Venice!!

This time, our ship used Venice, Italy as our turnaround port, to end one voyage and begin another. We were in port for three days, the middle day being the official turnaround, when one set of guests got off the ship and the next embarked. In that way each set had one overnight. We were busy the first day with a training in the late morning and an early afternoon rehearsal for the evening shows, so didn't get off at all that day. We did stand out on deck that evening as the sun went down and looked forward to the next day - our full day off in Venice. We were quite lucky that there was no show in the theatre that following night, and Nick was able to find someone else to cover his daily duty of assigning the techies their jobs on the schedule for the following day. So we had the whole day away with no need to rush back! It was an exhilirating feeling, and we decided to pull out all the stops, as this day was also to be a celebration of our 1 year anniversary, from our very first date last October.

At Nick's suggestion we were up at 6am, off the ship and walking into Venice in the dark by 6:30. It was dark and freezing when we started out on the 45 minute trek to St. Mark's square from the ship, but it slowly warmed as the birds started to sing and the sky lightened. It was strange to walk through the streets of Venice at that deserted, quiet hour. Everything looks different - all the shops are closed, and the only smell is the marvelous one of bread baking as the cafe's and bakeries prepare for the day ahead. Except of course for the moments we passed by the fish markets in full swing - something we'd never seen operating as they sell their freshly caught fish to local restaurants for the day before anything has opened and the tourists start to arrive, and close down before the bustle begins. We stopped for a quick pre-dawn photo on the Rialto bridge, but managed to make it to St. Mark's just before the sun rose. We were two of a select group of early-rising amateur and professional photographers there, waiting for the sunrise over the lagoon and the quiet line of gondolas, still covered for the night, gently floating on the quayside. We stayed and watched the sun rise and change the colour of the doge's palace and the other buildings along the water. What a stunning start to the day. It was also strange to see St. Mark's square deserted and quiet...nary even a pigeon to be seen yet, let alone a tourist.

After the sunrise was finished, we wandered the inner canals a bit and found a tiny cafe with a very friendly lady owner, and had a bit of morning coffee and chocolate croissants for breakfast. We relaxed there until St. Mark's opened for visitors, and we were able to go inside. It was amazing....music school lessons about the place came flooding back...incredible to see it in person. It was quite a shock though, to see the state of the floors inside and realize just how much the foundations are shifting and sinking. The damage time is causing is really a shame. But the building is still stunning, especially the gold mosaics on all the ceilings. After St. Mark's we paid to go up to the top of the nearby belltower, for my first proper panoramic view of Venice itself. It took my breath away. And all this before 10am!! We walked and walked after that, exploring some other parts of the city I had never seen, and had a great Italian lunch in a local restaurant. (So local, in fact, that there were two gondoliers on their break sitting at a nearby table!!) We enjoyed a lazy afternoon in the city, and did a bit of research trying to find the perfect place for a great, romantic dinner. We finally found it, in the restaurant La Zucca, which serves gourmet vegetarian and alternative food. Only problem? It is such a popular place, you need a reservation to get a table for dinner, even on a Wednesday night such as this one. We stopped by in the afternoon and were able by purest luck to find an employee entering the still-closed restaurant and she was nice enough to give us that reservation with one hour to spare - at their last available table!! So with an hour to spend before dinner, as the sun started to set, we decided it was time for our long-awaited gondola ride. To find an available gondola, we had to wander a ways away from our restaurant, which is on a quiet canal in the old Santa Croce area. We were a bit worried about being able to get back there in time, so we haggled a bit with a gondolier to get the perfect arrangement. We snuggled into our lovely gondola just as twilight was falling and the moon was shining. At our request, we were taken along the Grand Canal only for a moment, before retreating to the quiet, romantic small canals in the inner city. It was like a fairytale, with the moon overhead, Venice all around us, and the sky still a darkening blue. It didn't feel real. I can't imagine anything more romantic. And the time flew by...before we knew it our amazing gondolier had done us one better than dropping us off in the area of our restaurant - he had actually found it! A tiny canal drifts right by it, and we had door to door service! Straight from a romantic gondola ride to a romantic dinner at a table for two right next to a quiet canal. It couldn't have been more perfect. To top it all off the dinner was absolutely fabulous. They had the most incredible food there. Wow....it was two very full and happy people who wandered from there to a concert hall nearby, where we had tickets to watch the very appropriate Vivaldi's Four Seasons in a concert by musicians in period costume. What a way to finish the day! We did wander a bit after that back to St. Mark's square to experience the atmosphere at night, (where are small bands serenading those at restaurants around the square, and where we could look out across the lagoon at night) before calling it a night. We were absolutely exhausted, and convinced we had the most perfect day in Venice possible. For once, everything went right for us, all our dreams for the day came true, and it really was perfect. Happy anniversary to my wonderful man! Now we have one big problem: how are we ever going to top this???
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Birthday at sea

This week it was Nick's birthday, and we celebrated by eating our favorite food (Nutella Crepes) in Mytilini, Greece.  Or, at least, we attempted to eat it....we have discovered that Mytilini café's are too cheap to use real Nutella, they just use a generic bucket of "crepe chocolate." Now this may not seem like a big deal to you, but to fans of Nutella, it just isn't the same.  Nothing tastes quite like it! So, having experienced this last time we ported here, we made sure to ask specifically at our chosen café if they actually do use real Nutella.  We were assured they did.  But then, to our horror, as we drank our espressos and happened to glance over, out came the dreaded chocolate bucket.  Lesson learned: always make them show you the Nutella jar!!  Actually, chances are if they use it, they will already be displaying the jar where people can see it.  These are lessons painstakingly learned through experience.

All was not lost, however, as the crepe's still tasted good and chocolately, even if not real Nutella.  Nick opened gifts from me and from my family, and we enjoyed reading the notes they wrote to him.  We went for a swim in the sea at a nearby beach, and realized that despite nearly a year of dating this was a first for us - our first swim together.  A bit pathetic seeing as how we live on water.  But we sure had fun doing it.  The water was cold!! But refreshing.  It was a really nice birthday for Nick (yes, he said I was his best present).

We got to go out for a really nice romantic candlelight dinner since we had a midnight sail from Istanbul the next day. It always makes for a a nice change to be out and about at night.   Our restaurant was on the buzzing Taksim street, heaving with people late into the night.  As amazing and colorful as Turkey is, especially Istanbul, I do always feel a sense of relief when we are safely back on board.  It is still occasionally a place of conflict, and while there is a very liberal culture there, the Muslim foundation is just around every corner, the ultra conservative underlying the modern.  While in Taksim Square you will see men and women together, women on their own wearing modern clothing laughing and being social, a few streets over you will find men-only coffee shops and no women to be seen, or only behind their men completely covered in traditional clothing.  I feel that modern, western culture is only tolerated as a means of tourism by most Turks, especially the older generation.  I know the ship wouldn't unload 2,000 western guests here every week if it weren't safe for them to wander around, but I still tread lightly whilst here and never go alone.  It doesn't hurt to be careful.

Today we are in Santorini, Greece.  Its such a lovely place, and we have established our favorite stomping grounds here that feel a bit like home now.  We have managed to find a coffee shop that is not only excellent, but also has excellent wifi, snacks, a bathroom, friendly staff, AND most importantly is hidden away where no other crew have found it.  This is not because we don't like our fellow crew - this is because it greatly improves the speed of the internet connection when there aren't half a dozen others using it, especially if they are skyping, as per usual.  And to be honest it is nice to feel more away from it all by being on our own here.  When we finish we will make a stop for another of our favorite foods - a falafel pita gyro.  This is incredibly hard to find, despite pita gyros being sold around every corner.  Usually we just get a veggie one, which has tomato, lettuce, onion, cilantro and french fries, believe it or not.  The Gyro is a very traditional Greek street vendor food.  Its a rare treat to find a place that has falafel (fried chickpea balls about the size of meatballs) as an alternative to chicken or pork.  And today is our lucky day! I can't tell you how excited we get over falafel.  Much of our port time is driven by eating our favorite local foods.  And today is a good day!

New Boss....and more rehearsals!

Today my band leader Tim signed off and officially handed over leadership of the band, and the musical directorship of the entire ship, to our pianist, Dusty.  Tim has worked for Cunard for 12 years, and become the premier musical director, starting up the program on the Queen Elizabeth and working on all the ships as well.  We gave him a farewell party, and on the final night he got a chance to do a 20 minute portion of the farewell show for the guests as a solo act, with some music he had been working on.  It is strange to think he won't be here anymore as he has been my only boss here on the QE since I first began last year.  He told me he's been glad to have me here, I do a great job, and whether I realized it or not, have helped with the general feeling on stage and easing the tensions male egos can create.  He moves on today to a new life, we all wish him the best of luck as he starts a new life and hopefully starts a family with his lovely wife Jenny.

As for the rest of us who remain, things will continue to be interesting as we prepare to open up the new show, Palladium Nights, next month.  The composer/arranger from Belinda King, the company which creates the shows, was on board for a few days, and we worked with him during the mornings to make sure everything was working and get his advice on how to interpret certain things.  We had to rehearse up the in Yacht Club (our night club), as the theatre itself stays very busy, especially as it stayed covered in piles of new set pieces brought on in Venice for several days.  Duncan is a very laid-back person, and rehearsals with him were easy.  We did two days band only, and added the singers (after they had individual rehearsals with him) on the third session.  The music is very full-scored, meaning we play constantly, and it sounds great.  I'm looking forward to seeing what the dancers add to it.

Rehearsals have lightened up for us now, as our side of it is solid.  Nick is busy running the stage for the dancer's rehearsals, which take place during port days and all hours of the night, unfortunately.  They are being taught the choreography by a person from Belinda King who is still on board.  They have about half of it done, with a lot more work left to do.  In between rehearsals they have endless costume fittings by the wardrobe people.  Unfortunately this means they get stuck on board ship a lot and miss out on the ports (as does Nick occasionally).  But its all part of the job, and everyone is excited about the thrill of creating a brand new show.

This voyage we had the added excitement of going up into the Black Sea, something I got to do 5 years ago once on my first contract.  We visited Odessa and Yalta in the Ukraine, and Nessebar in Bulgaria, a totally new country for me.  In Odessa I had the privilege of going on a "home visit" tour, pretty last minute.  I had found out Nick was working, and all the other tours already had escorts.  So I went on this tour - me and only 7 guests, and we were driven by a sweet lady Katya to her home in the suburbs, in a shabby apartment building leftover from soviet times.  We met her family: sisters, father, and daughters, and spent the afternoon with them finding out about how life really is in the Ukraine, whilst enjoying a beautiful table of food prepared for us by them.  It was really an honor to be hosted by them, and to really experience local culture to a deep level.  I really enjoyed it, what a treat.  They answered all our questions and were very open with us about real issues.  I felt really enriched by the experience.