Rameses II and Nefertari temples at Abu Simbel

Thursday 28 February 2013

Pati and Beebee visited the temples of of Rameses II and his wife Nefertari at Abu Simbel on Lake Nasser on Thursday. Their day started with a 2:45 am wake up call for a 3:25 am departure from Aswan via bus (they had planned to fly but learned that Egypt Air will resell confirmed seats if someone offers them more money). They traveled with about 20 tourists from England (Pati and Beebee quite like their English traveling companions). They took their pillows and a breakfast packed by the ship.

The bus traveled from their Nile cruise ship to a local meeting point where about 30 busses and smaller vans met to form several armed convoys. It was important to get there early to be in the first convoy, so that the most time could be spent at their destination before starting back with another convoy. Most busses in the convoy get an armed solder to ride with them. Pati and Beebee's bus got to the meeting point early enough to be part of the first convoy, but did not have an armed soldier on their bus. Their bus started as bus #5 of 7 busses, but within about 30 minutes, it had passed the 4 busses ahead of it and sprinted down the road.

The sun came up a few hours later. It rose quickly and was beautiful. The moon, just past full, was high in the Western sky for the whole trip.

The distance between Aswan and Abu Simbel is 300 km and takes 3 hours to drive. The north-south road is almost entirely straight and has a good surface. At the southern border of Egypt with Sudan, the bus turned East toward the Nile, Lake Nasser, and the temples. From the guide's description, it seemed that the bus (and group) was very briefly in Sudan.

At 6 am, the guide awoke the tourists and everyone ate breakfast as the bus travelled the remaining 30 minutes to the temples. The ship had packed enough breakfast food for two meals: 4 sandwiches, an orange (Pati had 2), 2 bananas, cheese, boxed orange juice, potato chips, and a bottle of cold water. In fact, most passengers saved some food for an early lunch.

The air was chilly when they left the bus, and did not warm up for an hour or so. Guides are not allowed to accompany tourists inside these temples, so all the groups from all the busses stood outside (there was plenty of room) shivering a bit and facing the temples while their guides explained what they would find inside, showing them professionally-taken photos.

The two temples are those of Rameses II and of his favorite wife Nefertari. They were preserved from being submerged in Lake Nasser (the largest man-made lake in the world) during the 1960s when the high dam was built by being dismantled into many huge, heavy pieces and re-assembled much higher. The Rameses II temple faces East; on two days of each year the sun reaches to the inside back of the temple to illuminate a statue of him. These days are February 22 (his birthday) and October 22 (his coronation day). Pati and Beebee were in Egypt for the birthday of Rameses II, but were in Cairo instead of Abu Simbel.

Interesting trivia: Rameses II ruled for 67 years and conquered 67 countries, taking a wife from each country (yes, 67 wives). Nefertari, the queen of Nubia (where Abu Simbel is located now), was his favorite wife. He had over 200 children, 97 of them daughters. He married 13 of his daughters; many (over 50) of the children of these unions died young of causes associated with inbreeding.

After an enjoyable 2 hours at the site wandering inside and around the temples by themselves, the group met at 9:45 am to begin the journey back to the ship. This time there was an armed uniformed guard on the bus with a small machine gun. The guard, who looked to be in his early 20s, left the bus at Aswan. As before, the trip was uneventful and they arrived back at fhe ship just after 1 pm, when lunch was served.

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Finally on the Nile

Written Monday 25 Feb 2013
Pati and Beebee are onboard the MS Domina Prestige for their trip on the Nile this week. The ship starts up the Nile (south) at 9:30 tonight. Tomorrow they meet with their group with their tour guide/Egyptologist to get the lowdown. Then the first excursion is sometime in the afternoon.
The group has 26 people plus a business guy plus the guide. Pati and Beebee are the only Americans in the group (probably the only Americans on the ship - maybe in Egypt). The other 24 in the group are British. Pati used a British tour company that he found on the internet, with very good reviews.

There are 72 cabins on this ship, so there are more than 140 passengers. There are other tour groups, each speaking their own country's language: so far German and Japanese have been overheard. Each tour group is seated together. The British group fills 3 tables at meals.

This afternoon Beebee had a leg/foot massage for 100 Egyptian pounds (around $16 US). Pati checked out the "hot tub" but didn't get in because it was icy cold. The swimming pool is cold too.

Pati and Beebee bought the all-inclusive drinks package so that they can get drinks "free" between 11:30 am and 11:30 pm each day. That includes bottled water, soft drinks, tea, coffee, juices, and alcoholic drinks. They have to pay for drinks outside that time, except at meals. Wine is only available at meals. It is VERY important to collect enough bottled water while it is "free," for use in the cabin and on tours. Passengers use bottled water to drink and to brush their teeth and tap water for bathing.

Beebee has sent a bundle of clothes to the laundry (happy happy joy joy) for about $20 US.

Internet access is available in the lobby for 20 Egyptian pounds (less than $3) for 1 hour, but the whole hour is used at once. That means writing all drafts offline and then posting in one marathon session.



Happy side note: Pati first made the round trip plane reservations between Cairo and Luxor using Expedia. However, Beebee became concerned about the short time they would have to switch planes when they got back to Cairo next week, since the first flight is domestic and the next flight is international, using 2 different terminals and having to handle their luggage themselves (not connecting flights). So Pati cancelled the Expedia flights (the agent couldn't figure out how to change just the return flight; her final suggestion was for Pati to change the flight in person after arriving in Luxor) and made the flight reservations directly with EgyptAir. When they got on the Cairo-to-Luxor flight, looking for seats in row 21, they found themselves seated in the second row. First/Business class! Beverages before takeoff! Meal service first! First bus to the terminal upon landing! And the best part - business class cost less through EgyptAir than coach cost through Expedia!

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Posts may be limited this week

Pati and Beebee fly to Luxor this morning, where they will board the MS Domina Prestige Emilio for a 7night/8 day cruise up the Nile to Aswan and then back. They will keep writing posts for this blog, but may not publish posts as frequently as before since the cost and quality of internet service is not known at this time.

 

This is posted at approximately 7:20 am local time (EST + 7) on Monday 25 February 2013. The Blogger date/time frequently is incorrect.

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The touts tell the Nigerians how smart Pati is!

Pati and Beebee just got this email. Even with the fiscal cliff, the FBI is only charging $280 (anything more less would be a scam) to mail them an ATM card :) Pati thinks the FBI is doing an excellent job since they know he is owed $2.3 million before they even know his name! Pati thinks they should simply deduct the $280 from the $2.3 million in case Pati's bank account is too small.

Should you visit Cairo?

Egypt's economy depends on tourists and very few are here. Pati and Beebee have seen very few Americans (mostly in the bathroom mirror). Major hotels like the Hilton seem to be closed or nearly closed. Tour boats are sitting idle. People are in financial trouble here.
Our tour guides want us to know that Americans are safe and welcome here. Pati and Beebee think that is true if one is concerned about being attacked or robbed. That seems unlikely. They even use the edge of Tahrir Square, which seems to be constantly blocked by protests, as a way to safely cross the street.
However, there are problems in Cairo. Pati decided to describe them -- not as a rant -- but as a way for readers of this blog to properly set their expectations too should they visit in the future. Pati and Beebee liked Cairo very much but had to overcome culture shock in the process.
The biggest problems in Cairo are the touts, traffic, litter, and unavailability of change and small bills.

• Touts

The touts come up with friendly greetings "Hello, America we are your friend. Mrs. America your glasses make you look like a doctor! Let me show you something in my shop." They use tourists natural desire to be polite against them. Pati and Beebee were warned by their hotel's staff to be aware of touts and they tried to be. However, yesterday, Pati wanted a SIM card for his international phone so he could make calls within Egypt at the local rate. He went into a shop that sold phones and asked if they sold SIM cards. They said no and then someone in the shop said he sold them next door. When Pati and Beebee went in the shop, they found it sold perfume. When Pati objected they said they had a SIM and asked to see Pati's phone. Pati asked how much the card would cost and a chorus answered "Don't worry! Very cheap!" Before he knew what was happening, one of the store workers was disassembling Pati's phone to "See if SIM card fits." Pati - starting to get a little agitated -- again asked how much. The store worker said 85 Egyptian pounds and then quickly revised it to 185 Egyptian pounds (more than $30 USD and at least three times the value of the card). Pati knew he was taken but was willing to pay to get out of the shop before things got worse. The shopkeeper nearly vacuumed every Egyptian pound out of Pati's shirt pocket (where he hid his walking around money) then found a US $20 and took it to "make change." Then a pitch started to sell perfume - "both for men and women" that Pati could take elsewhere in Egypt and "sell for double." Pati was beginning to believe the change was never coming (he had once given his keys to the Chevy dealer in Springfield and been offered test drives while they "try to find them") and was ready to run (the time for walking had long passed). At that instant the change did come (possibly fear of the tourist police) and Pati and Beebee left. The shop worker followed and said "Now that I have helped you, you help me" while making a sign for money. Before Pati could answer, Beebee had him across the street. Otherwise, Beebee feared the shop worker would tickle Pati until he had to pee and then charge him to use the bathroom.
What was the bottom line for the touts? First, Pati lost about $20 that he didn't want to lose but could afford. The touts got about $20 which was a lot to them but the way they got it made Pati avoid all other merchants. Pati and Beebee didn't even glance in the windows of shops they might have liked to have visited and made purchases in. Tourists spending money in Cairo could be good for the tourists and good for Cairo. The touts take a little money but prevent tourists from spending much more. Pati and Beebee became afraid to even speak to anyone on the street because of the touts. That was a shame because Pati and Beebee knew that most Egyptians are nice and helpful people - they just couldn't tell which were nice and which were touts.

• Traffic

There are few - if any - stoplights in Cairo. Drivers ignore lane markings and drive within inches of each other both front to back and side to side. There are no safe pedestrian crossings. The only way to cross the streets is to follow an Egyptian and weave between moving cars. Pati suspects that someday there will be one gigantic chain reaction crash that kills everyone in Cairo - except for the touts.

• Litter

Cairo is dusty and littered. It might be difficult to control the dust because of the sandstorms but the litter makes no sense. When people are done with something - say a food wrapper - they just drop it and move on. Cairo has 22 million people and a large number of them litter. The piles of litter are unsightly and smell. It would be so easy to have a government program to use some of the 4.4 million unemployed in Cairo to clean the litter off the streets. It would be even easier for the residents to become more aware of the effects of the litter and try to minimize their littering. (I don't think Pati's feeling about the litter are cultural bias. Litter breeds pests. Also, the litter hurts tourism which is a major element of Cairo's economy. Pati once heard a fellow tourist - whom Pati felt was a little grubby himself - describe Cairo as "very dirty.")

• Change

For some reason that Pati can not understand, small bills and coins are in very short supply. This is a problem because when one wants to buy something inexpensive, no one can make change. There are lots of inexpensive things in Cairo but they are impossible to buy. For example, Beebee wanted to buy two postcards in the Egyptian Museum but didn't have small enough change to get them. Another, more pressing, example is going to the restroom - every one of them has an attendant wanting a tip (it isn't clear what they do but Pati suspects they do the cleaning). Pati paid $1.50 for a quick pee at the Egyptian Museum because that was the smallest denomination he had.

• Should you visit Cairo?

Cairo has many more wonderful things than problems (e.g., you can look at the mummy of the Pharoh of the Bible). Most Egyptians also seem genuinely nice and visiting Cairo can be inexpensive. But, given Cairo's problems, Pati thinks you should visit but only with a professional guide. Pati and Beebee would not have survived without one. TripAdvisor is a good starting point for finding one. Pati also thinks that people who want to visit Egypt should do it soon. If its problems are addressed (especially the touts), Pati thinks Cairo will be packed with more tourists than Rome.

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Concentrated Cairo

Pati and Beebee are spending three full days in Cairo. The first two days they are going on excursions arranged by Orbital Travel. They have an air-conditioned car (though it is too cool already to require it), a driver who speaks almost no English, and a guide who is fluent in English (as well as German). Although his university degree is in archeology, he has been a guide for 18 years. He is married, with two children (son aged 13, daughter aged 8). He has a brother and a cousin in the U.S.; he said they "won the green-card lottery." He has never been to the U.S. himself; his children want him to take them to Disneyland. He is an excellent guide.

Each day for the tours, Pati and Beebee are picked up at their B&B, driven to each place of interest, escorted by the guide who buys the tickets, walks them to the best parts and explains them, taken to an excellent authentic Egyptian lunch (the guide and driver eat separately), and driven back to the B&B at the end of the day's activities.

On the first day of tours (Friday), Pati and Beebee were picked up at 8:30 am following an 8 am breakfast provided by the B&B. The guide climbed up to the 3rd floor to get them (80 steps); it was agreed that he would just call the hotel desk when he got there the next day and they would walk down. They visited the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities (originally named the Cairo Museum) in Cairo, the Pyramids of Giza, and the Sphinx (Khafre's head attached to the body of a lion). The three pyramids visited from the outside, in size order, were the Great Pyramid of Khufu, the Pyramid of Khafre (which appears larger only because it sits on higher ground), and Menkaure. Pati and Beebee also went into the Pyramid of Khafre, climbing first down a narrow passage, then up, to get to the burial chamber. The visit to the Museum included the best parts of the Museum, which is huge, but did not include the Mummy Room. Pati and Beebee plan to go back to the Museum on their own on their third day in Cairo to see more, especially the mummies.

Pati and Beebee were fortunate to visit the Museum on Friday, because that is the only day that Egyptians get off from work. That is the day that many go to the mosques, or to outdoor places to relax, or to Tahrir Square to protest. (Protests in Tahrir Square happen every Friday, each with its own pre-announced theme, because it is a very important square. There is a tent city of protesters living on the square, who apparently form the core of the protesters.) The guide took Pati and Beebee to the Museum early in the day to get that tour completed before that day's protests started. The Museum is just off Tahrir Square on the opposite side from the B&B. Pati and Beebee arrived at the museum just before opening time (9 am) and the museum was quite empty of tourists (2 or 3 other groups) for the entire visit.

As it turned out, Tahrir Square had only a small protest, with the larger protest in another square, so the return to the B&B in the afternoon after seeing the pyramids was uneventful.

On the second day of tours (Saturday), Pati and Beebee visited the Mohamed Ali Mosque, a bazaar, Memphis (the original capital about an hour south of Cairo), and Saqqara near Memphis. The Mosque could not have been visited Friday, because it was being used for religious purposes. The guide, in addition to showing the features of the Mosque, also gave an easy-to-understand description of the 5 pilars of the muslim faith, explaining how similar it is to Christianity (his faith).

The souk (open-air marketplace) was just opening, with vendors setting up their stalls. The guide arranged for one man of the group of policemen there to walk around with Pati and Beebee, to discourage their being harrassed by sellers. This man was dressed in ordinary clothes, but had a pistol in a holster tucked into the back of his waistband. Pati and Beebee walked through slowly, observing the wares being set out, and the whole process in general. They were most interested in the spices, but did not buy any, since food products would probably be confiscated in at least one of the customs checks during the rest of the trip. Pati wondered how many of the objects sold came to Egypt via China. The officer who accompanied them spoke only a few words of English; while polite, he was uncomfortable in this duty. As they were about to exit the souk, a vender called out "American housewife" and he did not mean Beebee.

The drive to Memphis and Saqqara took about an hour. Here at Saqqara were the oldest pyramids in Egypt, including the step pyramid, the bent pyramid and the red pyramid. As they approached the step pyramid, there was an abrupt change from green plantings to the Sahara desert. At Memphis, they visited a fallen partial statue of Rameses II that was so hugh and heavy that the government just built a small building around it where it lay. There is also an alabaster sphinx there, which archeologists now believe belonged to the female pharoh Hapshepsut

Pati and Beebee decided to skip a visit to a carpet workshop, and they all stopped for lunch in an interesting outdoor restaurant. The meal was called "barbecue" and the meat (chicken and beef) was cooked at the table on a personal-sized grill. There were small bowls of side items and baklava for dessert. (They were especially appreciative of this meal, because they had left the B&B at 7:45 am before breakfast was available.)

Arriving back at the B&B at 3 pm, they said goodbye to their driver and guide and were on their own again. They arranged through their B&B to be taken to (and returned from) a dinner cruise on the Lady Diana on the Nile. Their driver arrived at 6:20 (climbing up the 80 steps), advised them to take jackets for Nile-watching atop the ship, and off they went for an "exciting" 45 minute drive to the Lady Diana. While the driver had some English (and tried to communicate), he definitely said "woman driver" while passing a timid driver who had been afraid to enter the traffic fray. The cause (or effect) of her timidity was exhibited in the metal gouges down the length of the side of her car.

On arriving at the Lady Diana, Pati and Beebee were led by their driver through another ship in order to enter the Diana. The cruise meal was a delicious buffet of Egyptian food at western prices. A beer was about $6.50 which would buy a brewery in some parts of Cairo. This was followed by the entertainment as the ship cruised slowly up the Nile (south) for some distance and then back down again. The entertainers were a singer whose American English was superb when he sang English-language songs, a belly dancer who was a great hit with the Asian men there, and a sufi dancer, who wore three skirts (that lit up at appropriate times) and spun counterclockwise for at least 20 minutes with no sign of dizziness. It is impossible to describe sufi dancing adequately in words. Pati and Beebee spent about 10 minutes "up top" enjoying the view in the chilly night.

The row of tables beside Pati and Beebee's held 8 Asian men, and the next row had about 8 more Asian men and women. One man had a video camera; each of the other men had a large camera (high-end Nikon SLR's) with a huge lens, and each woman had a smaller camera. Until the belly dancer appeared, the men spent their time photographing each other and other people's cameras. Then they focussed their huge lenses on her. They also ate an amazing quantity of food.

Pati and Beebee finally got back to the B&B at 10:30 pm and collapsed into bed.

On Sunday, Pati and Beebee returned on their own to the Egyptian Museum, only a 5-minute walk alongside Tahrir Square. This time they visited the Mummy Room where the best mummies, including Rameses II, are kept. Then they walked around the rest of the Museum at leisure. Beebee's favorite exhibit is the Narmer Tablet. Before they left, they tried to buy postcards at a counter in the Museum. The clerk did not have change, so they hope to find postcards at the airport.

Leaving the Museum, they ate lunch at Cafe Riche, an authentic Egyptian restaurant with delicious food. Tonight they plan to go back to Felfela for their last dinner in Cairo. They have eaten there twice before; it is a wonderful experience.

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Quick Cairo Note

Pati and Beebee are in Cairo, checked into their B&B, and full of a delicious meal at a restaurant with great atmosphere. And walked safely through traffic and the edge of Tahrir Square after dark.

 

Local time = GMT + 2 = EST + 7

 

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Astonishing Behavior

Pati and Beebee flew from Rome to Cairo yesterday. They observed astonishing procedures and human behavior throughout the process.

First they had to wrestle their luggage to the metro and onto a train to Roma Termini (like Metro Center at home). There, they went up to the highest level (2 or 3 above metro train level) of Termini to buy tickets for the train to the airport. As they approached the ticket machines, a young gypsy woman took pity and helped them buy their tickets. Then she walked them to the correct platform and correct position on the platform and said "don't move from here," followed by the universal sign for "give me a tip." Patti had already tipped her some at the ticket machine but was happy to give her a handful of change, because the coins could not be used outside of Europe. (He kept some small coins as souvenirs.). And she had actually performed a very useful service. A helpful gypsy! That was a first!

Pati and Beebee arrived at the airport. At the gate, boarding was delayed about 50 minutes because the airplane had a "technical problem." This was announced as a 10-minute delay after 40 minutes of waiting. When boarding was announced, everyone surged toward the ticket checker. There were no boarding zones, preferred passengers, etc. Pati and Beebee were positioned to be one of the earlier boarders, got their carryons into overhead bins, and then watched. They had aisle seats across from each other.

As passengers came down the aisle, they had great difficulty finding their seats. It seems they could not read the numbers above the rows, which seemed strange because they were arabic numerals on an arabic airplane (actually, a Boeing 737). Arabic numerals were invented here! (Pati later saw numbers on license plates; they look very different from European versions. He said that he and Beebee would soon be the ones having trouble with numbers.) Some passengers just sat where they wanted, and the legitimate seat owners were expected to take the seats not used by the usurpers. And they did.

Pati and Beebee, being among the earlier boarders, had easily found space in the overhead bins for their carryons. As more passengers arrived, they forcefully stuffed all sizes and shapes of objects into the bins. One man tried to stuff the largest carryon size wheeled suitcase into the space left in front of Beebee's tote. Of course it didn't fit, but he was going to leave it there hanging out until the flight attendant made him take it out. When the bin was finally full, someone closed it, but new arrivals would open it to check for space. One of these passengers found space to stuff in 2 cartons of cigarettes on the very top; then he closed the bin again. Surprise, surprise - the next time the bin was opened, the cigarettes fell into the lap of the person ahead of Beebee. When all the bins were finally closed, some of them were physically bulging, not completely closed.

When the door was closed and the aircraft finally started to taxi, some people were still walking up and down the aisles. Of course, the fasten seat belt sign was on. The safety video was shown in several different languages. Only Pati and Beebee watched it. The rest talked nonstop, including the young Italian couple next to Beebee, who talked so loudly they drowned out the video.

The man ahead of Beebee and his male companion were two of those who sat in the wrong seats; the displaced couple ended up next to Beebee. At the time, she thought it was a good trade. Before takeoff, the flight attendant told the man to raise his seat to the upright position, which he did. As soon as the airplane started down the runway for takeoff, he reclined his seat. Later in the flight, he reclined it more and more, until finally he had it all the way back into Beebee's meal.

As the flight continued, the man ahead of Beebee and his friend (with typical Middle Eastern features) began to look around furtively. They seemed particularly interested in the man beside Pati, who, with his male companion, both of them having typical Middle Eastern features, were also passengers who took and kept the wrong seats. However, there was no obvious contact between the two groups. This was getting uncomfortably reminiscent of some flights in 2001. But nothing happened.

The announcement just before departure required window blinds to be up for departure. At the very second the wheels left the ground, the loud couple beside Beebee put down the blind. They continued their loud conversation for several minutes into the flight, and then engaged in a protracted makeout session with loud smacking sounds. Finally exhausted, they fell asleep until 30 minutes before arrival. Then, out of the corner of her eye, Beebee saw smoke and turned to see the young woman smoking. (It was probably an electronic cigarette, but still.. Beebee thinks she could have gotten away with a real cigarette on that flight.)

Finally, the flight had landed and another set of lines presented: arrival card collection, visa purchase, money exchange, passport control (where the newly-purchased visa was inserted), baggage claim, and customs ("nothing to declare"). None of the lines was extremely long, until the traffic jam at the last one: it wasn't a line as much as a free-for-all with passengers aimed at the customs officer from all angles. As Pati and Beebee arrived at the front, passports in hand (everyone wants to see them), the official waved them through with no interest in their passports or baggage.

Finally out into the arrivals area only one hour after arrival, Beebee spotted their driver waiting patiently for them. Then out into the 72-degree night and an air-conditioned drive to their B&B.

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Pati and Beebee take a ride...

Pati and Beebee's cruise ended and they found themselves outside the cruise ship at a waiting area for a shuttle bus to the station of the train that would take them to Rome. The shuttle bus was free but Pati found a taxi for 20€ because he was cold and it was faster. They got to the station and bought train tickets for 5€ each to Rome.

Pati knows the metro is the best and cheapest way around European cities. He bought tickets for 33€ for himself and Beebee. At the conclusion of the transaction, he learned that the metro workers were on strike and he would need to take a taxi to his hotel.

Beebee and Pati got a taxi pretty quickly. There were hundreds of them in a line. The driver was friendly and drove like a maniac. He was frequently in the lane of oncoming traffic which Pati quite enjoys.

When the got to the hotel, Pati handed him the amount on the meter (25€) plus a tip. The driver said "Wait - this is the wrong amount. There is a surcharge today! You must pay me 35€." Pati did while forgetting that he had already paid 25. He wound up paying 65€, including various tips, for a ride that should have cost 18€ (it isn't clear to Pati that he was on a direct route). Pati had apparenly just fallen off the turnip truck.

Pati and Beebee got to their room and were let in by a very nice young Italian woman named Valentina. The room was very IKEA but large for European standards. One strange feature of the room was that it had a private bath that was not connected to the room. However, it was close to the Vatican and the metro.

There are three rooms in the hotel (actually B&B) Pati and Beebee are staying in. One contains them, another contains Glen who is from Norway (and Pati and Beebee call the Swede). The third room is empty. Pati and Beebee have a very small bath just to themselves. Glen shares a much larger bath with the empty room. Pati and Beebee are glad the paid extra for the private bath.

After check-in, Pati and Beebee visited St. Peters and the Sistine Chapel. They saw a lot of crypts in St. Peters and noted that popes seemed very much like the diefied Roman emperors. It was a parallel they had not noticed when they visited years ago.

On the next day, Pati and Beebee wanted to visit the forum, the Trevi fountain, the Parthenon, the Spanish Steps, and the Colleseum. They made it to everything but the Parthenon. The forum was most interesting and took a large portion of Beebee and Pati's day.

After their visits, Pati discovered that a pickpocket had borrowed their map. He hope the map is useless to the thief.

To end their day, Beebee and Pati had a nice meal near their hotel. A couple next to then engaged them in conversation. The man was a civil engineer and his wife a contracts lawyer. He worked on transportation systems. During conversation, the wife said that everyone in Italy carries an American one dollar bill for good luck. She showed her good-luck bill and pointed out another one framed on the wall behind the restaurant counter. Pati gave her another $1 bill and the husband then gave Pati an unused special metro card that had been made for one special occasion involving the Pope. He had it because of his job. It was a nice end to a nice day.

Now, on to Egypt!

 

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Short Rome Update

Pati and Beebee are in Rome, in their B&B, and are about to go out to search for lunch.

 

 

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Good people...

While Beebee and Pati met a lot of people they didn't like on the Carnival Destiny's trans-Atlantic cruise, they met many more they liked very much. Until Beebee got sick in Barcellona (her temperature peaked at a little over 102 yesterday but is now normal), they tried to eat breakfast at group tables at breakfast and lunch. Most of their fellow diners were nice and had interesting stories to tell. Most had far more travel experience than Pati and Beebee. Listening to them was often educational and generally fun.

• Edwin, Suarsana, and Adis

Edwin is the head waiter for one area of the formal dining room. Before he came to work for Carnival, he was a cardiac x-ray technician in the Phillipines. Edwin has a son named Pati (or at least has a son whose name is the same as Pati's real name). Edwin's Pati is 10 years old and wants him to come home for Christmas. He also has 5- and 14-year old daughters. Edwin has tried for three years but has been unable to get leave over Christmas. Pati almost cried when he heard this story.

Suarsana is the assistant. Suarsana asked Pati and Beebee to visit Bali. He said the nightclub bombings by terrorists destroyed Bali's tourist industry and caused him and others to leave their homes to find work. He also has a wife and children.

Adis is the second assistant. That means he brings the bread and keeps the glasses full. He is a cheerful young man.

• Yaya

Yaya (her name actually starts with a "W" and has about 10 letters in it) at the Cheers wine and martini bar was excited that Beebee and Pati were going to Thailand. They visited her when she wasn't too busy and she suggested things to do and places to see. She was very nice.

• Friends of Dorothy

Often when Beebee and Pati visited Yaya there was a group of men there having some kind of social. They were interesting and friendly. Pati and Beebee liked them very much. Actually meeting people breaks through a lot of meaningless biases.

• Ana

Ana, the assistant cabin steward, who ran to Deck B (10 decks down) to get Beebee a blanket when the fever made Beebee shake.

• Final thoughts about the cruise

When the cruise ended, Pati and Beebee decided the good times far outweighed the bad and the good people out numbered the nasty ones. There is a fine line between being happy and demanding cheese you didn't want or insisting on using all the empty washing machines. Pati and Beebee don't want to cross that line. There are people everywhere that Pati and Beebee will dislike. They want to make sure that this doesn't keep them from meeting others they will like very much!

When Beebee started feeling better, Pati told her that he read that a fever over 107 could cause brain damage. She paused, looked at him, and felt his forehead.

 

Update: local time = GMT + 1 = EST + 6

Distance traveled at 8:12 am local time: 4985 nm

Sea depth: 140 ft

Speed: 0.0 kts

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Passenger Profile: The Indignant Seat Puller

The Gaudi tour used a bus to get around the city. Pati and Beebee were seated together about 7 rows from the front of the bus. Directly behind Beebee (aisle seat) was a man, and his wife was behind Pati (window seat).

Anyone who has traveled with Beebee by car, train, airplane, or bus knows that she does not recline her seat. About 20 minutes into the tour, the bus stopped at a red light. When it started again, with a jerk of acceleration, Beebee felt her seat back jerk also. Since she did not expect the seat to recline, and did not know how to make it do that anyway, she ignored it, and concentrated on the sites being described by the tour guide.

At the first stop where everyone got off to see something, the woman behind Pati complained that they could not get out of their seats - could Beebee put her seat back upright? With a bit of searching, Beebee found the button to raise her seat back.

As the bus made its way to the second stop, Beebee became aware that the man behind her was pulling on her seat back. With each pull, the seat reclined more. When everyone got off at the second stop, Beebee did not bother to raise her seat again. Pati saw the man adjusting Beebee's seat.

When everyone got back on again, Beebee explained to the man that he was reclining her seat by pulling on it.

Oh, that's all right they said.

Somehow, that did not sound like an apology to Beebee and Pati.

Pati and Beebee need off this ship and as far away from these people as possible. Otherwise, nice cruise if you use the Carnival Triumph as a benchmark.

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Pati speaks up...

Beebee has severe stomach cramps today. She is shaking, disoriented, and feverish. Even though Pati and Beebee were able to walk almost 10 miles yesterday, Beebee could barely sit up today and was in no shape to walk to the ships infirmary. Pati called 911 -- and various other numbers -- and got a wheelchair to take Beebee to the doctor.

The doctor diagnosed gastritus and gave Beebee Tylenol for the fever, Bactrim for the gastritus, and loperamide for diarrhea (should that be necessary). Beebee is still in bed but seems to be getting better. The doctor thinks Beebee's lunch in Barcellona made her sick and she should be better in 24 hours.

Pati thought his doing the laundry might make Beebee feel a little better. Several of the washing machines have been broken and the rest have been busy. Pati found two available machines, returned to his room, and brought laundry and money for the washers. As Pati entered a couple ran in ans said "Two empty washers! We're taking them both! Let's go get the laundry and some money!!" Pati said that there were two washers and he had both his money and his laundry. The said "Sorry, sir, we haven't done laundry in 5 days and we need them." Pati suggested that this was unreasonable they should each take one machine. The couple refused and each physically blocked a washer. Pati asked if they thought they were the only persons on the ship gave a loud "What a pair of a$$hole$!" as he left. If they had touched Pati, he would have helped them into the machines.

Pati hopes karma is real. He also wishes he had thought to bring a box of RIT dye to help karma.

(Update: Pati is off his game. He left the laundry because the two a$$hole$ were blocking them. He later realized that since he had both his laundry and his laundry change and they had neither that at least one of them would need to leave to get their stuff. Pati could then have implemented his sharing plan. Dumb Pati :( )

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Barcelona

Pati and Beebee are happy to be returning to Barcelona. They have booked a tour from the ship, called "Gaudi & Barcelona." The four hour tour includes driving past famous Gaudi architecture, walking through Gaudi's Park Guell, and an inside visit to the Sagrada Familia church. Gaudi's architecture is colorful, organic, and non-threatening.

Park Guell

At the end of the tour, Pati and Beebee will walk the length of Las Ramblas for shopping, eating, and people-watching. There probably won't be enough time to ride the Funicular de Montjuic and cable car up to the Museu Militar and Castell dr Montjuic, where there is a very good view of the harbor and container ships being loaded and unloaded. That is a good memory from their previous visit to Barcelona.

There will be a free shuttle bus back to the ship, but Pati and Beebee will probably just walk back for the exercise.

Local time = GMT + 1 = EST + 6
Distance traveled at 6:49 am local time: 4407 nm
Sea depth: 230 ft
Course: 342 degrees

Position: 41 degrees 16.84 minutes North
002 degrees 11.18 minutes East

Passenger Profile: The Loud Cheese Woman
Pati and Beebee ate in the Lido deck self-serve cafeteria this morning. While waiting in line for oatmeal, Beebee was behind a 40-ish man who, upon reaching a tray containing 4 thin slices of an orange cheese, took every slice. A 50-/60-ish short woman ahead of him, who had already passed by the cheese, watched him intently. At the very instant that he took the last slice, she shouted, in a thick accent, "THERE IS NO MORE CHEESE! ARE YOU GOING TO GET MORE CHEESE?"
Startled, the server behind the counter hurried to pick up the empty tray, and, turning, tripped over another server. He then hurriedly retrieved another tray of cheese from somewhere, and showed it to the woman, saying "It is white cheese." She seemed to approve; he placed it where the yellow cheese had been. She promptly backed up into Beebee and started to fill her plate.
There are people that Pati and Beebee will not miss when the cruise ends.

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Laundry on the Destiny

After settling into their cabin last week, Beebee was pleased to see a launderette not very far down the corridor on the same deck. A few days later, she was able to easily find an empty washing machine, even though one of the three was not working, and refresh their clothes. A week later, a similar trip snagged the only available machine of the two working ones, and there was a waiting line before their clothing advanced from washer to dryer to folded. This morning there was no luck at all, with several scouting forays finding the same (unfriendly) people using all the machines for multiple loads.

 

Fortunately, there is another launderette on deck 8 directly above this launderette, and still another on deck 6 directly below both of the others.

 

Unfortunately, all the machines on deck 8 were busy with another set of (unfriendly) people. On reaching the deck 6 launderette, a line out the door was quickly encountered of more (unfriendly) people. No luck here.

 

Since the non-working machine has remained non-working for 12 days now, it is obvious that certain repairs are not important enough to do for a ship headed for major renovation.

 

What to do.

 

Each day, the Carnival Fun Times (the daily schedule) has posted a notice for laundry haters: for some unspecified amount of $ (possibly $15), a bag of laundry that is picked up by 10:30 am will be returned freshly laundered, dryed and folded by 7 pm. Using the self-serve launderette, the same bag of laundry would cost $7 ($3 for washer plus $3 for dryer plus $1 for soap) plus monitoring time, so the markup is approximately 100%. On the positive side, the microscopic scrutiny of the other launderers is avoided. (Why are they so interested in other people's underwear?)

 

Unfortunately, after Beebee checked and re-checked (and re-checked...) "her" launderette for available machines, and then checked the other launderettes, and then found the stateroom steward, the time was 11 am and past the deadline for pickup.

 

There is always tomorrow.

 

Local time = GMT + 1 = EST + 6

Distance traveled at 2:24 pm local time: 4200 nm

Sea depth: 980 ft

 

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Fog!

This morning Pati and Beebee awoke to fog. At first notice, the fog was obscuring the sky and swirling against the water at about 50 yards from the ship. By the time Pati could get the camera out on the balcony, the fog had completely enveloped the ship. Fog horns from other ships echo from some unknown distance away. Destiny does not seem to be using its fog horn: everyone onboard would be awake if that sounded! Or perhaps its sound is muffled also.

 

(Pati misses his family and friends even more than he misses his tools)

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Malaga

Malaga is the only stop on the cruise that Pati and Beebee have not visited before (ignoring Civitavecchia as a stop, since Rome is the real reason ships stop there).

Malaga regressed from one of the New York Times' 53 Places to Go in 2008 to a city for which it was almost impossible to find a stand-alone guidebook. (It is, of course, mentioned in guidebooks for Spain.) Beebee was finally able to find a slim 58-page glossy booklet by Brian Jones published in 2008 with a list price of 6.99 British pounds (but more reasonably-priced used).

Malaga's most famous native sons are Picasso and Antonio Banderas.

Pati and Beebee are booked on a 3.5 hour "Malaga City Tour" with visits to the Castillo del Gibrafaro and the Cathedral de la Encarnacion. Since the ship is in port for 9 hours, Beebee hopes to have enough extra time to follow some of the walking tour described in the small guide book, such as the Bullring and Museum, the English Cemetery, and the Picasso Museum.

Time update: Local time = EST + 6
Distance traveled at local time 7:58 am: 3912 nm
Sea depth: 300 ft
Course: 036 degrees

Tapas

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The Straits of Gibraltar

Today is the last Fun Day at Sea on the Atlantic. Last night was the 5th time of setting clocks forward by one hour. Tonight will be the 6th time. Sometime between midnight and 1 am, the ship will pass through the Straits of Gibraltar. If Pati is awake (although he doesn't expect to be) at that time, he plans to yell "Give me back my peanuts!" to the monkeys of Gibraltar who robbed him the last time he was there. If it were possible to find a bag of peanuts on this ship, Pati would wave them in the direction of the monkeys and yell, in the immortal words of W, "Bring it on!" Pati plans to see who throws what this time!

Time update: local time = EST + 5
Distance traveled at 9:17 am local time: 3535 nm
Sea depth: 15,700 ft
Course: 089 degrees

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The Floor Scrapers

Pati and Beebee were walking on the ship's track when they saw a crew one deck below them repairing the teak decking. It reminded Pati of a painting he saw once in Paris called "The Floor Scrapers."

Pati and Beebee stopped to watch. Pati particularly likes to see the tools professionals use. He was happy to see that all of the tools but one - a power hand planer - are in their shop at home. Pati misses the shop. Building things makes Pati feel useful.

Most of the passengers on the trans-Atlantic crossing sail much more frequently than Pati and Beebee. Pati wonders if he would feel useful if he did that. To Pati, it seems that rather than having an adventure, he would simply become cargo. Occasional luxury is very nice but constant luxury seems meaningless. Pati misses the shop. However, when he returns to the shop, he will probably miss the ship. Life is a puzzle to Pati.

 

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The Plate Warrior (a pre-quel to Thunderbowl)

Beebee and Pati decided to have a quick light meal in the Lido Deck self service dining area. They found a time and place where food was the most precious thing on Earth (actually, on water) despite the surplus. Sparks flew from silverware moving at blinding speeds and every man (and woman) was a law to him- (or her-) self concerning the direction of the line around each serving station. (Diners on land in civilized countries seem to understand that a line begins at the end with the plates. Diners on this Lido deck understand that they need a plate, but then attack the food from any end or angle, bestowing annoyed looks and snide remarks on those who follow normal conventions.)

The sound system blasted Tina Turner singing "We don't need another hero (but that BLT looks interesting)" while marauders in motorized chairs zoomed from station to station at intimidating speeds. Others stepped suddenly into the paths of unwary passers-by or defiantly walked backwards carrying head-sized mounds of food as trophies. It was gruesome (or at least goosome) - especially when the pitiful remains of plate after plate filled the edges of each dining table. A land of eat or be -- well, that's about it -- just eat. It was like the TV show "The Walking Dead" with a twist: this time it was "The Walking Fed." All those bloated bodies staggering around with Hollandaise dripping from their slack (actually well-toned) jaws.

Many of the diners in the Lido seemed to be in a uniform which consisted of a white Carnival Cruise Line bathrobe and flip-flops. Pati and Beebee saw one of the men in uniform (think Jabba the Hut) and his wife ("Please, call me Chewey!") at a table nearby. A larger robe would have been a fashion plus. Pati thought the uniforms signified a religious order of some kind because of the expressions of bliss (early diabetic coma?) the adherents wore on their faces -- possibly the Order of the Double Cheeseburger. In any case, they chanted something about Friars (or was that friers?).

Just when Pati and Beebee thought it was the end, they found an escape route that none of the plate warriors could use to follow them -- they took the stairs.

Time update: local time = EST + 4
Distance traveled at 7:49 am ship time: 3104 nm
Sea depth: 17,400 ft

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Exercise on the Carnival Destiny

Pati and Beebee try to walk 10,000 steps a day. That's about 5 miles. Exercise on the Destiny requires some creativity.

Of course, there is the gym on deck 10. It has about 16 treadmills (2 not working), a smaller number of elliptical machines, and a small number of spin cycles. There is also a very small number of specialized machines. There are also free weights and a very small area for using them. As might be expected, demand far exceeds capacity. Pati and Beebee were able to find open treadmills for a few days until the rest of the cruisers found the gym; now, every working machine of every type is occupied whenever they check.

For outdoor exercise, there is a jogging track on deck 11 with a circumference of 1/10 mile. Pati and Beebee head up there when the gym is full. The track is oval shaped, with the long legs parallel to the side of the ship. In walking the track counterclockwise (which most cruisers - except Australians - do), the starboard (right) side leg is into the wind and the port (left) side leg has a tailwind. The ship is traveling at around 18 kts almost directly into a wind blowing at 20 to 30 kts. This results in a small tailwind on one side and a headwind of up to 50 knots on the other. That's exercise!

(There is also a compact putt-putt golf course on deck 11 surrounding the smokestack (Carnival's distinctive "tail"). Beebee wonders how far a golf ball might travel if caught in the wind!)

Of course, another obvious form of exercise is just walking around the ship and up and down the stairs. Pati and Beebee's cabin is on deck 7 near the back. Their formal dining room is on deck 3 aft (back) for breakfast and lunch and on deck 4 aft for dinner. The buffet is on the Lido deck (deck 9) aft. There are approximately 20 steps involved in climbing or descending the stairwell between adjacent decks. So, just counting stairwell steps, formal dining requires 120 to 160 steps per meal, and casual dining requires only 80 steps per meal. The entertainment venues are at the front of the ship (forward) on decks 3, 4, and 5, so these require walking almost the entire length of the ship in addition to the stairs. Yes, there are elevators, but those don't require much exercise (except for exercising patience in waiting for them).

Many cruisers seem to be into power lifting. After all, there are 8 utensils with each place setting in the formal dining room. There are only 2 utensils for Ledo deck dining, but cruisers there compensate by increasing the number of reps.

Time update: local time = EST + 4
Distance traveled at 8:13 am: 2700 nm
Sea depth: 10,330

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A Typical Day on the Destiny

The typical day on the Destiny revolves around eating. For Pati and Beebee, that means attendance in the full-service dining room for breakfast (8 - 10 am), lunch (12 noon - 2 pm) and dinner (8:15 - 10 pm). They began the trip by showing up on time for meals, but the meals took the full 2 hours. So they started coming later, thinking the meals would end "on time" as it were, requiring less total time. The result of this experiment is that meals require 2 hours no matter when you show up. But no one seems to mind, and there is time for interesting and educational conversation with others at the table. (Getting some extra zzzz after last night's time change, Pati and Beebee tried the Lido deck buffet this morning for a faster meal. It was a cool temperature place, both physically and socially. The atmosphere there is downbeat.)

 

The next time constraint is the shows that seem interesting. For Pati and Beebee, these have been the evening show in the largest theater ("Showtime") at 7 - 8 pm, the specialty show du jour in one of the larger theaters (magician, comic, juggler, hypnotist, etc.) at 10:30 - 11 pm, and information sessions by the cruise director (various times). Today's information session is Spanish lessons, requested by some passengers after we sailed; Italian lessons will be on another day.

 

In the open times during daylight, the hot tubs and the gym (or track outdoors) are favorite spots for 30 - 60 minutes at a time.

 

Then there is a small amount of daily time for blogging, reading the mail, checking the weather at home, etc. (it's a small amount of time, because internet time is expensive. However, the internet access and response time is the best we have encountered on any cruise ship.)

 

Next to time spent in the dining room, the most time is spent in reading books. Beebee has finished 2 books and is 37% through the same book Pati just finished, a huge book, with 849 pages. Pati has begun a Harry Bosch thriller.

 

Twice now, Beebee has used the launderette down the hall. This morning one of the three washing machines is out of order, and there is demand for the others. A very nice Canadian (from 4 hours north of Montana) gave Beebee a soap packet because he didn't want to lug them home again. That saved her 4 quarters that would have been spent for a small box of laundry detergent.

 

The remaining time is spent wandering the ship. The two fun shops (clothing, jewelry, watches, cigarettes, and alcohol) are identical except in size (much smaller) to the same shops on other Carnival ships. Unfortunately, the clothing offered for sale is geared to warmer locations, and seems inappropriate for the middle of the Atlantic or for Destiny's European stops. Beebee suspects that Malaga (the first stop) will sell a lot of warm clothing before the ship departs!

 

Time update: Local time = EST + 3

Distance traveled at 10:16 am ship's time: 2295 nm

Sea depth 9880 ft.

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Shipboard Sociology 101

There are definitely several categories of cruisers aboard the Destiny. These categories are not necessarily disjoint (or orthogonal, for math-oriented readers), and some individual cruisers belong to multiple categories.

 

The first category is directly related to the fact that this is the final cruise of the Destiny. It will re-emerge from drydock as the Sunshine. This category of cruiser is the diehard lover of Destiny. For example, a cruiser at breakfast yesterday with Pati and Beebee claimed to have been on both of Destiny's maiden voyages (which he clarified as a pre-voyage and the first real voyage). He is upset over the changes that will happen to the ship, replacing certain public spaces with passenger cabins. But his concerns seem legitimate: Destiny is a very special ship.

 

The second category of cruiser (which Pati and Beebee have met for the first time on this cruise) has replaced land-based living with perpetual cruising. They find that living on board does not have to cost more than traditional housing, and they have sold their houses and cars to help finance this lifestyle.

 

The third category is the frequent cruiser, who keeps on top of the cruise bargains available (especially last-minute cruises) and keeps a suitcase packed and ready to go on a moment's notice.

 

The fourth category is the experienced novice traveler. This morning, Beebee and Pati met early retirees who sailed their own ship for 20 years but had never been on a cruise ship before and had never been to Europe despite spending many years away from the US.

 

The fifth category is the cruiser to whom the cruise is just another extended stay somewhere. Their other destinations tend to be on land, where they immerse themselves in the culture for months at a time. One such couple is headed for Germany, where the husband will be teaching economics at the undergraduate level. For another couple, the cruise and their extended stays at various European destinations will be subjects in a travel book she is writing.

 

The sixth category includes the few (?) cruisers who stand out and are in a class by themselves. One example is a one-armed man (attention Dr. Sam Sheppard) who wears crazy hats all the time (e.g., a red dragon). Another is a gay couple who look - to Pati at least - like a pair of life size muppets. They both have two foot long beards, one jet black and the other silver (think "Hair by John the Baptist"). The one with the jet black beard is a long distance truck driver who is also an amateur gladiator. The one with the silver beard thinks that the changes that will be made to the Destiny are "tragic." Pati noticed that eating with a two foot long beard allows one to check what was on the menu long after dinner is over :(

 

The seventh category includes those who live below decks and come up only to serve, as in H.G. Well's The Time Machine. In general, they are younger, slimmer, and more diverse than those they serve. They may be the most interesting of all the people on this ship.

 

PTi and Beebee wonder how they are being categorized in their fellow travelers' blogs.

Total distance by 19:30 PM - 1930 nm

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Hot Tub 9-1-1

There are 4 hot tubs on Deck 9 of the Destiny. Two of these are are open to the sky, and two are currently enclosed (though the clear roof above can be slid open). All of them have posted a long list of rules and warnings. At the bottom of each list is the following in red:

Take children for frequent restroom breaks

Dial 911 in case of emergency

Probably due to their unprotected location, the open-sky hot tubs would be better called warm tubs. Pati and Beebee have consistently used one of the open-sky warm tubs. Yesterday as they stepped in, they discovered their favorite warm tub was really a cold tub. Shivering in the wind, they shifted to the second warm tub, which was still warm.

Unfortunately, two little boys in life jackets were happily breaking many of the rules in the list (rough-housing, jumping, no adult supervision, no breaks). After one boy ended his dive in Beebee's lap, she and Pati decided to move to the really hot hot tubs.

Bliss. Toasty warm bubbly water. The sign saying ADULTS ONLY. Ahhhhh. Minutes pass. Some adults leave. Some adults arrive. No jumping. No diving. Quiet mannerly adults. But all good things end, and Pati and Beebee leave to make room for a newcomer who sports large patches of a suspicious red rash. It could be only a sunburn or poison ivy, but then again, maybe not.

As they pass the warm tubs on the way to return their towels, they observe the little boys still leaping around wildly, with no adults in sight. Like otters in a too-small pool.

There is still the 4th hot tub to investigate some other day.

There are at least four comedians on board. Pati and Beebee went to hear one two nights ago. He said "On my last cruise, my warm up act was a Jehovah's Witness but he only knew knock-knock jokes." Ten seconds of silence were followed by an outburst of laughter.

There was a long line for the comedy show. Pati is pretty sure half the people in line thought there was something to eat inside.

Time update: local time = EST + 2

Distance traveled at 8:35 am: 1424 nm

Sea depth: 18,350 ft

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The World's Lowest Calorie Dish

Last night at dinner, Pati and Beebee selected from among several options the one appetizer labeled as heart-healthy. It was described as tiger shrimp with some additional seafood ingredient.

When the plates arrived, they each contained a small green gelatinous puck topped with one toothpick-sized sprig of green onion stalk, all this surrounded by 6 circular orange smears on the plate.

Pati and Beebee stared at their plates, trying to decide whether some additional ingredient might be arriving on a separate plate. Pati automatically reached for his glasses, hoping the additional magnification might increase the portion size, but gave that up when he realized the futility of it: 2.25 times nothing is still nothing.

The waiter appeared as Pati and Beebee began to scrape the firmly-attached smears from their plates. Beebee asked him "Is this it?" He said it was, and they all had a good laugh.

The puck, though small, was wasabi-flavored and tasty. (How thin were the smears? So thin that the tiger shrimp had lost its stripes.)

As they finished the ersatz appetizer, the waiter re-appeared with shrimp cocktails for them both, which they were happy to get.

There is a lesson here: when the menu says "low calorie," ask yourself (as the wait staff did during their dance performance during the meal) "How low can you go?"

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Gremlins

At breakfast Beebee was reminded of the Twilight Zone episode of the gremlin on the wing outside William Shatner's airplane window. A sound of screeching metal, apparently at water level on the outside of the ship, punctuated the breakfast table conversation. Pati suggested it was workmen beginning the ship's renovation before reaching Venice. Or maybe it was an engine problem, which this ship has had in the past. The noise did not bother the other tablemates, one couple from Houston and another couple from Manitoba. The Houston couple, still not retired, have 8 grown children and 11 grandsons. The Canadian couple have many grandchildren and a great- grandchild.

 

But, speaking of gremlins, not all of the elevators appear to be working (do not come at all when called). Others come but merely turn off the call button as they speed by to another deck. Pati has begun to use his hard-earned job experiences to hyjack elevators: push both the up and down buttons - if the elevator stops but in the opposite direction needed, get on anyway. If there are other people onboard, ride the wrong direction until they get off. Then go the right direction. If there is no one inside when the door opens, get in. Push the button for the deck needed. The door will close, then reopen. Then it will automatically close again and go in the proper direction.

 

Last night's show was a singing and dancing extravaganza. It was very well done, emphasizing well-known songs of many eras. Pati's favorite number was the Village People (YMCA) with 4 male dancers dressed appropriately, while Beebee most liked the rendition of Stayin' Alive with 8 female dancers all dressed like John Travolta (white 3-piece suits). Tonight's show is a comedy show. There are three comedians on board. One of them, Mark Evans, was also on the Carnival Pride for the Christmas cruise.

 

As the cruise director, Kevin Noonan ("Hello, Noonan!), said during the first night introductions, there are only 12 Americans in the 1200 member staff. Pati and Beebee have had interesting conversations with several of the staff. Last night they talked with a lady from Thailand and a man from India. They are both going directly "home" after the cruise, which means that Pati and Beebee will actually know somebody in each country as they visit it.

 

The sun is trying to decide whether to come out and the sky is beautiful. It's time to get back to reading. Pati is deep into 11/22/63 by Stephen King. Beebee finished The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party by Alexander Mccall Smith last night and must choose another book to start.

 

Watch update: local time = EST+1

 

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Just Who Else Is on this Cruise?

Beebee is pleased: The laundrette is just a few cabins down the hall from their cabin. After starting a washerload of clothes, Pati and Beebee headed downstairs for breakfast in "their" restaurant, called Universe.

 

They were seated with 6 other people at a window with a good view of the ocean speeding by at 17+ knots. The gentleman across from Pati, a native New Englander, has sold his house and car and now cruises continuously, with over 100 cruises completed on at least 4 cruise lines (including every ship of two different lines). Across from Beebee was a perfect gentleman from Kentucky, also a longtime cruiser with interesting tales. On the other side of Pati was a retired special education teacher from Fairfax County. (She had flown to Miami out of National Airport on Saturday; her flight was also delayed and de-iced.) Beside the New England gentleman were a congenial retired couple, also frequent cruisers, on their first Atlantic crossing. Across from them was a younger (relative to the rest of us!) man who spent most of his limited conversation correcting other people's trivia about cruising.

 

Without naming names (which she doesn't know anyway), some of these cruisers reminded Beebee of actors in Taco Bell's Super Bowl commercial.

 

Pati and Beebee have mixed feelings about having breakfast daily in the restaurant and may just try the Lido deck self-serve breakfasts in future. The service in Universe was extremely slow and the waiter had trouble with English, i.e., couldn't seem to connect the spoken names of food on the menu with the actual food. For example, one cruiser asked for brown toast, got hash browns, asked again for wheat toast and finally got it. However, everyone at the table was of an age to persist until they got what they wanted.

 

On the other hand, service was so slow that people got to talk about their favorite topic, which was cruising and how many cruises and different ships they had been on. They didn't seem as interested in where they had gone, just how they got there. Pati and Beebee, being relative newcomers to cruising, mostly just listened to this.

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Taxis

When the Essex House front desk asked Pati and Beebee whether they would need a taxi when they checked out, Pati said yes. When the clerk asked what time the taxi would be needed, Pati said 1 pm. After leaving their luggage in the Essex storage room, they walked out to eat breakfast at a good local Cuban restaurant.

After a last stroll near the beach, Pati and Beebee decided they would go to the ship early. They returned to retrieve their luggage and the front desk clerk obligingly called for a taxi. They used the time waiting for the taxi to get in a few last minutes of free internet time.

After 45 minutes of waiting in the lobby with no taxi appearing, they decided to wait outside. As soon as they got their luggage to the curb, Pati saw a cab and flagged it down. They were off to the cruise ship port!

Carnival Destiny was their ship, they told the taxi driver, whose English was a lot worse than they realized at the time. As they neared the port, they could see a long line of cruise ships with Destiny at the head of the line. There's Destiny they said to each other and took a picture of it through the taxi window. Getting into the act, the taxi driver said There's Imagination (Carnival Imagination was the 4th ship in line.) The lineup was Carnival Destiny at Terminal B, a Norwegian ship at Terminal C, Carnival Victory at Terminal D, Carnival Imagination at Terminal E, and many more.

The taxi approach to the ships requires coming in from the end of the line and peeling off at the proper terminal. After the taxi drops off the passengers, the road then shoots the taxi back toward town. The taxi driver decided to peel off at Victory. NO they said, Destiny! Then he tried Imagination. NO they said, Destiny. IT IS IN THE OTHER DIRECTION. Des-tin-ee? He said. Back the other way? He said. YES they said.

Back around the big loop they went. The taxi driver peeled off again, stopped directly opposite the Norwegian ship, hopped out, put the luggage at the curb, got his fee, and left. Don't let him leave, the baggage handler said, he needs to drive you to Destiny.

Too late. He was gone.

Luckily, the Destiny baggage handler was only 50 feet away. After handing over a healthy tip, Pati and Beebee breezed through the fastest embarkation ever.

Goodbye Miami! (Well, at midnight.)

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Sleeping in South Beach

Pati and Beebee will board the Carnival Discovery a little after noon today. It is nice in South Beach but Pati and Beebee won't miss it too much. Pati is pretty sure that the technical difficuty with their room was that some other couple was sleeping in it. Pati realized that prepaying for a room in September must be a cutting it a little close to have the room in February.

The room the Essex sent Pati to the first night was in a hotel called the Dream. The room was so beautiful, it looked like it came from a design show. Unfortunately, rooms from design shows are difficult to live in. The room had theatrical lighting that was all blue. Unfortunately, the light switch had 6 buttons and pressing a button would sometimes make a light brighter and other times dim it. Also, the small toilet and shower rooms had glass walls. This was very nice to look at but had no privacy.

South Beach Dream

The next morning, Beebee said "Pati where do we sleep tonight?" Pati dialed the Essex a few times but they did not answer their phone. Pati said "I will walk there and talk to them. They can not ignore me if I am standing there." Pati was wrong.

When the clerk had waited on everyone else, including some who were not there when Pati arrived, Pati finally had his chance. The clerk said "No problem! Check in is at 4PM." Pati explained this was a problem because check out at the Dream was at noon. The clerk agreed to do Pati a favor and store his luggage until 4PM and Pati would have a $50 dining credit since someone who did not have to change hotels was sleeping in their room. After carrying their luggage from the Dream to the Essex, Beebee and Pati tried to use their credit. Before they were seated, the hostess said "You know there is a minimum cover?" Pati and Beebee did not know this. Beebee asked her "How much?" She said "$100." Beebee said "Goodbye."

Pati is going to tell the TripAdvisor tube of the internets about his stay at the Essex and how kind they have been to Pati.

Posted with Blogsy

Time Zones

You would think that 24 time zones would be sufficient to cover the world, but there are a few more than that. (it's an interesting topic to learn more about in your spare time.)

We will reside for longer than a day in 5 different time zones, and we will travel through 6 timezones while on the first cruise.

Home is in EST, which is 5 hours earlier than Greenwich Mean Time (GMT or UTC, also known as Zulu). So, using some elementary math,

Home = UTC - 5
Miami = UTC - 5 = Home
Italy = UTC + 1 = Home + 6
Egypt = UTC + 2 = Home + 7
India = UTC + 5:30 = Home + 10:30
Thailand = UTC + 7 = Home + 12
Cambodia = UTC + 7 = Home + 12

What time is it in Italy, etc., when it's 8 am at home?

8:00 am Home = 2:00 pm Italy = 3:00 pm Egypt = 6:30 pm India = 8:00 pm Thailand and Cambodia

Beebee's brother gave them watches with 3 faces to help keep track of the time differences. Beebee will be setting her watch like this:

The upper larger clock face will show the local time wherever they are.
The clock face at lower left will show the time at their next location.
The clock face at lower right will show the time at home.

For example, when they are in Egypt, the upper clock will show Egypt time, the lower left clock will show India time, and the lower right clock will show home time.

Following this formula, Beebee set her watch on the day before they left home for Miami.

It wasn't very exciting.

Posted with Blogsy

A journey of 25000 miles starts with a single 986 mile flight

Beebee and Pati made it to South Miami beach. Their plane was de-iced in the snow at Dulles and the Floridians are freezing because it dropped to only 65 degrees after the sun went down. Their room at the Essex House had a "technical problem" (CSI Miami?) so they were moved one block to an even nicer room. After a seaside walk, they are turning in for the night.

Posted with Blogsy