Limerence Update #64
January 2005 - April 2005
Winter in Roma Italy
Limerence is in top shape and ready to start the cruising
season for the summer. We are finally experiencing warm spring weather and will leave
Porto Turistico di Roma within a week. We’ll be cruising to Croatia, Greece and Turkey.
Before we leave, we wanted to give you an overview of how we spent the winter.
We feel like our boat has grown to the bottom of the slip in the
marina! We’ve been in port for eight months. It has been a wonderful experience to be
so close to Roma. Upon returning from our Christmas holidays in the States, we picked up
our friend’s car for the winter. We met Lorenzo and Ellen, from the sailboat ARCA, in
Colombia in 2002. They live in Roma and go back and forth to their boat in Panama every
year. We enjoyed their company here in Italy several times last fall. They surprised us by
offering us the use of their car for the winter. What generous friends! We fondly call
their Volvo, the “RED DEVIL,” and it has given us a lot of freedom and
convenience. Through Lorenzo and Ellen, we met their good buddies. . . another Roman
couple, Tina and Filippo and son David. They have been a delight and very helpful!
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| ARCA - Lorenzo and Ellen |
David, Tina and Fil Brunelleschi |
Doug and Judy in a cafe |
In February we went skiing with friends from MAJESTIC. The nearby Apennines
Mountains were just the right spot for Doug to have his yearly ski fix! We stayed in a
small town called Campo Felice and enjoyed a few days with Jose, Olive and Olivia. Since
Olive and I don’t ski, we toured the nearby city of L’Aquila while the guys and
pre-teen Olivia tackled the slopes. We have become good friends. Olivia is the kind of kid
everyone loves. She is a furious ski racer!! The following week upon returning to Roma, we
all went to the opera – “Attila the Hun”. After that, our pals returned to
their home in Seattle for a few months. We’ll meet again this summer.
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| Jose, Olive, Olivia
and Doug |
MAJESTIC - Olivia, Jose,
and Olive |
We try to get into Roma almost every week. Our favorite museum is the
Borghese. The collection is stunning, and the museum is set in a huge park and garden on
the north side of the city. With the activities this spring surrounding the Pope, the area
around the Vatican was very busy. We visited the Sistine Chapel several times before Pope
Paul died, which was fortunate, because later in the spring it was closed.
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Roman Forum entrance |
Colosseum - a familiar sight |
We also popped into Roma to visit British friends Matthew and Pauline
from PINA COLADA. They rented a flat in Trastevere for the winter while their boat was
being overhauled. Pauline took courses at the University managing to become a historian on
Roma and the top of her class! Matthew has fantastic computer skills and we fondly called
him the “surgeon”. He has spent many hours helping us with Windows XP. The term
“a blast” is the only way to describe spending time with Matthew and Pauline.
Other dear friends from England are Sandra and Ray on STRATAGEM. We have a lot in common
and have grown very fond of them.
Early in March, we were thrilled to have family visitors! Bill and
Kathy Decker and teenagers Will and Kate, came to Italy for spring break. They pulled a
whirlwind week starting in Venice, then Florence, and finally Roma. We loved having them
on board Limerence for dinner and showing them how we live. We saw them last January when
we were in the States and went to their beautiful home in Atlanta. Will is about to go off
to college, and Kate is in high school. The kids set the itinerary for the trip to Italy.
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| Doug, Will and Kate Decker |
Bill and Kathy
Decker |
The following month we entertained friends from the States, Gregg and
Cindy and John and Sue. We all were together in Cartagena Colombia when Gregg and Cindy
were cruising on their sailboat ANGEL. We rented a flat for the four of them near the Vatican.
It proved to be an ideal location for their exploration of Roma. The six of us rented a
van and did a three day tour of Tuscany. The first night we stayed in a Benedictine
monastery called La Badia in Orvieto. We loved the place so much when we stayed there
seven years ago; we just had to show our friends. Another highlight of our outing was a
sensational dinner at the very atmospheric country villa “Il Falconiere” in
Cortona.
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| Gregg, Judy, Doug, Sue, Cindy & John |
ANGEL -
Gregg and Cindy |
Napoli is a city you just “have to see” because it is SO
Italian. They claim to make the best pizza in the world. We drove three hours south in
March to the seaside city of Naples and nearby Mount Vesuvius. Doug managed to hike to the
top of the volcano. It sounds harder than it was, but an accomplishment nevertheless! We
especially enjoyed touring Herculaneum which was a ritzy beach village before it was
buried in mud by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79AD. Parts of the town have been excavated
and you can wander up and down the ancient alleys and peer into homes which still have
frescoes on the walls and decorative mosaics. Many relics dug out of Pompei and Herculaneum
are on exhibit in the famous Museo Archeologico Nazionale, which is the hit of every visit
to Naples.
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Napoli Italy |
Ancient mosaic in Herculaneum |
Herculaneum lost in AD 79 |
We found the driving in Naples the most hair-raising in Italy. Doug
drove white-knuckled in heavy traffic racing through town – pedestrians stepping out
nonchalantly, baby carriages pushed into traffic, buses roaring by, trolleys honking and
speeding past, cars darting in and out. Suddenly we found ourselves in the center lane
– the TROLLEY lane!! It seemed illegal and was frightening, except for the fact that
a few Italian drivers passed us. It seems that there are no rules, and anything goes!
Breathless, we drove to a garage and parked the car for the duration of our holiday.
Public transportation served us fine and saved our nerves.
Our daily life during the winter was made special by the friends we
made in the marina. There were a few American boats, and even more from Great Britain, Germany,
France, Sweden, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Venezuela and Canada. We enjoyed a
lovely family from Wales on Alexina of Shoreham – Peter, Helen and little Tigergwen.
Helen is a whiz on the sewing machine, and Peter became our first mate when we hired him
to help us with boat jobs. He seems to know how to repair anything with a smile and a bit
of Welsh humor.
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| PRECEPT - Sarah and Tom |
ALEXINA OF SHOREHAM - Helen, Tiger & Peter |
We met our cruiser friends daily for the morning radio net, coffees,
dinners, group meetings on future cruising destinations, shopping trips, museum tours, and
others. Doug prepares a weather report every morning for the local VHF radio. He often
consults with friends Sarah and Tom on “PRECEPT”. They have been in the Med for
a few years and understand the weather patterns. They spent two years in the eastern Med
and now are going west and will return to the States this fall. Tom and Sarah have been
very generous in helping us plot our way to Croatia, the Greek Islands and Turkey.
Cruisers tend to be co-dependent on each other. . . everyone offers a helping hand without
hesitation.
The Porto di Roma Yacht Club opened to the cruiser’s early in
the spring, giving us a neat place to hang out and enjoy our friends. A pizza joint here
in the marina called “Planet’s Food” was very kind to our group, and threw
open their doors for our meetings. Our favorite restaurant is an elegant cottage on the
nearby Fiumicino River, called Captain Achab’s. We’ve shared many a glass of
wine on their patio. Friendships among cruisers are intense, as we know we’ll all be
parting soon.
The character on the right is someone we saw near the
"Steps". When you think about it. . . he has a Mom and Dad who wonder what he's
trying to prove!
Fair winds friends,
Doug and Judy
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