2013-4-30 Stromboli and Belly Dancing

The biggest excitement of the day was outside the ship. We sailed by the active volcano, Stromboli. The captain likes to lecture over the PA so he kept up a steady stream of facts and comments. Stromboli has almost constant small eruptions. Yes, people live there at the base of the mountain.

At about 11 o’clock, we went through the strait between Sicily and the Italian mainland. They opened up the bow so that we could go outside and watch the passage.

Bill was so stoked about sailing by Stromboli that he could hardly stand it. 

The next big excitement was the belly dancing classes by the Lido pool.

2013-4-30 Our Fellow Passengers

I was on a cruise once and told a Canadian that I had an idea all Canadians are nice people. She was incensed. She said, "We have our serial killers, too, you know!"

You can never tell who you are talking to on the ship. Today, I saw a preschool boy and his little brother in the hall next to our cabin. The baby was in a stroller and, presumably, the parents were coming out of the cabin at any moment.

I asked the boy “Is this your baby brother?”  He unleashed a torrent of French. My high school French promptly deserted me.  I managed to determine that the boy was either four years old or he would be four years old or he knew someone who was four years old. I couldn’t tell but the number four was in there somewhere.

Shortly after that, I was on the elevator when a short bald man with glasses got on with me. I recognized him as the shore excursion expert who I have only seen from a distance. I immediately launched into some questions I have about our next stop at Naples. I want to go to the Archeology Museum there but wasn’t sure if we can make it on foot.

He said, “You are from Naples, Florida?”  I said no, that I want to visit a museum in Naples, Italy.

He said, “I am a man from Spain.” I apologized profusely. He turned out to be the priest on board the ship but he does resemble the other man, vaguely.

I was on my way to check out the celebration in the Queen’s Lounge. This is appropriately named after Queen Beatrice of the Netherlands. Today, she abdicated the throne making her son the new king. All the people from the Netherlands gathered to watch the Festivities on a large screen.  They were all wearing orange.  I asked one gal if I could take her picture. Her T-shirt reads, “Feeling like a queen today.”

2012-4-30 Roaming Again on the Eurodam

We are watching TCM (Turner Classic Movies) because we have already seen tonight’s musical program. They are playing “The Candidate” with Robert Redford. The movie is in English but the commercials are in Greek. The really strange thing is that my father was an extra in this movie. He died in 2006 but there he is on the TV on a cruise ship heading for the straits of Bosporus.

Today was the last day for many of our cruise friends who left the ship in Rome. It was out with the old and in with the new—literally. Sixty teenagers came aboard along with their parents and some younger children. A staff member told me they are mostly home schooled. The restaurant was full tonight and so was the life boat drill. One hundred and fifty people are assigned to our life boat. I think the crew will have to swim alongside.

That was the end of swimming in the Lido pool. It’s full of kids. I discovered that the aft pool is reserved for adults and so I swam in that one this afternoon. I had a lovely chat with Marion from New South Wales. We compared arthritis symptoms, husbands, children, etc. We are about the same age and deteriorating at approximately the same rate.

There are a few children living on board with their parents. There is a gorgeous one year old whose mother is a ship officer. She said they will be on this ship together for four more months. I didn’t have the heart to ask her what happens then. I suspect that one parent will take her home and raise her while the other one stays on the ship. This is the usual situation for most of the crew who are married with children. I asked a crew member how they handle the diapers and he said the crew gets free laundry service.

The new captain who took over the Eurodam in April is married to another ship officer. So, hopefully, he will try really hard to keep us all safe.

We took a ship tour and discovered that there is a bar area called the Silk Den. The LGBT staff and guests hold meetings there. It doesn’t look much like a bar.

2012-4-13 Naples

Bill's family on his mother's side is from this area. Everywhere we went I looked for his nose. 

We took the panoramic bus tour of Naples today. Again, we had a well educated guide. Alfredo (just like the sauce) speaks Italian, English, French, German and Dutch. He had a little patter going. He said the police are all looking for him because he is the great grandson of Al Capone. He also said he is the only Italian who can’t sing. He tried to sing once last year and that’s another reason why the police are looking for him.

His narrative about Naples was considerably different than the last guide’s narrative about Palermo. He loves Naples but he lives in Pompeii. It takes him an hour on the train to get to the port. His grandparents still live in Naples but it’s an expensive place.

He said that people don’t eat breakfast here. They have a cup of expresso in the morning. By lunchtime, they are starved. They go home about one o’clock for their big meal. Then, they take a nap and go back to work about 4. Obviously, he can’t do this as a guide. It’s what he wishes he could do. We haven’t noticed any stores closing down for siesta but heard that it still happens in the countryside.

He said Naples has the best pizza dough and tomato sauce because of the water. They have excellent tasting water and it improves all kinds of food. He talked about Pizza Napolitano and Pizza Marguerita. They are both simple, well-known versions of pizza.

People in Naples do not worry about the future according to Alfredo. They believe ”Que Sera, Sera”—what will be, will be. He says they don’t plan ahead, they don’t drive carefully and they don’t worry about time (although they are always in a hurry and always late). He believes the reason they don’t worry is that they live in the shadow of an active volcano. They are pretty clear on what can happen at any time.

On one subject, our guide agreed with the gal from yesterday. They both referred to all the buildings built during Mussolini’s leadership as “Fascist buildings”. They are solid, simple concrete constructions with no sense of style or grace. These buildings are obviously disdained by the locals. They prefer the traditional Italian buildings with balconies and frescos.

Alfredo also said (with no prompting) that the biggest problems they have in Italy are due to the politicians in Rome. He thinks the mafia is much less harmful than the government. This seems like the common belief of the younger people, at least.

It was humid today and my camera got all fogged up. It was warm so I went swimming in the Lido pool after lunch. I chatted in the pool with Jean, a retired third grade teacher from Ohio. I meet many teachers on HAL.

We said goodbye to our dinner friends, John and Judy, who are going home tomorrow. It will be a big laundry day with all the bed linens being changed tomorrow. We sent our laundry in this morning and got it back this evening. It costs $30 for all you can stuff into one of their bags. There is no self-service laundry on the Eurodam.

2013-4-27 Palermo, Italy

For those who are getting on the ship in a few days—I have heard of no stomach ailments. We have had open access to the buffets and such for the entire cruise except for the precautionary 48 hour period when we first sailed. However, many besides me have minor colds and coughs. I brought some Nyquil and have been using it at night.

We had another great guide today for our panoramic tour of Palermo, Sicily, Italy. She explained that Sicily is the largest region in Italy and has its own parliament as well as being subject to the main parliament in Rome.

She has a great education and spent five years in college studying, only to become a guide because jobs are so hard to get. She said they have a 45% unemployment rate on the island. Part of the problem is the worldwide downturn in 2008. They lost many industries including a Fiat factory. Fiat didn’t move the factory. It just shut it down.

The other problem is the heavy influence of the mafia. They take off the top of every business. They expect a gift of 2000 Euros at Easter and 3000 Euros at Christmas for protecting a business. As a result, the small businesses have all shut down. She said there is no more middle class, just rich and poor.

They pay heavy taxes as well. She said we pay heavy taxes but then we receive services in exchange. They don’t get services. There is trash and garbage all over. During the last garbage strike, the mafia offered to remove the garbage which was piled high around the monuments. They moved it all right but just away from the city center.

During the 1950’s, the mafia took over the housing industry and built huge tracts of houses. Only they used ALL the land for houses and neglected to leave any room for parks or schools.

In spite of the fact that Palermo has lost industry and jobs, there are still high end shops that are full and busy all the time. Gucci just opened a brand new store downtown. She pointed it out as we drove in the downtown area.

I asked her if it is dangerous to talk about the Mafia. She said everyone is talking about it all the time in person and on social media. They can’t do anything about it. Honest judges who oppose them have been murdered. Besides, the mafia is just the low level, local thugs. The real thugs are in power in Rome and have the ability to win elections when nobody votes for them.

We have our own problems in the USA. Utah is probably one of the most corrupt states in the USA but we never pay a bribe to politicians or local thugs.

Some cruise passengers signed up for a tour of places where the Godfather were filmed. There are some gorgeous buildings in Palermo. Also, there is beautiful scenery. Bill's mother talked about Palermo. She really wanted to see it but she never got a chance. 

Here is a close up view of some Doric columns. 

I took Bill's picture in front of Charleston Restaurant on Mondello Beach near Palermo. 

There are some spectacular views in Sicily. 

2013-4-26 Out to Sea on the Eurodam

I am disappointed today because we could not dock in Tunisia. The way the captain explained it is that the docking area was pretty small and shallow for this ship but big enough if the weather was fair. Unfortunately, there is still a major swell from the recent bad weather. Even worse, the swell is running toward the dock. He was afraid we would smash into the dock and spend the rest of the day in lifeboats. So, he waved us off and we are heading back to Italy.

A word about the bad weather: we had a pretty good gale going outside and the ship was moving quite a bit. Our cabin is towards the bow and we could feel a shudder pass through the ship when we hit an especially large wave. The ship also wallowed in the low spots. However, the motion was pretty regular and there no corkscrew motion. That’s the only one that makes me ill. We must have our sea legs as neither of us suffered from Mal de Mer. We ate normal meals the whole time.

The more adventurous among us are pretty unhappy about missing Tunisia. It is the reason that many signed up for this particular cruise. Not many ships dock there. They promised us camels on the dock. According to the narrative, there are men on the dock who let you get up on the camel for free but then you have to pay to get down. We were warned to negotiate the price for getting down before we got on the camel. Our daughter rode a camel in Egypt and I had half a mind to do it.

Also, we were going to see Carthage which is hard to reach except by boat. I was really looking forward to that. We were going to a market place where the sales people were described as aggressively friendly. Prices are relatively cheap and I planned to get a few things there. Alas.

However, many people on board considered that stopping in Tunisia was foolish at best since a cruise ship full of westerners could be a big target. So, those people are relieved.

I have caught a minor cold and don’t really feel well. The last time I was sick was on our last cruise. It is really hard to avoid illness in such close quarters. Last night, we went to the show but I decided I didn’t really feel well enough to stay so we went to bed early.

Today, we are watching “Sahara” with Humphrey Bogart. Last night, we watched “Stalag 17” with William Holden. We also saw a few minutes of “This is 40” and didn’t like it. We saw part of “Salt” but it is very violent.

2013-4-13 Palma de Mallorca

We took a trip with a Cruise Critic group today. Our guide was wonderful. He formed a company with just him and his wife. His name is Miguel  Corral at mallorcatourguides@gmail.com. He asked us to promote his business and I am happy to do it.

Miguel asked us where we wanted to spend most of our time. We had a couple of choices. None of us knew enough to make a choice so we accepted his suggestion that we travel to Valldemossa, a wealthy community in the mountains. Its claim to fame is that Chopin and George Sand made their home there for a short time.

It’s a truly beautiful village. All of Mallorca is beautiful. There is a big yacht and boat harbor. Tourism is their number one industry but number two is boat repair. He said that Bill Gates sent his yacht to be painted there.

We saw some gorgeous buildings including a castle. There is a La Rambla just like in Barcelona. I found out that rambla doesn’t mean river but it means “river bed”. This particular river bed was the scene of a flood that killed many people. So, the city moved the river outside of the town. It has since moved back in as the city has grown. There are 850,000 people who live there and they have 11 million visitors a year.

While we were in Valldemossa, we toured an old church and listened to a 20 minute performance of one of Chopin’s works. On the way there we passed many orchards of almond trees with sheep grazing under the trees.

This was art in the window of an apartment. 

In town, we saw a 1000 year old olive tree that seems to have the outline of a face if it is viewed correctly. There is a legend about a spirit being trapped in the tree but I didn’t hear much of what the guide said about it.

We had a tour of this place. 

These are representations of George Sand and Chopin. She was a free-living writer whose real name was Aurore Dudevant. They lived together for three months in this place. She smoked cigars and wore trousers. At first sight he thought she was a man but somehow they formed a romantic relationship, anyway, that lasted for nine years. 

We had a comedian tonight –a Brit named Kevin Devane. He started off slowly but really picked up by the end. He said he was once on a cruise ship with really old people. Every time he set down his water glass, someone put their teeth in it. He also said he is independently wealthy. But, currently, his money is tied up in his parent’s house.

To a man in the front row he said, “Tell me your surname and I will tell you what it means.” The man said, “My last name is Klineherst.” He said, “That’s a German name meaning handsome. What’s your first name?”  The man said, “Hans.” The comedian said, “Oh, too bad. That means ‘not very’.”

He talked to a woman on the first row also. He said that you are never supposed to ask a woman her age. So, he said, “How much do you weigh?”

The captain came over the loudspeaker before the comedian’s show and said that we are sailing into bad weather tonight and tomorrow. We will be rocking and rolling. He said to eat a good dinner because we may not feel like eating tomorrow. He said to hold on when we walk the hallways and just generally be careful.  The comedian said, “Well the captain was a ray of sunshine tonight. I think I lash myself to a mast. Save my parrot!”