Transatlantic.

Nov 6

So here I am in the crew training room.  I’m so not happy to be here, but I’m still sort of basking in the residual glow of the Azores.  This is my favorite port so far, and it’s mostly just because of its potential, not so much for what I actually did.  Not to downplay the first excursion of what will certainly be many on the crew bikes.  We biked up and down the coast pretty close to the ship.  It was a pretty leisurely ride, but it was funny because I was hanging out with the singers and the DJ and they were complaining about their legs hurting and their butts hurting and I was eyeing the volcano nearby wondering how long it would take to ride up and back.  I would have done it too, but as I said.  Here I am at training.  Crowd control training.  Should be better than biking around a beautiful volcanic island anyhow.  Stupid Crowd.

Life on volcanic flow.

Josh is teaching us tricks.

And Jazzy.

And the local kids!  Awesome.

These were all along the shore.

The gang.  Kyle, Me, Josh, Josh, and Jazzy.

We did some non-public glassblowing tonight which was a lot of fun.  I pulled a bunch of cane.  Annette prepared a murrini setup and Megan practiced overlays.  It was a lot of fun.  Tomorrow is our first day of crossing the Atlantic!  Of six.

Nov 7

First day at sea of six.  A pretty fun day.  Last night I pulled a bunch of can that I’ll be playing with for the next couple days and today I pulled some twisty cane in popsicle colors, cherry, orange, and grape.  It looks awesome.   Not really a technically great pull, but the colors are great.  I saw some umbrellas in these colors the other day and I thought, “POPSICLES.”  I don’t know.  It made an impression.  There will be pictures forthcoming.  

Mmmm. Popsicles.

Annette's Murrini pickup.

Here’s a good people story from today.  We've been getting tons of people at our shows.  There really isn't enough seating.  But check this out.  This man in the front row stands up to ask me a question and I answer him and we're chatting for about half a minute and then he goes to sit down and this woman from a few rows back has jumped up and sat down on the bench where he was sitting.  He almost sits on her before he sees her.  He didn't even move his feet to talk to me.  Furthermore his wife is sitting next to him and she's like, "yeah, he was sitting there."  I was stunned.  I hadn't seen the woman either till the guy went to sit back down.  So she moves back to where she was, a few rows back, and I just give the guy a look, like, "that was some crazy thing just there."  But apparently when the woman moved back she was complaining how that guy got up and didn't want his seat and was so rude, making her move etc.  I heard this from Annette's parents who were also in the audience.  She moved a couple more times during the show and each time she would complain to her new neighbors and point out the rude man in the front row.  CRaAaZy.

After the show tonight I went up to the bow and looked out ahead of the ship toward the setting sun.  There was hardly any wind and the air was just the right temperature.  I stood there for a half hour or so just looking at the ocean.  After a little while it was like staring into a campfire.  I can’t reason out why the water moves the way it does.  It’s mesmerizing, and the ocean is much bluer than I expected.  I think I imagined it much darker or greyer.  It’s a very saturated blue.  Much less brooding or foreboding than I   was thinking.  And the weather has been fantastic.  The ship has just the most gentle swaying.

I just ate at Tuscan tonight.  That was my first specialty restaurant experience and yeah it was pretty amazing.  The guests can eat in the main dining room every day for free, and it’s very fancy, but they also have the option of eating in 3 specialty restaurants for a cover charge of $30 (at least it’s $30 for us.  I’m not positive about the guests)   I ate such good things. They gave us an antipasti plate with prosciutto that was wow.  The other stuff was good too but yeah.  The prosciutto.  I had fillet mignon which was amazingly soft.  Like a pillow, and huge for fillet.  But not the highlight for me because I'm not a big red meat guy.  But still amazing.  Before the main course they served me a cioppino which is a seafood soup that was great.  That course I don't think I was envying anyone else's food.  Megan had a great looking caprese salad.  The fresh mozz you can get on the ship is top notch.  It's buffola mozzarella.  Higher fat than the cow milk mozz you get on the cheap in the states.  What else.  Gelato for dessert.  Three flavors in a little waffle cone bowl.   Pretty over the top.   It was all pretty amazing.  I'm full.

The TV says we're here.

Nov 8

Another day at sea here.  The glassblowing was the most exciting thing today.  I pulled some twisty cane yesterday that I made into a tall bottle today.  That was a lot of fun and it worked out really well.  I’m hoping to make some more cane pieces and maybe some incalmo cups today.  We’ll see.

Annette made a really nice snare drum for the leader of the jazz band, Manny.   She said that people had been promising him a piece for years, but that no one had followed through.  I was happy to be a part of that.

The weather has been really nice.  The sea has been really smooth.  Everyone was talking like the Atlantic crossing would be really rough seas, but so far we’ve had it easy.

We made some oil and vinegar bottles for the buffet.  Mine are the 2 in front.  Annette made the one with the handle.

Nov 9-10

It’s been a fun past couple days for glassblowing.  I made another cane piece yesterday (nov 9) and the canework turned out really well.  I twisted it up and cut the bubble in half, saving part of it for the foot.  But it is woefully apparent that I am no good at avolios.  Practice session tonight though.  That will definitely be on the menu.   Made a funny roller wrap piece last night that had problems, but turned out well.  I was doing a double wrap with the bubble sagged one way and then the other to get that crisscross pattern.  On the first wrap the color pulled off the punty in a big slug because I was heating it up in the furnace so I cut that off the piece and saved it for the second wrap, which went better.  It was still a bit uneven so when blown out it had to be adjusted quite a bit, but I got it all into shape and the wraps reacted nicely with the underlying color.  I believe it was opal night blue with an enamel white wrap.

Annette has friends in the kitchen.

Ryan learns avolios. 

Nov 11

The days crossing the Atlantic are pretty interesting, but not really as different from other days than I’d expected.  For example, on a lot of our other sea days between ports we’re out of view of land, so the character of the view is pretty similar.  The one thing about the crossing is that the sun always sets in the same place.  Now you might argue that my points of reference are a bit out of order here, but imagine that you live in a house that rotates.  Sometimes the sun sets in the front yard and sometimes in the back.  How can you argue with that? 

Megan has been having trouble with seasickness and an inner ear infection.  I feel really bad for her, especially because her husband is here.  They should be having a better time than they are.  Hopefully things will be looking up by the time we get to the Caribb.  I must say that I am feeling good though.  I’m mostly used to the dry recirculated air that we breathe here on the ship, and I’ve felt generally healthy for a while now.  I’m getting to the gym a lot too, which is pretty key here on the ship I think.

Not a lot to report in the way of scenery.  Lots of water.  Really.  Actually more than you would expect, even though you know you should expect it.  Standing here, really looking at it really drives the point home in a way that thinking of the concept of it just can’t.

I saw a bird in the middle of the Atlantic the other day.  I’ll see if I can get my dad to identify it.

Pulled a bit of twisty cane and practiced avolios last night and made a few things for friends.  It was nice to blow a bit of glass without an audience.

Went to the main dining room with Annette and her parents tonight.  The dining room is pretty fancy.  They serve you a four course meal.  Tonight was lobster night!  They have other fancy things too.  Annette got a lasagna with rib meat in it.  She said it was pretty good, but different.  The lobster was half a tail and shrimps and a big scallop all over risotto.  Pretty excellent.   But my favorite part was when the waitress came to me and asked, “may I operate your lobster?”  I would probably have had no idea, but she was holding a  knife and fork.  She wanted to take the meat out of the shell for me.  I declined.  That’s pretty much my favorite part of eating lobster.  Then another waiter tried again, but I declined again and then they left me alone.  I know how to operate my own lobster, thanks anyhow.

Annette made a squid attacking a sperm whale.  The visiting giant squid specialist from the Smithsonian was very excited and impressed.

Nov 12

We did just one show yesterday and we only have one today.   Yesterday they last minute decided (or at least last minute told us) that they were doing a Veteran’s Day memorial ceremony on the lawn right where we blow glass and didn’t want us, “banging around.”  Fine.  Today we have the art auction after the show.  We go down for the auction right after the show.

Nov 13-14

So we were in Miami yesterday, which I found a surprisingly beautiful port.  Lots of water, lagoons, nicely designed bridges and architecture.  I look forward to being able to get off the ship there.  My Miami experience so far is of getting up at 5:30 am and then standing in line with the rest of the crew to go through U.S. immigration.  It took an hour and a half or so of standing in disorganized lines and then handing my passport to a guy who looked at it and said, “ok,” basically.  Then we had a long boat drill where the Coast Guard came onboard and quizzed us about emergency procedure, and apparently we passed because we pulled out of port later in the evening.

Then we had a glass show, which we don’t generally have on embarkation day, but this is such a short cruise that they’re trying to pack in as much as possible.  This cruise is 3 days and it’s full of travel agents and VIP’s from Celebrity and the like.  All the bars on the ship are open bar.   Yeah. 

So today, which is our first sea day our first show cancelled because it wasn’t printed on the schedule.  We’re ok with that.  We’ll do another one later.  The other thing about this cruise is that some of our privileges have been taken away.  I haven’t really figured out why, but we aren’t allowed to eat at the guest buffet where we usually eat and all the other guest eating areas are also off limits.  I think it’s just for this cruise, but we’ll see.   The crew mess definitely doesn’t have as nice food, but it’s kind of fun because you see a bunch of people that you don’t normally see in the other areas, and I kind of enjoy seeing what shows up on the buffet.  The desserts especially are varied.  They often come down from the specialty restaurants, so sometimes they’re really good. 

Oh and one more thing that happened that I wasn’t expecting.   The a-capella group got transferred to another ship on less than a week’s notice.  Really a bummer.  Three of the guys are in the biking pictures from the Azores, so if you’re reading this.  Happy trails guys, until we meet again.  Apparently that’s the way it works for many of the people on the ship.  You can just be told, “hey we need you here, and at the next port you’re on a plane, and the day after that, if not the same day, you’re on another ship working.  Kinda crazy.

France and the Azores.

Nov 1-5,

Paris

We went to Paris today!  Rode the bus from the ship for a couple hours, which I slept through both ways.  I’m not sure why, but it felt really good.  They dropped us off at the Tower and we went right over and stood in line for the elevator tickets.  We couldn’t go to the top because of “congestion.”  Don’t know what that means, but the second deck about half way up still afford a spectacular view of the city.  We hiked the stairs back down, which was fun and also gave good angles for pictures. 

These seemed to be large pneumatic cylinders or possibly just counterweights.  They went up and down when the elevator went up and down.

Next we looked for  a nice place to eat lunch, which we found ten blocks or so away.  Probably still close enough to the tower that a lot of tourists go there, but there were locals too.  A couple people got steak and fries, but I ordered the mixed cheese and meat appetizer which was totally the way to go.  The cheeses were great and the meats were also very delicious.  With a glass of wine and a baguette, it was exactly what I wanted to be eating in Paris.  After lunch we headed back toward the tower.  The other guys wanted to see the Louvre, but I’ve been there and there would be no time to look around at this point, so I just went down and walked along the Seine for a little way and then back.  It was amazing how desolate the walkway right by the river is.  The sidewalk about 15 feet above and along the street was crowded with people, but if you went down the steps to the river, you could walk in near isolation.

Josh, Me, Matt, Josh, and Kyle lunching.

I ordered the right thing.

Recognize that?

After this I headed back to the tower and met  everyone at the bus.  There was one straggler who there was some worry she wouldn’t catch the bus.  (Serious business)  But she came running up about 5 minutes after the appointed time, so all was well.  A really nice day, although we of course only barely scratched the surface of even the touristy things to do in the city.

Getting pictures with the heavily armed security.

Woah.  Did I get on the bus to Redmond?

Cherbourg

This was a nice smaller French town.  Not that small of course.  It did have a port big enough to host a huge cruise ship.  But it also had some really old buildings made of stone that you look at and think, “yes that is definitely French.  I wandered around not really looking for anything most of the time I was here.  For a while I did sit in a café/restaurant and drink some cider, which was exceptional, (this region is also known for its calvados, an apple based liquor, maker of the Norman Hole, so I thought I should try the cider) and use their internet.  After that I wandered more and then tried to find art supplies, which I found with time running out and then hopped on the bus back to the ship.  Success!

Sea Day

It was good to do a couple shows again today.  The weather was lousy though.  Annette said that earlier it looked like someone had been to the shop with a salt shaker and shook a fine layer of salt onto everything, but by the time we were cleaning up, it was wet enough that everything dissolved, so we just hosed everything off and hoped for the best.  The ship was also rocking as much as it has this whole trip, which is quite a lot.  The furnace door was opening and closing by itself and you had to keep control of the yoke in front of the glory hole lest it roll backward or forward without your bidding.

Vigo

I really like Vigo.  There is a very touristy shopping district, but also some really amazing fish markets.  I found one off the beaten path that seemed really exceptional.  It was a big market with lots of stalls, but the whole place smelled incredibly clean.  I’m sure there was not a scrap of unaccounted for fish or crab or lobster in the whole place. 

The town has lots of really narrow steep streets and stone buildings with great iron railings on all the little balconies.  Eventually I made it to the top of the hill where an old fort looks over the whole city.  There was no one else there for a while until a couple other tourists showed up.  It was a great spot.  Almost totally deserted and with great views over the whole town.

Vigo seemed almost totally under construction.  I loved the brightly colored tubes at all the work sites.

Many buildings in Spain and Portugal had fantastic tilework at street level.

End of First Cruise.

Oct 28

Today I got up early and watched the ship cruise into the port of Lisbon, Portugal.  The ship went right under one of the world’s largest suspension bridges just as the sun was starting to color the eastern sky.  There is also a colossal tower with Jesus with his arms outstretched sort of like the one in Rio.  I was wrongly told that we were to lose an hour this morning so I was up plenty early for the disembark off the ship.

I took the shuttle into the city, about a 10 minute ride, and walked in one direction for a while then took the subway back.  At the subway station there was a woman who spoke English and was helping tourists get their subway passes.  It wasn’t so complicated, but she was very helpful.  Pretty nice.  Guess they get a lot of tourists here.

Bought some roasted chestnuts from a street vendor, because I love street food.  They were pretty good.  Kind of bready for a nut.  Then I bought a journal and went in a few shops looking for glue sticks.  I didn’t think I communicated what I wanted exactly to one woman, but I found later that she was saying glue.  Sadly we won’t be in non-English speaking ports for too much longer so I’ll not get much chance to bone up on my Spanish or Portuguese for that matter.   We are in Spain tomorrow though.  I’ve heard there’s good seafood.  Hopefully I’ll hook up with some other people for lunch somewhere.  Oh and I found glue sticks at a hardware store.   Now I can glue things into my journal.  That’s exciting to me.  I like to have something tactile rather than just a virtual journal.  I’m not sure how this will all shake down journaling-wise, but I may be on the right track now.

Lisbon has some very beautiful old sections and apparently a large forest park, but I didn’t get to that.  The one thing I wanted to see but didn’t get there was the castle of St. George.  It’s on a high hill near downtown.   I should have gone there first, but I didn’t know any better.

Oct 29

Rough seas today.  Started up around 5pm and we’ve been rocking and rolling since then.  We had a pretty windy and chilly show tonight.  I’m feeling good though.  I don’t think the rough seas are going to bother me, but the real test will be the transatlantic.  That’s coming right up.

Had lunch in Vigo today, but didn't have any time to explore.

Lunch.

 

Woah!  Double Rainbow!

Annette made this awesome ant costume for the Halloween party from available materials.  Amazing.

Oct 30

We’re pretty much done with the first cruise mentally.  We just had our last show and we auctioned off 3 pieces for the Corning Scholarship Fund and now we have 2 days off.  Awesome.  What to do.  Tomorrow we’ll be in Southampton, England and the day after we’ll be in La Harve, France.  There, you can catch a bus to Paris, which I plan to do.  I’ve heard rumors that there may be training of some sort scheduled that day.  That would be lame. 

Art Auction.

There are several people that were at almost all of the glassblowing shows who were bidding for the piece that I put in the auction.  It eventually went for $170 to a woman and man who I knew quite well from their being at many of the shows.  We got lots of nice feedback from people saying they enjoyed the shows.  It’s pretty cool to see lots of familiar faces in the audience by the end of the cruise.

 

Oct 31

Today is the last day of the first cruise and the first of the second.  This will be the transatlantic crossing.  We also go to Paris!  I have to get my training schedule fixed though so I can get into the city. 

There are a few people I know that are leaving the ship today which is sort of a bummer because I need all the friends I can get at this point still.  I’m getting to know a few people, but sometimes it’s still hard to find someone I know.  Training is still good for that.  You meet a lot of people you wouldn’t meet otherwise.

Right now I’m considering getting out of my room because they are playing the worst possible music on the intercoms in the hallway.  Bon Jovi, Dead or Alive; Journey, Don’t Stop Believing, and on, and on.  Really?  It’s on the intercom.  You can’t get away.

So I’ll go ashore today.  Not sure to do what exactly.  I’d like to see London.  I’ll see if there’s a shuttle to downtown or something.  One of my friends is going to the health food store and the “crystal shop.”  Hmm.   I don’t think we’re talking glass.  Not high on my list.

So I forgot we’re not that close to London, but I did get into Southampton.  Tried to find a good British pub, but we were in the shopping district which is like an outdoor mall.  All the stores are very close together and it’s almost all pedestrian only.  Oh so we went to a pub, but it was sort of a mall version of a pub, but it had pretty good beer and fish and chips and the fish and chips came with mushy peas, which apparently is a Brit thing because our server was surprised when I said that we didn’t have them.  They’re peas but a bit mushed up, as you might expect.  Pretty good.  In all a successful outing.

This is where I embarked onto the ship at the beginning of this cruise.

Southampton.

Now just thinking about what I’ll do this evening.  Maybe I’ll get to the gym.