Message in a bottle!!!!!!

About three and a half months ago I threw a message in a bottle off a boat.........……………………And two days ago it was found about 200 km away!!!! Here is the letter I was sent........…………

Dott. Roberto Regnoli MEDICO CHIRURGO SPECIALISTA IN ORTOPEDIA E TRAUMATOLOGIA Via Lampedusa, 48 – Tel. (0875) 85454 86039 – Termoli (CB) e-mail: rregnoli@tiscali.it ---------------------

Dear Jack,

my name is Roberto, I am 65 years old.My job in Termoli as a physician. Ihave a fishing-boat,  louse of my great hobby,  how you can see,  with good results.

When the sea is rough, and I can’t  fish,  my friend Piero, my dogsDago and Kyra I like walking on the beach to find what the sea hasthrow on the shore.

In the 30/07/2013, in the morning,when we were walking closedMarina di  Lesina  we found the bottle that you send  “ by sea “ . We  open the bottle immediately to read your message.

Where the place did you sent the message?

I hope to receive news about you.

Please, write me back and give all my regards to your crew.

My address is:

Dott. Roberto Regnoli

Via Lampedusa 48,

86039 Termoli  ( Campobasso )

Italy

e-mail : rregnoli@tiscali.it

Tel. 336661133

Sito: www.messagidalmare.com

The bottle

Il Palio of Siena!!!!!

Last week we went to Siena to visit our friends Regula and Pasquale. We went there to watch the Il Palio, a famous horse race.  17 contrades compete in the race. They are Caterpillar, Snail, Owl, Dragon, Giraffe, Porcupine, Unicorn, Wolf, Shell, Goose, Whale, Panther, Tortoise, Forest, Tower and Ram.

This is me on the Il Palio track in Siena.

On the first day we watched the lottery of horses. It's where the riders find out which horse they will be riding. Wave got the best horse. I go for Wolf ("Lupa" in Italian).

Then it was practice. We went to see it but by the time we got there it finished. Dad went to the real Il Palio and we watched it on TV whilst having a picnic.  The build up is massive. They have people screaming and waving their flags all chanting and singing for their team.  Here are the rules....................NO RULES!!!!!! They ride bare back, they can whip the other jockeys, push them over, and even give the others money to let them win!  And the horse can win if the rider is not on it! How weird is that???????

The race!

At the start of every race a mortar fires (and it is so loud and the horses will start to run).  The winner wins the Palio, a fabric flag with the Madonnas on it.  In the race two riders fell off and the horse that came second had no rider!  The winner was........WAVE!!!!!!

Il Palio!

The winning horse. Winning contrada ONDA!!!

I got to touch the Il Palio!

MY ROME ADVENTURE!!!!!

DAY ONE: On our first day in Rome we went to the Trevi Fountain. It was GIANT!!!!! I thought it would be a little fountain but I was totally wrong. Afterwards we went to the Spanish Steps. Who knows why the SPANISH Steps are in ROME!!!!!








DAY TWO:  We went to the Colosseum. It was "bloody" amazing. It was so old and giant. First the Colosseum was a gladiatorial amphitheater, then a hotel for Romans to live in and also tobacco factory. In the first 100 days (the grand opening of the gladiatorial amphitheater) 1300 people were killed and 9000 animals killed!!!!

DAY THREE:  We went to the Vatican City to see the Sistine Chapel. It was painted by Michelangelo. He painted many naked bodies on the ceiling. When he died the Pope got a painter to paint a cloth over their penis's.

DAY FOUR: We watched 2 movies in 5D at the Time Machine!!!! One movie was about dinosaurs and the other about the history of the the Romans. They were awesome!!!!! The seats moved, it rained and there was wind!!!! Then we went on a "Ape" tour (a bee tour).  They are little 3 wheel Italian cars.

I LOVE ROME AND I WILL RETURN!!!!!!!

Sicily........................my roots!

Two  weeks ago we went to Sicily. My great grandfather  originated from there from a town called Trecastagni (three saints).  He moved to Australia when he was about 20. We saw a monument that said LICCIARDELLO on it (Mums side of the family.)  In Piazza Marconi there were kids illegally buying firecrackers. They snuck some into people's pockets and then the firecrackers would blow up and people would scream.

The water fountain in Piazza Marconi in Trecastagni.

'

You can't see it but it has Licciardello engraved on it.

The Sicilians have great foods such as : arancini,  iris and brioche con gelato.
I have eaten them all and they are all delicious. Arancini  is rice and ragu deep fried in breadcrumbs. Iris is dough with chocolate cream inside in a coating of breadcrumbs.  Brioche con gelato is cold ice-cream in a hot bun. BU0NISSIMO!!!!!!!

Gelato con Brioche!!!!!

Then we went to  Mount Etna  a giant active volcano on Sicit.  We could not go to the top because of our asthma but we got to go to a crator filled with dry lava. After we brought some real OBSIDIAN and sulphur.  It was brilliant.  

The volcanic creator at Mount Etna.

A picture in the street made of salt.

100th Le Tour de France!

 After Venice we went camping in the Dolomites.  We caught a cable car to the top of the mountain Latemat and we went on a dragon quest (it was a bit babyish.) They had some really good cravings and clever ideas. Josie kept screaming because she thought there was a real dragon and she thought it would kill her. At the end they gave us a wooden dragon.  Eliza was disappointed because we did not find a real dragon.

Looking for Dragon teeth.

Looking for clues in a Dragon's nest.

At last  we went to the 100th Tour de France. We watched the  16 & 18 stages . Before the cyclist come they have a parade were trucks come and throw things out to the crowd. We got heaps of hats ,juice,  water bottles, shirts, lollies you name it even detergent! Dad, Bailey and I painted a huge flag with a wave dancer,  an Australian flag and GO CADEL on it.

The red devil with his bike made from water bottles.

Lee from England with Eliza's teddy.

                                 
                                           

There were thousands of people!

Go Cadel Evans!!!! (he is in red and black)

PS for more info on the tour visit 
http://www.sportal.com.au/tour-de-france?gclid=CLDz8d_tvbgCFU2R3goddH0AhQ

We had a long drive to Regula's and Pasquale's (mums friends.) in Tuscany.  They have hundreds of guns because Pasquale hunts cinghaile (wild pig.) They cook the best food.We had home made pesto pasta for dinner last night. Lunch we had a feast set for a king. They have a giant dog called Camillo and he gets so exited and pushes you over or pulls you're shins down.

Regula feeding plums to Camillo

Tomorrow we are off to Sicily where my great grand Pop was born.

BACK IN ITALIA !!!!

When we left Brač we went camping in Hvar, another one of the 1300 islands. The ferry trip took 3 hours. We stayed in an abandoned village next to an olive farm were we set up the tents. We stayed there for three nights. On the last night we found a big ancient water collector. We used it as a skate park with our scooters. After 1 hour we went to a restaurant and got a mixed grill it was delicious. The restaurant was the only place open in the abandoned village of Malo Grablje



After Havar we went to Istria on the mainland for 2 days. We camped in someone's front yard which was also a shooting range. We visited a huge amphitheatre in Pula where gladiators would fight.  They fought each other and fought other beasts. It would not be nice to be a gladiator but they did not have a choice as they were prisoners.


Then we drove back to Italy!!!!!! Right now we are living in Venice. There are no streets it is just water .    Venice is a city on 117 small islands connected by about 400 bridges with 150 canals. I have not seen a car in Venice because they are banned so everyone uses boats for transport.  Yesterday we went on a gondola. It was soooooo  expensive  80€ for half an hour. But it is worth it!!! They have the most comfortable seats. Our captain was called Marco and he started being gondalier when he was 18. His dad was gondalier, his grandfather was a gondalier and his great grandfather!!!!!! We get a great view out of our window of our apartment on a canal.  We are about ten centi meters away is the cannel.  WOW!!!!

We visited the famous San Marco square where Poppie visited when he was young. Dad, Bailey and I climbed a huge tower.  Yesterday we visited Venice's fish market. It was huge and smelly.  It sold so many different fish and canal seafood including spider crabs and snails. The fish man gave Eliza and Josie a sea snail which they kept as a pet.

       THIS IS THE BEST PLACE IN ITALIA!!!

                           

We are leaving Brač!

Three days ago we went cycling. The last time I was on my bike was in January. I really miss riding.  I hired a red and black mountain bike and Bailey got a tiny green plastic one. The course we went on was gravel and there were trees everywhere. We rode for 7.5 km into Supetar and 7.5 km back.   I thought it was awesome because we hardly ever go off road. 

The next day we went to some water slides in Supetar. There were 2 of them. The red one was so fast for most of it you were just falling down.  The blue one was boring. It was so slow and you kept getting stuck. Josie was too scared to go down so we stole her tokens. We went down about 15 times. It was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much fun!!!!

Last night we went to the arcade again. On the way we got the biggest stick  of candy floss. At the arcade I worked out a cheat for the car game. Because they put BOUNCY balls in you could make them bounce over the fence and into the win hole. I won six balls and about 20 other kids started copying me. It was awesome.

         THIS IS OUR LAST DAY ON BRAČ