Rome, DAY 3, Saturday, June 21, 2009

We took a guided tour to Ancient Rome. After a short bus ride, we walked the coliseum. The coliseum was built some time around 200 B.C. and was in service for 600 years. It seated about 80,000. Not unlike Philadelphia's’s Veterans Stadium except that it was in service 20 times longer. It had a complete system to house animals and mechanisms to lift the animals and gladiators to the arena floor. Once again, many of the adornments of marble were removed for other architectural projects. The cathedral builders found it much cheaper than quarrying new marble.

The Roman Forum was the next stop. Caesar walked the same streets as us.

The Arch of Triumph through which the Romans marched their conquered victims was still in nearly perfect condition. There were several illustrations of their newly captured slaves with chains & shackles on the Arch.
One of the structures columns had deep scars where a pope attempted to destroy the pagan artifacts by pulling them down. The Romans just built things too well.

Rome, DAY 2, Friday, June 20, 2009

This was the day to visit the Vatican. The advice to take the guided tour was graet advice. There is quite a crowd waiting to enter. The guided tours get preference. Our guide was amazingly knowledgeable. The museum is full of Greek art and other fine items. The Sistine Chapel was everything that was promised. Michelangelo does noce work. The chapel was wall to wall people. Guard shush the crowd trying to maintain some reverence to the sacred space. There re signs and all tourists are told no pictures allowed. Flash is forbidden through the museum. Despite the rules, people were snapping multiple shots some with flash in the Sistine Chapel. The tour continued to Saint Peters Basilica. Endless art, history, and relics fill the space.
In the evening we decided to walk through Rome starting at The Spanish Steps. The historic significance is minimal. The steps were built just to connect two churches. From there it’s a short walk to the Trevi fountain. (Three coins in the fountain.) This place attracts a crowd. Everyone fights their way up to the rail to get their photograph with the fountain as a backdrop.
Our last stop was the Pantheon. Now this place is something. It’s over two thousand years old and is still one of the largest dome structures in the world. We caught a free tour. The guide was an American around thirty years old. He told the story of the structure from the Romans to the Catholic Church to the Italian Monarchy. The Romans built this without anything but manual labor and concrete.
The top of the dome is about 300 ft to the top. The designer used decrease the all thickness and density of materials from the bottom from the top. So after 2000 years there are no visible cracks in the sphere.
The Romans and later the Italians stole from the ancients. The columns the support the portico in the front came from Egypt making them 3000-4000 years old. They are made from on solid piece of granite. How did they make these columns? Each is 40-50 tall, one piece, perfectly round and smooth. Amazing! Just cutting the rock from the quarry is a feat. The front was once decorated with bronze until a pope needed it to decorate the Vatican. Later to protect the Pantheon, another pope converted in to a church. This was the practice which also halted the stripping of the coliseum. The lions and Christians story was created to rationalize the founding of the coliseum as a holy site.

Rome, DAY 1, Thursday, June 19, 2009

Our flight departed Philadelphia at 6 PM and arrived at Rome at 8:30 AM. Immediately, I set my watch to Roman time in attempt to convince myself to sleep during the seven hour flight. Any sleep would help to synchronize our mental clocks. A seven hour difference is hard to overcome. Diane had some over the counter sleeping pills that did nothing. We both were wide awake for the duration. The non-rest gave us time to read rick Steve’s guide to Rome and help us set some priorities.

Arrival at Rome was a non-event. All signs were in Italian and sub-titled in English. I don’t know why but an Italian speaking couple kept asking me which way to go for baggage, etc. Despite my “no compisco Italiano”, they continued like I could read their minds and had some floor plan of the airport in my head. I was more lost then they were. We followed the herd to Immigration. Since we sat on the last row of the airplane, we were at the end of the line; however, we were at the front in 5 minutes. A quick glance at our passports and we were on to baggage claim. Not even a souvenir stamp in the passport.

The good part of waiting in lines before arriving at the bagagli carousel is that your bags are usually waiting for you. All those other passengers that managed to get there early do their waiting at baggage, whereas we had completed our duty to line-waiting. Well, that is all good theory.

Rome’s baggage claim has all of the glamour of Detroit’s baggage claim when I was there in 1990. It must have the efficiency that makes Philadelphia look like a leader. We waited at least an hour. We amused ourselves by watching the same four bags do the circuit 50 times, then suddenly, one of our bags appeared. Another ten minutes elapsed before the next three appeared. On to customs.

Follow the Red or Green signs, so we did. The Red line was fro declaring at customs. The Green line was if you had nothing to declare. We chose the Green. The door opened and we were in open space. Where are the custom inspectors? Who cares? The people in the Red line must honest beyond belief.

The sign said use only the white taxis. I guess that they pay for an access license. So we followed the taxi signs to the door where a man with an ID tag around his neck says, “do you need a taxi?”. I say. “Yes.” He starts by grabbing my bags. I pulled back, then he said no I take them. I grabbed my computer bag and let him lead me to the cab stand. He stated down the corridor, walking faster and faster. He kept passing the doors to the curb. This was not what I expected. At the end of the terminal he exited with me on his heals well past the last “white” taxi. We followed him into a side parking lot where a gray car was parked. When I saw the car, I said, “NO”. He pointed to his ID and a metal tag affixed to his license plate. I grabbed our bags an walked back to the airport taxi stand. He was just gypsy taxi trying to steal a fare. Of course the chase through the airport almost killed me. ,,,,Boungiorno, Roma.

Off to the Hotel Cavalieri. This place is on a hill on the northwest side of Rome. Taxi fare: 50 Euros or 75 Dollars. This is a really nice five star Hilton-Waldolf Hotel. Our room has a super view of the city. We can see the Pantheon and Parliament.
By noon, we crashed. Jet lag had claimed its victims.

In the evening, we took the hotel shuttle to Via Vento at Barberini Plaza. Dinner at Harry’s Bar left us 140 Euros ($210) lighter.

European Vacation

This Wednesday, Diane and I will be traveling to Rome. Rome is the first stop on our cruising adventure. No sailboats this time. We will be cruising on the Ruby Princess, a new ship in the Princess Cruise Line fleet.

We will start our trip with three days in Rome at the Hilton Cavalieri Hotel. Those Hilton Honors points came in handy.

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Our friends, Joe and Linda, will be joining us on Saturday.
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On Sunday, we board the Ruby Princess for 12 days. The ports of call include: Monaco-Nice, Florence, Naples, Athens, Ephesus, Mykonos, Olympia, Santorini, Corfu, and finally Venice.

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We will be staying three days in Venice at the Hitlon Molino Stucky. Our return flight will be on July 6.

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I fear the overdose of culture and history.

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I don't know what access that I will have to the Internet. If I can, I will post some quick updates.

Arrivederla, Sono en vancanza!

George & Diane

Tanzer 22- Sparrows Pt. to Cambridge, MD

While still dry at Sprrows Point. Fresh bottom paint.

Well John, my son, and I moved the boat from Sparrows Point near Baltimore to Cambridge over the Memorial Day weekend. We had postponed the trip previously due to weather. We decided that this had to be the weekend. Anything short of a gale wouldn't stop us. The weather called for cloudy skies with possibility of showers. There was a chance of small craft warnings; but, there always are warnings.

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The forecast was for south winds at 10-15 knots with gusts to 20 for both Saturday and Sunday. The south wind was our concern. Why? because we wanted to go south. It meant that we would need to tack all the way. All that zig-zagging would mean much more time.

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We left Lansdale around 5:30 AM. We were on the Chesapeake heading toward the Annapolis Bay bridge by 8:00 AM. I figured that we would get to the bridge by noon. Bad guess! We were still 10 miles away. The wind was from the south but light all morning.

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At first, I was cautious so I rigged the working jib; but, after an hour of nothing, I switched to the 135% Genoa. We got a little more speed; but, the wind was just to light to get going. Our tacking angle to the wind was about 50-60 degrees to the wind or worse. If it wasn't for the GPS, I would have thought that we were not making any southerly progress. At last we did what all modern sailors do, we started the motor. We motor sailed to a point about a mile north of the bridge and the wind started to develop again. OK, The fun begins.

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At the bridge, we started our tack from the east. We approached a large block of concrete that supports the main structure of the bridge. I noticed that the water was smooth behind it, a sure sign of no wind. As we got closer, I felt that I was about receive an unrequested sailing lesson. When wind goes around a large object, the back side will be calm; but, the wind will whip around its sides to relieve the pressure on the windward side. OK, back on the boat. we got behind the block of concrete and the sails started to flag. Just as quickly, we were hit with a quick gust of wind. It filled our jib quickly and spun us around. As gracefully as possible, we sailed with the wind and away from the bridge. On our next approach, we started the motor just in case. Of course, we avoided the concrete block all together.

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Now, we are south of the bridge. The bridge marks a point that's about one fifth of our total trip. We had the feeling that we would never get there. Originally, I thought that we would get to Tilghman Island at the end of the first day; but, now, It was 5:00 PM and we had to decide where the day would end. I had no interest being on the bay at night.

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After studying the map, it was evident that Queen Anne Marina was the place to put-in for the night. This marina was the last refuge on Kent Island. I checked the GPS only to discover that we were only one mile away. We radioed to the Marina with no response. We tied-on to the end of the dock and discovered that the marina office was closed but so was everything else within walking distance.

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After a dose of bug repellent, and an apple for dinner, sleeping on the boat proved to be a new adventure. It was really easy to get up at 6 AM to set sail. Oh, yes, we escaped before the marina opened so, we evaded the dock fee.

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On Sunday, the wind was steady the waves were variable as we cut across the bay. We covered the width of the bay twice on our four tacks. I was glad to have figured out the proper way to rig the jib sheets. It made our day much easier. Our last tack took us directly into Knapp's Narrows. I was thankful that our three foot draft would not be an issue.

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Memorial Day weekend at Knapp's Narrows was busy. We were happy to find a spot to tie-off at the restaurant to get a good lunch. Fish and chips tasted super after an apple for dinner and a granola bar for breakfast.

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We motored out to the channel only to find two motor yachts and a 45 foot sailboat in line for the bridge to open. When the bridge opened, we motored out in a hurry to get a lead on the large boats immediately behind us.

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Out on the Choptank, we stayed close to the channel. I was surprised to see some larger boats breaking out of the channel before us. I guess that they don't have any special memories of the shoals that lurk below and out of sight. With sails up, we continued east on the Choptank. The wind was a little stronger than it was in the morning on the bay. I was also surprised at the rough water. This area is reasonably sheltered. On previous trips, we always had smoother water with good wind.

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The wind on the Choptank was from SSW. That put us on a broad reach, starboard tack all the way. It was great to making good speed and on a rhumb line course. Tacking just eats too much time. We now had 16 nautical miles to Cambridge.

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The beam to broad reach, that we held, gave us a chance to see what this Tanzer 22 can do. While tacking on a close reach, we saw speeds of 4-5.5 knots with 15 knots winds.. On the broad reach we enjoyed 6-7 knots. Hull speed computes to 6.0 knots. Despite the physics, we saw 7.5 on the GPS once or twice when gusts caught us. The boat was riding waves and in transition to plane. Pretty cool.

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We sailed right to Cambridge Creek Channel before going to motor. I always enjoy requesting a bridge opening. How many times have you had to stop for a draw bridge? It is fun to be on the other side on the event.

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Continuing down the creek and into the marina slip concluded our adventure. John had to be relieved. He started with no sailing knowledge and became much more comfortable as the weekend progressed. We had a few back-winded jibs which forced us into a 360. Everybody seems to get screwed around with a tiller in the beginning. Push left. The boat goes right. It just ain't natural.

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Our trip had us sailing for two days, approximately 26 hours of travel time. We sailed 73 nautical miles even though the plan was 53 NM. All that tacking added 20 nm. What surprised us was how dry the boat was. Despite some good wave action, we never had any spray. Also we had no surprise blow downs with the gusts.

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If you got this far, you've earned a boat ride with Captain Stuckie, himself. I'm looking for crew. There are some weekend racing events that should be fun.

Come on down!

Captain Stuckie

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