The JimAnna Chronicles

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December 23, 2007

Cruising Part 1 -- Italy & Spain

For our anniversary this year, we decided to take a longer journey than our usual weekend trip. After our honeymoon cruise, we planned to take a cruise every 5 years. I don't know if we'll keep it up, but we've kept the streak alive...

So, we set out on another journey. I have to admit, I was much more excited than I thought I was going to be. Another real adventure. Our first stop was only a few hours away in the Black Forest. But, we arrived at night and left before the sun. So, I don't have any pictures to share. The best part was real spicy Thai food! Then, down to the tiny country of Liechtenstein for a lovely lunch.

Next, we stopped in the Italy Lake District of Como. This is the lake where a number of films have been made, most notably Star Wars Episode II (the scene of Padme and Anikan's wedding on Naboo). We didn't actually visit the Villa, but Lake Como is a great place to stay.

This is the view out of our hotel room.

We also had a great time wandering the streets at night.

Sadly, the next morning, we had to continue on (although we plan to go back and visit the lake(s) again soon). The next stop was to the commercial and perennial fashion capital of the world, Milan, Italy. Our first art museum of the trip was at a converted Dominican Convent, Santa Maria delle Grazie. This unpretentious location was, like many important European buildings, severely damages in WWII. However, one wall was protected by sandbags and spared. That wall has the very famous painting, The Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci. Leonardo chose to use tempera, instead of fresco to create this masterpiece. Although it was an instant success because of the realism and emotion it conveyed, the paint did not share the same indelible quality that the painting had. So, although it was spared from falling bombs, gravity and humidity have wreaked greater havoc. Over the last 20 years, much more extensive work has been accomplished to try and stabilize/restore the artwork. However, this piece has always been controversial and the restoration has been no different. Unfortunately, like the fresco in the Vatican City, we were not allowed to take pictures. However, the Last Supper was the only piece to see and each group is only allowed 15 minutes... Oh, and you have to make reservations just to see it. Since the painting was prominently featured in "The Da Vinci" code, it has gotten a lot more attention. It was worth it though. A stunning piece of art with so much emotion and so much lost through the centuries, it's fun to ponder just what it all means.

Then, we headed over to check out the main square and do a little shopping. After all, we were in a great place to find clothes.

This ornate shopping center is named after Victor Emmanuel II, who was the King of Italy. Interestingly, this is also one of the world's first modern shopping malls (it was built in the 1860's).

There were also Christmas markets setup around the main square.

Here you can see the Duomo di Milano (or Milan Cathedral), which is the second largest church in Italy (second after St. Peter's in Rome).

Although there weren't nearly as many as St. Mark's Square in Venice, there were plenty of pigeons here too. I chose this picture of Anna because you can clearly see just how much she likes it when birds land on her.

After that thrilling encounter, we continued our journey southward. It was in the port city of Savona that we met our floating city we called home for the next 10 days. The ship is truly a self sufficient city (for a while at least). It carries about 3,700 passengers complimented by over 1,000 crew, displaces 112,000 tonnes and is 950 feet long. One unique (and expected) aspect of cruising in Europe is that although many passengers and all the crew speak English, very few do so as a native speaker. Less than 7% of people on board spoke English as a first language. We found the blend of cultures very interesting. However, for meals, we were grouped by language spoken. So, our table of 5 couples included 8 Americans and 2 Australians. We really enjoyed our dinner conversations each night and every one had such varied and interesting stories, it made for fascinating evenings.

Although the ship cost 450 million Euros to construct, and millions were spent on the 6,000 works of art, the thematic elements were often conflicting and often over-the-top. To give you an idea, here are a few pictures.

This is “L’Olimpo Spattacoloso” (Spectacular Olympus), with 16 “Sculpture Costumes” by Alberto Nodolini. Unfortunately, these sculptures look a lot like department store mannequins...

One redeeming design factor is the fact that there are four pools and a bunch of whirlpools. The pools were filled with refreshing sea water and with the sway of the boat got some nice sized waves. It made for an interesting swim.

There are also two large dining rooms, and each one offered an early and late seating. This is what the one we ate at looked like.

Here is a little more of that gaudy decorating.

These two musicians played every evening and although I wasn't impressed with the quality of their music at first, I came to appreciate it. Plus, we were often the only audience in attendance. This is from one of the formal evenings where they played for the whole dining room.

The food itself was nothing to write home about (although in a sense I am doing that right now), but the service was excellent.

Finally, this is our stateroom. It was about 220 square feet and about twice the size of our last cruise ship room. Plus, there was a window this time. Consequently, we spent a lot of time just hanging out in our room. Of the 10 days, there were 4 days at sea. This was a welcomed, forced relaxation time. We had breakfast delivered to our room, often read for a while, watched movies (on the laptop), or just sat and watched the ocean. When we wanted a different view, we would go for a swim, sit in the whirlpool, or go for a run on the treadmill. Since we are planning on running a marathon in April (with Jen), we have already started our training regimen. That called for a couple long runs (8 and 10 miles). Which meant that we had a long time on the treadmill as the ship rocked and swayed beneath us. OK, Anna did pretty well, but I nearly fell off a couple times.

After getting settled and acquainted with our new friends at dinner, we had a very restful night's sleep. The next morning, we awoke to the sunny city of Barcelona. We only had a matter of hours in the city, so we decided on a whirlwind tour. The ship offered a convenient shuttle to the start of Las Ramblas, the famous thoroughfare through the center of the city. It was lined with more vendors and human "statues" than we'd seen in a while. Still not sure what the point of dressing up in a costume and standing motionless for hours, while hoping that passing people toss money your way, will accomplish...

After a lovely stroll, we hopped on the subway and headed to see a few works of the city's most famous architect, Antonio Gaudi (also interesting that we found the ships decoration gaudy, but apparently the word/name aren't related).

The first stop was to an apartment called Casa Batlló (so named for the owner, Josep Batlló Casanovas). It was built in 1875, but in 1904 Gaudi was commissioned to renovate it. He turned it into the work of art we saw. Here are a couple images from the exterior.

Just up the road we also found Casa Milà, or as it's better known, La Pedrera. This was a house Gaudi built from 1905-1907 for Roger Segimon de Milà and there is a large section of the building that has been kept (or re-created) to be just as it was when first built. From an infrastructure perspective, I found it fascinating ... the electric lines and plumbing were just as it would have been 100 years ago.

This is an image from the roof.

She's famous...

Here is Anna with arguably Guadi's most famous work, La Sagrada Familia, which was the next stop on our itinerary.

Here are a few more close up of perhaps the most famous incomplete building in the world. It's construction was begun in the second half of the 19th century and will probably not be complete until the middle of this century (at the soonest). The work continues by donation and some two million annual visitor ticket sales. So, we did our part to aid the construction with the tickets we bought.

That finished our all too brief tour of Barcelona. We jumped back on board and headed out to sea again. Next stop ... North Africa!

So, until then.

--Jim

Posted by jim at December 23, 2007 10:16 PM

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Posted by: Ram at December 28, 2007 03:20 PM

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