Into Gaeta

I have enjoyed the last month tremendously, even more if you don’t count school. I just feel that we have had better luck and have gone to more preferable and interesting places. We also had visitors and that was very amusing although they (my grandparents and aunt) went off with my sister on a train for much of the time they were here. My sister apparently had the time of her life at Venice. She saw some amazing churches, caught pigeons, and saw glass blowing. I can’t wait till our whole family goes to Venice and I get to do all that too, except catch pigeons.

In the time I was with my grandparents we went to a city with a really cool citadel. I bought a sailing tool (knife, wrench, pliers, etc.) and it is really awesome. We went to a restaurant that traded a long time ago some food for paintings with famous artist before they were famous. So now they have original Picassos and other great paintings on the walls. They got off really good. I am surprised we got in because you usually have to make a reservation really far in advance.

We were in Cannes and we figured we were going to do are big crossing the next day. We were kicking a soccer ball around out on a field near the harbor and the water was as flat as silk. We decided that we were going to leave after we checked the weather real fast, and it was like, just go.

We zoomed right past Corsica because the weather was so perfect and went all the way to Elba. When we landed in Elba we were all really hungry, so we went out for dinner and had some really good pasta. We had been in this port once before and last time, like this time, we met American cruisers. What a coincidence.

When we left that port we went on a sail and it was really windy. My brother and I both hurled about ten times. We tucked into the closest harbor that we could go into. We departed from that port into a new marina from which we ended up going to Rome to watch the third and fourth Giants games at an internet cafe. After that we went to Porto di Roma and there were a lot of American cruisers there. If there was one place that we wintered if it wasn’t here in Gaeta, I would have chosen Porto di Roma.

I never expected Gaeta to be this nice of a city. Everybody is enjoying it as much as any other city we have visited. Gaeta is by far and away my favorite harbor that we have been in. We elected the perfect place. The people in Gaeta are just about as sympathetic and helpful as possible. The actual city makes for close to a perfect city. Gaeta has changed my life in some great ways and some horrible ways. What more can you ask for?

The people wintering at the port here in Gaeta happen to be extraordinarily welcoming and warm. It is like a little community. The kids are fun to play with and are great people. One group of kids is from Holland the other is from Norway. The grownups make us feel safe and they treat us in the fun and games. The people who live and work in the city tare willing to help us try to speak Italian. When we joined in the Navy sports games, all the kids hollered, “hay, come and play” and treated me like we were old pals.

The actual city of Gaeta is perfect. It has all sorts of stores, stores with candy, stores with chocolate, stores with party poppers, and lots lots more. The beach is the best beach we have had the whole trip. The sand has no rocks and has as much room as you will ever need. You could play a full 100 yard football game and still have many hundred feet left for other people to play. They even put in a soccer field for five on five equipped with stands. I like just about every single thing in the city.

Being away from my home town has totally changed my life. The pace of it has just switched totally. My life is so much slower and I have less to do which means I am not as busy; I am not always doing something. I have more time to just jump on the bed and read a book. In some ways that is good and in other ways it is bad. It is good so I can just mellow out but bad because I like a full schedule with lots to do. I have time to learn Italian for three weeks and still do a little bit of school without being late to stuff when I do have something planned. I can’t speak to a lot of people even though I am taking Italian so I can’t just go around town and ask people where stuff is and what stuff is. Here I don’t feel like am part of the city and I feel like am an outsider. I don’t feel like the town is part of me it feels like I am part of the town but I am there for no good reason.

I am now in a community with people that I can play with and talk to. Being in a community makes it possible for me to make friends. I have made friends within the boating community. It’s harder to be really good friends with them because they do not speak much English and they don’t play American games. But we have fun together anyway. Being in Gaeta gives the option of traveling to interesting historical places. We can travel to Rome and little place like Sperlonga where a roman emperor ate all his meals. Gaeta is are home port even though we aren’t going to be there about half the time because of that traveling. I love Gaeta so I don’t know if traveling is a good thing. The only way life could be better is being at home with my friends and I don’t even know if that is better for long term.

After we got settled in Gaeta we went to Florence for the weekend. I had already seen Florence so I saw a lot of stuff over again but it was still fun. We went to a truffle festival with our captain Vieri. I did not like the truffles but I found out that they are worth as much as gold if not more. It was not as exciting as I thought it would be. In Florence I bought a lot of presents for people at an open market. We have also gone to Rome and saw stuff like the Coliseum and the Forum. It was amazing and I think they even said there is more under the stuff that they unburied but they don’t know if they want to ruin the stuff that is already dug up because they don’t know if the other thing will be as important.. I think they should unbury a little bit and they should see how important it is.

Well, that’s it for now. I guess the trip is going as well as I thought it would, and our boat is still floating.