and it has an absolutely beautiful pulpit. I do have a toilet story. I went to the bathroom
in the train station and it has ultraviolet lights lighting the entire room. It's neat to glow while you pee.
As we were in the dinghy going back to our boat we noticed how rough the water was, our boat was bouncing all over.
And circling our boat with their blue light on was the Italian Coast Guard. I should mention that there weren't
any other boats anchored and Glenn dove our anchor to make sure that it was okay as the bottom was rock and sand. Plus,
the pile of rocks on shore behind us made him a little nervous. They told us they were afraid that our anchor was dragging.
They came on board to check our papers and were very nice and - GOOD LOOKING!
9/6 FLORENCE
The first thing
we did by the time we finally arrived in Florence was sit down on some steps to eat our lunch. We finished lunch and
looked at the building that we were in front of and decided to go in. It was a photo gallery. There were
some really neat photos from around the world. From there we went to the Duomo. It is so magical looking on the
outside. We also went to a perfumery which has been in operation since 1612. You walk in off a narrow street
to these beautiful rooms that back on to a square garden. Saving the best for last we went to Galleria dell'Academia
and there he was. 15 feet tall, made from a single 19 ton block of marble, he is impressive. Michaelangelo carved David
when he was 29. The size of him standing under a light at the end of the hall is awesome. He is huge but there
is such detail. Finally seeing him makes you understand all of the hype. When we got back to the marina we had
our first Italian meal in Italy. I had spaghetti carbonara and it was good!
9/7 Back to Florence we went to
the Medici Chapel and it was awesome. It had the most beautiful granite and marble, reliquaries holding relics of family
members made out of gold and silver with jewels.
From there we went to Palazzo Vecchio which was built from 1298-1314
for the Medicis. It is a series of lavish aprtments filled with statues and paintings. I got dizzy from looking
up at the ceilings. Basilica de Santa Croce had tombs of famous Florentines such as Michaelangelo, Dante, Gallileo,
Marconi, female Bonapartes and five chapels on either side decorated with frescoes.
We walked through the central
market full of stalls with leather bags, belts, coats. It just smelled so good. Everywhere we walked in Florence
we smelled leather. We walked down their legendary fashion street. Store after store of beautiful (read expensive) clothes,
shoes, purses and jewelry remind you just how many famous brand names are Italian. The men and the women in Italy pay
attention to how they look. And they look good. We walked past Ponte Vecchio, a 14th century bridge - the only
one not blown up in WWII. It is claimed that Hitler ordered it to be left alone.
We got back to our rolling
and rocking boat. The waves seem to be higher here than the winds would call for. Around 2:30 in the morning two
ten foot waves, 6 seconds apart, hit us on the beam and broke over the boat. It really pushed us over, books fell off
the shelf, things went flying. It was pretty scarey - and all that while we were at anchorage.
The next day
we sat at anchor waiting for the weather to straighten out and then we left. The worst anchorage we have ever been in.
9/9
We headed south for a couple of days and ended up at the city of Civitivecchia in the Riva di Traiano marina. We will
be here for 11 days. This is a good base for taking the train down the coast.
ROME
9/12 We
walked across the street from the marina to await the promised bus. Which one it was, we didn't know. When
it arrived, we didn't know. And this would be our situation for the rest of our stay. There were schedules
on the bus poles but they were the same schedules on every pole and we didn't even know the name of the stop that we were
at. We waved down the first bus to come by, said, " Stazione di trena?" He nodded yes, we got on.
He let us off at some stop in the middle of town which a woman assured us was the proper stop. We wandered around lost
for awhile, asking everyone "Stazione de trena?" and then finally found a newspaper stand with maps. We backtracked
some of the way we had gone and finally the train station. Onward to Rome! It was an hour's train ride in to the
city which wasn't really bad. We got off within blocks of St Peter's. We had to pinch ourselves, we couldn't
believe we were actually here. I had never, in my wildest dreams, thought that I would be at the Vatican in Rome.
It is impressive to look at. Being good little tourists we got in the first, longest line we could find. It had
to be going somewhere good right? It actually started all the way around the square from the cathedral. We finally
got close to the church and had to go through inspection. Listen to this Janine, your mother failed the dress code.
You aren't allowed to show your shoulders and I had a sleeveless dress on. I put my rainjacket on over my shoulders.
Visualize standing in line in the heat, after it has rained with a windproof jacket on. I felt like I was in a sauna.
Fortunately, as we stood in line we came to a souvenier shop and I went in and bought the one and only shawl in the store
and it was a nice blue that matched my dress. Happy days. We continued along in line and finally found that we
were headed for the cupola of the basilica. There were all sorts of warnings for fear of heights, vertigo, pregnancy,
heart conditions. Well, after all this time in line I was going. So up we went - first an elevator and then 360
steps that ended in winding in a tight circle with your head down. My favorite circumstance. From the inside you
could see the basilica way down below. From there we went outside where we could see all over Rome. We sat on
the roof of the basilica and had our lunch. From there we went down into the church itself. In all of our church
visiting Glenn has been constantly stating that none of the churches compare to the Washington DC National Cathedral.
Well that is over. St Peter's Basilica is beyond imagination. It is so beautiful with it's use of marble
and granite. It has five separate chapels and the Pieta. Just beautiful. From there we went to view the
Vatican Museums. It is room after room of sculptures and paintings, jewellry and tapestry. It covers 5.5 hectares.
Every room has an arrow pointing Sistine Chapel. You keep going and going and still more rooms of art. Finally,
the Sistine Chapel. It is not what I expected. I invisioned a small church (chapel) with a domed ceiling.
Instead it is another rectangular room. It isn't as large as I expected either. It is, however, beautiful.
The portion of God touching Adam's finger is superb. No photos, no talking. So sorry, no photo.
We
took the train back and were sitting at a bus stop and Claudio, an employee of the marina, stopped by and gave us a ride back.
It was lucky for us as we haven't figured out the buses around here.
9/13 Morning finds us sitting at
that same old bus stop with nary a bus in sight and who should appear? - Claudio. How great. Today we are going
to the Colosseum. The metro and bus main terminals are right beside the train terminal. Transportation in Rome
is very convenient, as long as you're not in a car. There are so many motorcycles and tiny cars. The motorcyclists
drive just as crazy here as they do every where else. It's a good thing that there are a lot of motorcycles as that
many cars would never fit on the road or be able to park.
The Colosseum was right across the street from the Metro
station. We went with a guide and it was very interesting. The new emperor built the amphitheater to make the
citizens agree that he was tops. He then had to invite every Roman citizen. He sent an invitation to everyone
with a date and a seat number. The stadium holds 60,000 people on 5 tiers of seating and it took 100 straight days
of games to get everyone in. The animals were pulled up by pulley from the underground rooms to just pop up at any time
and any place as a little added excitement to the games. The games went on all day and the emperor provided lunch.
My guess is that it was most likely barbecued slaughtered beast. As may as 5,000 animals were killed in the first games.
The logistics required to organize these games are just remarkable.
We sat outside the Colosseum eating our lunch
and we saw 7 brides and grooms drive up to have their picture taken in front of the Arc di Constantino, the Colosseum
and just the lovely scenery surrounding the area.
From here we went to Palantine which is a huge area
of excavated palaces and cathedrals. It is here that Romulus killed his brother Remus in 753 BC and founded Rome.
From
there we visited the Capitoline Museums. We found these a little disappointing but the fact that we were tired may have
had something to do with it.
Back at the train station we went to the bus stop with our fingers crossed. 6:30
came and went with no Claudio. When a bus finally came we found that we were at the wrong stop anyway. Back to
the train station, all of the taxis were gone. Finally at 7:30 a bus came to the train station that dropped us off 20
minutes walk from the boat. We made it back to the boat at 8:00 and within minutes a huge storm with thunder, lightening
and 38 KT winds hit. A boat nearby had its sail rip and what a racket it made booming in the wind. Long day!
We
decided to rest on Sunday as it was still rainy and the transportation is less frequent. I don't know how we could
possibly have less frequent buses.
9/15 After waiting 20 minutes for a bus that we weren't really sure was going
to come we decided to walk to the train station. It took 40 minutes and we never saw a bus pass us. We went to
the Pantheon, Rome's best preserved building. We also went to the Time Elevator which was a movie showing 3,000
years history of Rome which really helped me put together everything that we had seen. (I've never been big on history).
It had moving seats, a fan blowing your hair, and a puff up your leg that was supposed to be a mouse. They should get
some lessons from Disney. We also went to Trevi Fountain. It is larger than I realized and pretty neat to be there.
There are plazas with fountains all over Rome and it helps to make it such a pretty city. Today we got smart and just
took a taxi from the train station.
9/16 We saved the best for last. Villa Borghese Museum is what we
had been expecting to see when we came to Rome. The sculptures are all in excellent condition, the rooms are beautiful
and they have some wonderful artwork. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit there. We walked over to the Spanish Steps
just to go there and then went home early.
I should mention here that the trains have been on time to the minute
the entire time that we have been here.
NAPLES
9/18 Up early and on to the train station.
We had an entire 6 seat cabin to ourselves and a very nice 3 hour trip. Our hotel was 10 minutes walk from the train
station. We then walked to the Archeological Museum. Naples is not a pretty city. The streets are narrow
and dirty, the apartments are old with peeling paint. We had already been warned about pickpockets and thieves and the
Mafia is still alive and well. If not for Pompeii we would not go to Naples. The Museum was very interesting and
worth the walk. We found a little restaurant across the street from our hotel and had a pleasant meal there. A
man walked in from the street and started singing Italian songs. The waiter's wife was the hostess and their two
kids were there eating dinner. Most of the customers seemed to be known by the staff. It was really, what can
I say? - Italian!
Back at our room it is a very good thing that they have double windows. There
was a crisscross of about 9 lanes of traffic in front of our hotel with no street light. The buses pulled out into traffic
and then stopped. The horns were blasting until 9:00 when we closed the window so we could hear TV. Our first
English TV - CNN and what did we hear? The stock market had dropped to 10,000, the US financial crisis, other countries
contribute money. I just sat there saying what happened? what happened? Fortunately, we found out after the fact
when things were heading back up so I guess ignorance was bliss. We haven't heard any news the entire time that
we have been here. It's been nice.
9/19 POMPEII
This is what we came for and it is well worth
the trip. The size of the excavation and the condition of the buildings is just astounding. I had no idea that
they were in such good shape. There were floors with mosaic tile designs, walls with their painting still visible on
them, statues still whole and vases and other pottery still in tact. I had honestly not realized how well they lived
2,000 years ago. There were tiles on the counters in the kitchen, private bathrooms and beautiful gardens with ponds
and fountains. The entire atmosphere is just so eerie when you realize that an entire town was there and then buried.
There is still much to be excavated.
Back to our favorite restaurant, this time I had room for desert. I had
tiramisu. I have never tasted anything like what we had here. It was like eating air. Certainly, gone too
soon.
9/20 We walked the streets a little while on Saturday morning with their many stalls and then back to
the train and home. The weather was rainy and it has definitely cooled off. I love it.
9/29 We are back
in Sardinia, tied up to the dock where our boat will be lucky enough to spend the winter. WE have to go back to work.
On our sail over from Italy to Sardinia with an overnight we had another bird on the boat. This one flew right into
the salon. We put a towel on the computer monitor for toe grip and it spent the night. The next morning as we
came in sight of land we let it out. It left a couple of gifts but no thanks. With the amount of birds that have
on our boat in the middle of the water I wonder how many don't find a boat to rest on. I would never have thought
that it happened before.
We will be in NC for October, then back to Florida by mid-November for the birth
of grandbaby number five. Back to work December 1st. Please look for us next spring. We intend to fly back
to the Med, sail Greece, Turkey, Croatia; winter in Spain or England and then keep our fingers crossed to head up the English
Channel and try once again for the Baltic Sea. The third time's the charm.
Love to all.
P.S.
You didn't really think that I was done talking did you? I just wanted to fill you in on our trip home. We
hadn't realized that the dogs had to travel in cargo as it was a transatlantic flight. We couldn't find a dog
kennel the right size in Alghero, plus we found that we needed a vet to give us a clean health certificate on the dogs within
7 days of our flight. So we went to the vet in town, who didn't speak a word of English, with our helpful marina
manager who spoke some English and he told us that we had to go to Sassari to get the head vet to clear them. So our
marina manager's friend, who spoke more English talked to the office of the head vet and he said we should come in to
see him in the morning. One hour bus trip later, 45 minute wait in the office he completed one form in quadruple and
another with two copies and sent us to some office with the one of his secretaries to pay a tax. All of this with no
English, except for a very few words from the secretary. We got a receipt for our tax and I kept saying "Fine"
and the secretary pointed towards the door and we left. Now, I couldn't figure out why we didn't get any forms
or something but we couldn't ask. The secretary did manage to tell us where we could find proper kennels.
We understood that we were to just tell a taxi driver Auchand when we got back to Alghero and he would know where to take
us. So we took the bus back to Alghero and went into the very helpful information center and asked him to read our receipt
from the vet tax because we noticed the word "morte" on it. It was a receipt for a death certificate.
Not exactly the health certificate that we were looking for. Anyway, to top it off we found that the Auchand that we
were looking for was a big Walmart type store back in Sassari. So, what could we do?! We got back on the bus for
the hour ride back to Sassari and took a taxi to Auchand. We found the kennels but there were quite large. There
were two sizes in between what they had that were most likely the size that we needed. But we had no choice so we bought
the two big ones. Back in the taxi, bus, and Alghero again. We did get the nice bus driver to drop us off in front
of the marina so we lugged the two huge crates back to the boat. It was 8:00 p.m. and we had started at 8:30 that morning.
What a day. One thing down - kennels. We went back to the vet and made an appointment for the dogs. Would
you believe the morning of the appointment Ricky wakes up coughing like a kennel cough? It sounds like kid's croup. How
were we going to get a health certificate with this baby seal? We stressed about it all day, I carried him most
of the walk to the vet's and then held him to keep him from getting excited because that's when he coughs. I
stayed out in the waiting room and kept walking him around like a baby and even went outside once. Fortunately, there
was an English speaking customer in the waiting room or I don't know how we would have gotten our forms. He finally
had to check Ricky but fortunately took his temperature but didn't listen to him with a stethoscope. Would you believe
after all that Ricky didn't cough any more? I guess it was just something bothering him during the morning.
The vet said he really thought that we should have some forms from the head vet in Sassari, that they would require something
in Rome. So, we got a very nice English speaking man at the internet/photo store in town to call and they said they
had the paperwork waiting for us. We were supposed to go back and get it after we paid the tax. I don't know
when they told us that. So, next day back on the bus to Sassari. We met the secretary who had walked with us and
she said she had thought about us every day, she was so worried because we went off without our paper. We laughed and
hugged, got our paper and back on the bus.
Finish to the story. We now had health certificates, written permission
to take the dogs out of the country, proof of rabies innoculation, proof of rabies antibodies in the blood, feeding and watering
instructions and the proper kennels. Two airplane trips later, the customs agent in New York looked at their rabies
certificate from Florida and that was it. We have a larger paperwork file on the dogs than on ourselves and the boat
combined and no one has ever looked at any of it. But, they could have. You just never know.
End of
story.
