April 1st to April 30th

 The weather here has been like a seesaw...one day in the 70's and the next
day cold, windy and/ or rainy!!  I am anxious to put away my winter clothes
and find my shorts and bathing suits!!  A few cruisers have come back from
their homes and we have been able to drive them to the grocery store to
re-provision. Alan on Freespirit came back with his new wife Marsha. Nine
women took her out to lunch to give her hints on how to survive the perils
of living on a sailboat 24/7/365!!!  It was very therapeutic for us and
hopefully informative for Marsha!!

Kathy and Mike came to visit us after they sold their 82-foot sailboat
Gitana. They joined us for most of another road trip.  We traveled to Narni,
Terni, Spoleto, Trevi, Spello, Assisi, Gubbio, Rimini, Ravenna, Florence
Perugia, Todi and back to Gaeta!!!  Narnia was a wonderful surprise!!!  The
town was a beautiful sleepy town with flowers in window boxes, which look
like they were reaching across the narrow roads.  In fact, some of the
streets were so narrow that we had to fold back the side view mirrors so we
could squeeze between the buildings as we inched our way through the maze of
streets!!!  We then went up a winding steep road to the castle on the hill
and found one room with artwork, another with sculptures and a third with 28
motorcycles dating from 1908-1948!!  We ate lunch in Trevi and I had
delicious Salmon Brochette followed by mushroom pasta!!!  In Spello, we
found some Gelato and we all pigged out!!!  Then we went to a campsite in
Assisi to find our friends, Joan and John on Seascape, who were camping
there.  The six of us road around trying to find a restaurant opened and
finally went back to the restaurant at the hotel/campsite. We had a
wonderful BBQ dinner cooked in a wood burning oven/grill.   We hadn't had a
treat like this in a very long time!!!  We ordered a second and third
portion of baked potatoes and the beef, pork and chicken was GREAT!!!  We
slept in a very clean and inexpensive room at the hotel on the campsite and
the next morning we went on our way.  We stopped in Rimini for a wonderful
lunch on the seaside and found a hotel in Ravenna for the night, which
wasn't easy.  There happened to be three different conventions in the area
and the first three hotels we had lined up from out guidebooks were full!!!
Traveling off season doesn't always work. We finally found a hotel with a
couple of rooms.  Since there was a sitting room with tables off the
reception area, we decided it was a perfect place for a game of dominoes!!!
(I won!!!)  The next day we took the back roads to Florence and saw some of
the most beautiful countryside that Italy has to offer.  When we travel, it
always amazes me to see an ancient city spring up among the present day
towns and villages.  Many times as we round a bend in the road, there is an
ancient city or fortress on top of a hill in all its glory!!!  Amazing!!!
As we climbed the mountain road, it began to rain then to sleet and finally
snow!!! (It probably was left over from the snowstorms of New York!!)  We
had lunch in Florence in the Tell Restaurant, where we had eaten once before
and then said good-bye to Kathy and Mike after we dropped them off at their
hotel in Florence.

The next town we enjoyed was Todi, which is one of those ancient towns
sitting on top of a hill.  It was a very photographic town and hilltop!!!
From there we went back to Gaeta.

Rudy and I went to Rome on Palm Sunday.  We didn't even bother with the
train schedule and the following is the reason why!!   When we got there at
8:25a.m. the 7:27a.m.train and the 8:01a.m. train hadn't arrived!!  A train
came in at 8:40 a.m. and we jumped on. It was the 8:01, the 7:27 still
hadn't arrived. In Italy, schedules are meaningless...When we arrived in
Rome; we went to the Basilica di Saint Maria degli Angeli the last venture
that Michelangelo accomplished.  He took the existing baths and converted
them into a beautiful church.  The parishioners all had grape vines in their
hands. So I got some.  When the mass started the priests lead a procession
out of the church where he said a prayer.  Then we proceeded back into the
church singing.  After the mass, Rudy and I went to the Hard Rock Café to
have an American lunch and it was delicious.  It felt like back home!!!
When we got back to Gaeta, the BBQ was just finishing up and we were able to
say hello to the group.

Bob Freda (from Princeton) and his brother-in-law Nickoli (from Naples) came
to visit us for a couple of days.  Nick made us "an out of this world" pasta
and then a fish dish!! (He used Gaeta olives which he said are the best in
all of Italy and some say the best in the world!!!)  In the afternoon, we
visited a site in Sinuessa...which was a pile of rocks by the sea!!  The
next day we met them in Naples and we traveled to Herculum to visit this
very impressive site.  It was preserved by the volcano Mt. Vesuvius and
became mortar-like with the addition of salt water.  Long ago they held the
Greek and Rome Olympics here.  We visited the pool where the Olympians swam
and dove.  The site is probably larger than Pompeii, but a town now stands
over most of the underground site.  A farmer who was digging to plant his
crops discovered the site.  This site is about 50 feet under the existing
town.  For lunch we went to have pizza in the oldest Pizza place in Naples.
The story goes that the original pizza called a Margarita was named after
King Roberto's wife Margarita.  She asked for fresh tomatoes, buffalo
mozzarella and basil and then it was put into a wood-burning oven!!!  When
we arrived at the Pizzeria, there was no place to park.  Nick spoke to a man
in the street and like magic a parking place appeared!!  It seems if you
have the right accent, doors will open for you at least in Naples!!!  When
we got there, the crowd in front of the door of the restaurant was about 30
people and it grew to about 50 before we got in.  They serve only one kind
of pizza... that's right a Margarita.  You can get a regular, medium or
large and you can get extra cheese and those are all your choice!!  After we
finished one of the best pizzas I have had, we said goodbye to Bob and Nick
and passed the now 70+ people waiting for a seat before we went to visit
another site called Cuma. (Another pile of rocks as Rudy would say!!)

Springtime in the cruising community is s a strange time of year. Everybody
is getting ready to leave and start another year of cruising. There seems
like there is a party every other night (a few times we had two or three
gatherings to attend!!) as everybody picks there own time to leave over
usually a two-month period. We'll be leaving late this year, as we aren't
going far in the next month so we'll be saying good-bye to many of our new
and old friends.

One of our neighbors is a Norwegian boat.  Signe and Gaute invited us for
Bacalau (Norweign cod with a wonderful blend of potatoes and onions) on Good
Friday.  It was a great meal with good people!!

On Easter Sunday, Rudy and I went to a little church right in Gaeta.  It was
an interesting service as the children took part in answering the Priest's
questions.  After the service, as we walked back to our boat, we were asked
to join Joan and John on Seascape for some Mimosas.  Then Ross and Wei
joined us and we sat and watched the activity as the American Warship came
in and the re-uniting of the American families for Easter!!  Later that day
we had our Sunday BBQ and had an Easter Day Hat Contest as well!!!

On Monday, we decided to find a scenic spot and have a picnic!!  So Ross,
Wei, John, Joan, Rudy and I jumped into Joan and John's van with anything
and everything we could find in our refrigerators.  We finally found a
beautiful spot and Ross shared a bottle of wonderful Champagne and Joan
brought a wonderful wine. We enjoyed the food, wine and company and then
went back to our boats!!

On Saturday the 22nd, we went on another road trip with Joan and John.  We
went to Anfiteatro (Amphitheatre) Campano St. Maria at Capua Vetere.  What
was unusual about this amphitheatre was that the compartments under the
ground were almost completely intact.  Here is where they kept the animals
and humans who were to fight in the area above them.  We could feel the
ghosts there calling out to us as we walked through the stone cells.  Then
we went to Casserta where we visited a huge Palace and the acres and acres
of gardens, waterfalls and sculptures!!

The last 10 days we have played more cards, dominoes and eaten everywhere
(except our boat) than Rudy and I have ever have!!!  Instead of losing
weight, I am sure I have gained!!!  Oh well, maybe next week!!!

April 30th, we have left the dock and anchored in the bay in shouting
distance from the marina.  Rudy went into the water with his wet suit to
scrape the growth off the propeller and the rudder. WHAT A GUY!!!  We are
still tying lines, bikes, dinghy and anything that will slide, fall or fly
from their places!!!  After 6 months I only hope I haven't forgotten how to
live on a moving boat!!!  Seascape and Freespirit are alongside us and
tomorrow we will join four other cruisers south of Gaeta.  Rudy and I have
decided to go south to visit some of the islands and ports we missed last
year.  Then we will come back to Gaeta for the month of June to leave our
boat and to go to California for Jaclyn and Jason's wedding.