Above are pics of the following: Penny, Louie (the yellow) and Roscoe (the black) napping together on the couch (Photo courtesy of mama melew). Me giving a marble lion the 'ol one two, and Brian taking a picture of a fountain. I like the scale of this one. That's a big ass fountain.
Well I’m doing something I didn’t think I’d do after a month in Europe. Taking a break. We’re in Livorno today and I decided to stay on, sleep in and do jack shit. I got up, wrote a bit, ate lunch, read The New Yorker front to back for 2 hours and now I’m here. I know all you people out there with day jobs are ready to strangle me. You’re in EUROPE! You jag! Why the rest? But I had to put the brakes on today as I felt my cranky-o-meter rising. All these trains, buses, cabs and hoofing it has resulted in mama needing a day alone. Sure there is a bit of guilt, but Cody, Jenny and Steve have also decided to stick around so that makes me feel better. Brian and Brendan are having a man day in Florence. OOOOOH! BOYFRIENDS!
Sitting in the atrium always makes me uncomfortable considering the close proximity to the reception desk. It seems like no matter what time of day it is, some guest is always up at the front desk bitching. I’ve got my headphones on, but I can see by the beleaguered look on the reception staffs face they are ready to kill the general public. As crew/entertainers we rarely have to go to reception, but the two times I’ve had to go I’ve sought out Helena. Helena owes me a few and is always kind. Why does she owe me a few? Because of my lax policies when she constantly comes to renew Season 2 of “The Office” to Jewelbusters during my shift. What is Jewelbusters you ask? It is the official movie rental store of the Norwegian Jewel Crew. Every Monday on our sea day we work this shift as a cast. There’s a pretty extensive library downstairs in the corner of the crew mess and it’s always fun to see what horror movie Engine Supervisor #3 is renting this week. Close to closing time Brendan likes to yell things like “10 minutes to rent videos folks and Terms of Endearment is still available!” The main rentals consist of action movies, Romantic Comedies for the ladies, and any nudity these sailors can get their hands on. It’s fun to meet a lot of crew you wouldn’t normally come into contact with and we get gift certificates to the restaurants that charge a cover for our time.
Alberto update. On Tuesday Alberto purchased a $300 guitar in Messina since his has still not shown up. We ran into him on the way back to the ship and he was strumming away. He played us a song and of course what we thought all along was completely true. HE’S F’ING AMAZING. He claims to be the third best Flamenco guitarist in the world and I think there’s no doubt about it. Of course someone this nutburgers has to be. His hands move like flamenco butter through those strings and it’s incredible to watch. So that night we all had dinner and made our way up to the Star Bar to watch him play. Again, what we thought all along was completely true. Even with a guitar, HE’S F’ING INSANE. His banter between songs were the ramblings of a true madman. The best of which was a song/poem/possible children’s parable Brian claims will still give him nightmares. He was gently strumming his guitar as he leaned into the microphone and said something to the effect of:
Sitting in the atrium always makes me uncomfortable considering the close proximity to the reception desk. It seems like no matter what time of day it is, some guest is always up at the front desk bitching. I’ve got my headphones on, but I can see by the beleaguered look on the reception staffs face they are ready to kill the general public. As crew/entertainers we rarely have to go to reception, but the two times I’ve had to go I’ve sought out Helena. Helena owes me a few and is always kind. Why does she owe me a few? Because of my lax policies when she constantly comes to renew Season 2 of “The Office” to Jewelbusters during my shift. What is Jewelbusters you ask? It is the official movie rental store of the Norwegian Jewel Crew. Every Monday on our sea day we work this shift as a cast. There’s a pretty extensive library downstairs in the corner of the crew mess and it’s always fun to see what horror movie Engine Supervisor #3 is renting this week. Close to closing time Brendan likes to yell things like “10 minutes to rent videos folks and Terms of Endearment is still available!” The main rentals consist of action movies, Romantic Comedies for the ladies, and any nudity these sailors can get their hands on. It’s fun to meet a lot of crew you wouldn’t normally come into contact with and we get gift certificates to the restaurants that charge a cover for our time.
Alberto update. On Tuesday Alberto purchased a $300 guitar in Messina since his has still not shown up. We ran into him on the way back to the ship and he was strumming away. He played us a song and of course what we thought all along was completely true. HE’S F’ING AMAZING. He claims to be the third best Flamenco guitarist in the world and I think there’s no doubt about it. Of course someone this nutburgers has to be. His hands move like flamenco butter through those strings and it’s incredible to watch. So that night we all had dinner and made our way up to the Star Bar to watch him play. Again, what we thought all along was completely true. Even with a guitar, HE’S F’ING INSANE. His banter between songs were the ramblings of a true madman. The best of which was a song/poem/possible children’s parable Brian claims will still give him nightmares. He was gently strumming his guitar as he leaned into the microphone and said something to the effect of:
“No matter what you eat,
We are all the meat.
No matter what you eat,
We are all the meat…..”
I think this went on for a few more seconds, but I was too terrified to remember. Good to know that returning to his craft restores a sense of normalcy to his personality. Yikes !
Naples
Wednesday was Naples and we usually go out with the intention to eat, maybe wander for a bit and return to the ship since it’s show night. Finding a restaurant was a bit of a task. We had a few restaurants on a list from our pal Enzo (see earlier entry on Naples) and we had already eaten at one the week before. We tried a second restaurant he recommended but it seemed a bit expensive. So we tried to return to the restaurant Cody has first taken us to and it was closed. We are slowly learning there is no rhyme or reason to anything being open or closed in Italy. So we returned to the pizza place we had eaten at the week before. This place may just become a weekly delight for us since it is so amazing. It’s called “il Pizzaiolo del Presidente”. (www.ilpizzaiolodelpresidente.it) It has by far, the best Neapolitan Pizza/Pizza I’ve ever tasted in my life. I think we all sat there wondering why we would go anywhere else. And it is cheap as hell. This week we blew it out and also ordered three pizza frittas, which are giant deep fried pizzas stuffed with cheese, meat and spinach. I think we had 6 pizzas, 8 cokes and a beer and the total came to 44 Euros. It’s crazy cheap. Post pizza Brian and I ended up wandering around and doing a bit of shopping as everyone returned to the ship. He bought a tie at a department store blow out and I didn’t find anything. This tie was purchased after I encouraged him to purchase one that didn’t look like an 8th grade boy tie. We got gelato and I stumbled on a flavor called “Gelato Snack”. In the cooler it looked like chocolate gelato with bits of cookie in it. I ordered it with a scoop of Tiramisu gelato to boot. When I tasted the “Gelato Snack” I instantly knew something was deliciously awry. I only needed Brian to confirm it. What Gelato Snack really is, is Nutella whipped up into a frosting frenzy with bits of crunchy Ice Cream Cone thrown into it. It’s not gelato, it’s frickin’ frosting. It was barely cold and still holding its consistency. Good enough for me! Snack indeed.
A real quick note about Penny before I sign off. She’s doing great ! My mom says she’s a big ‘ol snuggler and is becoming a regular Esther Williams the way she’s swimming in the lake. I miss her mucho. Till next time !
Naples
Wednesday was Naples and we usually go out with the intention to eat, maybe wander for a bit and return to the ship since it’s show night. Finding a restaurant was a bit of a task. We had a few restaurants on a list from our pal Enzo (see earlier entry on Naples) and we had already eaten at one the week before. We tried a second restaurant he recommended but it seemed a bit expensive. So we tried to return to the restaurant Cody has first taken us to and it was closed. We are slowly learning there is no rhyme or reason to anything being open or closed in Italy. So we returned to the pizza place we had eaten at the week before. This place may just become a weekly delight for us since it is so amazing. It’s called “il Pizzaiolo del Presidente”. (www.ilpizzaiolodelpresidente.it) It has by far, the best Neapolitan Pizza/Pizza I’ve ever tasted in my life. I think we all sat there wondering why we would go anywhere else. And it is cheap as hell. This week we blew it out and also ordered three pizza frittas, which are giant deep fried pizzas stuffed with cheese, meat and spinach. I think we had 6 pizzas, 8 cokes and a beer and the total came to 44 Euros. It’s crazy cheap. Post pizza Brian and I ended up wandering around and doing a bit of shopping as everyone returned to the ship. He bought a tie at a department store blow out and I didn’t find anything. This tie was purchased after I encouraged him to purchase one that didn’t look like an 8th grade boy tie. We got gelato and I stumbled on a flavor called “Gelato Snack”. In the cooler it looked like chocolate gelato with bits of cookie in it. I ordered it with a scoop of Tiramisu gelato to boot. When I tasted the “Gelato Snack” I instantly knew something was deliciously awry. I only needed Brian to confirm it. What Gelato Snack really is, is Nutella whipped up into a frosting frenzy with bits of crunchy Ice Cream Cone thrown into it. It’s not gelato, it’s frickin’ frosting. It was barely cold and still holding its consistency. Good enough for me! Snack indeed.
A real quick note about Penny before I sign off. She’s doing great ! My mom says she’s a big ‘ol snuggler and is becoming a regular Esther Williams the way she’s swimming in the lake. I miss her mucho. Till next time !
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