How to Be Italian

Oct-Nov, 2022

Tuscany and Rome

I have carefully observed the people of Italy in case I want to become Italian some day. I am pleased to share my findings with you, with apologies to any Italians out there.

I don’t have all the photos yet. I have almost 2,000 to go through. I will try to find more after we get home.

HOW TO BE ITALIAN

1. Enjoy driving a tiny car . . .

2. . . . Or a motorcycle

3. Chug your shot of espresso while standing at the counter

4. Talk with your hands

5. Sit at a sidewalk cafe

6. Smoke cigarettes

7. Wear a white sweater with black stripes

8. Shop at the local market 

9. Wear a scarf

10. Drink an Aperol spritz

11. Eat more gelato

12. Costumes and flags!! 

13. Flag throwing!! 

14. Stand in the street outside a taverna and drink wine with your friends

15. Have at least a master’s degree in parallel parking

16. Say “Prego!” several times a day for no apparent reason

  

17. Hang your laundry outside your window

18. Own the crosswalk!

Twelve-Hour Days and Thirteen-Hour Nights

Friday, November 25, 2022

Azores Time Zone

Day 1 for me; Day 3 for Ken

At lunch today we both ordered coffee ice cream — our go-to flavor. It was not incredible — it was inedible. It seemed like it had ground up almonds and ice in it. Neither one of us could finish it, and that NEVER happens with ice cream. We found out later it was plant-based ice cream.

They actually do a good job here of providing vegetarian and vegan menu choices. They put a little leaf on the menu next to the plant-based foods, but you have to, you know, pay attention when you read the menu. 

We are feeling better today. Ken is feeling GREAT.

I am feeling so-so, which is definitely better relative to yesterday.

The seas have been calm, the weather has been delightful. There were no Black Friday crowds in our cabin, and we did not feel obligated to get up early to grab DEALS. I don’t even think there were any deals today on the ship.

What I DID today: I took a nap after lunch, I read, I caught up on some email when I had internet, and I went through some of the photos from this trip. I ate a lot. I watched Under the Tuscan Sun after dinner. I took a lot of pills. I went outside on our balcony for a while.

Ken had this beautiful Cretan-style salad

What I did NOT do today: I did not leave the room. I did not get any exercise. With the exception of Ken, I did not speak to or see another passenger.

We have begun a series of clock changes as we travel west. We have to cross six time zones, so we will be resetting our clocks almost every day. At least we are gaining an hour each time.

What a spectacular sunset tonight!

See how the clouds are reflected on the ocean? Awesome!

Don’t you love the colors?

Today’s color is tan.

A Room Service Thanksgiving

Thursday, November 24, 2022

Arrecife, Spain

We have arrived at the Canary Islands, but, of course, we can’t get off the ship. It’s okay! We have been here before. 

I woke up today feeling crummy. I didn’t have to take a test to know I had Covid. I had a sore throat and my teeth hurt. Whenever I get a sinus infection my teeth hurt. It took me a while to get going, but I finally took an antigen test and it was positive, as I knew it would be.

We went through the same drill as two days ago. The ship has an Infectious Disease Officer. We called her and she sent a nurse up to give me a PCR test. Yes, the PCR test came back positive.

Ken is feeling pretty good. He took an antigen test today, too. He thought it would be negative, but it was still positive.

So, today is Day Two for Ken and Day Zero for me. That’s how you count, by starting with Day Zero. On Day 5 you get a PCR test. Another one on Day 6. If you have two negative tests in a row, you are good to go. That will apply to Person A, even if Person B in the same room is on a different Day. 

I am disappointed because I will miss both cooking classes I signed up for. They have the most amazing state-of-the-art classroom for cooking. The classes are very hard to get into, but I signed up as soon as the classes became available. We will also miss some of the specialty dinners we had reservations for, and all of the happy hours and evening shows, and one of the Captain’s cocktail parties. Oh, poor me in this gilded cage. I must not forget that I have so much to be thankful for.

I am so thankful to be on this wonderful ship with my wonderful husband.

There are doctors and nurses and an Infectious Disease Officer to take care of us. (The IDO is an actual full-time position and she is listed as one of the senior officers.) The staff check on us at least twice a day and take our temperature and check our oxygen levels. We have both had normal temps and oxygen every time. 

We also have an incredible group of room service waiters to take care of us. We can order from the room service menu and the main dining room menu and the buffet menu and the grill menu. And the bars. If we really want to, I think we can also order from the specialty restaurants. The menus are all on the TV. It takes 15 minutes just to go through them and decide what to order.

This is our Thanksgiving dinner. After we ate our appetizers

I had to get the turkey, but Ken had steak

We both selected the Duo of Pumpkin Pie and Pecan Pie

We also have room stewards to take care of us. We are not supposed to let them in our room “unless absolutely necessary” (don’t go there), but they are still available to bring us towels, sheets, extra pillows, clean wine glasses, etc.

We also have TV and free movies. And a BALCONY that we love, love, love.

Now that we both have Covid, we don’t have to wear masks 24/7. We can eat at the same time. (On the first day we were still figuring it out. The weather was not yet outdoor weather so we took turns eating in the room. Yesterday was warm so Ken ate on the balcony and I ate in the room and we kept the door open.) We can sleep in the same bed.

I guess our last two days of precautions were unnecessary, but there was no way to know that. I probably already had been exposed to Covid before Ken tested positive.

I am also thankful for Ranked Choice Voting and for the election results in Alaska.

And last, but not least, we are both so very thankful for our wonderful family.

This was a very lovely Room Service Thanksgiving! We are together and there is so much to be grateful for.

Tomorrow we start our 5-day crossing. We will make landfall in Antigua, on Day 6. There is no Day Zero for this timeline. I am playing Jimmy Buffet songs in my head. If all goes well, one or both of us will be able to get off in Antigua and go to one of their gorgeous beaches. Will they need a forklift to get us off by that time?

Tonight we watched “Dear Evan Hansen.”

I hope everyone had a healthy Thanksgiving with much to be thankful for.

Today’s color is Cranberry.

One Day, Day One

Wednesday, November 23, 2022

Western European Time Zone

Things are pretty much the same. Ken is feeling a little better. He has been taking Paxlovid and 2 antibiotics. We brought the Paxlovid with us, just in case. The antibiotics were provided by the ship’s medical office. 

I took another antigen test this morning. I was still negative. Maybe I won’t get it. That happened with my daughter when Eric had Covid. She never got it. If I ever test positive, that will be Day Zero for me, and I will have to go 6 days in isolation from that point. I could end up having an isolation that lasts for the rest of the trip. Oy.

Now I’m going to adopt my picky lawyer persona for a minute. Most people say quarantine when they mean isolation.  When someone has been exposed (or possibly exposed) to a particular disease, they might be placed in quarantine. That is my situation today, though usually the quarantined person is not in such close proximity to the infected person. When someone is infected with a particular disease and we want to keep them away from other people, we place them in isolation. Like Ken.

We had a nice lunch. Ken ordered a special menu item called “Flavors of the World,” or something like that. The theme of today’s offering was “Scandinavian.” He said it was excellent and the herring was the best herring he’d EVER had. It was also the only thing we thought to take a photo of all day. 

Clockwise from the salmon: gravlax, beet salad, shrimp salad, herring, Swedish meatballs, chicken skewers

We slept with masks on last night. Will do so again tonight. It’s horrible wearing masks for 24 hours, except when one of us is on the balcony. Now it’s warm, however, and the balcony is nice.

Ken is mostly sleeping or sitting outside on the balcony. You can hear a couple of other people coughing incessantly on their balconies. Ken hardly coughs at all.

Last night we sailed out of the Mediterranean through the Straits of Gibraltar. We are on the port side, and we could see lots of lights on the shores of Africa - mostly or entirely lights from Morocco.

We watched the new Downton Abbey movie tonight. Then we talked about whether there would be a third DA movie, and what time period it would cover (WWII?).

Today’s color is Mediterranean Blue.

The Color You Don’t Want to See

Tuesday, November 22, 2022

Malaga, Spain

We made plans to meet our friends, Margaret and Con in Malaga today. They live in England, but they have a place near Malaga and they happened to be there when our shop would be in port. 

This morning Ken woke up feeling sick. He took an antigen test (we brought several with us) and he was positive. I took one and I was negative. He took a different brand of antigen test. Still positive.

We contacted the ship’s Infectious Disease Officer. She sent a nurse to our room to give us PCR tests to confirm our diagnoses.  It was no big surprise that Ken was positive again and I was negative again. We both will have to stay in our room for 6 days. If Ken tests negative on days 5 and 6, then we can go out.  

But they consider today to be Day Zero, not Day One. Oh, no!

The ship is full. They have no empty rooms for me to quarantine in, so I have to share with Ken. It doesn’t seem right, but I don’t see any alternative. I have probably already been exposed, at any rate. 

We brought Paxlovid with us, so Ken started taking it. The nurse brought up some antibiotics for Ken to take also. We also have some decongestants and other OTC items we brought with us, so we are in pretty good shape.

The room service people have been very accommodating. We can order from the room service menu or any of the dining room menus. And, of course, from the bar menu. We are not supposed to have our room cleaned “unless absolutely necessary,” but we may call housekeeping if we need anything.

We are going to see if I can avoid catching Covid from Ken. We are both going to wear our masks while in the room.  We took turns eating breakfast so the other person could keep their mask on. Then we figured out that if Ken ate on the balcony and I ate in the room, we could eat at the same time.

We have a little couch in our room that has a fold-out bed inside it. Ken said he could sleep there. We got extra sheets and blankets for that bed from the cabin steward. The only way you can open it is if you move the desk chair and the table and push them up against the door to the balcony. It gives us just enough space. It took a while to figure out where to put the couch cushions. This reminds me of camping, for some reason.

The really bad part is if I get Covid, my Day Zero will be the day I test positive, so I can end up confined to the cabin for more than 6 days. Oh no!

Needless to say, we did not get to meet up with Margaret and Con. We did not get to have tapas. We did manage to wave at Margaret and Con from our balcony. They were pretty far away, but we saw each other.

We have a lot of movies-on-demand available to us in our room. Tonight we watched the first Downton Abbey movie. We saw it when it first came out, but we wanted to refresh our memories before watching the new Downton Abbey movie.

We made it through five weeks of travel before this happened. We got to see everything we wanted to see in Tuscany and Rome. We got to see some great places in Spain. We tried very hard to avoid Covid, but our turn finally came. (I will try to write a post about how we tried and succeeded in avoiding Covid up to this point.) It occurs to us, that a cruise ship is probably an okay place to be when you have Covid. I mean, room service.

Today’s color is hot pink — the color you don’t want to see on your antigen test.

The Caganer, Castelling, and a Pooping Yule Log

November 19, 2022

Barcelona, Spain

This morning we went to Plaça Reial to meet our guide, Miguel, from Runner Bean Tours. There was a large group for this tour of Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter. Miguel was an excellent guide. His tour was elevated by his great personality, his love of Catalonia, and a healthy dose of humor.

Lamp post in Plaça Reial designed by Gaudí 

In this case, “Gothic” refers to medieval European architecture from the 12th to 16th centuries, characterized by pointed arches, large windows, and stonework tracery. The Gothic Quarter is the oldest part of Barcelona, where Roman ruins have been found. The “new” part of Barcelona is famous for the Modernist style, especially the vibrant works of Gaudí.

An artisans’ market at Plaça Santa Maria del Pi

A plaque such as this in front of a store indicated quality and consistency. They don’t do this any more, but many of the original stores with this plaque are still in business.

The Basilica of Santa Maria del Pi. This early Gothic building is massive and has the characteristic pointed arches over the entrance. The enormous rose window is covered in material while it awaits restoration.

The oldest part of Barcelona, the Barri Gòtic, contains Roman ruins, the old Jewish Quarter, and many medieval remnants.

St. Goerge

If you know where to look, you can see reconstructed towers and an entrance gate from Roman times, bits of the original Roman wall, and a piece of the Roman aqueduct system.

The Barcelona Cathedral has all the Gothic features you could ask for - pointed arches, stained glass, stone tracery, statues of saints, octagonal bell towers, prickly steeples - and exemplifies the Flamboyant style of Gothic architecture. This site was chosen by the Romans for the Temple of Jupiter. In 343 CE the Roman temple was replaced by a Christian cathedral. Around 1000 CE, a Romanesque church was erected in this spot. The current Gothic church was started around 1300 CE and took 150 years to complete. The Neo-Gothic facade, however, was added in the 1800’s.

Can you find Darth Vader?

This part of Barcelona is full of narrow alleys connecting small squares or plaças, bits of the old city wall, and interesting nooks and crannies. A significant Roman temple was discovered here when a building was being remodeled. Four Corinthian columns turned up inside the walls. They are now preserved in an airshaft amidst the apartments that were built around them.

Plaça Sant Felip Neri, is the site of a Baroque church and a school that was bombed during the Spanish Civil War. In 1938 Franco ordered aerial bombing of Barcelona, a city that supported the Republican faction. Sant Felip Neri was near some targeted government buildings and was bombed while many people were inside believing they could seek refuge there. Then the rescuers digging frantically through the rubble were bombed. Pock marks were left as a reminder of the 42 victims, mostly children.

The old Jewish Quarter was here, also, until the Pogrom of 1391, when Jews were forced to convert or leave. They leave hints of their presence here and there.

This was about 20 feet up on the side of a building

During the course of the tour, Miguel shared with us some “weird” (Miguel’s exact wording) Catalan cultural traditions. As an anthropology student long ago, I learned not to judge other cultures, so I am going to say “interesting” when Miguel said “weird.”

Perhaps the most surprising “tradition” involves the caganer. The caganer is a Santa-Claus-like character who wears a Catalan cap and likes to poop outdoors. Catalans like to hide caganers in their nativity scenes. Nowadays, a caganer can be any famous person - a football star, a celebrity, a politician, a former US president, a Star Wars character, etc. They just squat and poop on the ground. It’s considered good luck because it ‘s fertilizer. I’m not sure I believed Miguel until we passed by one of the stores that sells caganers. No shit; this is a real thing: Caganer.com.

Really!

The next interesting custom is castelling. This is a rather dangerous-looking human tower. It can be as high as 10 to 12 tiers in competitions. We didn’t see this in person, but there are numerous photos of it on the internet, such as this one:

The third custom I want to talk about is the pooping Yule log, also known as Tiò de Nadal or Caga Tiò. Children must take care of a log for a number of weeks before Christmas. They feed him sweets and keep him warm. On Christmas Day he is supposed to poop out presents. The children beat him with sticks to encourage him to poop. I don’t get it.

Curiously, we were hungry after all these stories about poop. We walked down almost to the beach and went to a bar that was almost a dive bar and almost a beach bar. They are called chiringuitos in Spain. Worth it!!!

Thousands of dollars worth of ham hang from the ceiling of every bar in Spain. There are little cups to catch any drippings that may occur during the aging process

Tapas: Fresh anchovies, patatas bravas, bread with fresh tomato. Salud!

Today’s color is black. Did you think I was going to say brown? We already had brown in Montalcino.