It is September 1, 2002. I am five weeks through my trip; I have seen some very interesting stuff and have experienced some very amazing things. I will start by telling you about Monte Carlo (a city inside a country the size of San Francisco). The country called Monaco is very rich. Many rich people keep their boats in the harbor at Monte Carlo. The boats were very big. There were 200 foot personal yachts. A few days later we sailed over night to an island called Corsica. On the southern side of Corsica there is another island only two miles away called Sardinia. People in Corsica speak French and people Sardinia speak Italian. That’s because, even thought they’re only 2 miles apart, one is part of France, and the other part of Italy. We went to a city on Corsica named Calvi. I ate dinner in a huge citadel that was about 800 years old. I left Calvi to go to another place but our engine broke because it was over heating so we had to go back to Calvi. After we fixed our engine, we went to Ajaccio and my mom had the worst meal of her life. It was a seafood salad, and it was so bad it made her sick. But after that everyone went for a huge ice cream, so the meal ended well.
After that we went to Cannigione, and sat out forty mile an hour winds (a gail). We went to a bay to swim and all the rich people in the med go to that bay. I saw a huge 250 foot personal yacht. When my brother saw it he thought it was a cruise ship. Our captain, Vieri, who was with us for three weeks, told us that Aga Khan, a multi billionaire owned the yacht. He also said that it was the richest yacht in the world. It has faucets made of gold and original Picassos hanging on the wall. After that we went to Olbia and did huge shop and filled four shopping carts with food. After we shopped and stuffed all the food we bought in the back of the car we, rented and rented two jet skis for an hour. After Olbia we went to a big tourist place called the pink beach. But the problem is my entire family looked at the beach and said it wasn’t pink.
Next we sailed over to Bonnifaccio (a town perched on top of a cliff). My parents’ anniversary was there, so my brother, sister and I made my mom and dad a three course dinner. The next day, we all walked up to a fortress with an old town inside that is about 1200 years old. We also bought a new 10 horse power dingy there - actually it was used, but new to us. After Bonnifaccio, we went to Capo Testa, where we rented lasers (little dingy sailboats that can go really fast). My mom used to race lasers really seriously when she was in college. I was controlling the sail and my mom told me to let the sail out and I let it out too slow and we capsized.
So far I liked Lavezzi the most. The med is not known for fish but at Lavezzi we saw lots of fish. I snorkeled and spear-fished. Spear fishing is where you load an extremely powerful sling-shot powered gun with spear at the end of it. The gun is so powerful that when you shoot it, it throws you backwards a little bit. At Lavezzi there was a huge lightning storm. Two of the boats near us at our anchorage had their anchors slip during the lightning storm. Our anchor held, so those boats were clinging to us for a while, until the storm let up. Nobody in the harbor crashed into the many rocks surrounding the harbor. Next stop was Rondinara, where I had to go up our 60 foot mast being pulled up by a rope (see my pictures). From Rondinara we went to the place I am at now - Porto Vecchio.
It’s October 9, 2002 and I am going to give you a brief story of the highlights of the trip and a more detailed version down below. We are in Saint Tropez and it is blowing forty miles an hour now. Unfortunately, we have to be woken up by our parents for school. My brother, mom, grandma, and I all went to Florence last week. I'll tell you more about it and Florence later. School is okay the only problem is math is boring because it is all review so far, but I have never lain down in my mom and dads’ bed while reading a book in school.
We can’t fit as much entertainment on the boat as we did in our house so the rainy days are extra boring because we have to entertain ourselves. Some of the things we do are play cards, play board games, and watch DVDs like Oceans Eleven, Sting, and a totally excellent movie called Bill and Ted's excellent adventure, denananana! We don’t have any T.V. or video games. The trip has gotten better because we are all in our rhythm now which makes us have more time to be able to do more cool stuff so I am starting to like it, but I would rather be at home. I’m missing my friends, sports and other stuff. We are all into it more and are sort of, kind of, speaking the language, well not really.
October 10, 2002
See, I’m not a liar; I told you I would tell you about Florence and now is my chance. We saw many things in Florence like the Duomo, Giotto’s Bell Tower, Vivolies, the David, and Pitti Palace, and we got to spend more time with my grandmother. When you looked at the Doumo you could picture the artist (Brunelleschi) carving pictures into the wall for many years only stopping his work for meals and sleep. Right next to the Duomo is Giotto’s bell tower another famous piece of art. We decided it would be fun to race to the top. We did just that and I beat my brother by 24 steps. When we got back down to the bottom, we found my grandma who was patiently waiting for us. We went strait to Vivolies and my brother and I ordered chocolate, chocolate Rica, and chocolate mousse while my mom ordered strawberry mousse and orange chocolate, and my grandma ordered another two flavors of chocolate. The day before all this happened we saw the famous David made by Michelangelo at the age of 29. He didn’t finish at the same age as he started because that would be nearly impossible with the texture he carved with just a little chisel and the anatomy he had to study. Right before we left we saw the Pitti Palace, which was huge and amazing. Room after room there were crystal chandeliers, mosaic floors, gold plated walls, art everywhere, and gold plated picture frames. Just to make the place a little more spectacular they had secret doors so the maids didn’t have to be seen in the main rooms and they could get to where ever they needed to be faster.
p.s. if you ever go to Monaco go to the chocolate store called chocolate de Monaco. It provides chocolate for the royal family. It is the best chocolate I’ve ever tasted.
Below I am going to give you some pieces of my journal from last month.
September 4, 2002
Dear journal,
My mom is in a good mood. That is a good thing because will but otherwise everybody is jumping on each other. I think today will be very fun because the waters glass and were either going to go waterskiing or jet skiing. We just a got a windsurfer yesterday.
When we leave Corsica we will have gone all the way around it right now we are in San Cipriano. We are on the eastern side of Corse traveling north.
September 5 2002
Dear journal,
Today and yesterday have been very fun. We have gone windsurfing and water skiing twice in two days. I am anxious to try wakeboarding for the first time. But maybe instead of wakeboarding I will slalom ski (water ski with one ski). That is what my mom and dad do.
We think we know where we are staying for the winter (Giata). It has an American army base and there is a school for kids whose mom and or dad is in the army. We might get to play in some of the after school sports. I will be so happy if they have a baseball team and I can play on it. Giata is just south of Rome.
September 6, 2002
Dear journal,
Today was really fun, but it feels like I have so much more time to play at home and I have five times more work here than at home. .
We are sailing to Solenzara so we can stay there for the night and get up early to sail to an island called Elba. On the sail to Solenzara we sat through a gale with thirty five mile per hour winds. The trip two Solenzara would have been 2 hours but we just circled around while we waited for the storm to pass. We were circling for about forty-five minutes so the trip was about 2 hours 45 minutes.
September 9, 2002
Dear journal,
Yesterday we had very very fun day. We cruised around Elba in a jeep, the reel kind that is small and low to the ground. We stopped at a town called Mariana Marina to get ice-cream. My sister and my brother started picking berries to throw at things. My brother threw one out of the car and tried to hit the sign and it hit the sign and it bounced off the sign and hit my mom. Then we returned the car and went to dinner. I started felling really sick. Then I felt dizzy my dad gave me a bottle of water and I took a sip. If I hadn’t taken a sip I think I would have fainted.
September 10, 2002
Dear journal,
This morning we decided we were going to go to different place but my brother and I said we wanted to stay. We played on the beach all day. We played soccer with Europeans.
September 13, 2002
Dear journal,
Yesterday we rented a moped (a little motor cycle were your feet go in front of you instead of around the side). I got to drive it a little bit in an alley with no cars on. You have to keep it strait up and down otherwise it is really hard to keep it standing. My brother dropped it 3 times one of the times it broke the headlight.
I am learning about how old the castles and the citadel are and what they did. I have also learned a lot about how lightning works. I have learned that stuff is really old in Europe. Nothing in the U.S. is as old as the citadel and castles.
September 15, 2002
Dear journal,
We are in Viareggio. This is where they make huge yachts that are about two hundred feet.
Yesterday we did a big long journey. It took a bout 10 hours. And my dad has been reading a history book to everyone and my brother decided he liked the book. We are on about chapter 20 and my brother read ahead and he is on chapter 80. Here is a poem I made because I have nothing else to write in my journal:
I still wish I was at home in Ladera
Without my sister Sarah
Going to La Estrada with cam
Eating a sandwich every day stuffed with ham
With my principal miss Brummet
She’s at the top of the teachers summit
With my classmate matt
In class we always chat
In P.E. with Sean and Brig
Running a lap that’s really big.
Playing at recess with Chris and Freddy
After school I go home and go to beddy
September 17, 2002
Dear journal,
Yesterday we went to Pisa. We got to see the leaning tower of Pisa. It was also Yom Kippur so we fasted (coudn't eat till dinner). To break fast I ate pizza in Pisa. We had an extremely good ice-cream and pastry. We went to a big candy shop also.
We went to the leaning tower of Pisa but couldn’t climb it because it was a really long line. We took tons of pictures, I took most of them.
September 19, 2002
Dear journal,
We sailed from Veraggio to a little anchorage a little ways from town. My sister kept trying to kill my brother and me. My mom dad and grandma went to town and my brother and I were all alone with the feistiest beast since the 1880…
The next day we sailed to where we are now. My brother and I were on the dinghy zooming around and the engine died. We had to row a while luckily we had a walkie talkie so we radioed my mom and they got a harbor guy to tow us back. Our engine only has a very slight problem that can be fixed very easily. Later that day my brother, dad, mom, and I went for a run. They took us up a deadly hill and we ended up right where we started.
September 20, 2002
Dear journal,
I like it here, but I like it better at home. I want to go on this trip but I don’t want to give up all the things that I have to give in order to go on the trip. I don’t think it is worth it. I have to give up baseball for a year, but worst of all I have to give up my friends.
I think maybe when I am in college I will thank my parents for taking me on this trip. But right now I am definitely not thanking them
September 22, 2002
Dear journal,
Yesterday I went to soccer with my grandmother. She took all the kids off the boat and away from my mom and dad. The fans were crazy about the game. The players were really good. All the fans were sitting in one section. We went to another section that was locked up. But one of the guards was nice and let us in. We had front row seat and we could have all easily lain down it was empty. The fans in the other section were packed together and there was not a single seat that was empty. The players were really good. We saw two parlay kicks.
Today we went to a famous museum. We saw sharks, dolphins, seals and big fish. Then we went to sea a tall ship. We later found out that it was made for a movie. Then we saw this Chinese person doing really cool art.
September 24, 2002
Dear journal,
We went across the bay we were in and now were in famous little town called Portofino. We walked around town and up a steep hill. On the hill was a bench that was very smooth. When you sat on the bench you would slide down it because the hill was steep.
September 26, 2002
Dear journal,
Yesterday I was finally allowed to dock the boat at the fuel dock. I had to parallel park it. This boat is very cool because it has a bow thruster (something that moves your bow and doesn’t move forward). The docking I did at the fuel dock was perfect, Couldn’t have been better. But it ended up that the fuel dock was closed so my docking didn’t count, (that stinks).
October 9, 2002
We are now near the time of updating our web, finally. The only thing I can think of is to tell you is wich I like better, France or Italy. And that is what I’ll do. France and Italy are very different in many ways. Italy is the home of ice-cream and pasta. The only problem with the ice cream is they only have simple flavors, only chocolate no sticky chewy chocolate. At every restaurant you’ll ever go to in Italy there’s pasta and lots of it folks. The bad thing about Italy is that toilets have no seats and there is no toilet paper at a lot of places. I don’t like the language as much as French. The reason I don’t like the language as much is because………. Oh wait I don’t have a reason.
France is more enjoyable than Italy in my opinion. The bread and pastries are much better. When we first got to France we had chocolate croissant for breakfast every morning. France is the home of sandwiches and paninnis. Panninis are warmed up and "smooshed" sandwiches. Making panninis is what we want my dad to do for his next job. He is going to bring panninis to the U. S.
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.
It has been a long time since I wrote last. We were away for a month from December 20th-Janurary 20th going to some of the most interesting and amusing places in the world. The first thing we did was go to a colossal ski resort for a week called the Les Trois Vallees. After that, we met my grandma in Paris so we could visit with her and she could teach us about art. On our month away, from our year away, the last thing we did was travel by car to about four different ski resorts. I thought that trip was pretty cool, but it was to much traveling. After we got home from that trip we spent a month here in Gaeta. Over one of the weekends we went and visited Venice to use up the rest of our Eurail tickets and explore one of the most exciting and beautiful cities in the world. During our month in Gaeta, my grandparents and aunt were here. We visited some other sights near Gaeta by car. It has been fine so far, but I am still home sick.
The following are a couple of different updates since the last time we posted.
January 27th
We just got home from skiing about a week ago and I had a blast. I was totally surprised about how big all the ski resorts were. I thought Les Trois Vallee was going to be double the size of Squaw Valley, but it was over fifty times Squaw Valleys. My mom and dad said all the ski resorts were big and the one we went to first was the single biggest of all the ski resorts in the world. I then thought they would all be that big but they weren’t. They were all enormous, at least ten Squaw Valleys. There was one run that could take you half a day to get down. The lifts were definitely the newest technology. They had conveyor belts to take you to where you need to stand to get on the lift. We met up with some of my mom and dads friends who knew the mountain and they showed us around. The views were simply amazing. At one of the resorts we went to my mom said, "This may be the most beautiful place I have ever been." Of all the things I was looking forward to when we left this was what I wanted to do most.
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When we went from place to place, we saw some of the most famous resorts in the world. First we went to Val D’Isre and Tigne, then Chamonix, after that Cormayeur, and finally Zermatt. My favorite place was Val D’Isre and Tigne. I did not like the Trois Valle as much as all the other ones because it was too big, and it would take five years of skiing at that mountain to actually know where most of the lifts were.
Paris was as I expected, a city completely filled with art and historic objects. My grandmother was at hand to maintain the pace relatively fast. My grandma hates the cold and it was below zero the whole time we were there. I did expect to see many of the greatest works of art ever, but I did not expect to see it snow in Paris. I decided who I like enough to be my favorite artist, and it is Van Gogh. Of all the masters of impressionism Van Gogh is at the top of my list of favorites. I like his style. I knew the second I saw the room at the Musee Dorse filled with only Van Gogh’s that he was my favorite artist. You can see him drawing some jagged lines but also smooth straight ones. It is like a fox weaving in and out of forest trees. The background makes the main scene seem more real. Every day scenes can be made into amazing works of art. Simple things can be more than they seem. I saw a painting by him (Van Gogh) that was of a vase full of flowers. The flowers symbolized the cycle of life; some of the flowers were drooping, a few were sticking strait up, some were dead, and others were left as seed.
The Eiffel Tower was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. I have never been on something so high in my life except on my dad’s shoulders (he is about 2000 feet tall). From the top, you could see all of Paris and that includes the Arc de Triumph, Napoleon’s (the short dead dude) tomb, and every thing Paris has, so to think that the Eiffel Tower was supposed to be there for only two years. It is a good thing the government did keep it up. My biggest question is why the government would build something as expensive as the Eiffel tower instead of giving it to charity. I was really disappointed because it was so cold you did not want to go outside to take pictures, but I thought I may never have another chance, and if I do get back to the Tower, it won’t be for a long time. So I took a bunch of pictures as fast as I could and rushed back inside.
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The coolest part of our trip may have been the last week. We went to 4 different ski resorts in three different countries. In one day we went to and ate in 3 different countries: in France for breakfast we ate a croissant, for lunch we ate pasta in Italy, and for dinner fondue in Switzerland. How is that for cool? At one of the resorts in France (Chamonix I think) we skied on a glacier. We had to hire a guide so we did not fall in a crevice. I was hoping my brother and sister had some bad luck, but unfortunately they did not fall in any crevices. We were all suited up in harnesses just in case we fell in. My favorite country we saw is by far and away Switzerland. Switzerland is clean, everything is brand new, they have good ideas, the coolest technology, and last but not least, the chocolate is delicioso.
You can not find more enjoyable transportation than here in Europe. Not only were we all looking forward to skiing in the Alps but the train ride to the fabulous resorts. When you are on the train you are able to sit back and relax. I think instead of fighting the war bush should use the tax money to make transportation by train like it is here in Europe.
I love it hear in Gaeta. The only place I would rather be is home but I feel like it is sort of home. I am very confused, because first my mom and dad rip me away from my friends in California so we make friends here and they rip us away here. We are all saying we don’t want to leave Gaeta to cruise. Time is going by so fast I can not believe it.
February 21, 2003
Since we got home from our trip everything has been ordinary. On week days we do school and then go to the beach or hang out in the marina. Right now everything is quiet because my mom and Danny are gone. I still think it is not fair that he gets to go home and I don’t. My mom had to go home for her work, so she stayed with my friend while I did not get to go home and stay with my friend. I enjoyed the time that my aunt and grandparents were here. We took advantage of my grandparents renting a car by going to all the places that you can’t go to by train or bike. My aunt was able to teach me while my dad wrestled with Sarah. I am all settled in again to what I feel like is my second home. The Norwegian boat is preparing for their departure so that is a little depressing. We think we may meet up with them when we are in Greece or Turkey, but we may not be able to catch up with them. The basketball season is about to end. The basketball thing is good and bad. The bad thing is they are making me do a stupid Italian basketball league that I don’t want to do, but I am also playing in an American navy basketball league that is fun because I can talk and be understood. We only have a little more time in Gaeta; I don’t know if that is good or bad. It is bad because I like it in Gaeta, but good because it means that I will get to see all my friends from home fairly soon.
February 25, 2003
I have so much to say because we have done so much touring lately. First I will tell you about Venice. Venice was awesome. I thought the coolest part of our trip to Venice was when we got to see a little bit of glass blowing. We also saw something we named the leaning tower of Venice, (it was leaning). St. Mark’s church was one of the most amazing churches I have ever seen because of its size and beauty. The floors developed waves in them after all the floods covered St. Marks square with two feet of water. The floors at the church would go up and down by several feet. All Sarah wanted to do was catch the demented pigeons in St. Marks square. I think of pigeons as flying rats, but apparently a lot of other people don’t care that they have white pigeon droppings on them. I loved Venice.
The following event was with my grandparents and my aunt with their car.
When we went to the Amalfi coast I thought I was having a heart attack because it took away all of my breath. It was simply amazing. I think I have been to two of the most spectacular tourist sites in all of Europe (the Alps and the Amalfi Coast). We stayed in a hotel, had the view of the century for exceptionally little. We ate a meal on the beach that was really good. I had seafood pasta with red sauce. I can’t even come close to describing how beautiful this place was. There was a seaside drive, on a sunny day, with flowers and houses hanging off the side of the cliff. We stopped in a bunch of gorgeous towns named positano, amalfi, possitono, and Sorrento. My grandma just kept gasping at the buetiful scenery
We have had a lot of fun since I wrote last. Now I will tell you about our trip to Austria. When we went to Austria we did not get a good first impression. When we were on the highway a police man stopped us and told us that everyone needs a special ticket to drive on the highway, and if you don’t have a ticket, it is a $120 fine. We could not argue our way out of this one like we probably could have done in Italy. The skiing was fantastic. The first couple of days we skied in gorgeous spring days. The day we were going to head over to the Dolomites there was 8 inches of fresh snow in Austria. We decided to stay and head over after we skied and that is exactly what we did. The day before we skied powder I was at home sick, but luckily I was well enough to ski powder, we thought. After that day of magical skiing, I felt terrible.
The day we got to the Dolomites, I did not have fun. I was at home sick with no English TV channels. The next day I did have a phenomenal time skiing the Stella Ronda. The Stella Ronda is where you ski around an immense mountain from valley to valley. I had so much fun. There were all sorts of unusual rock formations lit up by the sun. Every time you were around my mom you would here her say "this is so beautiful" or "this is spectacular".
I have had a lot of fun in Gaeta since we went on this last trip. The most fun thing was going to a soccer game with my dad, brother, and the boys on the Dutch boat. The match featured their home team (Ajax) against one of Rome’s teams. As you know, almost everyone in Europe follows soccer, so the fans were crazy.
I have had a lot on my mind lately including the war that just started. It is a little different here when there is a war because we are in close contact with people on the navy base. I have made friends with kids whose dad are in the navy and out at sea, and they have all been a little bit depressed. There are peace signs everywhere here and anti war protests right and left. It is not a good time in the world right now.
We went on a week trip to the nearby islands with the Dutch family that is in the marina, with all nine of us on our boat. The islands we went to were pretty cool. An island called ventotene was my favorite because there was the most to do. We played on a public soccer field a lot against these guys who were a lot older then us. The us was me danny and Martyne. We also saw another of those 2000 year old roman things. Martyne was leaning up against one of there wall and it collapsed. He brought down a 2000 year old wall.
Capri was cool too. The views were so spectacular it was unbelievable. There were ninety degree cliffs going right into the water all around the island.
We are in gaeta now and we are planning to leave for cruising in a couple of days. I am excited to cruise a lot because that will mean we do less school. I have been playing with one of my friends from the base a lot lately. There center is really fun to play in because they have everything. A gym to play b-ball, a pool table, bowling alley, cafeteria, and movie theater. I like it a lot here in gaeta.