Sul Mare

It's Sunday morning at the Hotel Rupi Sul Mare overlooking the beach outside Gaeta. I'm waiting for Gio and the kids to wake up for our cornettis and caffe before we pack up and head back to Rome via Sperlonga. The beaches and coastal towns are completely packed and the chairs and rented umbrellas went to the waters edge yesterday. We're officially in the "alta stagione" and there must only be one or two designated residents in the landlocked towns of the hinterland to feed the cats all weekend.

The ragazzi are enjoying searching among the rocks for sealife and watching divers return to shore with their spear guns and string bags of fish and octopi. I took this photo of our Roman street urchin with a Mediterranean sea urchin ("Surf, meet Turf.").

Thought of the day: Without the Americas, this country wouldn't have tomatoes or cigarettes. I suppose all the pizzas were bianco in the old days and people did more snuff while waiting in line.