Dantes and David

I did make it to the Chateaux D'If, hooray! I got off the ship early, caught one of the first ferries over to the island, and stayed for about an hour and a half.  I was really fascinated - the Chateux is quite impressive and it was fun to wander the towers and prison cells.  There were several displays devoted to the Count of Monte Cristo, since it was that novel by Alexander Dumas that gave the island prison most of its fame.  My ferry was even names "Edmond Dantes." After the Chateaux D'if I still had some time left, so I caught a sightseeing train up to the other symbol of Marseilles - the hilltop cathedral of Notre Dame de la Garde.  The church was impressive, but equally if not more so was the view - a panorama of Marseilles on all sides.  It was breathtaking.  

Due mostly to lots of scheming on my part, I was finally able to get myself on a tour to Florence a few days later.  I helped convince Mario D'Andrea that we didn't need a rehearsal, just a sound check, and then told the same to the production manager and music director and asked them to talk to Mario, which they did: 6:00pm sound check! Hooray!!) Then I was first on the list for my tour and after not getting it went in to my friends in the shorex office and begged the manager to let me on it...anyway you don't need all the details, the important thing is that I got myself on that tour dang it!! We saw much of historical Florence, which was incredible - but the most important thing was I got to see David.  Michealangelo's marble statue of him, that is.  And wow.  You were right Mom - it blew me away, both with size and beauty - I gasped when I came around the corner, not expecting it yet, and there it was.  Wow.  It also brought me to tears a little bit to know I was standing exactly where my mom stood years before I was born - like coming full circle somehow.  The rest of the tour passed in a blur - we had a fabulous lunch just down the street from Michaelangelo's old apartment - and then walked through the Santa Croce church where he is buried, alongside Galileo and Machivelli - wow.  Florence is just an amazing place when you consider how many important people in history lived there.  The whole day was a bit overwhelming, and I enjoyed it more than I can say.  Today we are in Corsica, and I went on a tour to the Prunelli Gorges, which was a really nice tour - I didn't realize how green Corsica is - and there are so many different shades of it.  Tonight we play Mark Donoghue's show - he is one of my favorite people.  I know I say that a lot - but its true.  

Barcelona for real!

Today I finally took a shot at conquering Barcelona!  Usually on embark day I'm pretty tired at the end of the cruise and I just feel like sleeping in....but today I ventured out.  I had plans to spend the day with Liam and Marie, but they decided to sleep in and I was already up, so I just did it on my own.  We have started docking right downtown (I'm praying it stays that way) so getting into town is incredibly easy.  I bought a day pass for a tourist bus company that has dozens of busses running routes all around the city, and set out on a day focused on Antony Gaudí.  I'd learned about him in college while studying Spain, and was really interested to see some of his "modernista" architecture, which can be found all around Barcelona.  His most famous creation is the church called the Sagrada Familia: I knew it was big and ornate and had seen photos, but seeing it in person really boggled my mind - it is so over the top.  And not even finished!  The second highlight of my day was visiting two more of his buildings, the Casa Batlló in particular.  I spent the money to go inside and take the audio guide tour, which was really neat.  The facade has columns that resemble bones, the main staircase looks like the spine of some great sea creature, and the roof is shaped like a dragon's back, complete with scales.  Its really something else.  I think the best words to describe Gaudí are daring and brave - what must people have thought back in 1900??  My last stop was the Park Guell - a park that Gaudi designed to be a residential district that blended with nature.  More than anything else it reminded me of some sections on Disneyland - I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Walt was inspired by Gaudí.  Inside the park is a house where the architect lived for some time, now a museum, which was also neat to visit.  But by the time I finished these three stops I was totally out of time already....as it was I had to ditch the bus that I'd already payed for (it would have dropped me right in front of the ship!) and take a taxi back for about 5 euros.  It was an awesome day, but I'm exhausted. :-) 

Some really good news for me - the Spanish Bible study is starting to pick up here and I am becoming a committed member.   We meet twice a cruise, and we're small, but mighty and slowly growing.  Also I found out that Mario D'Andrea the entertainer is a Christian!  When he first came on board he remembered being the first show I'd ever played, and he gave me his rose (all the entertainers get one backstage before their show) to celebrate our "anniversary."  Anyway I ran into him upstairs when I was having some tea, and we ended up talking for hours when we made the mutual discovery.  It was SO refreshing to talk to him.  He really is an amazing man.  And I am thankful that God finds ways like this to bless me!! 

What else....I got up early last cruise on the sea day to see the volcano-island of Stromboli.  That was pretty neat, thought I would have been more impressed if there had been some lava action. (I'm told I need to go to Hawaii for that)  This cruise has a few surprises - our new cruise director started today and doesn't seem to have as good a handle on things yet....we were left guessing a bit in regards to some logistical aspects of the show.  Hopefully things improve.  Also a new sound guy showed up today - and he's my friend Jason from the Summit!  We were both quite surprised to run into each other this afternoon.  

As for tomorrow in Marseille - Chateaux D'If, take two.  (It didn't work last time)  Wish me luck!

Villefranche (mostly)

After going on a couple of tours in in the surrounding area (Monaco, Nice, Cannes) I finally took a day just to walk around the little port town of Villefranche-sur-mer.  It really is a remarkably beautiful place - I can see why the Cote D'Azure (blue coast) of the French Riviera is so popular for vacations.  I spent the day just wandering the streets and shopping in the open markets with a new friend of mine - Julie, an art auctioneer. I bought a few more antique French books (I'm not trying to start a collection...I just have a thing for old books), plus a couple old coins and other fun knick-knacks.  Julie and I stopped for some ice cream at a local cafe before walking all the way to the other side of town to check out the beach, which her Floridian roots told her was too cold, and my Californian ones told me was the perfect temperature.  Both of us spent a lot of time beachcombing for neat rocks and shells - turns out we're kindred spirits in that regard. :-)  At one point on our way back we accidently found ourselves in some historical underground street, which was pretty cool - I'll have to look it up and see what I can find out about it.  Most likely it used to be the ground level, but centuries of new buildings eventually covered it. Pretty cool, anyway, whatever it was.  I had a really nice, relaxing day - it was fun to just enjoy small, charming, Villefrenche with a friend.

Today we all had big plans to take the train to Rome together since we don't play until late tonight, however an impromptu safety training squashed our plans.  Instead of exploring more of the Vatican museum, I had to spend an hour right in the middle of the day listening to a Greek officer speaking in something that he thinks passes for English, telling us how to stand in our staircases during the guest drill.  Basically the point of the meeting was to punish us for some people who I guess had skipped the drills in the past.  We were all quite annoyed at having to be there....but what can you do - that's ship life.  Hopefully nothing comes up next time we try to go to Rome.  

Barcelona!

I've been fighting a cold the past few days and therefore haven't been as active as I wish I would have been.  Today especially - we were docked right downtown in Barcelona (a first!) but I slept in and wasn't motivated to get off.  I mostly just want to make sure I'm careful and don't make myself more sick by trying to do to much.  But the day turned out well - I had a surprise opportunity to get a spa treatment - they have started using demos on embarkation day for teeth whitening, so I got to do that.  (I know you'll say I don't need it, Mom and Chelsea...) I was excited to do it - especially since its a $200 treatment....yikes!  My teeth are now officially 4 shades lighter - at least thats what the lady told me. :-) But just in case anyone's wondering, its not very fun to have done - I felt like I was at the dentist. (Bleh.)  She said that I could keep being the demo every cruise and by the time I leave my teeth will glow in the dark.  I think that sounds like fun.  I might do it again - we'll see.  

Thus begins a new cruise.  This one will be quite busier than the last one for us.  Last cruise we had only 2 guest entertainers, this cruise we have 4, and the cruise is one day shorter.  So no nights off this cruise (unless someone makes a giant mistake, lol) and a lot of shows to play.  They are all new entertainers for this contract, but all entertainers whose shows I've played in the past.  I'm looking forward to playing the violinist Nicola Loud's show again for sure.  And we'll end the cruise with the entertainer whose show was the very first I ever played on ships - Mario D'Andrea.  Fun stuff.  This cruise is also the end of an Era in a way, because next cruise we'll have a new Cruise Director (boss of the whole entertainment department - basically he defines our workplace: we're all praying for a nice, competent one).  We'll miss Damian - he was really a great guy and did a fantastic job, plus he was very relaxed and easy to work for.  Tonight he made an offstage announcement to introduce himself ("And now, please welcome your Cruise Director for the next 10 days and nights - Damien from Canada!!!!") and then walked out on stage.  So that the crowd wouldn't figure out he was the one introducing himself, he made the announcement in a Texan accent (my suggestion!) the first show, and then a shockingly accurate Jamaican one for the second show.  I seriously even had to ask an AV tech if it was actually him because it was so convincing.  Anyway, we'll miss him!!

Marrakesh

Well, we made it to Casablanca this time around!  It was our first time here, and I was signed up to do a short tour of the city, but then by some oversight we ended up with the whole day off, so I took advantage of probably the only time I could go on one of the really long tours - so I went to Marrakesh.  It was a 13 hour tour because Marrakesh is about a 3 hour drive from Casablanca.   The only tour that didn't already have an escort was one in Spanish (luck me!) which was actually a lot of fun.  The guide was fantastic and so were the guests.  I understood most of what was going on...ha ha.  I am so glad I speak Spanish!!!  My teachers would be so proud of me - article gender mistakes notwithstanding.  I found the drive to Marrekesh really fascinating.  As soon as we left the city we were definitely in a different world.  Outside the city are farmers and shepherds, who ride carts pulled by donkeys and horses.  Not a car in sight.  Goats and sheep everywhere.  Red clay buildings that blend into the red dirt of the land and hillsides.  Women in scarves and long dresses.  Even men in robes with pointy hoods.  It was something else.   It was definitely a new experience for me.  The best memory of the day happened in an open square - we walked by some men snake-charming (cobras!!) in order to charge tourists who want pictures.  I gave a man a dollar so I wouldn't feel guilty taking pictures and a video, and he put a snake around me neck, took my camera from me, took a couple pictures, and then told me I owed him ten dollars.  He kept insisting, all the while leaving the snake around my neck and I was kind of in a predicament.  He finally gave up on me and took his snake back.  Then a boy tried to get me to pay again, and I wasn't having it.  At which moment he pointed to my tour escort button and said, "At least let me have that.....a present for me? Please? Please???"  Well, I have like five of them anyway, so (looking around to make sure there weren't any shorex staff watching) I gave it to him.  He was ecstatic.  He held it in his mouth and played his tambourine for me.  I have pictures.  :-) 

Nice and Cannes

Photos from Ireland:

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2065445&l=213ed&id=56903845

I went on a tour yesterday - "Nice and Cannes on your own" which was nice.  I like these on your own tours - they basically just give me a free ride to neat places where I can do my own thing.  I did a little bit of shopping in Nice, but enjoyed Cannes a lot more.  I visited the place where they hold the big film festival and took a picture on the red carpet.  Along the sidewalks in from they have handprints of movie stars, like they do in Hollywood.  I recognized almost none of the names.  :-)  I enjoyed a leisurely lunch and was proud of myself for ordering in French.  (well, mostly in French)  Then we had quite an easy night - all we did were play-ons for the shows, then we left and didn't have to come back for the play-offs.  Woohoo!  

Tonight is our last show with Elliot Finkel - I really hope I get to work with him again someday.  He told me he wants me to come with him to his next ship, and I was flattered.   Despite already having played three different shows with him, he's still pulling out new things for us - I think he likes this band.  We have 3 new songs tonight, instead of a repeat of the show we did last cruise, which is really nice for us.  Off to rehearsal!