I miss the piazza
by Tony Peters on October 26, 2006
well after 22 hours in transit I have returned from Sardinia to the land of really bad Capoccino. I spent my birthday (Saturday) sitting in the Piazza in La Maddalena drinking Capoccino...there really isn't any comparision to the wonderful sense of relaxation that I felt there. Even the half day we spent taking the train all over Rome during our layover was sooo much more low key than a similar adventure in the US would be. Walking into a supermarket in Italy is grand adventure in eating cheese, olives, deli meats wine...the wine was amazing, $4 a bottle for wine that we can't get for $20 here in the states. Sadly I wasn't able to bring any back with me. To answer Jakie's question as for what I do and why I fly around the world at a moments notice. Well I guess the easiest decription is that I do repairs and quality assurance on submarine periscopes. When a deployed Submarine breaks down I fly out and repair and recertify so that they are ready for sea. Which means I need to keep a bag packed but I also get to see some cool places. When I was stationed in Pearl Harbor I traveled to places like Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, Thailand and sadly GUAM. Now here on the atlantic side to the Navy I get to see places like Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Baharain, UAE, Diego Garcia, Scotland, England and Norway...hopefully I will see more of these places. Now before any of y'all think that I'm living too much of the good life on your dime, I will say that there are times that I have flown halfway around the world to work 20 hour days for a week to fix a problem and have barely gotten them fixxed before the boat pulls out. Sometimes the work is easy and you know what needs to be fixxed sometimes it takes every waking moment to repair the boat and put them back on mission. My reputation was made a few years ago when I made the right decision at a very unpopular time and was over rulled because I was too junior (and couldn't posible know what I was talking about)...unfortunatly for the Navy my opinion was correct and 6 weeks later it cost the Navy a million dollars instead of a week's delay. When I leave on one of these trips for all the fun I have to be right about whats wrong and how to make it right 100% of the time so that the Sub can go back to work. What scares me more than anything is being wrong so while I may talk up the fun stuff I do when I travel the reason that leave home is to insure that the boat I am going to can return to it's job in the shortest amount of time. That said if "Any" of you has the chance to visit Sardinia its beautiful, I highly recomend that you drink the house reds, they are cheap and amazing...and San Georgio's restaurant in Palau makes a killer scallop/mushroom fettaccini.
Two Replies to I miss the piazza
Tony Peters | October 27, 2006
I have the utmost respect for thse that put to sea aboard a submarine...I however would have to be tied up and knocked out before I ever went to sea on one...those things scare the crap out of me.
vagabond-punk
The musings of Tony Peters, a perpetual child, no matter where I am I will find a way to climb something or go skateboarding Read more »
retirement
I should spend more time working on things like this during my time off. I find I am playing more though. These were shot over memorial day weekend, Muji and I went to the beach Go »High temperature art
Well today was Bronze day......we poured liquid metal.....I made a belt buckle and a pendant for my wife very fun and just a bit scary...I'm Go »world traveler
Well I'm finally home after 2 1/2 weeks of wandering the earth...Diego Garcia is the definition of tropical paradise...granted the only things to do are exercise or drink and I'm not a drinker...long Go »Seriously I am running...
OK maybe running isn't quite the best description especially since I am mostly running/jogging on trails but who would have thought that after 20 years of hating running (and that's an understatement) while in the Navy I am finding trailrunning soo much fun. This all started last fall when I decided that after 4 years the screws in my ankle were still annoying me. Removal isn't an option as recovery from that is a year of minimal exercise/stress which means I couldn't even swim or ride a bike. Go »vacation and such
well my father, brother and I set out last thursday for Ithaca NY, my father and I on our motorcycles and my brother in his LandCruiser pulling a trailer/tent. The goal was to get from Rhode Island to Ithaca for a family reunion and back by using only back roads. We succeeded and we plenty of adventures to boot...my Go »
Lori Lancaster | October 27, 2006
[hidden by author request]