McMediterranean

Why the interesting title you ask? Well, this cruise and probably the next cruise we have to take time in port like it is golden and cram a lot into little time AND we don't get a real paycheck or payday until the 30th. So in essence we get the drive thru of the Mediterranean. Fast, cheap, and common. No exploring the finer details, or experiencing things at leisure. It's what's popular and what's quick. That is because the first couple cruises (what in ship lingo is called changeover) are mostly rehearsal times. We arrived in Lisbon exhausted from our 12 hours of travel and loss of 8 hours in our day in the afternoon on Wednesday the 20th. We settled into our NY style hotel rooms at the Holiday Inn and decided to go out and find authentic Portuguese cuisine. We found a cute little "hole-in-the-wall" place the hotel recommended down the street. It was nice, but not so cheap. The Euro here is going to kill me. It exchanges at $1.00 US to a range of $0.75-0.81 Euro. Not good when things appear to be more expensive in the Euro dollar than they even are marked at the US price. Which just means they are almost twice as expensive. Yikes! Anyway, I had a good meal. By the way, coke and bottled water here average $3.00 Euro a glass!! Whoa!!! This ain't no supersize or refillable cup either. Just a small rocks glass for the coke. So we were so exhausted after dinner we didn't experience the night life or see the port since we had to be on the ship at 9am the next day. Bye bye Lisbon for now until we reach it again in June. The next day was Cadiz/Seville in Spain. I'll just have to wait until next time. I saw it from the ship, does that count? We had a sea day where we put up our first show which went well and then we got to Barcelona, Spain. Five of us managed to go off real early before rehearsal and we had a Spanish style breakfast at a little cafe. It was St. Georges Day there (equivalent to Valentine's Day in the US). The men buy the women flowers and the women buy the men books. It was considered a national holiday so a lot of the businesses were closed. The streets however were lined with flower and book vendors. It was a Sunday morning, so EVERYONE was out by the time 11am came around. The streets were packed. The architecture of these extremely old places just fascinates me though. I was enthralled. Also strolling the streets in spring weather with flower vendors all around gave me a nice happy feeling. The book theme was relevant to the holiday. Romance novels were a dime a dozen. Sex books were also very popular from the pop-up Kama Sutra book to your standard issues of Playboy-like magazines. We hurried back to port after a glorious 2 hour rendez-vous to the town for rehearsal. Awww. I missed Monte Carlo entirely since I had "In Port Manning" duty. From my previous stories, you know that 30% of our cast has to be on ship in port in case of an emergency. Our duty is to direct people to safety. Oh well. I saw the most beautiful port ever from the ship and I know we'll be there again twice more. Today was a quick trip through the little town of Livorno in Italy. It's the coastal portal to the Tuscan countryside. Florence is a mere 40 minutes away and Pisa is just 20 minutes. Both by train. HOWEVER, today is also some sort of national holiday so everything was pretty much closed or running off schedules. Trains weren't what the schedule said they were, shops in town were closed, and the city was pretty quiet. We tried to take an early train to Pisa, but the schedules were running too late and too infrequent. We would have missed rehearsal. That would have been trouble. Nevertheless, I did take in a lovely cappuccino at the train station and had REAL pizza in town. Yum!! One thing I must say about Europeans though and crowded busses. My friends think a stinky car in the Manhattan subway is bad, well that's pretty much everyday living over here. Whoa!! Someone needs to open a market of deodorant over here. Splashes of perfumes and cologne mixed with natural odors are not pleasant and sometimes they don't even do that. Oy! It was back to rehearsal and then we had some time afterward. Two of us made a mad dash to port only to discover that by the time we took the shuttle into town we would only have 10 minutes to explore. Awww. So, we went into town and discovered gelato!! Yum. I had chocolate of course and my leading lady had strawberry. Both were fabulously delicious. Tired from the day we got back on board and I took a nap before our late dress rehearsal. I can't wait to see more.

Free Upgrade..

I've safely landed in Portugal and now am on the ship. It was an interesting trip from L.A. to get to Portugal. A story to be told already. All I can say is Whoa!!!! In an excerpt from a recent email I sent I wrote "I'm writing from the airplane right now. It's about 7am Frankfurt time and about 10pm L.A. time. I'm both lucky and unlucky. I'm lucky 'cause I'm sitting about 1 row from first class and didn't have to pay for the upgrade. That's right. I forgot to ask for a window seat at the check in counter so I did it at the gate. Where I had another stroke of luck and my 65lb bag that was supposed to weigh 50lbs didn't get an overweight charge. She ignored it!! At the gate my luck would have it the plane was full and the only window available was in business class (practically the same as first class). I really don't know what the difference is. I have TONS of leg room, my own video monitor with an array of entertainment and movies, a 5 course meal with free liquor, hot towels, a seat that reclines fully into a bed (SHUT UP!!), and a plug to plug my laptop into. All conveniences I wouldn't have been able to get in economy. In fact the leg room is quite phenomenal. What's the unlucky part you ask? I CAN'T SLEEP. Shut up. It's because I'm trying to sleep between 6pm and midnight. How unfortunate that I have the tools to sleep comfortably, but can't despite all the liquor I drank, lol. I'm usually out at the first sign of comfortability. Those who have driven with me KNOW that. The gentle murr of the engine, a gentle rock of the movement, and zzzzzz land here I come, but not today with all the comforts one could get. Oh well. I guess that's the trade off. The comforts outweigh this small inconvenience. I was reading in my pamphlet that I was even supposed to get internet here, but that's not seeming to pan out and I'm surrounded in darkness and by people who CAN sleep. I'm going to find out when we land how much my cast hates me right now, lol. One of our dancers (Michael) came in to see how I was doing and I'm sure gave a full report to the rest in the back of the plane. Even to our production assistant who arranged everything. Oh, and incidentally, my other not so lucky thing is that I can smell the bathroom seeing as I'm also 1 row away from it. Lol. Oh well. Small price to pay. I'll just take it all in right now. I stilll can't believe it." Let's face it. Business class IS first class. I don't know WHAT the difference is really. To start you get a drink BEFORE you take off. I had a Chardonnay. I had to read the manual on the seat I was sitting in because one remote controls the seat, the TV, it's a game controller for the video games available, it's your light switch, AND your call button. Can I just say overwhelmed? So, I get to my seat to discover there's a little goodie bag waiting for me as well. What's IN the goodie bag? A pair of socks? Yes!! A Pair of fresh socks to slip on your feet while you fly. Also a wet wipe, toothbrush and toothpaste, and some face lotion. Also included were blinds for sleeping and some protective earmuffs for the headset. So I slip on the socks, set my chair the way I like it (tell it to remember this setting so I can go back to it at anytime with the touch of a button), and select my first movie to watch during my 5 course meal on real plates using real silverware. Along with this VERY tasty dinner I had a glass of Riesling that kept magically refilling every time I looked away. Lol. I had I don't know how many little glasses of wine, but dinner lasted about an hour from salad to dessert. So there you have it. After the movie, I reclined into a full flat position. Like I said these seats turn into beds. Although, it's still not the most comfortable. The only redeeming factor really is that I was laying down completely, but the seat is still a seat. 'Tis no mattress and that pillow wasn't very fluffy, but that aside I'm in business class which I'll just call first class anyway because for the third time there isn't a difference that I can tell. I think I got SOME sleep. After all I am in a time warp right now. I wake up and finish another movie and catch up on some e-mail. Now the sun is shining bright on the next day just maybe 3 hours after it go dark. Breakfast arrives. Yum. Croissants with a delicious omelette. I'd like to say the omelette was made fresh right in front of me, but this isn't a hotel. It's still a plane. The next flight was not as extravagant and I quickly noticed how different the service is in business/first class than it is in economy. There was no leg room. Food was in disposable containers with disposable utensils. People were just packed together and it was so uncomfortable. Boy was I spoiled. The hotel was fabulous. It was a smart room where you have to insert your hotel key in the light socket in order to keep the lights on. Nice wood floors. Good location. I was so tired though arriving at the hotel, it was literally a place to just let my head rest.

Off To See The Wizard...

Just over a year later and my adventure actually begins in Los Angeles. The tornado called Lufthansa will be taking me on my next adventure to Europe (and hopefully my luggage will be underweight). Last year about April 12 I was leaving NYC for my first cruise contract in 5 years. The last ship I had performed on was back in 2000. Oh those were the days of travel before settling in beautiful San Diego. I had a fabulous cast that got through a strange string of unfortunate incidents on my ship last year. It was an odd experience and I even found love on board. We all parted in December and my love and I became separated, but 4 of us would reunite in a new cast and I would see 4 others along the way (8/10 in the 3 month break is not bad). Of course with all the replcements our cast was more like a cast of 20 by the time we were finished, lol. Now, I'm with a new group of people. We all get along fabulously. No huge disagreements yet that I know of. The waters look calm. Somehow the air is different though. We aren't as tight leaving lala land as we all were in the last bunch. The ship will be a true test of our bond. The chemistry on stage is fabulous, and when we hang out as a group it's wonderful so I don't believe that this trip will weaken anything. It's just not as easy. I will still see Europe to the fullest that I can. I may even see an L.A. friend along the way since she may take a trip to either Greece or Denmark. We're pulling for Greece so she can hop to Rome and Monte Carlo as well, but she has family in Denmark, so that may be a better option. Needless to say I'm excited and nervous at the same time. I lost a little sleep over it, but I'll make it up in the 9 hour flight (OY!). I'll have many pictures to take, places to see, and new people to meet on board. We have 1 show that we really love so far (unfinished) and 1 show we really hate. The other 2 just fall in the middle somewhere. The Rotterdam cast motto is this: When asked "What shows are you doing?", we respond "WE'RE GOING TO EUROPE!!! WOO HOO!!" For those of you who want to call, just flip the switch on your computer and write me an e-mail. I won't have phone service again until October. I'm off to Oz so look here for fabulous adventures and pictures (of course abbreviated pictures since I took 1,500 on my last contract). I'll be back in reality when my ruby slippers take me out of fantasy land in October. Ciao, Auf Wiedersehen, Au Revoir, Adeus, До свидания, Adios, Vaarwel, Αντίο.

Trip to the Past...

This past weekend I rented a car and visited my best friend up in Sonora County in California. I felt like I fell asleep along the way (stay quiet all those who know my driving habits) and ended up in Skagway, Alaska. It was a beautiful day to drive on Saturday as I travelled through vineyards and orange groves. All still dry from winter and ready to bloom for spring, but still fascinating. And YES, I made it BY MYSELF. I had my weak moments since it was a moving vehicle and all, but I kept myself alert with voice practice, music, fresh air, and LOTS of Coca Cola. Once I got up to Fresno it was nothing but lush green rolling hills filled with tons and tons of cows. The landscape was practically cows. I remember a commercial for dairy products saying that California cows are happy cows. This said commerical references California due to its weather no doubt, but as I was travelling in that area it was a mere 50 degrees in the sun and it was just snowing the previous week. Hmm. Not as bad as Wisconsin, but still cold. Anyway, I was chugging along fine admiring the scenery. However the drive was taking longer than expected and I was winding and turning through the mountains of California when I should stumble upon an old mining town called Coulterville. Whoa!!! I thought. "Wha-happoned?" as my friends from the Zaandam would say. The sidewalks were made of wood and the facades from all the buildings were in that key western look. I stopped in an old hotel where the mistress of the house reassured me that I was indeed lost, but not by much. I learned later by my friend that I was pretty close to Yosemite. I do wish I had time to explore that area. In the future I will. I made it back on the right track only to discover I had no cell service. Whoa!! Talk about being secluded. Luckily I was only a half hour off track and she was waiting for me at the theatre. It was good to see her again and we had a lovely dinner together to catch up. We reminisced and traded DVDs of shows we've done since working together in the past that night. I saw her show the next day at the Sierra Repertory Theatre. Beauty and the Beast was defiinitely an ambitious show for the small stage and limited group that could feasibly perform on that stage. They all did very well and she shined of course. Before her show that day we had a lovely breakfast at Perko's which I'm convinced is in the family of Perkin's, but maybe not. We travelled into Columbia to visit the historic little mining town. I even got to see a family of deer in her host family's backyard. They live on a mountainside so the mountain extends upward from the house where they were just wandering about. After the show I was on the road again. Although this time it wasn't so pretty. It was a little rainy (some of the storm we're getting now in L.A.) and dark. I'm still here though and the car was returned in perfect condition. I wasn't in Skagway, but between the show and the town I felt like I visited the 1800s and the mining era.