Hello, please, excuse me, thank you, and goodbye are the most important words when traveling. If you can learn those four words in the native tongue of the country you are in, you will have a successful trip.
Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category
Combatting the Ugly American Response
Posted by Kurt on February 15, 2013
Posted in Travel | Tagged: Rudeness | 1 Comment »
The Enemy of Travel: Jet Lag
Posted by Kurt on February 6, 2013
We have gone to Europe twice now. The worst part of the trip for me has been the same thing both times.
The flight there.
Posted in Travel | Tagged: Circadian rhythm, jetlag, Time zone | 2 Comments »
The Power, the Beauty, and the Glory: Three Churches and How Their Architecture and Design Tells a Story
Posted by Kurt on January 20, 2013
During our 2010 trip to Europe, we visited a few churches. Being raised Catholic is one reason why we made sure we visited them; being history majors was another reason. Churches of the Middle Ages are more than just places of worship. They were landmarks most of the cities were built around. They were the meeting places of the masses. Since most of those masses were uneducated during this time, the Churches served another purpose. They told the story of Christ through their windows and their art. They also told a story through their architecture.
We are not experts in architecture. Yet, when we visited Notre Dame in Paris, The Duomo in Florence, and St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City we came away with different feelings about the Church.
Posted in Europe, France, Italy, Travel | Tagged: Architecture, Catholic, Design, Florence, Florence Cathedral, Notre Dame, Paris, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City | Leave a Comment »
Trigging a Memory that I Can’t Remember: Dutch Interior II
Posted by Kurt on January 16, 2013
During our travels to Europe, we have seen a few great works of art. We have seen works by Michelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo, and Raphael. We have seen works by Dutch Masters and Spanish Cubists. Sometimes, like when looking a the Sistine Chapel our breath is taking away. Other times, like when we saw some works of Jackson Pollack, we just scratched our heads. Yet, of all the works we have seen only one punched me in the gut. That was this painting Dutch Interiors Part II by Jean Miro
Photo of Dutch Interior II
I have no idea what it is about.
Yet, I had the strong sense of a lost memory when I saw it. Yet, I have no idea what the memory is. Was it a cartoon that mesmerized me as a child? An exhaustive youtube.com search has come up negative. Lost in trying to remember a memory, I remember just looking at the picture for a long time. The photograph doesn’t quite catch-all the colors since flash was prohibited (You can see a better version here). Then I could remember the shapes dancing and playing instruments. I am more sure than ever that this painting was used in some form of animation. There is no way I saw this as a kid and made this up in my own head. I’m not that creative. Nor did I experiment with mind altering drugs when I was kid.
I wish this were a nice tidy essay about this painting. I wish I could say I finally found that animation. Why this painting and not any of the other, greater, works hit me this way. It’s not my favorite painting by a long shot. Yet, I remember that day vividly. Not only seeing the painting, but all the other things we did in Venice that day. Sometimes one small event in a day when traveling becomes an anchor for all the other memories of that day. It’s never the moments you plan when you are traveling that stick with you, it’s that moment you don’t expect that makes the day special.
PS. If anyone else can find this animation that may be a figment of my imagination, please post the link in a comment.
Posted in Europe, Italy | Tagged: Jean Miro, Surrealism | Leave a Comment »
Sadly Beautiful: Glen Campbell’s Farewell Tour
Posted by Kurt on December 19, 2012
MTV used to play music. Shocking as that may sound it is true. When they were not playing music videos, they were often showing documentaries about music. One day, around the time R.E.M.’s Out of Time album came out, they played a documentary on the band from Athens. During the video, Peter Buck talked about how one night Michael Stipe did karaoke in some bar and chose some old Jimmy Webb songs. Then they cut to them singing Wichita Lineman and Galveston. Instantly, I knew these were great songs. My mom comes to my room and asks if R.E.M. is covering Glen Campbell. I respond that they are covering Jimmy Webb. She informs me those are Glen Campbell songs.
Of course, Jimmy Webb wrote the songs, but Campbell did indeed make those songs his. I became a fan of both.
Campbell is an underrated interpreter of songs. Many pop artists today might sing (or auto tune) other people’s songs, but few interpret them. They just go for the sound. Campbell did so much more with other people songs. If you have not heard Galveston in a while, go take a listen. He took what could have been a political anti-war song and made it a song that just about a soldier that misses his girl. No matter what side you took when the song came out (the Vietnam era), Campbell’s soulful interpretation made the song just about love.
Posted in Florida, Media, Music, Travel | Tagged: Glen Campbell, Jimmy Webb, Panama City Florida, R.E.M. | Leave a Comment »
Europe 2012: Independence Day in Venice
Posted by Cristina on July 4, 2012
Happy 4th of July! Let me tell you a funny (to me) story. As we’re standing on the bow of the ship, pulling into Venice, our cruise director comes on the intercom and wishes us Americans a happy Independence Day. Now, at this moment, we are literally in a small channel, overlooking the entire city, seeing the canals and small boats of Venice, for the first time for either of us. I turn to Kurt and jokingly say, “Oh, who can think about 4th of July right now. We’re in Venice!” These high school girls next to me, who have been valley girl talking like crazy, turn to me and say, “Who cares about America?” like I’m a terrorist. I say, “Oh, I’m American, I’m just talking to my husband…you know, we’re in Venice, it’s so beautiful…” They then proceed to talk about how patriotic they are and started singing I’m Proud to be an American (which, according to them, was made after the 9/11 attacks). I know that Kurt hates when I get into altercations with people, so I just keep my mouth shut and enjoyed the sights of Venice, but I really want to slap them upside the head and tell them not to join in conversations where adults are talking.
View of Venice from the Carnival Breeze
Anyway, patriotism aside, we enter Venice (Venezia) today. We are able to get off the ship around 1:30pm, and after taking some pictures of St. Mark’s Square, we decide to walk quite a ways to across the canal where the Peggy Guggenheim museum is. St. Mark’s Square is easily the most crowded place we’ve come across on our trip; actually, Venice in general is crowded. The Guggenheim museum, since it is out of the way, is blessedly less crowded. Inside we see several Picasso’s, Miro’s, Dali’s, a Chagall, Magritte’s, Pollack’s and some other nice work of arts. There is an outside area right on the Grand Canal (granted, almost every place in Venice is along water), but it is such a beautiful spot to sit and relax. The sad thing about the canals in Venice is that they are dirty, with trash building up against the buildings in the water. Still, it’s really cool to see the boats like cars on the water, with everything from water buses, to water taxis, to private boats. In the city, there is absolutely no cars whatsoever…I didn’t even see Vespas.
St. Mark’s Square (Piazza San Marco)
Symbol of St. Mark, the winged lion, which is everywhere in Piazza San Marco.
Clocktower in Piazza San Marco
Canals filled with gondolas are a common sight in Venice
Sitting along the Grand Canal, outside the Peggy Guggenheim museum
Kurt’s favorite painting: Joan Miró – Dutch Interior II (Intérieur hollandais)
After the Guggenheim, we walk to the Rialto Bridge. Kurt didn’t realize how big it is, and it actually has shops and such along it. We then make the long trek back to St. Mark’s Square, and decide to grab a bite to eat. We first sit along the Square, before realizing that they charge an extra 5.80 euro per person because of the “bands” the restaurants have playing. Nope! We quickly get up and go out of the Square and find another restaurant, Kiro. I get cheese gnocchi while Kurt gets Penne All’Arrabitia. Boy, is his spicy! Since all the water comes in bottles, we wind up spending 42 euro at this restaurant. We way exceed our budget in Venice.
Rialto Bridge
Cheese gnocchi and Penne All’Arrabitia…equally delicious!
We then try to go to the Church of St. Zachariah, which is the final resting place of St. Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist, but they are closed for mass. Most things at this point are closed, as it is 6pm, so we just head back to the cruise ship. By the way, to take a water bus from the cruise ship to St. Mark’s Square is 15 euros a piece. And since we plan to going back again tomorrow, that is 60 euro we are going to spend purely on the water bus. I definitely feel a bit ripped off with that, but we just arrived too late in Venice to see everything in one day. We missed eating at Blush tonight since we are in Venice so late, so we grab a few late night snacks on the Lido deck. Let me tell you, the roast beef they have is so tender and it just falls apart. Very surprised at how good it is! Hopefully our second day in Venice is a fulfilling as the first.
Posted in Cruises, Europe, Italy, Travel | Tagged: 4th of July, Carnival Breeze, cruise, Grand Canal, Independence Day, Peggy Guggenheim, Piazza San Marco, Rialto, St. Mark's Square, Venezia, Venice | 5 Comments »
Europe 2012: “Winter is Coming.”
Posted by Cristina on July 3, 2012
We awake around 7am to get ready to go to Dubrovnik, Croatia. This is the port I am looking forward to the most, because not only is my favorite television show filmed here (Game of Thrones), but it’s also in Eastern Europe, a former Yugoslavian country, and just the most exotic of places. The first thing we do after taking the shuttle to Old City is buy tickets to climb the City Walls. It’s over a mile on top of basically an old fortress surrounding Old Town. Dubrovnik is right on the sea, so the views are gorgeous, though the walls are not shaded and there are many, many steps. According to my pedometer, we climb over 30 flights of stairs today! I keep picturing scenes from Game of Thrones, and call things I see “The Red Keep” and “Maegor’s Holdfast.” Kurt, who is terrified of heights, won’t get too close to the walls and when the path becomes very narrow, he becomes a little freaked out. So of course, when there is some open space, I have to jokingly act like the wind is making me fall.
Posted in Croatia, Cruises, Europe, Travel | Tagged: Adriatic Sea, Carnival Breeze, City Walls, Croatia, cruise, Dubrovnik, Game of Thrones, ship on a stick | 3 Comments »
Europe 2012: First Fun Day at Sea
Posted by Cristina on July 2, 2012
Today is our first Fun Day at Sea. We sleep until about 11am, our first sleep-in. After eating lunch on the Lido, we go to the Ovation Theatre to watch The Marriage Show. There is a cute old couple married 62 years that comes up to the stage. They are so funny! He sings this great song about laughing things off and they tell a hilarious story about how they met. Then four honeymooning couples go up and do some funny improv with our cruise director. After that, we decide to play our first game of bingo. With our cards, we get some pull-tabs. Kurt wins $25, so his stuff is free. I win nothing, naturally. Bingo is horrible, I never even came close. At least we get to play 5 games of it.
We then get ready for elegant night. Kurt looks very handsome in his suit and I wear my black and blue dress that I had bought for the Backstreet Boys cruise. This dress has come in handy many times, I’m so thankful that I bought it! And if it wasn’t for my friend Donette suggesting Dress Barn, I never would have found it. We walk around to different picture stations and take some formal pictures. Hopefully I’ll like at least one photo of us so we can have a nice, fancy photo. Like Kurt said, the last time he dressed up was at our wedding!
I love my husband
Beautiful day, beautifully dressed, beautiful vacation
Dinner at Blush is pretty good. I have West Indian roasted pumpkin soup and barbecued St. Louis style pork spare ribs (which seems weird having on Elegant Night…who wants to eat finger food while dressed fancy?), while Kurt has alligator fritters and lobster tail. Just like the shark Kurt had a few days ago, the alligator fritters are edible, but nothing special. Dessert is an alright apple fritter for me and a delicious cold strawberry and cream soup for Kurt.
Lobster Tail
St. Louis Style Ribs
Apple Fritter
Strawberries and Cream Soup
During dinner, the captain makes an announcement. Some poor lady is in desperate need of medical care beyond what the ship can give. We wind up having to make a stop in the middle of the Adriatic Sea, sort of close to some Italian islands, and the Italian coast guard came and got her and her family to take to a real hospital. I don’t know what is wrong with her, but I hope she’s okay. What a terrible thing to happen on what’s supposed to be a glorious vacation! Luckily for the ship, this didn’t jeopardize our arrival time in Dubrovnik, Croatia. So tomorrow, on to Eastern Europe and a new and exciting country that I can’t wait to explore for the first time!
Italian Coast Guard taking away the poor passenger
Beautiful view from the front of the ship
Kurt enjoying our Fun Day at Sea
Posted in Cruises, Europe, Travel | Tagged: Carnival Breeze, cruise, Fun Day at Sea | Leave a Comment »
Europe 2012: Rome, Trivia, and Soccer
Posted by Cristina on July 1, 2012
We wake up and make our way back to the train station from our hotel in Rome (which is only a few blocks away). We accidentally bought the wrong tickets yesterday, and we aren’t supposed to use them for today (they were a one day only pass). We think about just getting on the train anyway, but I am too chicken, and we wind up buying two train passes back to Civitavecchia (10 euros). Lo and behold, just like on the way from Civitavecchia, they do not even remotely check our tickets. Honestly, we could have saved money both ways and just hopped on the trains, because no one cared either way. Oh well, at least we’re honest!
Kurt leaving Hotel Everest in Rome
We meet a couple on the train going back to the Carnival Breeze, and they live in New Orleans! What a small world. We talk to them a bit about different Nola things and different cruises and such. Finally back on the boat, Kurt and I eat some lunch on the Lido deck, before relaxing a bit. Before we take off, the cruise director makes an announcement for anybody that has not checked back in yet. Unfortunately, a few people took a wrong train and end up going to Milan and missing the boat. They have to take a plane to catch the boat in Dubrovnik. I personally think it’ll be cheaper to take a train there, or even the ferry across the Adriatic, but what do I know?
We go to the Ocean Plaza on deck 5 to just sit and relax. We wind up playing 5 games of trivia (totaling 2.5 hours). We come in second place twice, but that 1st place piece of ship alluded us. We go to dinner at Blush again, and having skipped it two nights in a row, our waiter is very happy to see us again. We assure him that we didn’t abandon him, just spent a night in Rome. For starters, Kurt has steamed duck pot stickers and I have Vietnamese pumpkin and chicken broth, which is quite delicious. Dinner is sirloin steak for me and seafood stew for Kurt. The sirloin, which I order medium, comes out well done and pretty tough. Definitely not the best steak I’ve ever eaten.
After dinner, we stake out our spots on the Lido deck to watch Spain vs. Italy in the final game of EURO 2012. I had bought an Italian flag in Rome from a very awesome shop with a great older gentleman who was quite funny. He asked me which flag I wanted, and I gave him “the look.” He said, in a thick Italian accent, “What? I am Italian, and I am for Spain!” I assured him with a name like Cristina Cavicchia, I was decidedly for Italy. So donning my flag, as the game finally commences, it becomes glaringly obvious that Spain is just the better team. Poor Italy is 0-2 by halftime, and once Torres comes in for Spain around 70′, we go down 0-4. Not to mention, we use all of our subs and have to pull out another player because of injury, so we are only playing with 10 people. Needless to say, I have a sad this night. At least Spain breaks some records and makes some history with their win.
Posted in Cruises, Europe, Italy, Travel | Tagged: Carnival Breeze, cruise, Italy, Rome, trivia | Leave a Comment »
