6:00 PM Thursday September 9
We left Norfolk two days late due to delayed arrival of our ship, the French container vessel CGM CMA Arno. Anchored off Savannah before the trip upriver. Mostly smooth sailing so far. Now outbound in calm warm seas from Miami, next stop, Livorno. Friendly crew and companions, plenty of time to read, knit, talk in a sunny spot on the bridge deck. Food good, a nice comfortable stateroom with a big window forward.
Greg Bathon Monday Sept.13 37' N 50'W
Halfway between Bermuda and the Azores, chasing a high across the Atlantic with calm seas and sunny skies. We read, eat, swim, talk, play bridge with the Captain and Chief Engineer. Last night we had Sunday barbecue on deck with the whole crew. Current ETA Livorno 9/20 morning.
Greg Bathon Thursday morning, Sept. 16.
Last night at 3 AM we passed Ponta Delgada, in the Azores, abeam to port under a blazing star-filled sky. The weather continues clear, warm and sunny.Here's how we spend our days:
Breakfast about 8. Hang out on the sunny side of the open bridge wing, reading. (We have unrestricted access to the bridge, one deck up from our cabin, where we can observe the activities of the watch officers.) Take a swim in the little pool. Play ping-pong- a challenge when the ship rolls a bit. Lunch- a full three courses. Hang out reading on deck again. Bridge with the Captain and Chief Engineer about 4PM. 6:30 is cocktail time. We've had two "receptions" with the officers- one by the Captain and the other for the Chief Mate's birthday. There are two other passengers aboard, both ladies, both American, one a writer who lives in Rome and the other bound, as we are eventually, for a wedding in Italy. Dinner is at 7:15, another three course meal. The food has been very good, with the occasional exception of zingers like tripe soup. Maybe watch a DVD movie. Usually in bed reading by 9PM.
If this sounds like a great way to travel- it is, as long as you recognize
that the ship and its crew are in the business of transporting containers,
not passengers. It's actually nice, almost like being part of the crew, going
with the ship instead of on it. But the days can be long unless you are prepared
to fill them out of your own head.
Heading downhill for Gib, due through there
tomorrow night. Alongside in Livorno 2 AM on the 20th (possible) still hoping
to make Marsellles on the 22nd. Pictures to come, as soon as we get to an
internet cafe ashore.
Tuesday, Sept. 18
Landing in Livorno this afternoon, and what a fabulous
trip this has been. Not a cloud in the sky for three weeks.
We transited Gibraltar early in the morning on the Moroccan side with Jebel Musa
looming up through the mist off to starboard. Radar screen cluttered with ferries,
fishermen, sailboats,cruise ships, warships, freighters- first sight of anything
since September 6th, we never even saw a plane in the sky the whole trip.
Passed Mallorca to port yesterday, and Corsica to starboard early this morning.
Dolphins escorting us all the way, flashing silver in the purple sea. And a great
privilege: an enormous whale, so close you could hear him spout as we leaned
down from the wing of the bridge.
It will be good to be ashore. We've had no news of any kind since we left- elections,
stock market, Iraq all left behind- but we'll have a big plate of pasta in some
little joint on the dock, read a paper, and be off to Genoa tomorrow.
Thursday, Sept. 30
Picked up the car at the airport, and the trip through southwest France was fabulous. As planned, after Aix we avoided cities- we were not looking for museums- and stuck to the back roads and river valleys. One or two hours a day driving turned out to be four or five, but that's because we dawdled, picnicked and stopped to look at things along the way. We saw the real France, and talked to the butchers and bakers and farmers as we went along, with overnights in river villages. The weather has been beautiful, even counting a day or so of Mistral in Provence.
Arrived at beautiful, elegant La Gelie, the home in France (near Angouleme) of Heidi's sister Gay Daniels and her husband David, on the 28th, and they have been introducing us to the markets, churches, chateaux and restaurants of the Charente and Perigord. No words to express how marvelous this has been.
Off to Paris on the TGV on October 2nd, thence to Chiusi in Tuscany for a reunion with the McConnells.
Just below are pictures of Gay and David's house, La Gelie, near Angouleme.They live here about half the year, the other half in London
Saturday, October 2
Arrived at Charles de Gaulle about midday,and had an easy transfer to the Air France flight for Florence where we picked up our car and, after a bit of milling about, got onto the A-1 headed south. We spent the next three hours getting out of the way of the guys flashing their lights at us, until we turned off finally at Chiusi and arrived at the Abbazia di Spineto in Sarteano, just after sunset.
The Abbazia property is made up of the main church building and numerous outlying farmhouses, built in the 16th and 17th centuries, all interconnected by rough dirt roads, all perched on hillsides with fabulous views of the surrounding mountains and farmland. Betsy and Jim McConnell were out for dinner when we got there, but after we had a hot shower and a martini they appeared, and the wedding festivities got underway that very night.
Seventy guests had made their way to Tuscany from the States, all of them lodged in the different small farmhouses on the property, and none of them will ever forget that wedding. Peter and Tracy were married in highest style, in the garden of the ancient Abbey, and then all seventy of us were seated for dinner at one long, candlelit table in the dusk as the sun went down over the Tuscan hills. It was fabulous.
We stayed for five days, making lunchtime excursions to the hill towns or longer trips to Siena and Montepulciano, and then hanging out by our pool until it was time to get ready for the nightly round of cocktail parties and dinners. And then we were off to Rome with Betsy and Jim.
