The Cruise; Part I

Somewhere in the Adriatic Sea is a 16 story structure slowly churning its way into the Ionian Sea.  This is not the ship of Astaire and Rogers or Noel Coward or Brideshead Revisited nor probably the one your parents cruised in.  A large white rectangle in three dimensions; fairly featureless from the outside but inside it is a fanfaronade of modern Vegas Art Deco and Liberace.   Following are some initial reactions:

"It is 35 bars surrounded by bedrooms..."

"A Floating Mall"

Those who had the strength  after the ordeal of boarding the Magnifica, wandered through the ships delights and temptations and Bruegel-like throngs.  One of the difficulties in a ship of two or three thousand people is never knowing where anyone is you know aside from your roomate as cell phones don't work on shipboard.  So we blither about in a haze like Last Year at Marienbad.  At this early stage we can't plan to meet at some point because we don't know one point from another.  If we run into one another it's as if we have been parted for years.  You would think 12 grown people would know how to plan ahead but it appears we don't. 

Yesterday we were in Bari under the impression there was nothing to see there.  The Cruise encourages tours (for $$$) to other sites.  However some of us walked the narrow streets of old Bari.  Vespas buzzing around us, groups of people going to Mass; (As you know we never miss church when in Italy) kitchen doorways open to the streets; Music pouring from some; friends calling out to one another with their voices echoing off the stone buildings; and always the wash hanging from the windows.  Everything alive and active.

No Annunciations.

One word about sleep.  Some 12 or more floors beneath us throbs the engine.  Quiet but throbbing none-the-less.  Not unlike the thousand magic fingers of motel vibrator beds.

Today was Katakolon and tomorrow Izmir.  Only a few hours in each port.  

Tonight was semi-formal dinner which meant I wore a necklace.  Later we were given an opportunity to have our picture taken with the Captain but as you see I preferred to update the blog.