Cosica and Beyond

Final Blog

Well, I'm sitting here on a plane back to Rome. Just got so busy the last few days didn't really get to blog. The last night in Rome was wonderful. Roberto was waiting for us when we got off the ship - which was a huge relief to all 4 of us. He drove us into the city and talked about Italian culture all the way in to Rome. We stopped for coffee and pastry just outside the Vatican in the neighborhood where he grew up. OMG - the chocolate croissants were friggin wonderful. We went from there to the Vatican. Gotta admit I just kinda held my breath. I stood in St. Peter's square and sand Hasa Digo Ebowi from the Book of Mormon (the new musical by the creators of Southpark). It was quite satisfying. I'm still so angry there - but it helped relieve some of the anger. We went to a Vatican gift shop to get a gift for Ray's Mom. Found her a small gold cross that wis quite nice. I realized I was really uncomfortable in the space - but saw a place where we could get a Papal Blessing for Ray's Mom. Despite my major issues with the Catholic Church I knew she would really like it and so we stayed long enough for us to get her one which will be delivered in about 40 days. As we left I realized that she's probably the only person in the world that I would have done that for.

Roberto took us to the major sites in Rome. Spanish Steps (which it turns out aren't really famous for being anything other than pretty steps), the place where Napoleon was killed (name escapes me now), the Roman forum, and lots of other places. Mostly he told us about the culture in Italy. How they are ashamed somewhat of Naples - which we had picked up on when we docked there and landed in Sorrento, about how Italian drivers were crazy - but courteous to one another. He told us about the insurance rating system for cars. Basically you start out with the worst rating (15) and hang on with the same company until you get to level zero. He told us a little about growing up in the shadow of St. Pere's Basilica. He took us to Campo di fiorno (and I'll will admit up front my Italian spelling of English names - or vice versa - is awful) and got us Zucchini flower and anchovy pizza. It sound gross - it was WONDERFUL. We were going to the Trevi fountain, but the traffic was just too much. FYI if you ever want a tour guide in Rome - use Miles & Miles (which is Roberto's company). OMG great service. If we every go back we'll certainly call on him to get us to some of the lesser known sites.

The last night Ray and I and Bill and Tenon went out for dinner - ok, I HAD to have Carbonara just one more time. It seems strange but I've had that now like 4 or 5 times in Italy. They were all REALLY different - all good, just very different takes on the same concept. We ate at a place like 1/2 mile from our hotel on the street (al Fresco). It was like 75F and sunny with a slight breeze - just couldn't have been a more gorgeous night. From there we were going to go to the Trevi Fountain - instead we sat on the rooftop garden of our hotel, drank wine, watched the sunset, admired the sites all around us, and laughed until we cried and silly stuff. Like the White Party on the ship. OMG - seriously someone needs to explain to some of these guys that when you're over 50 and overweight (and I'll own both of those) white spandex is NOT an appropriate thing to wear to a dance party targeted an 20 somethings! Anyway, could NOT have asked for a more wonderful last night in Rome. I haven't laughed that much in a long long time - and it did my psyche good.

Corsica (Ajaccio) tour was a precursor to this. We had booked a wine tour. I thought it was like 1.5 hours or something like that - turned out is was 4 hours. We started by touring a current local winery. This was a working production winery. We walked across the scales where they weigh the grapes. It's built in to the driveway to the winery - kind of like a truck stop where they weigh trucks. I thought for sure when the four us us walked across it was going to scream "OMG - AAAH - get OFF of me." After the amount of pasta I've eaten I would not blame it. It didn't. Then we were seated under Olive trees in a garden and tasted 4 wines - a white (kind of Pinot Grigio type), Chardonnay, a house red that was kind of like a Chianti, and a Rose -which typically both Ray and I would HATE for being too sweet - but it wasn't.
Then they started serving food - we didn't know there was going to be lunch. Homemade Pate' (OMG - YUM), lots of Italian meats and cheeses and homemade bread, followed by fruit and what we would call doughnut holes. Someone call the Carb Police, STAT! Ajaccio is the birthplace of Napolean and even though he never really returned there after his political career was launched, there are several statues of him. After a very leiseurely lunch we drove around and saw several of them. Traffic was too bad for us to get out and take pictures, but it was very interesting to see them. And FYI Corsica is TOTALLY a wonderful place - very relaxing with a very slow pace of life. Why don't American's live that way? Seriously - work from 9 to noon -2 hour Siesta - work 3 or 4 more hours and then go home. Oh, and Wednesdays off (including school children). It's no wonder people in the Southern Mediterranean live longer!

So anyway, the day before that, we were in Sorrento, Italy. Actually we docked in Naples, and then took a bus up a VERY steep hill and along a mountain path over to Sorrento. Started out at a farm. When we got to the farm a bunch of the guys were like OOOH - Cows! They were from New York. I kinda rolled my eyes and went - oh good grief, if I wanted to see a farm (again) - I'd just drive 5 miles East/West/North (South takes you into downtown Indy). But when we got there it was really more like a big garden where they made everything they could eat. The cows only produce enough milk to make the homemade Mozzarella (which they demonstrated and was wonderful). There were Lemon trees, Kiwi trees, Olive trees. Besides the Mozzarella they made homemade wine, Limoncello, Limoncello creme, lemon marmalade and bitter orange marmalade. Mostly what I was stuck by again was that people slowed down and enjoyed their lives. Anna was our tour guide here. She had done foreign exchange to Idaho. I was going to guess Iowa or Indiana when she started describing her experience. It certainly was culture shock for her and them.

Once again, Atlantis did a great job on the cruise- my heterosexual friends probably won't understand completely - but for 10 days Ray and I got to be the norm. Held hands, kissed in public (just a little - hey, were an old couple now) - watched young lovers act crazy and were glad they had a chance to do that. It's just nice to be the norm and the 'old married couple' that hopefully inspire others - rather than having to worry about saying we're single men (which we're about to have to do at US Customs). It was nice to talk with other gay couples of all ages, and just really be us. I heard one guy talking to his partner about his Crestor and how he was developing type 2 diabetes, etc. etc. and the guys around him giving him advice and talking to his partner. It was just so NORMAL - and now I'm on Crestor so I was paying attention. And so much a part of growing up and older was around us. Ray and I are talking about where we want to retire. We're still trying to figure that out. I want to retire where who we are as a couple is just not an issue. I don't want special treatment. I don't want attention. But after 16 years together, two successful careers, and contributing to the welfare of others, I just want to be treated respectfully and not harassed. And to have our relationship treated the same way. Is that really asking so much? Why can that happen in Europe and other countries and not in the US?

Time for some more wine.

Slowdown in Sorrento and Fascinating Pompeii

Slowdown in Sorrento and Fascinating Pompeii

We docked in Naples and then toured Sorrento and Pompeii. Today started with a tour of a typical sorrento 'farm' - it's really a large garden by Indiana standards. But they have both livestock (a few cows) and lemon/olive/kiwi trees among other things. We had a demonstration of making fresh mozzarella and then a sample - which was WONDERFUL.

They had homemade Limoncello and Creme LimonCello as well as homemade orange and lemon marmalade - outstanding on pound cake which is how they served it. They also had homemade wine - which was kind of a Chianti. Also good. From there we had free time in Sorrento - we wandered a bit. Ray tried to get money at an ATM. It had a button that said "English" - but no matter what only appeared in Italian. They had warned us that we were hitting siesta time and that many shops were closed. I told Ray maybe the ATM was on the same schedule and that English would only be available after 5pm. He didn't find it amusing. LOL - oh well. So we found a small Cafe and had authentic Pizza which originated in the area. Our tour guide told us that Pizza originated in the mid 1800s when Italy was united under one King. When the King was scheduling his first visit to the area, he wanted to do something original to honor the King and Queen. The story goes that he wanted to do something that had the colors of the Italian flag (Red, White, Green). So he spread out bread dough flat and covered it with tomatoes (red), then added fresh mozzarella cheese (white) and fresh basil (green). The Queen's name was Marguerite - hence the origination of the Margarita Pizza.

I have NO idea if that story is true - but it sounds good! Sorrento is a SLOW DOWN place - everyone there clearly takes their time, does not experience pressure. They park everywhere! They will stop in the middle of the road to chat with friends and block traffic. They go to the beach. They take their time at meals. They have high unemployment (hey - so does the US) but they do what they can to generate an income and live and let live. And of course they are on the Mediterranean diet that includes wine. I would LOVE to spend about 3 or 4 days just exploring the area. It's no wonder they live so long. Given their approach to life I'll bet no one within a 500 mile radius has to be on anti-hypertensive medication!

From there we went to visit the ruins of Pompeii. It was amazing. Basically the inhabitants had no idea it was going to happen and the mountain exploded nuclear bomb style - blew off the top third of the mountain. Hence people had little warning and no where to run. Those that ran to the sea were likely hit with a huge Tsunami. About 3/5ths of the city has been excavated. You can see all lots and lots of detail, including plaster casts of dogs, people, and other artifacts. There were also the dogs of the city - seriously there were signs all over. There are dogs that live in the ruins - they walk among the visitors. They look like strays - but will lay down and let you rub their belly. It was really sweet - and of course several of them found the gaggle of gay men walking through the area and followed us. Complete sidebar, but the four of us agreed that dogs sense gay men and know that they will get treated very well.

We got back to the ship and are now sailing to a city in Corsica - our last stop. Then back to Rome for a tour and then home. Have completely lost track of what day it is - for me that's a good sign that I'm actually relaxing.

Pictures later!

Tunis, Tunisia

Tunis was very interesting. On top of just being able to say I've been to Africa it has an interesting history. It was destroyed and rebuilt under Roman rule. They have no oil, so they primarily export olive oil and grain to Europe as well as Tourism to generate income. They were under financial oversight and part of France until the mid 1950s. They had a president who declared himself president for life in 1956 and while there are problems with that, he actually did a lot of good for the country. For example, education in Tunisia is compulsory through age 16 and universities are free. They have a literacy rate of 85%. WOW. They also just had a revolution which was apparently quite peaceful (well, other than someone self immolated in protest at the inequities in the government). Facebook was a strong driving factor in the revolution - apparently word of what had happened and when to protest was spread over Facebook. Wow again. Today they have a temporary government and will have elections in October.

We first visited Medina - which is bascially part of the old city and the market place. Most of it was closed due to it being Sunday and a Muslim holiday season (Ramidan - spelling likely wrong). Actually I was glad it was pretty quiet. Even with that by the time the tour left we were bombarded by people trying to sell us stuff on the streets. It was fascinating how it was constructed to help it keep cool - it was over 100F outside. I was channeling my cousins Mary Swenson and Donna Seibert in terms of shopping bargains. Ray said if Donna had been there, the handmade rug (which they are famous for) would have started out at $900 and by the end she would have had 4 of them for $49 shipped to the US and the pushy salesman would have been fleeing!

We then saw several sets of ruins - including what was part of the old Carthage before it was rebuilt by the Romans and part of the remains of the Roman baths.

Fascinating place. Not sure I need to come back here (unlike Barcelona), but very glad I was here.

The evening ended with an outstanding performance by Patti Lupone! Amazing day.

Ibiza

Ibiza - pronounced "Ibitha" - is a getaway in Europe that is most analogous to Maui. It really was picturesque, so it's a story best told in pictures. Here are a lot - but here are a few words.

Maui has Costco, Ibiza has Ikea (ok, that's a tie)


Ibiza is known for it's trendy clubs. There was a huge gay dance party last night - the boat didn't depart until 7am this morning so the boys had time to get back from the party.



We watched over 1000 of our group get on busses to go to the party. We stayed home (except we secretly think Bill crept out after we went to bed and went to the disco - see if you can tell which is the before and which is the after picture).




Ibiza draws a large British vacationer crowd so even though it's in Spain, in the main tourist area there was a lot of British going on.
They love to play on their beaches and be creative.



We did a tour that included big caves and a lot of walking around the old walled city.

Learning points: 1) Areas that are that small and cramped should come with first class and a glass of wine when I walk in the door. 2) Exploring a cave is checked off on the bucket list. It's cold, it's damp, it smells bad, it doesn't have enough light or emergency exits, and it's really not all that attractive - as I told Ray we certainly have spent WAY more money to find out we didn't like something!



3) The old city was pretty - the pitcher of Sangria we walked by at an open air restaurant was prettier.


Ended up going about 10 more steps, then a large contingent of us went back to the place serving Sangria. Even Rachel from Atlantis who joined us for an hour and the guys from Phoenix that we had chatted with on our Baltic Cruise. Marvoulous time making new friends and continuing with old.





Oh - and we saw Patti Lupone as we were walking down the board walk - she said hi, we said hi, she says to tell you all 'Hi.' And the Broadway show by the Celebrity dancersa and singers featured another rendition of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina"...that's two. Seriously, what WERE they thinking - Patti Lupone is going to perform on this cruise!

Barcelona Design

So I think I said yesterday that we decided to forgo our scheduled tour and do our own thing in Barcelona. This is the second largest city in Spain. There is basically a large pedestrian mall (which does allow cars) that goes from the port all the way up past the University to city center. We just walked most of the way up there - to a restaurant that had been recommended for Tapas. The pedestrian mall was quite crowded but - but joyful. Ray said that other than getting back to Australia this is a city he'd like to come back to and I'd agree. We stopped in a number of the shops along the way looking for T-shirts and such and found that both the city architecture and shops definitely have an emphasis on design. There are a few shots here which I think provide some perspective. The stairway was just in an apartment building that was open for you to walk into the entry way, and the cornice (for lack of a better term - asking forgiveness from those of you who know architecture better than I do) was just along the way up to the restaurant. We stopped in one art and design store and found the tape dispenser and just had to have it. Within a few years, no one will even get the joke.

Lunch was wonderful. We ate at Taller Tapas (www.tallerdetapas.com). I had this really interesting salad of anchovies, pickles, green olives all on slices of tomato. Some of my favorite things all in one place - ok, I get it that not everyone would like it! We also had ham and cheese crouqets, sauteed mushrooms, sliced ham with smoked paprika over it, and some wonderful fried potatoes with homemade ketchup and garlic mayo. And a delicious Tempramillo! Then we just wandered back the way we came - diverting into some of the side streets and finally back to the ship. It was a great afternoon. The ship stayed in port until 4:30am so that some of the boys could go to a big circuit party. We're not exactly circuit party kinda guys (well, Bill is...LOL). We went to shows on the ship including one called Beauty Shop Stories. It was a one woman show that was a series of stories about her growing up in the deep south and the goings on at her Mom's beauty shop. It was really well done. As I said at 4:30 this morning, the ship set sail for Ibiza. More soon!

The Gossip from Monaco!

We did a half day tour here which was outstanding. The tour guide made all the difference in the world. A woman from England now living in Italy - well basically just across the bay from Monaco. It is just stunning to look at the bay and understandable why the rich and famous want to be here. We went first to the main area of the principality (and I still don't know why Monaco is a principality and not a nation) and explained the history of the Grimaldi family. Apparently they disguised themselves as monks in the 1200s in order to gain entry into the fortress and overthrow the landowners. We saw the grave site of Princess Grace and heard all of the dish abou the entire family. Including the fact that apparently Albert's fiancee tried to bolt like a week before their recent wedding. Turns out with good reason rumor has it. It had been widely known that Albert had fathered two children prior to his marriage (but apparently they can't be heirs to the thrown). Well, he apparently fathered two MORE - one of which had to happen during his engagement. His fiancee apparently found out about it right before the marriage. Also, apparently there is a pre-nup in place that once she bears at least one child, she gets to divorce and move back to South Africa a VERY wealthy woman. There's a 20 year age difference between the two.

The other two children have had almost as bad luck with relationships. Caroline is on her third marriage (though one ended in a very tragic boating accident), and Stephanie has been in relationships with two or three bodyguards as well as two different circus performers - one an elephant trainer and one a trapeeze artist. Currently she is in a relationship with her personal trainer.

We did go to the square where the Casino is located. Hotel de Paris is located there - $8000 per night for some rooms. And no, I didn't get the zeroes wrong. The casino itself was closed - doesn't open until after our tour ended. But what was more impressive was the parking lot. All around the square there were Bently's, Maserati, Ferrari - but LOTS of them. No ordinary cars at all. It looked like the typical mini-van/ SUV line up at Target - only with a major upgrade!

The square and surrounding areas had some really fun outside art - including huge balls made of hand painted eggs. They also have electric car chargers - ok, I'm a geek but I thought that was really cool.

I finally good a good night's sleep that night. We had booked a tour in Barcelona - but we decided to just bag that so we could all rest. We're here in Barcelona until 4:30 AM because there's some big gay party tonight in Barcelona (like the boat isn't one already)! They offer shuttle bus service - so we're going to just go in on our own and explore the city a bit and have a leisurely lunch.

Pisa & the little things

The tour of Pisa was crowded - as we used to say in the business "too many people for the space." Well, at least the space where the church and the leaning tower was situated. However maybe four or five blocks away was a very peaceful square which is actually the location of a very prestigious university (of course I don't have the name now). But we were able to find a delightful place for gelato and coffee. On the way back we came across an electronics store and I was able to buy something I've been looking for every time we've come to Europe - a 220 volt LED nightlight. It's a silly thing, but we always travel with a nightlight - we're over 50 and have to find the bathroom in the middle of the night! But we've never been able to find a battery-operated one that worked successfully and I kept saying I was going to buy one in Europe so we'd have one when we're overseas - but we were never in areas that had real shopping. I bought 2 - they were like 3 Euro a piece. Cheap! I was so excited - sometimes it's the little things.

We made it!

Hi Folks-

Well, first off - obviously we DID make it on the ship. 15 mintues after the last blog post a large van showed up (thank goodness - 4 gay men with luggage. I'm surprised it wasn't a van line). Anyway, got to the ship no problems and check in was a breeze.


While I was anxiously waiting we went to a convenience store to get some last minute stuff and outside the store was this adorable doggy hitch. We miss our Lab. How come mean people are allowed to travel, but I can't buy a first class ticket for my adorable Lab who'd never hurt anyone and would just curl up in the seat. Actually, she'd probably fly coach. Nah...

So I arranged a few surprises before we left. One was I sent bottles of wine to both our stateroom and Bill and Tenon's stateroom. I signed our "A gift from: CDC" and the message was "Have a great time on us!" When we got to the room there was another bottle of wine from our travel agent (which was quite nice - thanks Tom). And then the one I had secretly sent. I ignored it when I got to the room since I knew what it was. And of course I didn't have my glasses on. Ray read the card and said "OMG - it's from the CDC!" then he said "quick - get your glasses. They sent us a gift!"

Well, I held out as long as I could - I let it go on for at least a minute while he was effusing - and then finally broke out into laughter. Hon - the federal government sending a contractor alcohol on vacation?! To quote Will and Grace "Honey - do you know how many things are wrong with that sentence!?" Still it was very fun to surprise everyone and put a smile on everyone's face. Never know...there might be more surprises coming.

Hope everyone is well - the world is good here!

Anxious Waiting

So when I booked the transfer from the hotel to the cruise port something went slightly wrong and it registered in the computer as being from a different airport to the cruise port. Fortunately I noticed it and had the hotel call last night and they are supposed to pick us up in the next 45 minutes. I was going to have them call again to confirm this morning, but the hotel staff today doesn't seem to speak English as well as the people last night. They did seem to understand last night - but this is where language barriers make me anxious! Oh well, worst case is we get a cab.

When in Rome do as the Romans do...well almost

So just a side note. We've been going to the little coffee and pastry shop in the morning. All of the tour books suggest that Europeans do not tip (or expect to be tipped) in the same manner that we do in the US. So we've been leaving a little. But one morning I just forgot and did our standard US tip (so approximately 20%). The woman said thank you and then when she thought she was out of my eyesight danced a little jig and was waving at her co-worker. I may not speak Italian, but I know when I've made someone's day! In general, I've decided to tip like I was in the US. Ok, maybe it's not what the Roman's do - but it clearly makes them happy.

Countryside Wine & Food

So "Roberto" picked the four of us up at 9am for our day in the countryside. We started with a stop at the Colosseum - which was built actually by one family. From there we went to visit a catacomb. Quite fascinating - but given my history the fact that I was walking past the remains of many Popes I was expecting a Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows moment. Bill said he came really close to just poking from behind when I wasn't expecting it but thought better of it. Ray said it would have been the scream heard round the world! Anyway, still fascinating history.

Then we went to an Italian village which was just lovely. It was around a lake that was from a dead volcano. It truly was Italian countryside at it's finest. Great pastry and open air markets. We sampled lots of things Strawberry. Their strawberries are more like the size of our raspberries, even though they taste like our strawberries.


Ended up at Antico Ristorante Pagnanelli which is immediately adjacent to the Pope's summer palace. He was there - didn't stop by for lunch though. Oh well.



We had a wine tasting of local wines from the region as part of lunch which was wonderful. I've gotten in this horrible habit of trying whatever Carbonara they have on their menu. I have now had Carbonara three times - all three very different and all three very good. Is it possible to get addicted to Carbonara? I guess I'll find out.

Technology still amazes and fascinates me!

Technogeek that I am - that fact that my cell phone works in Europe is still amazing. I mean 10 years ago people would have laughed at the thought. Now it's no big deal. Would that people in real life were this easily united as one. Oh well - technology is a start.

New Yorkers Do Rome

So last night we were tired and went up to the hotel roof top to see the city lights and have wine. We met a family from New York (with accent and all) who were hilarious. They were like "we went to the Trevi fountain - it was like the one in Las Vegas an the Venetian - only smaller" - they were part serious, part joking. But with the New York accent, it was hysterical. They told stories about getting groped on the bus and train, and hearing people scream and running to their aid (well one did - the others told her to stop - I'm sure it was quite a scene to see). It was a really relaxed evening.

We slept about 12 hours - until our friends Bill and Tenon arrived and called from the hotel lobby . Had a bite of breakfast with them until their room was ready.

We both still feel like we're getting acclimated. We've been here 24 hours and have done to sightseeing....but have really relaxed. Which is kinda the point! We're going to do some exploring this evening once Bill and Tenon have a nap and a shower and then tomorrow we're off to a wine/art/countryside tour.

Rome

So we made it to Rome with no problems - flights were uneventful and honestly I thought it was quick compared to getting to Australia!

The airport is way out, and we had scheduled a Supershuttle type of ride -to it took like 1.5 hours to get from the airport to the hotel. Oddly, there was really no customs check - they just stamped our passport. I guess I assume it's random screening.

The hotel is nice - European style but they have high speed internet and the rooms really are quite reasonable in terms of size. Our hotel does overlook the Colosseum - though we haven't gotten there yet. We took a nap and a much appreciated shower - -then had our first taste of Italian pasta (Carbonara!) and gelato. I'm thinking we're going to call it an evening and do exploring tomorrow!

Hopefully will post some pictures tomorrow.

Last Minute Packing

OK - yesterday was trying to get ready PLUS work all day. A bit frazzeling. My next door neighbor saw me this morning and said I looked better but that yesterday I looked a bit "shagged out" - LOL - he was right. Really looking forward to some time off!

Here's where we're going

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