Welcome to Monaco

By 0300 this morning, the wind had picked up to 9 10 knots on our beam. The waves picked up, too, of course. It still was not a bad ride. Despite it being wavier, our speed increased, and we were flying along at 6.5 knots with only 1600 RPM. We had a current with us.

By 0800, we could clearly see Monaco in the distance. It is a cluster of tall and midrange buildings, which start along the shore and creep up the green mountain. But the major development only seems to go part way up the mountain — there is almost a clear line where it changes to a scattering of small buildings. That must be the northern border of France. The top of the mountain was covered by a cloud, so we couldn’t tell what was near the top.

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Off to the right, in France, it is mostly smaller buildings, both along the coast and creeping up the hill. To the left, also in France, the tall buildings creep down the coast, but above the shoreline there are a few smaller buildings and not much more.

We approached the Hercules Harbor entrance. We imagined how the call on the radio would go. “Do you Continue reading

Adjusting to the Italian Way of Life

Today was chore day. Eric changed generator oil. Christi cleaned. Our big outings were lunch and dinner in the marina complex.

A few weeks ago we had complained about the short number of hours “real” restaurants are open in Europe. Today we found out it is not our imagination that restaurants only open for like an hour. The day we arrived, we had gone to the restaurant closest to our boat for lunch. It was a few minutes before 1400. The kitchen was already closed. Today we went in at 1215, confident they would be open, and were told the kitchen didn’t open until 1300.

And, while we are in complaining mode, here is another interesting story. In Italy and Malta, we Continue reading

Castel Sant’Angelo

Continued from yesterday”¦ When it looked like the rain had slowed down, we ventured out and caught the bus. It turns out we caught the right bus, but going the wrong direction. Oops. We decided to ride it out, knowing that sooner or later it would get us to the Castel. This was not a good of an idea as we originally thought, since it took us way out of downtown. At least we were warm, out of the rain and got to see more of the city than we could on foot. Rome has a lot of nice looking churches, buildings, and sculptures all over the city. After an hour, the bus turned around. Hmmm”¦ it would be at least an hour back to the Castel. We saw Continue reading

St. Peter’s Basilica

Continued from yesterday… Then we hopped on the subway and went back to the Vatican, this time to see St. Peter’s Basilica. As we walked around the Vatican walls towards St. Peter’s, we noticed a white line painted in the street paralleling the walls. We think that is the border. We passed by the entrance into Vatican City, guarded by two real Swiss guards. Their uniforms are Continue reading

The Colosseum and The Palantine

Yesterday we decided we needed a complete and total day of rest, a true Sabbath where you do absolutely nothing at all. It was what the doctor ordered. We awoke today feeling less tired and zombiesque and more like ourselves, though we didn’t feel totally back to normal, either.

This morning we took the train back into Rome. We went to the Colosseum first, a noticeably shorter subway ride than the Vatican. As you exit the “Colosseum” station, you are literally across the famous structure. We weren’t expecting it to be so close and we gaped in awe at it. Of course, we were immediately pegged as tourists and recruited to join a tour. The Colosseum, Palantine, and Roman Forums are all side by side and a guided tour of all three was only $17.00 USD each. They even gave us headsets so we could hear the tour guide. It was cheaper than getting the audio guide to all three places, so we joined the tour.

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The Colosseum tour was excellent. The guide did a good job. From the outside, the Colosseum looks exactly like the photos you have all seen. The theater was a Greek invention (semicircle around a stage) but the amphitheater (sticking two theaters together) was a Roman invention. The Colosseum held 50,000 70,000 people (depending on which source you site), but, believe it or not, was not the largest stadium built in their day. No one made another amphitheater as large as the Colosseum until the twentieth century.

The Colosseum was built by the Emperor Vespain to “please the people”, meaning to provide entertainment to distract people from their dreary lives. It was inaugurated in Continue reading