I just had a pretty amazing couple of days on the French Riviera and countryside. A few days ago we docked in a favorite of mine called Monte Carlo. The country of Monaco itself is only about the size of Rhode Island or even smaller, but there's a lot packed into that tiny little island for the rich. The ship docks in the main harbor full of large and exquisite yachts. A Ferrari shop can be found in town in several locations as well as many other high end and sporty cars for the rich to play in. The main casino is so posh you have to be dressed well to even enter the front door. I had seen my fill of Monte Carlo and all its beauty that I wanted to take a trip to Nice, France. France is a neighboring country as well as Italy. I was going to do it in style on a Vespa or scooter. Well I journeyed down the harbor to find that the rental place was all closed up despite the hours posted telling me it was open. So I was with our lead singer, Dan, since we were so gung ho about renting scooters for the day. We went to the tourism office and asked if there was another place we could find and they proceeded to tell us this was the only place in town and that they would page him to come open up. They left a message and said it might be a while. We had limited time as you do on a cruise ship and decided to cave in and take the train. It was easy enough and Nice was a mere 20 minutes away at a cost of $6 round trip. No bother. We got on the clean train system and headed into France. The train plopped us in Nice proper 20 minutes later and we began our stroll through town. It was a typical city filled with the ambiance of the French Riviera. A lot of stores you might see anywhere else for fashion. We got to the beach and it was pristine. The water was a hue of blue I can't even begin to describe. It was so gorgeous and then to see up and down the coast of the Cotes d'Azur! Ah! C'est magnifique! I got to use some of my French knowledge here today as we went up and down streets and even dipped our feet into the chilly waters of the Mediterranean. The beaches in Nice were pebble beaches so they weren't optimum for lying out although from the looks of it the locals would disagree. The water made an interesting and soothing sound as it receded over the pebbles, which can be nice if you're relaxing out there. We walked up the coast to a very scenic overlook and caught some pictures before we tried to find a bite to eat. The old town was very picturesque with the old French style and cafes lining the area as well as an open-air market. We stopped for a bit to eat at a creperie where I ordered a crepe filled with potatoes, meat, and cheese. I had a fabulous Viennese coffee with it and was very satiated with people watching and food. The vibe here is so amazing with youth and charisma. We headed back after this lovely stroll to the train station to head back to Monte Carlo. I ran some errands back in town before boarding the ship again. I'd love to come to Nice again for a week's vacation on the Riviera.

The next day was absolutely astounding. I went outside of my comfort zone again and decided to rent a car in port to drive out in Provence and wine country. It didn't look like it was going to start out as a good day since I lost a lot of people who wanted to go out with me. I knew this though the day before and there were a few people still unsure. I had difficulty renting a car online through the major carriers. I finally found a decent price around $150 for the day. Personally that was too much for me, but I still wanted to do it anyway. Once I booked it, the final count was only 4 of us now that would go simply because it was a hectic day in Tuscany. The drive in Italy was great, but it lost a little bit of its ambiance when we decided to caravan. It was still a spectacular adventure, but I think it put some people off a bit. No worries since 4 of us were still going strong. That morning going out we were 3 strong and determined. The rental was at the airport so we would have to take a cab there and the cabbie was going to charge us about $55 just to get there, which means that would add an additional $110 to the rental. Yuck!! I mean at this point to take an adventure would be nice, but I still have to budget and not do anything too extravagant. We decided against the airport rental and decided to take the cheaper shuttle bus into town to see if we could find a rental at the train station for less. We were taking our chances at not going at all, but we were still hopeful. We walked along the streets in Marseille to go to the train station finding a McD's on the way where my two other travelers decided to stop for sustenance. I had already eaten breakfast and opted out. Once we were finished there and took some pictures of the archway that was in the area, we walked up the street seeing the train station in sight. On the right we just passed a local car rental place and walked in to see if we could get one. Sure enough there were 2 cars available and the only difference in price was whether or not we had air conditioning. The car came to $70 for the day. Awesome!! We started our drive out of the crowded city and we were on the expressway to Aix en Provence. It was only 20 km out so it would be a short drive. We made our stop in a little city right in the heart of Aix en Provence. We were just at the tip of what is famously known as Provence and wine country. We got some snacks (cheese), some water, and a map of France to get us up to the area. We figured our course and decided we'd take the country roads on our way to Avignon. It was so good to be driving and away from the city traffic and crowds. We were on a country road called N7 passing through cute little villages such as Renault, Velaux, and Eguilles and as we would soon become familiar with all the tree tunnels that lined the roads with the countryside in the distance. Learning our lesson from the previous road trip we stopped for lunch (dejeuner) at a local town called St. Canant. This was a very cool picturesque town with a small city center and some local watering holes. We stopped at a terrace restaurant that looked like it had good French food. We sat upstairs and we didn't have a terrace seat, but we had a lovely seat inside with the nice atmosphere. The menu was on the walls and they had a prixe fixe menu for about $13. It included a main dish, dessert, coffee, wine, water and bread. Good price and fabulous food! I had what was on the menu as Tagliatelle au Pistou, which is pesto pasta. It was a scrumptious dish of homemade pasta in olive oil with tomatoes, basil, and pesto. YUM!!! It was so richly delicious. It was a good portion too because I couldn't finish it all. A carafe of wine came to the table that went well with the pasta. The dessert though was to die for. It was called Fondant du Chocolat. It was a fudgy cake lying in a creamy vanilla sauce rippled with chocolate sauce. I was in heaven it was so decadent. Whoa!! My shot of espresso (what they refer to as coffee) came as well and I was raring to go. So far I was able to use my French for the day and if I couldn't communicate, the person I was talking to would try and explain to their best ability in English or simple French. It was so wonderful to encounter such friendly people here in the south of France. The waitress told us that Avignon wasn't too far away and our main point of taking the trip (Chateauneuf Du Pape) was even closer. We were stoked. Bex turned on here iPod in the back and we were on our way up the country roads into Avignon. We passed through lovely areas like Salon, Orgon, St. Remy, Cavaillon, and Chateaurenard. We came upon Avignon about 4:00pm after a lovely 2 hours of driving through winding roads, rolling hills, and lush fields. We stopped for a bit in the main metropolis and the old city. The old city was right in the heart of it all and fortified by a wall around the entire quarter. The streets were all cobblestone and all the buildings inside were a la old France. The sight to see here was the views of the Palais des Papes. Avignon sits along the Rhone River in France and has spectacular views from the palace of the country and the city. We spent some time here wandering through the city and taking it all in before we decided me must be on our way if we wanted to get up to the region of wine called the Cotes Du Rhone and Chateauneuf Du Pape. We learned that it was an additional 30 minutes to the north of Avignon and an additional 30 minutes to our time away from Marseilles. I was slightly nervous about going since the car had to be back before 9:00pm and we had to be back on board by 10:00pm. We went anyway and took the lovely scenic route past Avignon and into wine country. The moment we got on the D17 route heading into the area we were blown away. Vineyards EVERYWHERE. It's indescribable. Rolling hills and castles perched on top offered VERY scenic and over stimulating views. We stopped at a local winery where the drive was marked with 2 pillars a la castle style with trees lining the way all the way up to the hilltop. It was called Domaines Mousset. It was a cute hotel and winery where we tasted some of the local wines and each bought a bottle. We had so much fun here and just took the sights in as much as we could. We drove into the town proper and went to a chateau high on top of the hill called Les Avril. The views were stunning looking out over the vineyards in the distance and the sleepy town below. I was so overwhelmed with happiness. Today was a fabulous day. We finished our travels around 7:00pm and started our drive back to Marseilles. Instead of taking the country roads this time we had to take the expressway. It was a toll road along A7, but well worth it since it got us back into the coastal city an hour later. Amazing! We dropped our car off and sat for a lovely dinner along the harbor side in the city of Marseille. Another great meal with a grill of steak and fries before heading back to our home on board in which we JUST made the all aboard time. Oh my God!! This car renting could get very addictive. Especially if it comes so cheap. Amongst the 3 of us, I suspect we'll only pay $30 for a full day excursion. Wonderful!!! C'est tres magnifique!

Tuscan Dream

Today was a day of almost pure bliss. I did the adventurous thing and suggested we rent a car and drive the Tuscan countryside a while back. It got such a good response from everyone that we ended up renting two. My car was the old style station wagon a la Fiat car. Nice ride! I had 5 sitting in the seats comfortably and 2 in the back just like when we were in my grandparent's car as kids. The other car was also a Fiat, but smaller and only barely seating 5 more. We went out only with the plan to go to Pisa. Florence was a hopeful excursion, but we mainly wanted to drive along the rolling hills with the beautiful scenery, fresh air, and see the sunflowers. We hoped to stop at a winery or two and maybe grab a nice lunch with some beautiful overlook scenery at a local dive. No plan though and just driving along following a map that only hinted as to where the roads would be. I was told that roads lead into towns and its pretty much an eventful drive no matter what. We had a tech run to start since we had a show tonight and then we were off on our excursion about 11:00 AM. Six of us started out in a cab and it all went smooth getting to the rental office at the other port and picking up the car. I began to get a little nervous about driving in Italy since this was a bit out of my comfort zone. We ran into a snag since no cab driver wanted to take the other 6 just to another port. Cabbies were being snobbish and only taking people planning full day excursions with them. How rude. Well, the other 6 finally got there after about 20 minutes of side tracking and picked up their car. We were on the road to Pisa roughly around 11:45 AM. It was a nice drive on the freeway. You really appreciate American drivers no matter how rude they can be out here because it seems as though people out here follow their own set of driving rules. It was kind of nerve-racking for a bit besides not knowing how to read a single sign. We had a rough knowledge of Italian markings and indications. We got to Pisa and that's where the fun driving started. We found the entrance to the central city and now we had to find the actual tower. We drove through many traffic circles and for many a time I felt like I was in "National Lampoon's European Vacation" every time I approached a traffic circle. You had to make a decision quickly or you would get stuck circling around in one or just making a flat out wrong turn. After some shuffling around, we finally saw what we were scouting for and parked the car. My car was lucky enough to find a spot just down the street of the main sight. The other had to go around the block a bit. We posed in many ways with the leaning tower, had some good Italian pizza and gelato, scoured the grounds and took it all in for a while. There were loads of tourists here so we didn't want to be there long. A little history behind Pisa is that construction began in 1173 by Bonanno Pisano and Giovanni di Simone finished it 99 years later. From what I remember on my last visit in 2000 the whole ground is soft and sandy so everything leans in Pisa including the surrounding buildings and churches. The tower is just so apparent. My last visit in 2000 was also very different since it rained all day AND the tower was tied up. It was under restoration so no one could go inside of it and there were massive cables holding it up so it wouldn't fall over. Today there were no cables. It was totally free standing AND people could go inside. It was so crowded that I didn't have this luxury. It was great just being there again. We left out of Pisa and started on our Tuscan journey. We decided at this point that Florence (another BIG city and tourist attraction) was too far to fathom and probably too populated to enjoy for what we wanted to do so we just decided to go for a drive and see what we could find. There was a lovely town about 30 minutes away that we decided to make a destination and see what we could find. It was called San Miniato. We ran into a little directional snag here and we lost communication with the other car. During this whole trip today we were communicating through walkie-talkies. It was pretty fun up until the second car missed their turn onto the expressway just after leaving Pisa. We got out of range and there was nothing we could do. We continued on the expressway and they continued on the side roads. Later we exited the expressway and took the side roads and we found out later they took the expressway. Miraculously we ended up at the same place and got back into communication. My car ended back on the expressway for the short drive from Castelfranco di Sotto to San Miniato. We found them there exchanged a few annoyances about following direction and left that frustration behind us since we were so overwhelmed by the beauty of this place. It was typical, or what I imagine to be typical, Tuscany. The clay roofs and earthy homes stacked along the hillside. It gave us gorgeous views of vineyards and rolling hills lush with greenery. We wandered through the streets taking photos before we decided we should press on. We wanted to stop at an authentic Tuscan café or restaurant for a nice sit down meal, but decided we should do that later due to the time constraint and the time already lost with the morning mishap and the times we got lost. So we drove south with the destination toward Volterra. We passed through so many beautiful places and vineyards and little towns. One in particular was Castelfiorentino. All these towns are quaint and rich with beautiful acres of green and sometimes sunflower patches. Due to the winding roads and the inclines, we decided to detour to take a shorter loop around Certaldo. We headed west and found a vineyard that was selling wine so we stopped immediately. It turns out they just closed for the day. Here in the Mediterranean everyone has their siesta time. This would be no exception. We kept on and into the city of Gambassi Terme. Here we made a stop because one of our girls said there was a beautiful fountain here we should see and we could catch our dinner here. It was about 3:00pm at this point and I was slightly nervous about a huge sit-down dinner. It turns out it was teatime anyway. All lunches had closed up for the day and dinner didn't start until 6:00pm. The only offerings were sandwiches, pastries, beer, and pizza. We did what we had to do since some only had a snack way back in Pisa around noonish. We hung out here for a while just taking it all in before embarking on our return trip to Livorno. This return trip was THE most beautiful trip of all the driving we did today. We came upon a mountainous area around a town called Montaione that was breathtaking to the point it took my breath away. There are those moments in life where you walk into a situation or place and you reach a level of happiness so overwhelming you get moved to tears. This would be one of those experiences just like the day I walked into San Marco Plaza in Venice. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was like looking at a living painting. Suddenly the sunflower patches were vast and the flowers themselves were huge. We didn't have time to stop and wander through them like we wanted, but it was so nice to take the afternoon and drive through these areas. We passed more towns like Peccioli and Campannoli that were equally beautiful before we encountered the interstate again. It was so overwhelmingly beautiful and relaxing at the same time, which was good since it was about 5:50pm when we found the interstate in Pontedera. From here it was another 20 minutes to the car terminal in Livorno. We got in a cab and were back on board by 7:00pm. Whew! Just made it. We then got ready for our two shows. Whoa!! I'm completely exhausted now. This was a day to remember.

Italian Spleandor...

Gym? What is that? I only see the gym nowadays in the A.M. before everything happens for about 10 minutes of hard cardio. Yes, with all these fabulous ports in a row, people we party with on board, and just plain fun and shows it's been tough to get up there and it looks like it'll be that way for the next ports coming up. This cruise is going to be one of my favorites I think. It's entitled Artful Immersion taking us to places such as the Tuscan countryside, the French and Spanish Riviera, wine country in Spain and France, classic Spain and Portugal, Brussels, and ending in Amsterdam. I hope to see sights like the Tower of Pisa, the Statue of David, great wines in Italy, France, and Spain, Nice out of Monte Carlo, good chocolate in Belgium, and finally a taste of Amsterdam. Yes the gym will pretty much be a 10-minute morning event if I'm going to be too exhausted to do it in the afternoon. Whoa.

Along with all the great ancient ports that we did see recently and the fabulous stops in Greece (I love Greece!) we had some lovely days in Italy. The first was in Sicily again. I was in Messina and this time I DID get to see Mt. Etna. It was a hot one with temps on the ground reaching near 100, but up in the mountains the cool air was refreshing for a bit. We started out early (so I didn't even make it to the gym that morning). I almost missed it! I set my alarm for 6:00am and so as not to disturb my roomie, I just cut it off instead of snoozing it. Instead of getting up right away, I laid my head down for a bit in which I woke an hour later. This was when I was supposed to report to the lounge to go with my group. Woops! I threw on some clothes in a mad rush and headed up to be immediately given a backpack full of safety materials to head off on my tour. I got on the bus and the guide was so informative, but I missed half of it in the long drive up the mountain since I was tired from getting only 4 hours sleep. I went out after the show the previous night as usual to celebrate a good show and I was out a bit later than I needed. Oh well. C'est la vie! We drove through all the little towns in Sicily that congregated right along the lava flow of Mt. Etna. Apparently just 6 weeks before we arrived there was some volcanic activity that happened for 2 weeks. Now according to my calendar we were there just 3 weeks ago, which means we were there just after the last eruption. Whoa!! Mt. Etna was still smoking that day as well. You could see the smoke coming out of the peak, which is 11,000 feet above sea level. We went to a safe place though called the Silvestri Crater. This particular sight had lava rocks from the last big eruption of 2003 and also rock from another eruption in 1983. This particular volcano is the most active volcano right now in Europe. What was so neat is to see the two different lava flows side by side. The one from 2003 was named Pahoi Hoi. It was a dense lava and you can actually see the hardened lava flow and imagine how it must have looked as liquid. There were very large rocks and chunks everywhere. The flow of 1983 was named A A (pronounced Ah Ah). Our guide "says" it was because the geologists came to examine the flow shortly after its eruption and as they were stepping on the rocks, they kept saying "Ah Ah" since it was so hot. Therefore it became named A A. This lava is more porous and represents the pumice rocks you get from a cataclysmic eruption such as Vesuvius. We stayed out at this sight for a while just viewing the sights from about 7,000 feet. I had my breakfast here consisting of a chocolate croissant and a cappuccino. Mmmm. After a while we boarded the bus again where I took my nap after we cleared the interesting villages not too far from the area we visited on the crater.

Today we were off and running at 9:30am for our second trip to Rome. After our train ride our first stop was the Sistine Chapel. We missed this last time due to some confusion as to what line we were a part of. This time we knew exactly where to go and knew we had to hit it first. We got in fairly quickly and made it through the ticket check in. My understanding was that we would stroll through and see the famous ceiling of Michelangelo and maybe see some of the other works of art in the rest of the museum. The ticket was for the museum and for the ceiling. We started in an open courtyard outside the chapel and then headed into the first room of about 20 that we would eventually wander through wondering if the one we all waited for was just around the corner or through the next door. Each room we entered at first was so ornate I had to wonder if it was the right room. Luckily we had someone who had been there before with us to tell us we weren't in the correct room as well as the fact that I didn't see the centerpiece painting in the ceiling of "Hand Touching God." The works of art we saw as we entered each room painted on the ceilings, walls, and in the tapestries were overwhelmingly beautiful. Words cannot describe what I was seeing today as I passed from room to room. What is normally done in a day's time with proper historical explanation, we sped through in about 30 minutes time. It's like doing the Hermitage Museum of St. Petersburg (normally a 2-day art study) in 2 hours. In order to really appreciate all the art presented in this museum and the historical facts behind it, you need an entire day of immersion or at least 6 hours I would think. We just didn't have that kind of luxury and wanted to get to the main room as quickly as possible. We wandered through countless halls of fabulous pieces. As you near the centerpiece room you pass through many works by various artists and even modern sculptures and pieces. Once you enter the grand hall, it is absolutely breathtaking. To actually be in the presence of the room so talked about where Michelangelo painted the ceiling in Rome. Wow! From here we left the museum to go into the main city of Rome. After struggling to find a cab on the roadside (not a problem in most major cities), we were dropped at the gateway to the Coliseum. The last time I saw this sight was in the fall of 2000. It was my first time in Rome ever. This has been my third trip now and it was still exciting. We didn't actually get to go inside the Coliseum so we headed on to the Trevi Fountain. This time I found it. When I was here in 2000 all by myself. I roamed around Rome (no pun intended) for about 7 hours trying to find all these places and never found the fountain. In legend you throw your 3 coins in the fountain. One coin to return to Rome and the other 2 to fall in love in Rome. Yet I still returned to Rome. The falling in love thing? That will have to wait until next time I guess. I must have found at least 5 fountains that day back in 2000 and realized that was not the right fountain. Today I had 3 other friends who decided not to go to Vatican City last time and went into the city instead. They FOUND the fountain and we went right to it today. I was so excited and happy. I threw my coins in and had a blast. I had my thin crust pizza and I was satisfied. On our way to the fountain we passed the forum as in "A Funny Thing Happened" on the way to the forum, ha ha. My musical theatre friends will get that one. We also passed a monument to Emmanuel II. This is a huge statue with chariots at the top that is just down the street from the Coliseum. The vibe here was busy. There were high-end shops everywhere and even at the fountain we saw a proposal taking place. Someone found their love in Rome. After a long and exhaustive day we got back on the train to head back to Civitavecchia to catch our ship. These next few port days are going to be exciting. Tomorrow we rented cars and are going to drive up the Tuscan countryside just taking it all in. Ahh Italy.

Beautiful Santorini...

I FINALLY got to go onto land in Santorini, Greece. This is the lovely port where the white and blue houses and other buildings cascade along the side of the volcanic island. This is quintessential Greece. Most of the artwork depicted in paintings comes from a little town call Oia here in Santorini and Fira. I got off the ship as soon as I could. This was a tender port so we had to be docked at bay while the local ferries shuttled guests in from the ship. From the main land we got on a pirate ship looking boat and headed out to the volcanic island of Nea Kameni. This geological preserve is situated on top of an ACTIVE volcano. Although there wasn't magma or large amounts of steam visible, its still considered active because the lava canals with hot magma are just 4 kilometers under the surface. There are some small vents where steam does come out. The last eruption of this volcano was in 1950 and the island is mostly black rock. There was a slight hint of a burning smell while we were up there, but not a huge sulfuric smell you get when the lava is closer to the surface in other active volcanoes. The Hellenic Ministry of Culture has declared this sight and all of Santorini a "historical sight of exceptional natural beauty." We arrived from the pirate ship into the cove of the archaeological sight. We hiked up the lava rock created by various eruptions from 1920 – 1950 to the main crater of George I. This is where you can see most of the gas vents. The soil around these vents is really hot and the sights of the harbor are amazing. We walked back down to the harbor to get back on our pirate ship. The climb up and down the volcano side was truly exhausting and I was looking forward to traveling over to the hot springs area of the island. We sailed over to the area of the hot springs, but the ship couldn't dock. The Mediterranean Sea is generally warm, but as I learned yesterday it can still be cold depending on where you are and at what time of the year it is. I knew that a straight dive into the water would be a shock and pretty cold and it was. Brrr. I swam the 6 meters or so over to the hot springs area. You could tell since the water was an orange color in that area. As soon as I crossed into that orange colored water it got significantly warmer. Soon it was like bath water. At points along the more shallow points you could see where the gas was coming up from the vents below and it was so soothingly warm. The mud around that area is supposed to have healing properties and its supposed to be good for your skin. It has large amounts of ferrous minerals due to the gasses coming up from the vents. We rubbed some on our skin and bathed in the dust that was coming up into the water from below. It stained my shorts a little. It was kind of like the orange clay you find in the tropical ports. We left here refreshed, slightly dirty, and wet and headed back to the main land. From here we took the cable car up the cliff side up into town. We split for a bit while some of us tried to find a way to get to the picturesque town of Oia. On the way we found this creperie where I had an amazing blend of chicken, pineapple, and tomato in a folded crepe. Yum!! I accompanied it with a drink of cold chocolate flavored with caramel. This was sooo delicious. We finally found a cab, but it was too much and took too long to get there. We headed back into town and strolled amongst the shops before finding our other friends sitting at a lovely hill top café. I hated leaving this port today. I only wish we could stay longer.

Taking Life by the Horns...

Whew the last few days have been exhausting and fun at the same time. Our friend Paul Dabek has been on board. He brings a youthful and playful spirit to the cast as a fellow performer so we all tend to party more and go out more when people like him come on board. Now we have another friend of ours coming on who plays the oboe and she's got that same zest for life. Here we go again, lol.

In other worldly adventures I took a tour in Antalya, Turkey to get a view of the outer city limits. As much as I enjoyed the sights and the countryside I kind of wished I stayed in town and partook in the fun beaches that were available since it is a resort town for the Turks. I made the choice at the beginning of the cruise though not knowing about these things and later learning how much fun everyone had at the beach. Live and learn. I started off my day on a buss full of lively passengers. I'm not quite used to these tours anymore as I was in my first contract with Holland America. I had such a blast the past 3 years with just the cast and seeing the sights independently that tours have become sort of passé unless I really don't know what to do in port. Like the day of Antalya. Our guide was great. She's from Kusadasi and has worked on ships before as a Photo Manager. She knows what guests like and how to run a tour. We headed out of port learning that Antalya is the largest city in Turkey mostly bringing in income with textiles and food processing as well as tourism. We had about an hour's drive to Aspendos where she spouted off history and culture differences galore as well as city politics. I, like in most of my history classes in school, dozed a bit. Aspendos was a major port city of the Roman period and the theatre there (the main sight) is the most preserved theatre from its time. It's about the only thing standing there. Also found here are remains of the ancient aqueducts where the water was brought to the city. The town was built in 333 BC and made famous by Alexander the Great as with most of the other places. He used it as a base because of the fortifications around the city. The theatre we got to see was in amazing condition. All the seats and the stage were still in tact. Most of the entryways and stairs were also in tact. The acoustics of that time were unbelievable. You could be standing on stage talking in a normal conversational voice and the people in the back row can hear you just as if you were standing 5 feet from them. Of course I walked in with the tail end of the line and the guide asked if anyone wanted to sing. The guests all knew who I was and asked me to do a ditty. Reluctantly I got up and sang a short piece from the previous night's show. It was 10:00 am and I was doing this and on 3 hours rest! Oy! It rang through though and the passengers were very happy. The theatre itself can seat about 20,000 comfortably and that's what they seat today when they have concerts and operas, but back in the day the people would cram in 40,000. Whew!! I can't imagine. After exploring here we took another bus ride to Perge. This was the focus of the tour dating back to 1000 BC. The ruins there are in relatively good condition. The problem with the ruins of Turkey including the ones in Ephesus as well was that it passed through so many hands in politics and rule. It was ruled by tribes to start before being overtaken by the Greeks with Alexander, then the Romans, Byzantines, Ottomans, and finally the Turkish Republic. Perge was the first in Turkey to be introduced to Christianity and where you can find the remains of the Basilica built there. We wondered in and stopped first at the Roman Baths where I learned about the ingenious plumbing systems. Water was brought down from the springs on the mountainside. Cold water was pumped through underground clay piping and this kept the water cold. With the hot water, pipes were placed on top of the earth so the hot Mediterranean sun could heat up the clay piping and provide warmth for the water. That's an amazing revelation. The pure architecture of this city and the engineering needed to complete such a large city is amazing to think about. There wasn't electricity and oil machines to carry large tons of marble and concrete rock from the port to the city. It was done using animals and pure human strength. Cities took thousands of years to get the size a small suburb is today. There was sewage, baths, hot & cold water, and places to congregate and shop as well as places to worship. The city of Perge mostly praised Artemis more than the other Roman Gods so they even made their own currency with Artemis on it. These cities outlasted, for the most part, thousands of years of earthquakes and territorial changes as well as other natural elements from being abandoned. Yes, it was just another pile of rocks, but you learn different histories and new things from each pile. I left there exhausted and had a catnap on the way back to the ship. I went out briefly in the city to explore and found tons of hip little stores and places to eat much like it is in Istanbul. It looks like some time in my life I'll have to do a Turkish holiday.

The next day was Rhodes. This day I totally took as a relaxer to enjoy my favorite Greek port. Santorini might overtake that with its scenic view of the sea, but this is still in the top, as I've not spent more than 20 minutes in Santorini so far. Tomorrow is the big day for that one. We stopped at a local café for some Greek delights and then headed off to the pebble beach just outside the walled city. The sea here is really cold and stony so I didn't do a lot of swimming. Just relaxing. It was nice to head back to the ship feeling at ease and not rushed to do everything. We partied for a bit that evening since our friend was leaving the next day (today) and I turned in at a decent hour since we have a show tonight. Whew.

Today is also a day of celebration since I've FINALLY paid off my entire debt. My student loans are clear and my credit cards are always back to zero by the end of the month. Woo hoo!!! It feels so amazing. I'm starting a new chapter in life where I'm trying to get as much in while I can do it and live life to it's fullest. It's a scary thing since I felt I've been doing it, but really haven't. Always in the back of my mind was this annoying debt thing and now it's gone. I'm pretty sure I'm going to take a few weeks after this contract finishes and take an unplanned and unscheduled trip through parts of Europe. I'm giving myself a few weeks and I'm just going to do it. It's kind of unnerving to think about, but when am I ever going to get this opportunity again. I'm right here in the heart of it all. Carpe Diem!

Jesus' Stomping Grounds...

Today was another lovely exploration of Israel. I wasn't too pleased when I turned on the TV this morning to find CNN broadcasting about disturbances with the Palestine people in Gaza, which is not too far away from where we were yesterday in Ashdod and still pretty close to our port in Haifa today. Nevertheless I still wanted to go out and see the sights of Nazareth and Galilee. This was a new port for me since I had the infamous IPM duty last time we were here. It was a long day of touring ahead especially after volunteering myself to help out with the tour to Cairo the other day to see the pyramids and have lunch on the Nile. The pyramids were just as astonishing the third time around. How many people can say they've visited the pyramids of Giza 3 times? Not many. I also had a fabulous day in Yalta, Ukraine where I took a crew winery tour. To my surprise the wine made in Yalta was a lot sweeter than I expected. They mostly produce Sherries and ports because of the sugar content of the grapes in the region. I tasted wines that had up to 30% sugar in them. WHOA! It was like drinking a shot of cough syrup. It was thick and sweet. Whew! We did 12 tastings and the sugar content went up with each step. It was kind of hard to get through. Before all the drinking that day though we toured the actual winery and it was fascinating to see how all the wine was produced especially in the Ukraine. The actual port was pretty nice as well and definitely the Ukrainian get away with beaches, resorts and all. The next day was Varna, Bulgaria where I just spent the day absorbing the youthful vibe of this Black Sea resort town. I'd been there several times last year so I knew what I wanted to do for the day and it was not to sight see so much as people watch and take a look in the Eastern European stores. I took yet another crew tour in Kusadasi to Ephesus where we had a guide this time and we had our own fun amongst the Byzantine ruins. We also explored on our own via the subway systems in Piraeus, Greece to get to the ruins of Athens. Long days of fun and sun indeed.

Today was definitely an experience though. We started out bright and early at 7:00am getting off the ship in Haifa, Israel and loading up our busses for the trek out to Nazareth, which was about an hour away from the port city. Haifa itself looked pretty interesting, but it was hard to navigate out of the port area into the city. I had high hopes of exploring the city after the tour, but didn't realize how exhausted I'd be. We drove through the city before getting on the highways and our guide was spewing off history like mad. Unfortunately for me I had 3 hours of sleep the night before due to the intense socializing I've been doing since our young magician friend, Paul Dabek, got on board a few days ago. He promised us all that we'd be out living up the night while he was on board and he was definitely not kidding. It's funny how my wine glass "magically" refills itself whenever I'm not looking and I feel so compelled to empty the glass. Funny how I never seem to accomplish that feat lately. Tonight I'm taking a break since we have a show tomorrow. Anyway, I missed the morning drive history lesson and woke up somewhere around the city of Nazareth an hour later. Our first stop was a Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation. This is where the Virgin Mary found out she was pregnant. Here there is s stream of water running from the surrounding springs for baptism. We then headed to the larger Basilica of the Annunciation a ways down the road, which was erected by the Italians. The church was built on top of the remains of where Mary used to live in her stone home. The stone foundation is still there and used as an altar and so are the remains of a previous Basilica erected in her honor. The church houses many displays and mosaics to the story of Jesus from different countries in the world. From here we made our journey to the Sea of Galilee, but not before we were sidetracked for a moment to a local garage for bus repair. The air conditioning broke while we were out and with temperatures in the 100s today that was not acceptable. After about 20 minutes of fiddling around at the garage they decided to relocate us to a different bus. This was a much better bus with reclining seats and all. We were off to Galilee. For some reason "Puff the Magic Dragon" popped into my head, but after listening I realized that ole Puff lived in Hanalei. You could still substitute Galilee in there though just for fun. Anyway another nap later and I woke up at Mt. Beatitudes where we visited a Basilica there built by the Italians in the 30s dedicating it to the 9 blessings of Jesus. It was set atop a gorgeous scenic overlook of the Sea of Galilee. Absolutely breathtaking. From here we went to the Church of Heptapegon. This is where Jesus presented the loaves of bread and fish to his followers. The beautiful mosaics on the floor still remain from over 2,000 years ago and the slab where this communion took place still stands. After we left here we headed to our lunch venue. Surprisingly it was in an area where you could eat AND get gas. I was a little uneasy about eating there, but I soon learned that the look of the place didn't matter at all. We were given hot pita bread with many choices of toppings including hummus, tibouli, souvlaki, corn salad, olives, cucumber salad, and more. It was all very delicious. I had the Mediterranean chicken and was glad that I made that choice since the fish dish was actually a whole fish (head and all) served on a platter. It came from the Sea of Galilee, but I couldn't have gotten past the scales and the head. Let alone all the bones. The chicken was absolutely delicious. From here we headed to an area where Jesus lived through his childhood, Capharnaum. At this point we learned that because of time issues we would be missing a deep in the Sea of Galilee (which was the whole reason I wanted to come out today) so we took a little sidetrack ourselves to the sea ourselves. It was a small group of renegades. Our guide tried to deceive us at first by coming up with this story of how the winds on the sea at this time of day were too dangerous for swimming. She must not have noticed all the windsurfers out there as she was saying this to us because we all doubted her story at that moment. Especially since most of us lived through the 60-foot monster wave in high winds back in January. We looked out on the sea and didn't see any white caps on the waves. It couldn't have been that dangerous. The chants began to see the sea and then we drove by a beach area where all the locals and tourists were swimming away in the sea just as she was telling us that no one swims in the sea at this time of day. Woops. She then confessed that it was not on the original schedule and that we couldn't go there today to swim in the sea. Therefore this led to a small mutiny of 8 of us who strayed for a moment to walk down the street from Capharnaum to wade in the sea. It was great fun and well worth it. The sea was incredibly warm and we got some fun pictures. We caught back up to the tour in Capharnaum and listened to a little more history and some more passages from the bible. I forgot to mention that as we stopped at all these places along the way, we got a history lesson and bible passage pertaining to the sight. After we left the old home of Jesus himself, we headed back to Haifa on our 2-hour trek. It was a lovely and exhausting day out. I managed to catch a small bit of the show that was brought on board by Shalom Israel and it was interesting. Now, I lay my head down for a long and restful sleep. Ahh. Sea Day tomorrow. Whew.

Music Video Fun...

I've been to the Black Sea and back. We had some fun in the interim. I saw some wonderful places and I have all this random video footage. I was thinking of ways to make it exciting and came up with the music video format. The first one was so much fun we made another and will be working on a third. Here they are for your viewing pleasure:

The Prinsendam Cast and Friends in "Top of the World:"



The Prinsendam Cast and Friends in "Afternoon Delight" (viewer discretion advised):



If you're viewing these videos today (6/11/07), you may have some trouble until they're processed. Enjoy. Miss ya'll.

Russian Holiday...

We arrived in the late morning to one of the three contenders for the winter Olympic games of 2014. Sochi, Russia. The other two contenders are cities in Austria and Korea. I went on a passenger tour today to get deep into the biosphere of the Caucasus Mountains and get away from the ever-growing bustling resort area. Sochi is what the locals refer to as the Russian Riviera. It's a popular destination for northerners to escape the long winters. Most of the beaches in the area of Sochi are pebble beaches and not the kind I would personally like to sprawl out on, but the weather here was definitely surprisingly warm especially after visiting places on the same latitude in the Ukraine, Romania, and Bulgaria. Sochi is on the same latitude line as Toronto, but our guide informed us that the Black Sea is the warmest sea in this part of the world. I guess with the warming current of the sea and the shelter from the winds of the north by the mountains, the temps can get pretty warm here. We were told you could go swimming by the beach, take a helicopter to the mountains, and then go skiing. We were also told it's pretty pricey on the lifts to do skiing since you pay per trip, but I was also informed that the heliskiing for the adventurous is half the price for any place you could find in Europe. We started out on the coast in the main city where it is currently being built up. Communism ended here in 1973, so the city is still in the stages of rebirth. The city itself is only 170 years old and was named after a tribe that used to inhabit the city before its exploration. It used to be a swampland in Russia and an escape for Estonians, Greeks, Turks, and other nationalities. They figured no one would find them in baron swamplands. In fact I learned that the Greeks that have settled here and are still predominant in certain areas speak such an old form of Greek, they can hardly understand the New Greek from their own country. Estonians fled here from the Soviet Union and other nationalities from so many countries have made Sochi their home that our guide noted its just one big melting pot of people. Sochi is one of the longest cities in the world stretching great distances along the Black Sea. The main port town has many resort hospitals they call Sanitariums. Here there are beautiful gardens and rooms where you can come and relax while getting medical treatment as well. Many leaders of the world are noted for coming here to relieve illnesses. The grounds of these places are immaculate. There are just beautiful gardens spreading out over large stretches of land and all have a pretty decent view of the Black Sea. Our guide said most people who live here are very conscious of their health in part because of these Sanitariums. These places though are not for illnesses that have progressed severely, but for illnesses that are in the beginning stages and can be treated with such a positive atmosphere. We drove for quite a while along the coast as our guide spewed off history and information about the city. One of her concerns was for their candidacy of the winter Olympic games. The people here are naturalists and so much that if a tree is cut down for any reason; two must be planted in its place. The whole area is lush with greenery. The bid looks quite positive for the games since the sanitariums and hotel accommodations make it possible to host. However, the roads are still the same roads from 1950 and the automobile population has risen since from a mere 400 to 400,000. Also they don't have the facilities to hold ice-skating, hockey, or speed skating or even some of the ski slope events. They will need to be created and this will cause some loss of the lush greenery in the area. The people are still behind the games though at 80% because of the money that will be brought into this former Communist city for its growth. Right now they are the largest producer of tea for all of Russia and they are the vacation hot spot for the northern Russians. Tourism is becoming very popular and they now play host to the Russian film festival. She did say though that the stars are mostly localized and that the Tom Cruises and Scarlet Johannsens haven't made too many appearances yet. We made our first stop at a local restaurant that had a theme around bears. I can't quite remember the name since I'm so exhausted from taking in all the lush scenery and the unexpected warmth of the area. It was definitely a little tourist stop complete with a hotel. There were lots of woodcarvings of bears and other animals and there was a log cabin theme about it that gave it quite the Alaskan feel. Right beside it was a rushing rapid river and with the snow capped mountains in the background along with the sights of the place; I could swear I was in Skagway again. This doesn't surprise me though since Alaska was once owned by Russia. We had what I thought our tour guide said was a Beline here, which is a Russian pancake. Really it was a crepe or crêpe like. I was once told my family may have come from Russia on my mom's side and I can see why in some of the family recipes that were passed on to me. The Russian pancake is the exact recipe my grandmas used to make their big flat pancake we used to have once in a while. We'd do the same thing too by having it with jams, jellies, or butter. She also said another treat here is the dumpling and something which sounded like Pirogue, which is my favorite thing to eat with sour cream. Especially the potato and cheese filled ones. It's described as a Russian pie or dumpling filled with potato or meat, much like what I grew up with. We used to fry ours in the pan with onions. Yum! We left this area and headed into the biosphere area called Krasnaya Polyana or "pretty forest." We were about 5,000 feet above sea level and the scenes were amazing. Snow-capped mountains and yet it was still warm. So warm I was sweating. Whew! The forests were so thick as we drove up to the resort area. Our guide was also telling us that since the influx of tourists and other buyers property values in this area went up from $1,000 per square acre to $100,000 per square acre. Whoa! She says that the locals don't even make that much in their lifetime. We stopped for a while at this ski resort high in the mountains. I climbed up a ways to get some fresh air and some more heights. It was just stunning the views I got from here. We headed back to the ship from here driving through the main metropolitan area and seeing the entire development happening. This place will definitely have a new face if they win that bid come July 1. Now we're off to Yalta in the Ukraine where I hope to take on a countryside and wine tasting tour. Woo hoo!

Turkish Delight...

I just got back from a full day out in Istanbul. It was a fabulous day and okay night. I spent the day in the grand bazaar with friends. We lost one along the way because he needed to get something to eat. Oh well. I went to the Blue Mosque again and went through this with my castmates and then we headed to the spice market. This was fine and all, but I wanted to get back to Taksim Square to do some real shopping. My shopping experience at the grand bazaar was a bit overwhelming. I eyed some things that I could spend money on, but I was haggled if I lingered too long deciding whether or not to buy it. The shop keepers got over zealous and started asking me impersonal questions like where I was from to start meaningless conversation in order to get me to buy on a personal level. I hate that tactic and find it extremely annoying so I leave the area. I was through with the bazaar in about an hour and we planned for two. I made the most of it though looking at the things surrounding the bazaar and snapping photos. I left my friends at the spice market and headed on my way on a single cab fare to Taksim. I love it there. I love seeing the young people and getting the hip vibe radiating from the area. It's practically a walking fashion show as you walk down the street of fashionable places and cafes. The locals are dressed in style with the fashionable hairdos and all. I went in a bunch of stores, but only managed to purchase one new shirt. I guess that's good for the ole pocket book. Nothing really stood out at me and said to buy it. I was pretty close to the ship and closer than I ever thought. As I walked the entire length of the strip I came upon a cool Bohemian area where there were tons of music shops. This led into a corridor that led right out onto the same street the bridge from old town ends on. I was right there by the ship and all these times I had been taking cabs to and from Taksim. Crazy!! I hung out for a bit on board and caught some eats before heading out again for the evening. We were all heading somewhere. I was hoping for the hip and trendy Taksim Square again, but we ended up going to the Blue Mosque area since the cabbie took us to this restaurant his friend owned. Oh well. We sat at this cool place with couches close to the ground, stretched out, and ordered a few beers. I didn't drink the beers, but I ordered some Turkish coffee and Baileys. Someone asked for a water pipe with apple flavoring so I decided to partake on it. I never smoked one before and when in Turkey, I thought I'd try it. Well, it was quite interesting. It wasn't like smoking at all. I took a deep inhale and I felt the smoke entering my lungs (much like smoking marijuana). I held back the cough and slowly exhaled the smoke. It was fun and it gave me a small buzz. It didn't seem as harsh as smoking menthol either and there was a tint of apple flavoring after. A sweet flavor. It was nice. We stayed there for a while acting obnoxious and entertaining the locals with our loudness. It wasn't the evening I was hoping for with the concerts in the park I heard and the local trendy cafes over by Taksim, but it was good company. We left there for a scenic view of the Blue Mosque and the Ayia Sophia Mosque right on the coastline. It was a terrace view from atop one of the close by buildings and very stunning. Tired and exhausted from a long day of walking and socializing, I returned to the ship. It's the Black Sea for a while including Russia, Romania, Ukraine, and Bulgaria.