The photos above include an overview picture of the Herculaneum Ruins, Brendy in the Vatican Museum and Montseurrat !
Last of the seven day cruises! I can’t believe it. We’ll visit all these places at least once more, except for Sicily. So I am celebrating that today by buying cookies at the Oviesse grocery store and going to the internet café. Thank you Italy!
Well let me start out by giving props to the Melewski family because it’s been a bit of a harrowing week. First off and a little less extreme, Louie the yellow lab was attacked by a wolf last week in the woods. He’s totally fine, but of course a bit scary for my parents. Unlike Penny who has to be walked on her leash, Roscoe and Louie get let out to go to the bathroom off their leashes. Well they must have caught the smell of ‘ol Wolfie because my folks heard the dogs barking pretty crazily across their driveway in the woods. My dad went to check it out and Roscoe was the only one who came out. Louie was in the woods with 8 wolf bites but the wolf ran away when he saw my dad. My mom said after the vet trip though and some antibiotics he was fine the next day.
Well let me start out by giving props to the Melewski family because it’s been a bit of a harrowing week. First off and a little less extreme, Louie the yellow lab was attacked by a wolf last week in the woods. He’s totally fine, but of course a bit scary for my parents. Unlike Penny who has to be walked on her leash, Roscoe and Louie get let out to go to the bathroom off their leashes. Well they must have caught the smell of ‘ol Wolfie because my folks heard the dogs barking pretty crazily across their driveway in the woods. My dad went to check it out and Roscoe was the only one who came out. Louie was in the woods with 8 wolf bites but the wolf ran away when he saw my dad. My mom said after the vet trip though and some antibiotics he was fine the next day.
Then this past Tuesday night my dad went to walk down the road with the dogs (just the labs) at about 4:30pm and was missing until about 11am the next day. Again, he’s fine, but it was crazy. Right now up in the great north woods all the flora is so overgrown he just got turned around and couldn’t find his way out. My mom called the sheriff about 8 or 9ish and it sounds like the whole town was out looking for him. People brought ATV’S, there were sheriff’s dogs, some dude with some crazy ass parachute bicycle that flew over the woods and my mom and Penny. At about 10:30am the next day he made it to the road with the dogs and a guy gave him a ride home and knew who he was immediately. My dad was all over the police blotter, the Rhinelander news and Iron County papers. I finally talked to my mom on the phone yesterday and she told me dad was more embarrassed than anything else when he came home to find his house swarmed with people. He was totally fine, the pups slept next to him very close in the woods and everyone just wanted some food and a good bath. My two favorite things: He was carrying his 38 Caliber Pistol on him because of Louie getting attacked a week prior. Yeah DAD! I’m glad. No more wolfie attacks! Second: The news article said he was disoriented. My mom said that the only reason they said that is when the paramedics asked him what day it was he said “I don’t know. But I usually don’t know what day it is”. Yeah RETIREMENT! I’m thankful he’s safe. Thanks to everyone who looked too. I was so happy that my mom had Penny and her friend Pat who stayed the night with her. It made me miss home and wish I was there.
Naples
Onto the European adventures! We conquered Herculaneum on Wednesday and had a whirlwind tour. This was of course post-Neapolitan-pizza eating. We aren’t fools. We took the train in Naples (a hot, dirty mess of summer) and got to a small town called Portici. All was quiet in Portici and we had no idea where the hell we were going. So after walking another half hour and getting some directions from shadeball locals we made it to the gates of Herculaneum. Herculaneum is basically the lesser known Pompeii. It was also rocked by Vesuvius exploding in 79AD and claims to have more preserved buildings. We saw lots of cool mosaics and many well preserved buildings. We basically had to fly through this thing because we had about a half hour. We saw the highlights and really had to bust ass back to the train. It was pretty neat to see but I wish we would have had a little more time.
Rome
This Thursday Brendan and I went to St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museum. It was amazing. Holy shit (pardon me pope.) this was a rockin’ day. We got there about 11am and on Brian’s advice were going to wait until a bit later to try and get into the museum. Sometimes the line can reach up to 40 minutes because so many tours go in the morning. Well we ended up trying to get in line early (at least we thought) but we ended up in the Basilica line instead. No problem! It was beautiful. I mean these Catholics know how to put on an art show. We saw Michelangelo’s Pieta and the guy working behind it to change a light. Don’t worry; his ass is in my picture. Post Basilica we went around the block to the Vatican Museum and from line to getting into the actual museum we only waited like 15 minutes! It was amazing. Again, these Catholics know how to get a collection started! The Sistine Chapel is everything you think it will be. I think it is my favorite thing I’ve seen so far. It almost brought me to tears. It took him four years to finish it. ONLY FOUR! Man I couldn’t even finish college in four. (I.e. not at all.) It’s really amazing. The Vatican Museum is truly room upon room of insane art. Leading up to the Sistine Chapel is more amazing art. There’s a Rafael room and hallways filled with statues. Then you walk into more amazing art and see some more art. ART. ART. ART. Then the final nut punch of the Sistine Chapel and The Final Judgment. I loved it.
France
Nice! I wanted to get up early so we could get on the train to Nice and get to the flower market. The new routine is getting a giant yellow apple from the market and stuffing my mouth with a delicious Nutella crepe. Both of these dreams came true. I then left the boys and did a bit of shopping. I’m hitting the mark of needing new toiletries so I’m doing it before we hit these 12 day cruises. It’s fun to cross your fingers and hope you’re buying the right conditioner in Italian or French. I’ve been lucky so far. Also dropped some more bones at H&M. Beth, you ask, why spend money at some store you can shop at in the states? Because European women in these specialty boutiques are all a size 4. Yikes! Come on ladies. Eat some Crepes.
Spain
We went to Montserrat this week. Montserrat is an amazing Mountain in Spain about an hour and a half out of Barcelona by train. It is probably the best mountain view I’ve seen next to the Continental Divide Train in Colorado. It’s incredible! There was a little hiking to be done once we got to the top and that reminded me of Colorado too so that was a ball. I also have to give props to most of the trains here in Europe. Clean, on time, mostly air conditioned, little monitors in the station letting you know when the next train comes (always under 5 minutes) and little signs in the train with lit up dots to tell you what stop is next. Man the CTA is archaic compared to Europe. Especially with all the CTA junk that’s been going on lately. Let’s go Chicago; take a page out of the European book! Get it together!
Ship Life
*Good news America. European kids are just as assily behaved as American kids. Most of them should go back to school next week and I think our number of kids goes down from like 400 to 30. Praise Jesus.
*Alberto is gone. I never got a picture. Although the last tale I heard is that he had a breathalyzer test here on the ship and failed. This was after he apparently was trying to scale the security wall in Messina. They gave him a warning and then he was gone. He has been replaced by a new Flamenco guitarist named Pepe De Jose. This sounds like a borderline racist Spanish name you might use in an improv scene.
*The New York Conservatory for the Arts was on the ship last week. It’s basically a high school song and dance school. They did three shows in the Stardust and we caught the last one on Saturday. It wasn’t as Guffman as I thought and they did various selections from Broadway musicals with deep fervor and aplomb. I was pissed they were lip synching though. Mostly because I was looking for microphones for half the show and lamenting that their sound was leagues better than our show. The worst moment came at the beginning when they did a song I thought they had written. It was pretty cringe worthy and cheeseball. Nope. It was from Disney’s High School Musical. Holy shit is this thing bad. I mean I guess if it’s getting kids to enjoy musical theater more and get off the smack great. Buy yourselves a copy of Cabaret instead kids. It’s better than this fluff phenomenon.
*Finally, Michael Vick deserves to have every dollar he’s made shoved down his throat and then pulled out his ass. Then dip him in some Lawry’s seasoning salt and throw him in our neighbor’s yard back in Chicago with the three German Shepherds. The Falcons are some major Puss-boxes if they keep this jackass. Let’s grow a pair guys.
I feel like Andy Rooney on two Amstel Lights tonight. Till next time!
Naples
Onto the European adventures! We conquered Herculaneum on Wednesday and had a whirlwind tour. This was of course post-Neapolitan-pizza eating. We aren’t fools. We took the train in Naples (a hot, dirty mess of summer) and got to a small town called Portici. All was quiet in Portici and we had no idea where the hell we were going. So after walking another half hour and getting some directions from shadeball locals we made it to the gates of Herculaneum. Herculaneum is basically the lesser known Pompeii. It was also rocked by Vesuvius exploding in 79AD and claims to have more preserved buildings. We saw lots of cool mosaics and many well preserved buildings. We basically had to fly through this thing because we had about a half hour. We saw the highlights and really had to bust ass back to the train. It was pretty neat to see but I wish we would have had a little more time.
Rome
This Thursday Brendan and I went to St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museum. It was amazing. Holy shit (pardon me pope.) this was a rockin’ day. We got there about 11am and on Brian’s advice were going to wait until a bit later to try and get into the museum. Sometimes the line can reach up to 40 minutes because so many tours go in the morning. Well we ended up trying to get in line early (at least we thought) but we ended up in the Basilica line instead. No problem! It was beautiful. I mean these Catholics know how to put on an art show. We saw Michelangelo’s Pieta and the guy working behind it to change a light. Don’t worry; his ass is in my picture. Post Basilica we went around the block to the Vatican Museum and from line to getting into the actual museum we only waited like 15 minutes! It was amazing. Again, these Catholics know how to get a collection started! The Sistine Chapel is everything you think it will be. I think it is my favorite thing I’ve seen so far. It almost brought me to tears. It took him four years to finish it. ONLY FOUR! Man I couldn’t even finish college in four. (I.e. not at all.) It’s really amazing. The Vatican Museum is truly room upon room of insane art. Leading up to the Sistine Chapel is more amazing art. There’s a Rafael room and hallways filled with statues. Then you walk into more amazing art and see some more art. ART. ART. ART. Then the final nut punch of the Sistine Chapel and The Final Judgment. I loved it.
France
Nice! I wanted to get up early so we could get on the train to Nice and get to the flower market. The new routine is getting a giant yellow apple from the market and stuffing my mouth with a delicious Nutella crepe. Both of these dreams came true. I then left the boys and did a bit of shopping. I’m hitting the mark of needing new toiletries so I’m doing it before we hit these 12 day cruises. It’s fun to cross your fingers and hope you’re buying the right conditioner in Italian or French. I’ve been lucky so far. Also dropped some more bones at H&M. Beth, you ask, why spend money at some store you can shop at in the states? Because European women in these specialty boutiques are all a size 4. Yikes! Come on ladies. Eat some Crepes.
Spain
We went to Montserrat this week. Montserrat is an amazing Mountain in Spain about an hour and a half out of Barcelona by train. It is probably the best mountain view I’ve seen next to the Continental Divide Train in Colorado. It’s incredible! There was a little hiking to be done once we got to the top and that reminded me of Colorado too so that was a ball. I also have to give props to most of the trains here in Europe. Clean, on time, mostly air conditioned, little monitors in the station letting you know when the next train comes (always under 5 minutes) and little signs in the train with lit up dots to tell you what stop is next. Man the CTA is archaic compared to Europe. Especially with all the CTA junk that’s been going on lately. Let’s go Chicago; take a page out of the European book! Get it together!
Ship Life
*Good news America. European kids are just as assily behaved as American kids. Most of them should go back to school next week and I think our number of kids goes down from like 400 to 30. Praise Jesus.
*Alberto is gone. I never got a picture. Although the last tale I heard is that he had a breathalyzer test here on the ship and failed. This was after he apparently was trying to scale the security wall in Messina. They gave him a warning and then he was gone. He has been replaced by a new Flamenco guitarist named Pepe De Jose. This sounds like a borderline racist Spanish name you might use in an improv scene.
*The New York Conservatory for the Arts was on the ship last week. It’s basically a high school song and dance school. They did three shows in the Stardust and we caught the last one on Saturday. It wasn’t as Guffman as I thought and they did various selections from Broadway musicals with deep fervor and aplomb. I was pissed they were lip synching though. Mostly because I was looking for microphones for half the show and lamenting that their sound was leagues better than our show. The worst moment came at the beginning when they did a song I thought they had written. It was pretty cringe worthy and cheeseball. Nope. It was from Disney’s High School Musical. Holy shit is this thing bad. I mean I guess if it’s getting kids to enjoy musical theater more and get off the smack great. Buy yourselves a copy of Cabaret instead kids. It’s better than this fluff phenomenon.
*Finally, Michael Vick deserves to have every dollar he’s made shoved down his throat and then pulled out his ass. Then dip him in some Lawry’s seasoning salt and throw him in our neighbor’s yard back in Chicago with the three German Shepherds. The Falcons are some major Puss-boxes if they keep this jackass. Let’s grow a pair guys.
I feel like Andy Rooney on two Amstel Lights tonight. Till next time!
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