We spent this morning doing chores. Eric washed the exterior. Much to his dismay, he found that the fine red Tunisian sand/clay/dust does not come off without serious scrubbing. The boat washing was a much bigger job than anticipated.

Christi decided to it was time to do a serious spring cleaning. We have a guest coming tomorrow, so she was feeling inspired. She deep cleaned all the carpets and upholstery on board.

When we finished the tasks at hand, we rode into the historic section of town for lunch. We went to a place that Lonely Plant said is frequented by a lot of mafia types. We ordered one fish carpaccio (raw fish) appetizer. We have ordered many a carpaccio before in our lives. It has always come out as very thin, ready to eat slices that look nothing like the fish it once was. But, apparently, they do it differently in Trapani. Out came a raw fish cut in thirds. Yes, the main skeleton in the center had been removed for us, but the head, skin, scales and smaller bones were all there. The waiter set the plate on the table and the fish stared at us, obviously angry about having to die for our culinary pleasure. We found out that it is much harder to get fish meat off the skin when the meat is not cooked (especially when using a butter knife), and also that scales have a magic ability to get into everything. We wrestled with the fish over the meat, and we are sad to say that the fish won. After several rounds over many long minutes, both of us gave up the fight, deciding that getting the meat away from the bones, skin and scales was just too darn hard.

In America, we have never, ever been served a fish with scales still on. Only in authentic Asian restaurants have we ever seen a head. In America, restaurants are so paranoid about someone choking on a fish bone and suing that you rarely get served a piece of fish with any bones at all. OK, we promise to stop whining about the being served seafood with heads. We know we sound like babies.

We also ordered a pasta dish with sardines and “sun dried grapes” (aka raisins). It was really salty. We each made a trip to the bathroom, making a point of wandering around the restaurant, pretending to be unable to find the restrooms, as we discreetly eyed the other patrons in hope of seeing Tony Soprano’s equivalent. Not that we knew what we were looking for. Maybe a guy holding a gun to another guy’s head, who knows.

After lunch, we rode around the historic district for a while. It reminds us of the historic parts of Catania. There is a similar architectural style and look the two towns share. Here are a couple of buildings that we thought would give you a sense of the history, character, and intense adornment some of the buildings have. The first building is called Palazzo Senatorio, we are not sure what the second one is called. The third photo is a street scene so you get the feel for what the average buildings and streets look like.

It had been gray and gloomy all day, and while we were riding, it started to drizzle. We decided to head back to the boat, thinking a big storm was about to hit. It was OK, we needed to get back anyway. We have a pile of stuff we keep on the bed in the guest room. Normally, when guests come, it all gets thrown on the living room floor. But not this time! We were determined to find permanent homes for all of the stuff on the bed.

As we pulled up to Kosmos, a man two boats over yelled at us “Nice boat!”. Eric immediately recognized him as Bill, the owner of Satchimo, a Nordhavn 46. We had met Bill and his wife Ellen once a few years ago. We went over to their boat to talk to them. We spent the rest of the afternoon with them and their guests visiting from the States. And, it so happened to be Bill and Ellen’s wedding anniversary, so we wound up going out to dinner with them to celebrate. We had a great time with them!

We guess all the junk is going on the living room floor, after all. Oh, and it never did rain. Just a little drizzle, and that didn’t even last long.