Tuning in on Tarot

TV here in good Ol' Espania-Catalan is my language education channel periodically these days as I hunt down the soccer games when I need a sports fix. It must be working for some people since Kay just told me she saw Al Roker on and he was speaking perfect Spanish or was it Catalan? We are still sorting it out which language is which these days. Surfing through the TV channels can be very interesting while I learn more Spantalan, not to be confused with Spandex.

I notice that there is a lot of US TV used here, CSI, House, all the cop shows and etc. Missing are the US game shows—most are Spanish versions of similar shows in the US. Plus, there are old Zorro reruns- the ones I loved as a kid and in Spanish. There are a lot more shopping shows to slog through when surfing and then there are the Tarot readers peppered in the lineup covering at least 6 or 7 stations. It’s curious to me that there can be that many reader channels pitching to make money on readings, that clearly get you to pay with your Visa. Cha-cha ching! 

Anyway, the Tarot channels are just weird to watch sometimes even though I can’t understand all the words of the reading and advice that might be imparted. Most interesting the other night was the bearded voodoo reader that was reading the cards and talking to the person and showing them that they were putting a needle into a fuzzy headed voodoo doll with the caller shaking their head up and down with approval on their side of the split screen. Now just what is all that about anyway?

Next, is as Kay noted, the Iron Chef version of TV Tarot Reader where there are two readers and one person getting the reading on a split screen. #1 reads their version of their cards then #2 reader reads their version of their deck of cards. Then the discussion comes and the Tarot readers tend to argue about the other Tarot readers’ reading and shouting happens between all three. Did I forget to tell you that the Spanish like to yell a lot… I don’t need to remind myself after the weekend party downstairs… but they do, really! Back to the readers, the discussion ebbs and flows until I think the readers are ready for the next victim and it’s “Chao!” to old news and “Hola!” to the next one. Cha-cha ching!

Who thought this stuff up anyway? I do understand that this kind of entertainment gets at our human nature and that we are voyeurs most of the time naturally, but who would want to have a reading done on the TV anyway? I want privacy or at least good friends by me who are good counsel when I talk about reaching for the TV Tarot Challenge option phone number. These friends would surely stop me, RIGHT? ! Oh well, It’s all right up there with the impending rapture that missed us again. Ya’ll are still there aren’t you? If you’ve left I’ll get the double whammy TV Tarot readers to give me your new email address OK. I’ll try to keep it private just like I would like it if I had gotten off the planet. Hmmmm….

MT

Drama Day Barcelona

Marcia decided to stay home and try to get a siesta. Sleep was challenging last night. The really loud party on the ground floor directly below us got cancelled about bedtime-all but the grumbling about some injustice. There was another party across the way with not so loud music but people talking and laughing into the wee hours of the morning. I medicated and went to sleep.

By noon I was ready to get out and explore. I had a list of things to do including getting a bus map and some bebida de arroz (rice drink for my breakfast shake) and getting a metro day pass. The guy at Woki where I buy my bebida de arroz said it would be open till midnight-good news-I won't have to carry it around all day. The guy in the metro knew nothing of a bus map, but he did help me get a day pass for the metro.

I decided to get the photos I promised you-the ones of the Roman Cemetery. It was just a short walk away except that I missed my turn and ended up is several lovely places-plaza full of vendors of old books and coins and stamps, the gothic cathedral, and finally I was able to use my good map from the Lonely Planet guidebook to find the Roman Cemetery. I had packed a little lunch and been lured by the salami baguette sandwiches in a store I passed, so I decided to have lunch with the dead Romans. At one end of the cemetery are some chairs with old men sitting and often smoking. At the other end is a playground for little kids and some marble chairs and a fountain. Besides, the kid's park was patrolled by a very vigilant cop armed with nightstick and cell phone.

I was coming to the end of my lunch and had begun to repack with the drama began. The kid's cop had maintained order-no bicycles inside the fence-no big kids on the slide-etc. He was having a discussion with two women and the older woman was disagreeing with him-very civil discussion but going on and on. As this was going on I saw a man emerge from a restaurant, Que Pasta to be specific, and he was watching a white haired man who had just left, and he was clearly not happy, though he said nothing. Eventually he came after the man slowly but deliberately and not shouting, but clearly not happy. So, the white haired man called for back up on his cell phone and a young guy shows up in a car. Another guy trys to calm things down. By this time the kids cop is saying "Que pasa?" and pulling out his cell phone. There is some running back up the street by the restaurant and some banging like metal sounds-not good. I am seriously packing up lunch now and other people are walking away. The family with the kid is just watching and staying in the playground. By the time I am almost packed up, the drama moves around me and a plastic bag carried by the white haired man goes sailing over my head. Really time to move on. So I sling my backpack on and head for the big street. About halfway to the street I can see the cop car stopped and one officer headed down the street. The other officer is quickly locking up the car. Then came the "pop" that said I was wise to go when I did and it would be wise to keep on going.

I have no idea what happened after I left, and probably never will. I figured out how to get to Barceloneta via metro, and only when I got there did I realize that I was missing my Lonely Planet guide book with the really good map. Still, given what else I might be missing, it was fine.

The walk from the metro to the Aeri tower was long. I'm sure there must have been a bus I could have taken, but the information was in the guide book and the two women at the metro station apparently don't take busses to the cable car, so I hoofed it. Actually the area is nice along the marina. There was a line for the cable car and lines at several points along the way, but the view from the tower is quite nice as was the ride over. Ideally Google Blogger and Picassa will let me post my photos.

I stopped for a beer at the restaurant overlook in Montjuic before trying to figure out how to get back to the metro. There were no signs in any language. There was a hotel and a street down, so I decided to follow the people going down. Eventually I asked for directions to the metro, and a young woman sighed and said, a long way. However, she pointed me in the right direction as did a second woman and finally a nice young man who had just bought his mother an ice cream.

It was another long walk, but I made it through neighborhoods where the buildings are not so decorated as the one we live in. On the metro ride back there was another little drama incident. Four young people were ordered off the train. There was a little protest and some shouting, but they and their friends, about 8 in all, left the train. Other than that my walk home was uneventful. I am on good terms with the clerk at Woki. He likes my watch and would like to get one with the velcro band. I gave him the price I paid for it, and he is going searhing on ebay for it.

I'm going searching for an English Bookstore! Online for now.

KG

Crisis in Blogland

I have exceeded capacity for my photos. It's actually fairly easily solvable-$5 gets me two more gig on Picassa. However, there will be an interruption in the posting for at least 24 hours-maybe more. In the meantime I'll be editing like crazy.

I rested/edited and posted most of the day today with a 4 hour walk this afternoon.

Marcia made a croque madam for lunch. Since it's made with serano ham and mancheco cheese on bread made from Spanish wheat, I call it croque Senora. Whatever you call it, it was really good. Ditto for the meatball Bolognaise and pasta and salad tonight. The dessert flan was made by Dannon, and it's pretty good too.

There is a party going on downstairs. 20 somethings with music getting louder by the minute. Marcia just closed the doors and decreased the decibel level considerably. I do believe they have a curfew-at least I want to believe that. There was also a party last night, though it never got as loud as this one. There is something of language soup going on down there. We are starting to hear slurred Catalan. As far as we can see they didn't clean up after last nights party before starting tonight. Perhaps it is an ongoing weekend affair. If so, we can hardly wait till Monday.

Back to editing.

KG

Park Guell

Not exactly grueling, but rather taxing. We learned from taking the Ho ho bus that we did not want to walk up the bazillion flights of stairs to get to Park Guell, so we took a taxi. Money well spent as we/I spent the day walking up stairs and inclines to get around Park Gruell. And a fine park it was and a fine day it was.

14 hectacres if my memory serves me. All sculpted for beautiful views of the city and harbor and to provide interesting things to see around every turn. Plenty of people as well. There is no way to get photos without waiting for the right time and even then someone usually walks right in front of you or right into your subject. So, when I post the photos, expect lots of people.

We were able to get lunch fairly easily, though it was a fast food Barcelona type of lunch. We got Bagatelli-pizza like bagettes cut in half and sprinkled with ham and cheese. Ham is beginning to wear on us, so we had chicken asada for supper. Anyway, Bagatelli and a bag of chips and some Lemon & Nada which happens to be a Minute Maid product. It was enough to recharge us for the afternoon, though we had an early supper.

We met a nice couple and chatted for awhile before leaving . They live in South Florida. He spotted Marcia's Celebrity Solstice hat and we were off on a chat. Hope they keep in touch.

I made a cous cous salad for supper. Had ripe apricots and an orange in it. I needed cous cous and a change of pace from tomato. Shopping at the local grocery has become a breeze but there are still some surprises. The bag of what I thought was figs turned out to be roasted chestnuts. They were good though.

We have green parots flying around the courtyard particularly at the end of the day. I read that they are monk parakeets gone feral. They escaped from captivity years ago and now breed in the wild. Could be that the reason they don't fly into our apartment is that they have genetic memory of captivity.

Anyway, end of a good day. Back to photo editing.

KG

Gaudi X2

I am almost too tired to post. I got out of the house about noon and walked till 6pm with the exception of two little quick meals.

I did the two Gaudi houses on Placa de Gracia. First, La Pedrera and then Casa Batllo. La Pedrera was built as a block of apartments, so it is rather diffferent from the single family dwelling Casa Batllo. I enjoyed La Pedrera and learned a bit about Gaudi, but I adored Casa Batllo.

I'll let the photos tell the story on the photo blog. My story is that my back is benefited from walking. Now my legs ache more than my back-perhaps this is a good sign. By the time I finished La Pedrera I was famished. I eventually found a little cafe and had a tiny baguette with ham and cheese. Special Spanish ham and cheese pannini baguette and a 200ml bottle of Fanta lemonade. I will say that the lemonade here is much less sweet than most of what we get, and I like it alot. The first lemonade I had was in Lisbon and it was called Lemon & Nada. I think that tells the story.

So, fortified by the tiny sandwich and bottle of lemonade, I waltzed into the Casa Batllo-no line. I love Gaudi anyway, but I learned about how he used lots of recycled stuff and designed with attention to air flow and light, something very much in vogue these days. I was totally charmed and there is no pain medicine like endorphins, so happy me! Can't wait to get the photos edited.

After Batllo my blood sugar was waaaaay down, so I was headed to the Woki Natural Foods for some cous cous salad that I have been craving, but Starbucks got in the way because it was an 8 block walk to Woki and we needed more coffee anyway (we found a 2 cup French press the other day), so I got a real sized club sandwich and a tall decaf mocha and had a recharge. This gave me the pep to get to the tourist office in Catalauya Square, my last goal for the day. The line was short at 5 pm, and the young woman was probably as tired as I was from a day of answering stupid and at best boring questions in several languages. She was very helpful and now we have some information for finding our way around the Metro system. Perhaps a day in Park Gruell is in the near future. I was concerned this morning that I might not have the pep for a day in the park, but after 6 hours on my feet, I think I can make it.

I've skipped the part about touring several home design shops. I can pass up the designer shops for clothes and shoes-they are unlikely to have my size and the shoes are likely to hurt like crazy anyway, but the kitchen gagets are of particular interest. I find that the specialty packing and traveling stores are hardly worth a visit. Buy several sizes of ziplock bags and you are good to go. However, there was a novelty item that caught my attention in one of the travel shops. It was an attractive t-shirt squashed down to cube size-about 2 inches. I suppose it would be handy for if you schmutzed your shirt or got caught in the rain, but you could probably carry it in your backpack for years and never use it. Once out of the plastic you can never get it back. Perhaps you could get it in a ziplock, but then, why not stuff a lightweight cheap tee in a zip lock in the first place? But, I digress.

I discovered a new plastic gaget design company today. Lekue. Google them. I bought Marcia the little squeeze thingie with various nozzles. Look in the tools section for decopen.

http://shop.lekue.es/US-en/buscador/categoria:%20Tools

Love the lemon squeezer as well! We might just need to add the baguette saver for our backpacks.

So, when I got home I was tired again and hurt like the dickins. I set about downloading my photos and taking a pain pill and Marcia put together a fabulous light dinner of carapaccio and bruchetta with cheese and tomatoes. Life is good!

More adventures tomorrow.

KG

Cut the cheese

My right shoulder is still bothering me and I slept poorly last night with its grumbling ache needing some pain med, ice and the neighbors shouting match escalating at 2 AM . There were times that my shoulder and the woman were yelling bastard in unison. Or, it could have been bastardo- I couldn’t tell because of the speed of the speech use by the yelling woman. Anyway, as per usual, I’m up at 6:30-7 making coffee and starting my day. Gentle exercise followed breakfast accompanied with meditation music.

I knew my day was going to be a quiet one as I don’t like trying to press my shoulder into use and my body into more pain med just to make it happen. Kay had plans for the Gaudi houses for her day and I had a short shipping list and some laundry to tend to so my day was set. I pulled myself together and walked the block to the Jespac Supermercat with my list.


One of the items on the list was manchego cheese. We bought some slices the other day and they are of course disappearing daily and the decision to add it to my list included a look at the cost of the sliced package- 10.50 €/Kg we had here and check the price of the unsliced block. I figured we would need about a 400 gm block so I had my request ready if the price was right.

Now about the request and how to communicate this to the cheese monger was an analysis all in itself. The languages here are a miss-mash of Spanish, Catalan-Spanish, French and who knows what parts of ancient languages from the region. Seeing Catalan printed around town and on brochures reinforces for me that Barcelona once was part of France as the words are French spelling and sort of French sounding. This could be a problem at the Jespac and I thought I would just wing it hoping for some English help or I might make something understandable somehow for the cheese monger. Off I went.

Jespac had the Gran Capitan block cheese for 10.28 €/Kg (a savings!) so I attempted my English request for “400 gms Gran Capitan”. Nothing. Then I tried “Gran Capitan cuatrocientos gramos por favor”and was met with a stupefied glare. Punt to something else! “Quatre cents grammes Gran Capitan fromage” pointing at the manchego in the case. Where I pulled that from I can’t remember but the lights went on for the young lady and she cut a hunk of cheese for me weighing 0.364 gm. “Perfecto!” I said. She shrink wrapped the cheese and I was happy and save by bits of French that hover around in the basement of my brain’s filing cabinets.

So maybe here’s why it worked… I checked it out when I got home. If you put the three Latin-based language requests that I could have eventually said next to each other they look like this.


Language           400 grams                  cheese


Catelan              quatre-cents grams         formatge

Spanish             quatrocientos gramos      queso

French               quatre cents grammes     fromage



Fortunately for me, they are all pretty close and the young lady helping me somehow figured it out with my second request in French as it was maybe a bit closer to Catelan for her. Whatever it was, I surprised myself with my dumb luck at pulling out the French words I knew to make fake Catalan. Go figure… it was successful and fun at the same time. Ta-Da! Traveling is fun.

mt

Addendum to Granada

Granada is named after the Pomogranate. Who knew? They grow here. Now you know.

KG

Twist and Shout

I was well on my way to accomplishing my second day on the Ho ho bus-this time actually hopping on and off and getting some photos. The Familia Sagrada is my idea of a fun time, and I was having a fun time till my thoughts interfered with caution and I didn't see the one little step. So my body got surprised and the muscles in my right lower back and hip got all bent out of shape. I made a mental note to be more cautious and was grateful I stayed upright, but I didn't notice the pain until after my coffee at Starbucks. Still, it wasn't dibilitating, so I continued as planned and even went out of my way to go to the wine store on my way home.

By the time I got home I was ready for the biofreeze and thinking what a shame it is that Beckie doesn't travel with us. By supper time I was ready for serious pain relief and as soon as I could hobble to bed I did so. Luckily I had packed a 5 pack of heat patches.

So, today I hobbled to breakfast, pulled the IKEA easy chair over to the computer and arranged pillows and took a pain pill. I spent the morning and early afternoon editing photos and posting to the blog, and by afternoon I was feeling the need to walk a bit.

It was a good idea. We live in l'Eixample (la shaympl). It literally means "the extension". It's the direction the city grew at the turn of the last century. 4 blocks away from our apartment is the Paseg de Gracia-huge boulevard with trendy shops and two of Gaudi's major works. So, just a walk around the neighborhood is a treat for me. I was able to find Casa Batllo and take some photos. I try to walk home a different route each time unless I am super tired. I'm not so enamored with the designer shops, but the buildings, from Gaudi to gaudy, are pretty magnificent. I have lots of photos.

I have also mastered buying loose vegetable in the grocery. The sign telling the name and the price (per kilo or gram) also contains a code number. Just put the veggie on the scale and punch in the code number and the scale spits out a sticker with your price. Attach this to your plastic bag and head for checkout. No problem. My new find, in the paper and plastic goods aisle, was an ice cube making bag. The little picture directions show little hands filling the bag with water and after freezing the little hands dump out ice cubes. We have been managing with one little ice cube tray, but if both of us have ouchies in need of ice, these little things might come in handy. It is in the experimental stage in our freezer.

So, I am moving around again. Sitting is good and walking is good. The transition is challenging. Another night with the heat patch and pain meds and possibly the ice pack, and I should be good to go tomorrow. Lots of adventures to be had in this town.

KG

Barcelona-Dos Dia

We are easing our way into the culture. We got up about 8 and had our first breakfast. By 11 we were ready to get out and explore and we were hungry for our second meal. This makes us look like real Europeans-that we drop into a coffee shop around 11 on Sunday morning and have a light meal. Mochichino for me with a little baguette with a slice of ham and a slice of cheese. Marcia got a tuna sandwich and a Sprite. Then we were off in search of a french press and real coffee.

We live near the University, which is also near La Rambla, so there is a Starbucks every 5 blocks. We gave up after the third Starbucks didn't have a french press. Most stores are closed because it is Sunday-I'm sure we'll be able to find one tomorrow.

In the process of going from Starbucks to Starbucks, we came upon La Rambla. It is the place to be on Sunday. Since nothing is open anyway, people stroll, as the name implies. I did find the Roman cemetery, but will have to drop in again as I had left my camera at home. We found Placa de Catalunya with it's massive fountain. It is one end of La Rambla. Since all the hop on hop off tour busses begin here, I was able to get their brochures for study tonight. Tomorrow we will very likely ride the bus-our usual way to get an overview of the city. We buy passes good for 2 days for 30E and do the whole ride around the first trip. These busses really do a long ride around. Between finding our french press and doing our ride around we might call it a day.

So after todays big adventure we did what any respectible Barcelonian would do. We had a siesta. 14:00-17:00 everything closes anyway, and there must be something to it because at 2 pm every day we can hardly hold our heads up. It's not the heat either. Today was a sunny 21C/70F. When the sun hid behind a cloud it got right cool.

I have discovered a little hole in the wall food shop across the street. It's handy for when the supermarket is closed, like today. During our adventure we found a natural foods store/restaurant and picked up some more provisions, but forgot the spices and green olives, so the little store filled in for us. Marcia is fixing up a chicken and rice dish that smells divine. She has gone two weeks without her own cooking and the kitchen calls her. Works for me!

As I blog, two young men are enjoying their sunny Sunday in the back yard with the boom box blaring American rock. Occasionally someone must tell them to turn it down, but it inevitably finds it's way up again. When it occasionally stops-probably for changing a disc-other residents clap-hint, hint. The backyard community is pretty fascinating to me. Apartment buildings surround a parking area so that the balconies of about 30 buildings can be seen from our balcony. Everyone has their own idea about how to arrange their space, but the common denominator is laundry drying. Our balconies are the source for light and air, so having the French doors in the living room and the bedroom open is essential. With fresh air and light comes the music and dog barking and occasional conversations. We are hoping the green parrots we see flying through the area don't drop in, but there is nothing to stop them if they take a notion to.

I did some posting to the photo blog yesterday and today, so take a look if you like. Remember that you can make the photos larger by clicking on them. I'll get back to photo editing tonight, and since I'll have my camera tomorrow, the process continues. I'll try to get up some photos of our flat soon. It is quite charming-an old apartment modernized, but the bones and the excellent features have been left.

Hasta manana!

KG

Barcelona-Tired But Happy

We are moved into our flat at Aribau 39 (pronounced Are-e-bow-like bow-wow or bough). We did not get hit over the head for our money-we had a reasonable taxi ride (20E) and Saoul greeted us, showed us around-dos camas, bano, apliances modern like dishwasher, clothes washer, fridge, electric stovetop and oven, tv, dvd, and best of all, wi-fi. We also have a very small but quite adequate lift.

Backing up, it was a busy kind of hurry up and wait morning. We were up at 6. I was able to get my cafe mocha, but the barista was already frazzled. She was running the coffee bar alone and had been pressed into service getting a wheelchair for a debarking passenger when on the way with said wheelchair she was pressed into service getting another. I was happy to get my mocha. Breakfast was easy to obtain, and we had packed our bags and gotten walk off without baggage assistance as our method of leaving the ship. So, we walked off and through customs and got a lovely stamp on our passports (I do love it when they stamp-so many countries don't even bother.) Since we were to call our contact at apartementinbarcelona between 9 and 10, we had an hour to wait. There were seats in the luggage claim, and the additional bonus of a bathroom, so we waited there.

In the best of all possible worlds, we could have called our contact and they would have sent a limo for us or directed us to the helipad across the parking lot from the pier. Not happening in our world! I was able to reach Michael at apartmentinbarcelona and he said he would call me back shortly. After about an hour I checked my phone and realized that I didn't have the sound on. Michael had called three times. Not much difference in the long run, as the line for taxi's was at least a kilometer long, and Saoul was cleaning the flat and wouldn't be able to let us in till 10:30 anyway. So, by the time we endured the queue and got loaded in a taxi and drove to Aribou 39, Saoul was done cleaning and ready to give us directions about the flat.

There was a bit of entertainment as we waited. The customs police, two undercover and several in uniform, were pulling people aside to check their luggage. We were sitting just behind the table where the luggage was being searched. The first guy had several packages of fish oil capsules that were of such interest to the police that about 6 of them had to discuss it and ask questions. Over and over he told them that these were fish oil, EPA, vitamins for his health-to keep him strong. Eventually they picked up a bottle of medication and asked about it. When he said "for sex" they quickly put the bottle back and let him go. We all have our limits.

100% of the people they chose to detain were male and either young and casually dressed or older and scruffy or bearded. Apparently 100% were smart enough to not carry contraband.

Once we got into the flat, I was more hungry than whipped so I grabbed the two shopping bags that Marcia had thought to pack and headed out in search of a market. I passed two other couples waiting at the front door-they looked familiar-like they had just gotten off of a cruise ship. Indeed, there were 8 cruise shops in the harbor today . If you can imagine a population swell of somewhere between 10,000-20,000 people all trying to get in or get out of Barcelona at the same time. Pretty busy city!

I was off in search of a market, and the other couples were as new to the neighborhood as I was, so I had to just pick a direction and start walking. My language skills are pretty limited to Englilsh, and though Spanish is my second best language it is nowhere near adequate. Besides that, Barcelonians speak Catalan, which is a language of it's own with Spanish and French and probably Arabic influences. So technically we live at carrer aribau 39, not calle aribau 39, and my pitiful Spanish is exceptionally woefully inadequate. I didn't even try to ask where the market was, but about halfway around the block I saw an elderly couple pulling their market cart, so I decided it was a good bet to follow them. Eventually other people with carts came along and we all went into the supermarket together.

Another reason that this was a good thing is that siesta starts at 14:00 and ends at 17:00. Restaurants are open but stores close. So, I wasn't the only one headed out for provisions. As it turns out, this market is just around the corner from us-lucky thing when one is carrying two bags of groceries including several things liquid in glass jars. And I haven't even gotten the wine yet! Turns out this grocery is pretty much like every EU grocery even down to my regular European soy milk. Buying produce is always a bit of a challenge as it has to be weighed and a sticker put in it, and the scales require one to push a button without pictures. Even literacy would have failed me here-you have to know the number code. Maybe next time I can figure out the system, but today I was way too tired and hungry. The checkout is the final hurdle. I always feel sorry for the people behind me, though I suppose with people clamboring off the ships at 15,000 per day, the locals get used to the illiterate and culturally different. My trip through the checkout was relatively uneventful. The cashier took my VISA even though it doesn't have a chip like European credit cards, though she did require my passport which I had right handy. I always try to pay with credit card when I can as it saves trips to the cash machine.

By the time I made it up the lift with the two heavy bags my blood sugar was down to the tip of my big toe. We quickly made several little ham and cheese sandwiches and downed several 200 ml bottles of Coke before doing what the Barcelonians do-have a siesta.

I will post my blogs from the cruise now. They won't be in proper cronological order (unless Marcia moves them around).

BTW, the navel oranges are fantastic and so is the Activia mango yogurt! Dinner provisions are in the fridge and a load of laundry is already drying in the afternoon sun-photos to follow.

KG

Last Day Aboard Ship

I slept in till 8:30 and still woke a bit draggy. Nothing that coffee wouldn’t cure and a nice frittata for breakfast. The laundry is hanging on the balcony. The industrial strength suction cups and pinless clothesline have already justified their place in the suitcase.
I for one am ready to be less pampered. Pampering comes at a price, and not just the sticker price for the cruise. The staff do go out of their way to make sure that the guests have everything as perfect as possible, and there is a certain amount of tension associated with this kind of service. There is reassurance needed that one is being pleased to the upmost at all times, and jobs depend upon good reviews. So, beginning last night the cabin steward handed us the review questionnaire and reminded us that “excellent” is the preferred rating. Ditto from our waiter, Billy.
So, even though our steward forgot to bring us ice after handing us the questionnaire, and the plantain soup was rather insipid, I gave everyone an excellent. They work so hard for long hours and under incredible pressure. There are many where they came from who would happily take their jobs. I hope they have functional families who greet them on their vacations home and even pamper them. If they are wife beaters, I really want them to keep their jobs.
Tips are another matter. They are automatically added to the bill. There is a daily tip of about $15 for the room steward and another for the waiters. The sommelier’s tip is included when we order wine-ditto for the baristas. In addition, the guest services has provided us with envelopes for additional tips. Today is the day to pay the piper, so to speak.
So, we are looking forward to BINGO this afternoon-perhaps a big win that we will redistribute. Knock wood.
There is also a lecture on the Catalonians at 2:30. This guy lectured on pirates the other day. I was hoping to hear about Grandpa David Cutler Braddock, but not so. Since the lecturer lives in Jacksonville, I spoke to him about Grandpa Braddock and suggested that he might be of interest as Jacksonville is certainly within Braddock country.
Here is a word to our PhD friends. Set up a series of power point shows designed to be of interest to people with a high school education and pertinent to the route the cruise takes. Even tangentially pertinent seems to work-Nigel West has been informing some people about spies. I’m not sure what they get for their lecture time-perhaps a cabin and meals. I’m pretty sure tips are not included.
We missed Gibraltar. We would have had to stay up till 2:30 am on the night before our big day trip to the Alhambra, so no strait this trip. There are plenty of reasons to return to Spain and Portugal, so we will just keep this one on our bucket list.
Our cabin steward, Joao, and our somilier, Brian are from Goa. It had somehow slipped my notice that Portugal had colonized this little part of India. So now we are curious. Apparently Europeans love to go there for the beaches. So, as we cross some places off our bucket lists, we add others on.
My next post should be from Barcelona. Knock wood all goes well with getting in the flat-getting free wi-fi, and finding the Mercado.
KG

The road to Granada

We were off to Granada early today that turned out to be a drive through the hills and mountains that enclose Málaga just on the north side of the city. We could easily see them rise from the coast and I reminded myself that these were the result of the collision of the African plate with the European plate. Hence, the history of earthquakes on the northern coast of the Mediterranean and there was one here is Spain today actually.

It was remarkable how this area resembles the coast of California and it is little wonder why the Spaniard explorers were quick to claim it. I was thinking that they must have been surprised and thought “God made a spare Espania just for us?” It really could pass for one with the Barcelona beaches- part rocky and sandy, then steep rocky hills with olive and avocado trees lined up the sides as far as the eye could see.

Then the hills faded away to rich agricultural areas with wheat, rye, asparagus, oranges, poppies, apricots, vineyards and more olive trees. The road winds through the valley toward Granada where the steep hills return to block the way and they are backed up by snowcapped mountains where our guide says they can ski well into June sometimes. Now surprise—they are called the Sierra Nevada and they look just like they were copies of the Sierra I see on clear days across the San Joaquin where my mother and sisters live.

Granada is wrapped in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada and The Alhambra is even further up these hills on the north side of the city. Our drive into the palace complex does not reveal the grandeur that Alhambra is known for because of its concealing exterior.

There is a palace built by Charles V that is interesting on the outside but the palace was never really used at all until Franco took over in the 1930s has been in a state of renovation for some time. The steep paths and odd height stairs were worth the climb once we were inside the Alhambra itself. It’s hard to explain the detail that is found around each corner with delicate carving of the walls to the hints of the lapis, turquoise and golden paint still clutching edges and pockets of the walls, ceilings and corners.

We passed through the gardens after the palace area and marveled at the complexity found everywhere with arches of roses, orange tree espaliers, hedges with enclosing tunnels and walkways made of river rock forming large geometric mosaics. The 3 hours went by quickly and we were all getting a bit tired. We arrived at our restaurant just in time for a lunch that restored fluids and energy. Although I must say that was entirely way too much to eat but the restaurant staff were really piling it on unless you begged for less. Filled to the brim, we were loaded up again and sent back to the ship. Most of us found extra empty seats were we could stretch out and put our feet up for the ride back.

I posted the few pix here for some context but hope you will follow the link to the Photo blog on the upper right for more photos to browse and enjoy.

mt

The Alhambra

It takes 1.5 hours to get there from the port of Malaga-long bus ride, and our guide talked the whole way pretty much saying the same thing over and over. We got to use the toilets before heading on to the Alhambra itself. So did hundreds of preschool and kindergarteners.
Several things about the Alhambra: It was built by the Moors who settled Spain after the Phonecians and the Romans. When the Moors were defeated by Ferdinand (of Ferdinand and Isabella) all things Muslim were “converted” to Christianity. Charles (I??) son of Catherine de Medici moved in with his bride and built on and around. The way you can tell the difference between Moorish and European, or Muslim and Christian architecture is that the emphasis in Muslim architecture is the inside and on Christian architecture is on the outside. The outside of the original Alhambra can be seen in several places (photos to follow). The inside is something like a gigantic spa. Even stones in the gardens are placed to provide foot massage, and everything has a calm peaceful water flowing in a dry land feeling. The spot was actually chosen because water flows from the snow melt in the Sierra Nevada Mountains to nourish the gardens and the people.
You may also recall that Muslim belief is that Allah cannot be represented in pictorial form, so the emphasis is on calligraphy as art. You will see in the photos that there is “writing” all over the walls. It now looks all white and cream colored, but originally it was painted in the same colors as the tiles, and the tiles colors, red, green, yellow, blue, represent basic elements in nature. Some of the arches also resemble the inside of caves-with stalactites hanging down.
The Christian church and the palace of Charles and his bride are not the most interesting story of the Alhambra. I think the photos will tell the story.
Lunch was good. I particularly liked the salad-lettuce, olives, tomato, anchovies, and flaked dark tuna. This was followed by a paella that did not skimp on the saffron-my fave. There was a pork loin roast with gravy and French fires and mixed vegetables, but by the time it came by I was happily satisfied. We were serenaded by a string band with traditional Spanish favorites. I have photos.
It was a long ride back from the Alhambra, but more quiet. When we got to the port there was a labor demonstration/strike. About 30 men carrying flags walked in the road to the ship so that the busses and taxi’s couldn’t get by. We spent about 30 minutes waiting to get to the ship, and we were near the front of the line behind the marchers.
We have had dinner. Why they planned formal night after a long day out is a mystery to me. We missed the memo-not that we pay the dress code much mind anyway. We do pay attention to the food. The baked goat cheese with honey and nuts with garlic rubbed grilled baguette and a couple of sections of mandarin orange was my favorite. The lobster tail was pretty good too.
We are tired and will be glad to have a day at sea to rest up for our last day. Soon we will be in Barcelona-ideally with free wi-fi. KG

Cadiz- nearing Gibraltar

Also founded by Phoenicians and an integral part of that ancient network, Cadiz is still quite striking on the city side and reveals its history and future on the other side of the port.

Columbus started voyages from this port and surely would be stunned to see the great expanse that commerce covers water and land at the present. The Portuguese navy sails from here as well as every type of ship imaginable—including cruise ships.

The city side is covered with buildings from the golden age of commerce from land and sea. Seville and many of Spain’s most beautiful cities are inland from here and the Strait of Gibraltar is just southeast opening Cadiz to the Mediterranean as well as the Atlantic and beyond.

Kay is off on her day trip to Seville and I am cooling it for a day to prepare for Malaga and our day trip to The Alhambra tomorrow. The ship is quiet with most shipmate off on shore explorations . Plenty of time for a few pix and a short walk – well maybe. I’ll see what else I can get into. Kay should be back by 7 PM providing her bus has no mutineers like I did.

Have a great day!

mdt

Seville

We are no longer the leisurely sailors we were last week. We had a day at sea after the Azores, but from here to the day before Barcelona it is go, go, go. I get up, get breakfast, meet my tour and head out for a day that consists of several hours to most of the day. Then I am back on the ship for dinner and laundry, shower, study in preparation for the next day’s tour, download photos, recharge photo batteries/ cell phone/ computer, load up the ice pack for my knee, and get some rest so I can do it all again tomorrow.
In a nutshell, Seville was good. I saw the cathedral in some detail, though if I were staying there for a few days I would have stayed longer and done more detail. This cathedral began its life as a mosque, so it has some interesting features. The most interesting to me was the tower. I climbed all 34 ramps to the bell tower top-snapped some shots and was off again. This time with gravity’s help. My second favorite thing was the orange tree courtyard. I liked the irrigation system-will show photos later. Christopher Columbus’s tomb wasn’t bad either.
I didn’t have time to go into the Alcazar Real today, but I got photos of the outside. Maybe next time (knock wood).
I like Spain so far (one day). I can see the Spanish and Moorish influence in Florida, but it is dryer here. I can imagine that humidity was quite a surprise to the Spanish. It was in the 70’sF today-no breeze and rather warm, but cooler than Lisbon was yesterday.
Tomorrow we go to the Alhambra. I made the mistake of getting tickets for the tour to Granada on our own thinking we could get to the Alhambra from there. Not so. We went on a waiting list for tickets and got them a couple of days ago. Whew! I wonder if they might have put on another bus because of the demand. The Alhambra is outside of Granada (so there is reason for us to go back to see Granada some other time).
Our dinners at Blu continue to be special to me. We have come to enjoy the staff and we sit next to Sonja most nights. Sonja is 80, German, fluent in English and fun. She is single but has a man friend back in Germany. They enjoy each other’s company, but Sonja is clear that this will not be a marriage. They have much in common including that their children played Mary and Joseph in the kindergarten Christmas Pageant many years ago.
Billy Graham is our waiter-Jamaican. Guess who his mother watched on TV? Ozelem is the asst waiter. She is from Turkey. I have to learn the name of our sommelier, but I think he is Turkish as well. We enjoy talking with them every night. Bernard sometimes fills in for Billy if he is otherwise occupied. His name is pronounced the English way-like our Uncle Bernard.
Must shut down-computer and self. Tomorrow is a big full day.
KG

Lovely Lisbon

38 43N  9 08W
Phoenicians named this port “Alis Ubbo” and it has had a place in history ever since the “lovely little port” was settled. It’s a critical point on the Atlantic for conquerors and citizens as it has many resources and water access for commerce from far places. The city embraces and honors its history of discovery from the entrance of the broad river Rio Tejo where we entered the port. Columbus, Vasco de Gama and many other historical figures sailed from this same ancient port.

Kay was off on her foot tour early and I was on a tram and bus tour of the city for 4 hours for the afternoon. The older part of the city withstood a massive earthquake in 1755 and still has the small, narrow and winding streets that challenge all vehicles. Luckily, the short and narrow tram is perfect for travel up and down the hilly Almafa section streets.

Actually the trams came from San Francisco after they were replaced by the larger cars and buses used today. Lucky Lisbon has a unique part of history that they care for and maintain very well. I was amazed at the skill of the drivers as the squeezed by cars parked very near the tracks. One Mercedes driver should thank our driver for this near miss.

There are large squares and parks within the downtown area that provide open spaces for enjoyment and shopping. Buildings in the main part of town were all rebuilt after the quake, tsunami and fires that completely destroyed the part of town near the port. I was strange to see all of the building that looked basically the same cookie cutter style from the windows to the facades. Our guide said it was all rebuilt in about 7 years. All manner of plants and shrubs are found here as a result or world imports from ancient and present sailings. The jacaranda trees are a highlight at this time of year.

Tram travel had its perks I discovered. The tram group was served a Portuguese custard pastry and port for our afternoon aperitif. We were not going to be allowed to pass out from lack of food—like we were at risk from not eating just because the ship was missing us for any possible meals on our afternoon tour. Anyway, the custard was tasty and the port was deliciously sweet and yet not too sweet. Shortly we were off the tram and out into the newer part of town to the west to see the monastery chapel in Belem. The chapel was a lovely example of the frilly Manueline architecture Lisbon is known for. I think that just about every surface available was carved, etched geometrically shaped in some way. The highlight was the ornate tomb of the great Vasco de Gama, explorer and discover extraordinaire. The kings and queens tombs there were bigger but not as beautiful as De Gama’s

We were shortly herded out to the bus for the last section of our bus tour that would take us by the Belem tower and the Monument to the Discoverers. In this section there was some trouble created by a few mutinous bus companions who would not return to the bus on time as directed by the guide. The delay was both applauded and booed when the two stragglers entered the bus.

It seems that their delay would cut some of the shopping time designated for shops back in the city center before our return. The bus dropped all of the tardy occupants off were most of the women dove into shops and I sat with the guys while we waited for the return of our bus. There were not cafes or bars on the square so it became a topic of discussion among us “waiters”. Anyway, shopping accomplished it was back to the ship. The Portuguese metal detectors did not bump me aside for another “wanding” by staff but it didn’t mean I would be passed by the ships metal detectors. I still beep and get wanded before passing on to my trail back to the room. Kay was waiting as she got back on time. It was 7 PM and we needed to eat again. A fun day and fine meal was had by both of us. Tomorrow, Cadiz and Seville. Better sleep fast since we will lose our last hour tonight!

mdt

Another Winning Day at BINGO

We have not had a day that one of us didn’t win at BINGO, and this was Marcia’s day to win twice. On both of our days to win twice, we have had to split the win with other players which decreases the win considerably, but winning is fun. We trot right down to Guest Services and have them convert our winnings to euro. 360E thus far. We have been playing on the fancy BINGO machines, so subtract somewhere between $75-90 per day. Nevertheless, winning is better!
I braved the gym today and did some time (that’s how I think of it) on the treadmill. Even though I had Rick Steves going through the Louvre in my ears, I couldn’t concentrate for the little treadmill screen in front of me. I had also neglected to get a little towel, so the sweat ran off of me as I walked. I was on the treadmill mostly because the wind was blowing hard on the jogging deck and the swaying of the ship is not an enhancement to walking. One never knows for sure when one’s foot will make contact, and it’s unnerving. I would have preferred the bicycle, but they were fewer and in demand. Maybe tomorrow.
I’ve been reading the Jodi Picoult novel about infertility and lesbians and fundamentalist Christains. It was a hard first few chapters for me, and I suspect it won’t get better. It would be uncharacteristic for me to drop a novel once I am in, so I will probably make it to the end, though I suspect it will be bitter.
The view from the balcony of our room is of the ocean. Ditto for the bar on the bow, the treadmill, the 3rd floor atrium with the classical music. Sometimes we think of the ancestors who made this passage. Hard to imagine doing it without climate control, good food, fabulous shower, and BINGO.
Time for dinner. I’m still happy with the four light courses per night. Tonight I am hungry-this is good. Adjusting to time changes (we have another one tonight) leaves me without an appetite at lunch, so I nibble and by dinner I am hungry. Anyway you look at it there are adjustments to be made when crossing time zones.
KG

Welcome to the Azores

37.62N 25.43W

I was up early at 5:30 to see our sunrise approach to Sao Michel Island. The suggestion of an island was in a distant fog that was surrounding the top of the island. It was 57 degrees and slightly windy. Brrrr… in my PJs I grabbed my camera for a quick shot. Our slow progress into Ponta Delgada allowed the fog to lift as the port and city were gradually revealed. The turn into our docking station eventually hid the city from our balcony view but we were able to get a clearer city view from our breakfast table. Sunday seemed like a quiet day for these very Catholic islanders, although we did get to see the avenue near the port slowly fill with residents and eventually tourists spilling from the ship. There were some horse drawn carriages that passed by drawn by Andalusian looking horse teams with their necks proudly bent to their tasks .

Our tour bus gobbled us up for our trip to Sete Cidades, an extinct crater. I must say that by the views I saw here that it may only be extinct for a while since just about every hill or mound here is a volcanic cinder cone covered in green of some sort that makes it look like a golf course designed by the devil and has volcanic ash for sand traps .

The bus ride took us through the city center and passed by fish packing houses and tobacco barns and cigar factories on the way to the 1900 ft. tall crater. Odd assemblies greenery were everywhere and our guide explained that when the island was discovered the Portuguese sailors had to hack their way through weeds and brush. Original seeds probably were brought here by birds and tides. Once the islands were inhabited, the ship traffic and residents brought more non-native plant species here. Forests of Japanese cedar climb the cinder slopes and beautiful flowers such as bird of paradise, hydrangea, daffodils, nasturtium and many others line the streets, gardens and hillsides. The mineral rich soils grow just about anything—especially grass for dairy cows, abundant dairy cows that the guide said were still hand-milked to this day!

The crater was beautiful and one could clearly see that they were two lakes in the bottom of the caldera with different colors, green and blue, that are explained by our guide through a story of separated lovers (from opposite sides of the societal strata or RR tracks if there were some here—there are not!) they were allowed to meet one last time on a strip of land between the ancient fumarole lakes and as they were parted their tears filled the lake on their side of the caldera-- One blue-eye, one green-eyed. You can figure out most of the rest of the story. Life goes on even on small islands. The beautiful greenery and teal colored birds could have found a place in the story for more “local” color as it is a gorgeous view. Remember to check the EC Photo Blog for pictures as Kay will post more views there.

The ride back to the ship passes by more volcanic rock, some of which was noted as a big import to the US- yes, they ship red and black lava rock for our BBQ grills. Kay left the bus in town for a Sunday walk back to the ship. No surprise that the ship really was the biggest thing in town. Although we did see the National Geographic Explorer ship pull in across the quay. The Solstice still dwarfed the Nat Geo by about 5-6 times. I wonder what the NatGeo was up to and will we see it sometime soon?



Calls were made for several straggler passengers as we made preparations to leave at 4pm for Lisbon. Kay and I wondered if a house exchange might be available someday here? Lots to see an learn here and there are six more islands!

mdt

Today calm seas... tomorrow land in Azores

This morning greeted us with glassy, calm seas and a sweet sunrise that I could barely see around the bow of the ship.  At breakfast I saw several porpoise sizing up the ships wake, skimming birds and a few jellyfish sailing the water's surface.  Things must be changing as these are the first live water animals I have noticed since we got out to big water. 

Yesterday went very well after ending up with a $20 loss in the casino.  I made it up at Bingo when I won the second and last games totaling over $200.  I think we are ahead on our bingo expenses by a significant margin.  Kay has the exact figures but it was a good day.  This morning Kay is walking and I hit the hot tub with my shoulder ache.  Bingo is a hard game holding all those machines and cards.

Tomorrow we take a ride into the caldera of one of many volcanic creaters that make up the Azores islands.  They are ancient but some are still rumbling and spewing rock and steam on occasion.  I do hope it's all quiet and clear for us tomorrow.   It will be exciting to see the lakes and geology on the ride there.  Weather looks good so far, so we hope to bring back more pix for all to see!

Have a great day!
mdt

A cloudy windy day

33.61N  47.32 W

Last night was filled with evidence that Captain put the accelerator down after 10 PM.  Seas were averaging 7 ft or so and the pitching up and down increased as we were attempting sleep.  They seem to average about 500 miles a day give or take a bit on the speed thing but we'll see if the throttle is bumped up again toninght.  i can only say that sleeping on one's side when the ship is mnoving in all three dimensions is not easy for me.  Staying flat on the bed is easier except when your head is obviously below your feet.  A half sitting facilitated by a pillow seems to work best-- and don't eat a lot at dinner either it's just wrong!!

I watch the ocean a lot.  Not much out here and I have seen one container ship and two flying fish on the water.  It's beautiful all day long as weather conditions change continually.  White-capped choppy seas then no white caps.  Rolling long waves then none at all to be seen in the chop.  Rain showers catching the sun's rays are striking against the blue expanse.  It's mesmerizing and beautiful.

For those who were questioning the tuile basket lump of dough... yes, it would be probably more than 7 pounds per chef's recipe--
3 lbs sugar
1.2 lbs orange juice
1 lb cake flour
1.5 lb butter
1.75 lb almonds  (see any ginger here?)
I was just counting the whole numbers so you can see it will be a whopper of a dough ball.  It might take a team effort it I don't cut the recipe.  Chef has help with this of course and I think it might make a fun weekend project.

Another fine meal tonight and we are planning a hot tub soak.  I'm sore a bit from last night maybe so a warm soak might help tonight.  Just waiting for the yummy flan dessert to digest first then to the tub and bed.  No lost hour related to a new time zone tonight so we can sleep in if desired. 

Love to all and good night!
mdt

Day 3 at Sea

Day 3 at Sea

We have developed a routine of sorts. It mostly revolves around mealtimes and BINGO. Marcia was interested in the captain’s talk about navigation, but later in the day she realized that all of the talks are videotaped and replayed on the stateroom tv later, so there is not much need to show up on time.

I have been contemplating the objection raised by some that a week at sea would get boring. I’m thinking that it depends on the individual. There are many things going on all the time. We see people with their watercolors in the lift-there is a daily class. The bridge players are busy busy. Techno geeks are often challenged by the satellite being down or the competition for online connection. (As you can see by our postings yesterday, we got a space on the satellite. ) This is not to mention the rates for connection that start at $0.46 per minute. Nevertheless, the internet lounge is always full and there is wi-fi all over the ship. There is a movie theater, and movies on demand and free movies on the stateroom tv. The casino beckons to some. There is family BINGO early afternoon and Snowball jackpot BINGO late afternoon. There are edutainment talks like the one on navigation. We have Nigel West aboard ship and he does some spy talk daily. Ditto for an expert on early Native Americans whose topics veer into the sensational and advertisements for Western Caribbean cruises. “Is 2012 something to really worry about?” There is a basketball court, table tennis, gym, walk/jog track, several pools-one in the solarium and two outside in the elements-fairly windy these past two days. Next to the pools are little hot tubs, probably about 10 of them. There are cooking classes-the perfect crepe and wine tastings, and it just goes on and on. Croquet on the lawn anyone?

We are not so interested in many of these things. We leisure our way through the days and nights enjoying the pampering of good food, good coffee, great big bottles of evian, and an occasional fruit smoothie. I am very impressed with the food. Very light and healthy choices-very tasty. We are eating light and moving. I got a nice walk around the upper deck yesterday and will soon be checking on the bicycle. We might even get in the pool in the solarium today. We blog and we read and we watch movies.

The sea got a bit choppy yesterday. Some swells of 5 ft, and perhaps even more last night. I love sleeping with a big chop, but walking is a bit challenging. It takes many extra steps to zig zag one’s way down a hallway when the ship is rocking, and there is something slightly undignified about it-though everyone is doing it.

The wind is blowing at 44mph and the temp is 67F, so the sunbathers are all dressed AND wrapped up in beach towels. Has little appeal to me, but whatever. The chop is down to about 3 ft (I’m guessing-Marcia has a different guess but I’ll let her blog about it), so we are rolling along. We have learned to be sure the balcony door is closed before opening the cabin door lest the contents of the cabin fly. At least they would fly into the hallway, not out to sea. I was glad I brought in my laundry this morning as they hosed down our balcony.

The ship itself is something of a marvel. We keep finding little lounges with lovely views-views of the ocean and more ocean. I find this relaxing and calming. I have plenty of books on my Blackberry, so I am good. Just as well as it would cost plenty to download them here.

We are off to the lounge on deck 12 fore. I overheard an explanation of the ship layout in the elevator. Eating is aft, entertainment is fore, and sex is in between. Or, as they guy who was explaining added, “In my case, sleep is in between.” Whatever.

Oh, BTW, I won at BINGO yesterday. I won the last game and would have collected about $100+ but the woman sitting next to me had BINGO as well and so we split. Once again, I paid for my BINGO and had enough left over for a glass of wine. Maybe today will be a really big jackpot.

Addendum: We have taken to playing, and I use the term loosely, electronic BINGO. One sits and watches a little handheld BINGO screen with many cards as the numbers shade when they are called. There are no mistakes on electronic BINGO, but they check the machine anyway. I won $105.01 today. The game was four corners and I got BINGO in 5 calls. Since the little machines cost $45 each, once again we recovered out outlay and made a glass of wine. When one buys the big cards or machine, one gets a little lottery like ticket to peel off. Three in a row of different symbols makes for a win from $5-$1500. Marcia won $5 yesterday and we each won $5 today. Winning is fun and reinforces our BINGO habit.

KG

Day 3 - cruising along

29.87N 67.27W


This Day 3 morning has brought us different seas of 4-5 ft and some wind around 17 mph. The ship’s side to side roll is a bit faster at 3-4 seconds and there are some larger longitudinal waves that create movement in the third dimension, up and down, every 7-10 seconds, front to back. Not bad so far and we were having a great breakfast around 8-ish. Food is always great and lots of choices – no surprise.

Yesterday was low key, as I read my left over Sunday paper then my book most of the morning. The TV was filled with the news of Bin Laden’s demise and all the gory details that eventually drove us to watch Burlesque before we went to the bingo games. (Fun movie and music – I liked it a lot) Bingo attendance brought me $80.50 as a surprise. Maybe I should try the slots today!

Another surprise this morning was the delivery of the recipe for the dessert I had the first night- Gingersnaps Basket with Fresh Strawberries and Mint Diplomat- that I requested from the chef. It was a lovely candied basket filled with a slightly minted diplomat crème topped with macerated strawberries and a fancy rolled, dark chocolate strip on top. I mainly wanted to get the basket ingredients and the recipe provided the basic ingredients for their almond tuile basket that does not include ginger as an ingredient. I know that there was ginger in it as my question was really about which type of ginger did they use- candied, dry or fresh. I now think it was candied from the recipe ingredients as I did note a bit of almond-ish, nutty taste and feel in the basket. Also, It’s not likely that I will make a batch using the recipe since I would be creating a 7 pound batch if followed precisely. Good thing I can manufacture a smaller version and add in the ginger as I desire based on my memory. It might take a couple of attempts but eating the mistakes still should be fun.

We are off to hear the Captain talk about navigation this wide ocean at 11;15 and sort out the rest of our day! Hope yours is delightful as well.

Captain reports that heavier seas are in store for this evening.  It should be interesting so I will pre medicate for the event.  Now just where is that meclazine???
mdt

First Hour Time Change

We set our clocks back last night, so it was 23:00 when we went to bed. We were tired enough that it seemed like 23:00 or later. Marcia got up at 8 this morning and I woke up at 9. Clearly we haven’t entirely adjusted to the new time-maybe tonight.

It was a slow and easy day. First was the news that Osama Bin Laden had been killed. Perhaps it was good news for some, but for us travelers maybe not so good. On the ship, life goes on as usual. Knock wood it works that way in Spain as well.

We ate lunch at noon to adjust to the time change. There are so many choices of so much good food. We had salads piled with wonderful things-mine featured a hunk of eggplant that I thought of as an eggplant steak with several artichokes dancing around it.

Even though we are on a luxury cruise ship, we do our own laundry. For one thing, we didn’t bring many clothes and it would be challenging for us to lose anything, and several things would be really bad. I also don’t trust them to wash my things in cold or warm water, so it’s just easier to wash them ourselves. My Harbor Freight suction thingies and clothesline worked well on our balcony, and we were careful to hang things close to the sliding glass doors rather than watch them sail overboard. There was a 3 mph wind, so perfect for drying laundry. By dinner time everything was dry and ready to be brought in.

I was able to retrieve my camera and sunglasses from Guest Services this morning, so I spent the afternoon editing photos while we watched “Burlesque” in our stateroom. I was able to get online briefly just before dinner to answer an email about a change in flat in Prague, but otherwise everytime I try to get on, it is down. We pay, with the best plan, $0.43 per minute, so uploading photos may have to wait till we get to Barcelona. As it is, I compose on word and plan to copy to blogspot when I can.

Big news is that Marcia won at BINGO. She won the B&O game for $81.50. This paid for our card “investments” and a glass of wine at dinner. Apparently there is 16:00 BINGO every day.

Tonight was a formal night. One of two. We dread them and wondered if we would be denied entrance to our Blu restaurant. We did make some concessions to formal night. I wore dark purple nylon pants with the black silk/synthetic scoop neck top that I bought in Dillards when shopping with Helen. I added the fused glass necklace that Suz’s friend gave me at the last Pottery Camp. However, my shoes were brown Keens. Marcia wore a navy knit outfit with a white tank top. Here shoes were not as dramatically out of place as mine. Our maitre d didn’t even blink. We have come to love Blu. It is a step above and portions are small and exceptionally tasty. I had a beet salad which was more like a light chicken curry appetizer. Then a bowl of gazpacho and rack of lamb with some peas and a few slices of roasted potato. This followed by a pear tart tartain that was exquisite-little slice of pear on a tasty pastry disc no bigger than 2 inches in diameter. Marcia asked for a recipe last night, and staff remembered it. I’m hoping she gets a whole cookbook. This chef is inspiring.

We have, once again opted to forgo the entertainment and enjoy a bit of sunset. Tomorrow’s goal is to find our pool and get in some movement time.
KG

Goodbye to Florida-See You In September

We can no longer see Florida. We sailed at 17:15 and dinner was at 18:00, so we got busy changing into smart casual attire (which looks a lot like what we were wearing to board ship except that I put on long pants) and Florida got left in our wake. It must be said that it was a perfect day for sailing though not a great sunset-big black clouds covered the horizon.

We had an easy check in this morning-much of it thanks to Danny. He brought us our coffee at our hotel and very generously offered to take us to the port. I was so glad we took him up on his offer. There was a frazzled person at the hotel sending people and luggage into various mini vans with luggage trailers, and you just knew that they would stop at every stop in the port. Danny got us right to our ship, and since we were early our check in was fast and easy. By 11:30 we were sitting down to a lovely buffet lunch with so many choices it made our heads swim. Marcia did the roast beef and popover and Yorkshire pudding thing, and I got basmati rice with dahl and several Indian curries and chutneys.

We met our first couple at lunch. They are from near Asheville, NC. Our cousins, of course. We had very pleasant conversations including the one where she asked if Marcia and I were friends and I said that we were partners and they said that was very nice. He is a retired oil man/techie and she owns a boutique women’s clothing store.

Just before sail away, we snagged two comfy seats in a good location on deck 15 to watch the port activity and sail away. Two guys were already sitting in the other two chairs, so eventually we struck up a conversation. They are New Yorkers and one of them is all about horses. They were not keen to be photographed together, which seemed like an interesting story to me. Perhaps it will unfold in the next two weeks. It must be said that there seems to me to be quite a few gay male couples aboard.

There are about 2,700 passengers aboard-big enough, but not one of the 5,000 passenger mega ships. This is a new ship and the décor is quite modern and quite nice. I had some trouble getting into one of the women’s bathrooms today as the outer door slides at the push of a button and I couldn’t find out how to open it. Very posh!

I’m disappointed that there is no aquasize. There is a gym, of course, and pools, and big buff guys that would love to sell yoga and pilates and burn fat at an incredible and unbelievable rate of speed kind of classes. I don’t think I’m buying. This is exactly the kind of exercise program that makes me want to barf before I get started. I’m hoping I’m motivated to spend time in the pool and do some of the exercises we do in Bev’s class. Probably would be a good idea to climb on an exercise bike as well since Cathy and I plan to ride bicycles in Alkmaar.

Our room is delightful, and we have a shower fixture just like the one at home! The bed is ample-the foot curves in an arch-if it isn’t tempurpedic, it is the next best thing. The safe is big enough for the computers and other stuff and there is plenty of room to stash our stuff. We are Aqua Class. I still cannot remember why I chose it except that it gives us a mini-bar (read little refrigerator) and a sliding glass door to the balcony on starboard side, which in our case faces west just in case there is a good sunset. The other thing that Aqua Class gives us is dinner at Blu. It is a lovely restaurant with excellent choices in food, and the fare is light enough and portions small enough that one can enjoy 4 courses without extreme discomfort.

At Blu we met Howard and Rosemarie from San Antonio. They are most likely our cousins too. Howard is a retired dentist. We enjoyed sharing dinner conversation and literally our dinners with them. They are curious about food and we had some good choices. I had Ahi tuna with forbidden rice-the black rice that I usually make with sweetened coconut only this forbidden rice was made plain/savory. The chilled avocado soup was excellent as well. Marcia got the ginger basket dessert which turned out to be just what her taste buds wanted. It was actually a little tart with ginger crust, but an intriguing mixture of flavors, so we all had a sample. Apparently we will be dining at Blu for the journey, unless we decide to try one of the other restaurants. Marcia was sizing up the Tuscan restaurant tonight.

I’m hoping my sunglasses and camera turn up at lost and found/guest services tomorrow. I really knew when I put them under my chair at dinner that they were likely to be forgotten, but there was just no other good place to put them. Illustrations for the blog are going to be fewer without that camera. Knock wood.

So, all in all an easy and eventful enough day that we have decided to forgo the show and stay home and blog and learn about the ship. Besides, we seem to have a tempurpedic bed.

KG