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Oh The Posh, Posh Traveling Life... |
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| This
is part one of what we are pleased to call our travelogue.
Part two will be more difficult for me to write, because I didn't write as much at the time. I sort of reverted to keeping cryptic notes. Of course, since I won't be quoting verbatim from my little computer thingie, it will probably be considerably more cohesive. Hope you enjoy part one. Oh, and I have about 25 rolls of film. Obviously, more pictures will forthcome.
The ticket
guy at the airport, looking for our transfer: “Where is Lisbon?”
Katie: “What
snacks did you bring for the plane?”
Of course I lived to regret that almost immediately… the airplane food included fish that smelled like a $4 hooker, rancid flan, and cheese that tasted like petrified ass. I did get an absolutely freaking FREE bottle of wine, which immediately got me buzzed. Woo froo hoo. We are over Illinois (and believe me, I am SO over Illinois). I have picked up and discarded two books and played half a game of the games I have on here. So what else: time to nap.
I took a short nap, and now I am not buzzed and not even slightly tired. Jet lag, here I come. We are almost over Edinburgh. I think I’ll have to economize my words. Can’t be convoluted with a reduced typing speed. Maybe I can nap on the next flight, though I can’t imagine it being long at all: Paris to Lisbon.
You never know what you have until it’s gone. Wedged into tiny seat on Lisbon Air. Flying over Paris. It just hit me that Jim is buried here. Want to stop time and go to Pere Lachaise, but must be satisfied with a respectful thought his way. I don’t feel right being here, anyway. Paris is for lovers and it makes me miss mine! I am eating a disc of dark chocolate purchased at De Gaulle. "It’s all frightfully romantic."
On a double decker bus with 700 old people, Katie, and two guys who may or may not be gay. One comes off as way gay, the other, not so much. Anyway they are not old, so that’s good. Portugal: hot, sultry, Spanish. Fuck, I’m tired. I smell like a French person (smelled many today, trust me). Quote: “Wow! Lisbon has a color scheme!” It does.. shades of terra cotta. Pink seems a favorite. Also, all the billboards are dynamic… each shows three ads in rotation. Seriously, all of them.
At the safety
lecture: “Life jackets will be provided for all those under 70 pounds.”
Katie is so un-cynical. There’s this cheeseball newsletter called The Princess Patter that they give you every day. This is Katie: “I have a highlighter. Do you mind if I highlight The Princess Patter?” Shit. At this rate, I’ll end up watching showgirls and playing shuffleboard. I already belted out The Love Boat Theme, thanks to her influence. Lordy help me. They played it as we were leaving. I think it was supposed to be inspiring, but it was a crappy recording and by the time it finished, we were about three inches away from the dock. So they paused for a minute and then played it again. Interesting lecture as leaving port re: monuments, bridge, giant Jesus, etc. Going to lecture tomorrow re: other ports. If Katie keeps asking “Are you seasick?” I will be seasick.
Just had dinner. Fabulous. Iced pina colada soup, flourless chocolate-espresso cake, etc. etc. Small portions we didn’t eat all of (unless chocolate… must eat all chocolate). Skipping Mr. Ripley in favor of unpacking and comatose sleep.
Missed the Rock of Gibraltar due to haze. Big disappointment. Today’s plans include a port enhancement lecture, a champagne art auction, watching Mansfield Park, afternoon tea, a formal dinner and blackjack. Casino bj rules (stand on all 17s, double down on any two cards) are very favorable—surprising! (Note: Two days later lost $50 in 20 minutes. Dealer pulling 21s out of her ass. Ouch.) Strawberry daiquiris are $3 today. Might have to spring. The boat has web access, 15 min for $7.50. Expensive, but worth doing once or twice. www.princess.com has a web cam. We’re going to figure out when we can stand on deck and wave to everyone. (Note: When in Barcelona café, discovered no camera on deck. Suck.) Sailed past the Morocco coast. Impressive and to my surprise, mountainous.
Palma today. Small island, cute. Katie has two modes, I have discovered. Mode one: We
have a destination.
Mode two: we
have no destination.
Her legs also do not get tired EVER. We walked to the cathedral, up a bunch of steps, in circles around the Gothic Quarter, up hills, down hills, more steps. We finally ended up at some old Moorish baths. I sat down for the first time in three hours. She was, I tell you, absolutely SHOCKED that my legs were tired. I sat for 30 seconds maybe. Then up, up, up. Go, go, go. Two more hours ensued. I’m from L.A., people. Three (or five) hours at her pace is a lot. Going to hit the hot tub. Aaaah. Heaven.
Meeting surprising lot of people on cruise. Dinner with 50 year olds and 70 year olds. Former nicknamed Bob and Margaret. Real names Bob and Janine. English, they act and sound just like B and M! Latter are Hungarian Canadians. Like them a lot. He loves the internet. Cool. Hate when K scolds me for things. No flash, inappropriate jokes, don’t sit there, don’t walk there. Not a child. Grr. (I should never travel with anyone. Am too easily annoyed.)
Fell in love with Barcelona today. Gaudi is an amazing architect. Actually the whole city has amazing architecture. Gaudi has done all these AMAZING buildings and every other building seems to be in competition. It’s like Vegas, where the 7-11 has to be all lit up just to compete. Will be more eloquent about this later and think of word other than amazing. Must go back to Barcelona. Rode a tourist bus around the city. Around every corner some jaw dropping architecture. Nests of parrots in palm trees. Walked up a fucker of a hill to get to Park Guell, but the park was astonishing. Got e-mail from bf that makes me miss him more. Says he’s thinking about me constantly. Romantic. Love love love him. Miss him. Must go back. Love Barcelona.
May 16, Monte Carlo The best things about this city are the cars. A VW Beetle is medium sized. The cutest teeny weeny cars, and outside the casino, an Audi something that was so amazing, everyone was having their picture taken with it. Got very frustrated with K today. Wanted a relaxing day but did not happen as we got lost. Plus more stairs and another fucker of a hill. Was dressed nice for casino. Pointless as most went in casual and I did not stay long. Won 5 francs though. Also kept a 20F chip to show Tim. Also went to the bathroom. Coolest self-disinfecting toilet. A squeegee pops out and the seat itself rotates. Picture required to explain this adequately. Monte Carlo getting ready for Grand Prix in a couple of weeks. Bleachers and banners. V.c. Must watch on TV. Speaking of… Prince of Egypt on TV. (What's with this god guy? Why kill all sons.. just kill Pharaoh’s son and spare innocents. Or give him dripping boils or make his penis fall off. That would be a god with a sense of humor.) Have seen also Three to Tango, End of the Affair, Mansfield Park and Ever After. Good movie schedule. Theater showing Sixth Sense tomorrow and next day. Must view. Back to city. Saw Palace, cathedral. Makes me want to be Catholic again. Moving, genuinely, all churches so far. Also caught changing of guard. Cool. MC casino incredible, understated. But had UTI and wanted to go back a few minutes early. Yachts amazing, water clear. Sea flat all the time. No waves (so there). Cute city. Frenchies v. cute. Too bad did not have enough time to go to Cannes, as film festival going on. Merde.
The Colosseum. So overwhelming… the enormity of it. The sheer size. The fact of being there. I walked all the way around trying not to cry. Bought a pen and ink drawing of it to commemorate that feeling. We took an interesting (to me, anyway) tour of the Colosseum. We then headed to the Forum and Palatine Hill. Katie decided to stay there all day (there is so much to see, you could stay all week) but I decided to try and fit some more in on my own.
I saw a naked man. I thought of Matt and how much I want his body. This was somewhat inappropriate considering that the naked man was Adam and I was in the Sistine Chapel at the time. Swear to god, this was my first thought upon seeing the chapel. Other than maybe, “Finally! Geez!” and “It’s smaller than I expected.” (The CHAPEL, get your mind out of the gutter.) (She says, hypocritically.) After the Colosseum, even the Sistine Chapel and St. Peters and the Pieta were anticlimactic. This is not what I expected al all. I expected to be even MORE overwhelmed, but I wasn’t. All the art just looks like pictures… it’s all behind glass or so high up. Unlike the immediacy of the Colosseum, it just doesn’t seem real.
After a series of mishaps, I got back to the train station. I was aided by an adorable French guy (resident of Rome) who bought my bus ticket for me. I barely made the train and Katie was nervous as hell and hopping mad. It wasn’t my fault but she was just scared. Things were okay again in an hour. We went back to port and had Nutella gelato (yu-freaking-um) and then a double helping of Ferro Rocher gelato (ditto). |
marku:
 What I'm Reading: After seeing the movie (which I enjoyed), re-reading: Where The Heart Is. computer screen whiteJournal Quote of the Day: “As a message to his fans, Bob Hope reportedly told his doctor, 'tell them I'm winning'. My guess is he actually said, 'for godsakes let me die already', and the doctor just embellished a little. ”Random Tidbit: My bird is still rocking out to Jesus Christ Superstar. It is still cracking me up.Work Days Left: I stayed home today. Ha ha ha! |
