December 7, 2018
Seventy-seven years later, is there much remembrance of Pearl Harbor? There was no mention of it on the Pacific Princess. But I remember the time a ship contacted me and asked me to put together a 9-11 remembrance and then cancelled it so people wouldn’t be offended. But you’ve heard that story.
It was a good date to remember here on the Pacific Princess. I did not set the alarm and we slept in. At least we slept in until my beloved, who got up early in spite of no clock signaling, heard the Captain making an announcement and opened the door to hear what was being said and woke me up, too. But it was in the shower for a shampoo and a shave and then up Panorama Buffet for two eggs over medium (sorry Luke, they don’t make ‘em like we do so I do something different), two sausage links and toast. There were two pans of sausage links – turkey sausage in the back and real sausage in the front. I picked up two links, and someone had dropped a turkey into the pigs. It was nasty. But I had enough, and all washed down with hot, brown, flavored liquid (that’s decaf coffee for all of you non-caff-aholics).
We headed ashore and bought tickets for the Hop on Hop off bus. The bus was late getting started which meant we were late getting to the spot where we had chosen to see two of Palermo’s sites – the cathedral and the catacombs. One of our tablemates told me tonight why the bus was late. First of all we were blocked in by a truck who was in a no parking zone. Second, they extended the ramp to let a woman in a motorized wheel chair on board and then couldn’t get the ramp to unextend. Finally, there was a hearty shove and a shim shoved into something and off we went.
Because of the delay, and the fact that the cathedral closes for almost two hours in the afternoon, we went only to the cathedral. I think when we go to Italy next year we will take a couple of days and come to Sicily where we can see more of the history than a 10 hour cruise stop will allow you to experience.
We hopped back on the bus and came back to where we started, went into a Bistro and ordered a Napoli pizza. It was good, but not near as good as yesterday’s. In fact, it was probably on one-fourth as good. Here is why. Half of the bottom of the pizza was overcooked – I mean burnt. The other half was okay. And they split the pizza into two parts, giving us each a plate with a section of pizza. Well, after we had consumed half of our halves, Bonnie turned her remaining half over and discovered not well done pizza crust but charcoal. I offered to change, but she said she’d just eat the goodies off the top. If they had only turned it 90 degrees before they cut it, each of us would have had a good piece and a burnt piece. But the gellato made up for the pizza!
And Mom found the Palermo equivalent of a Dollar Store. It was a One Euro Store. Everything in it was really one euro. And she packed a bag of goodies which will show up in several Christmas stockings. I bought a pair of sun glasses for a euro because mine got left at 233. They are either on the kitchen table, or they fell off of my computer case as we loaded the Ivy Uber.
Well, the one euro pair is really goofy looking. The temples are on the bottoms of the lenses instead of on the top, but sunglasses are sunglasses. And I’m not paying $100+ like some of my kinfolk do. Back out on the street we came upon a souvenir vendor who said, “Oh my goodness! Would you like to buy sun glasses?” His first price, not the last price Mister, was 10 euros. I said, “Thanks,” and kept walking. He said, “Discount for you, Mister. Eight euros.” I tried a pair on and said, “Seven.” He said, “Okay,” too quickly, but I bought them anyway. The temples are on the top, at least.
And on the way back to the ship we stopped in a Farmacia, the local drugstore, and I enquired about Zovirax – a very good fever blister cream. I used to buy it in Russia for about 35 rubles which was equivalent to less than $10, probably closer to $5, but since I haven’t been back to Russia since 2008 (a moment of silence) I’ve had to buy it from Walgreens. The co-pay is $35 and I have to get a special exemption. When I tell you the regular price of a tube the same size as the one I used to buy in Samara for 35 rubles was $600, you’ll understand why they wanted an exemption. Well, stuff this in your mortar and pestle, 9 euros in Sicily. Just over $10. And I bought two tubes.
Okay, that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
Bonnie’s turn.
TTFN
PAIN!!! did I say pain. Yes. The top part of my legs from the hips down to the knees are really hurting and have been since I got up this morning. Those steps yesterday were really bad. But no sense complaining there was Palermo to go and see. After a muffin and some canteloupe and OJ, we packed up and headed off. The pedestrian does not have any right in Italy. Yesterday and today it has been hazardous to try and cross streets. But we safely navigated our way to the hop on hop off bus after getting a special price, 15 euros , for each, usually priced 20 euros. I thought the bus would never move but it did finally. In the seats we had chosen on only one of the outlets for headphones worked. The kind lady behind us, who was sitting alone , offered to plug David’s into her spare one. Worked so we could both hear. I remembered quite a bit of the talk as we had heard it the last time we were here and had ridden around twice on the red line. After we had gotten off at the cathedral, toured the cathedral, very beautiful,( in the cathedral I got a new Nativity scene for our room, made in China of course but it is very nice) , and then we had gelato, After consuming our gelato, we got back on the blue line of the hop on hop off bus which happens to have the stop for the port on it. So when we got back to the port we hopped off.
We weren’t ready to go back so we decided to explore the streets down near the ship. Lo and be hold I spotted a store called a “Eurorama”. Everything was one euro. Whoopee. I had a great time shopping. We got some cokes and sprites for just 1 euro each. I got a new snowman Christmas decoration to add to the snowman tree I got last year in Cadiz. And lots of other cool things.
The first pair of sunglasses Dad bought, I have confiscated. I like them and they fit over my glasses and look “cool”. I like them. After the euro store we went to the “Bistro” and had pizza and a drink. Then, I wanted to look in some more shops. So we wandered up and down a couple of streets.
Finally, we headed back to the ship and a nap. About 4:35 the captain came on to tell us everyone was on board and he was going to sail. He said the wind was to be about 16 knots this evening and 35 knots tomorrow. He hinted at the fact that we were going to have some weather over the next 2 days. He said he would tell us more at 9 in the morning. We shall see. Looking out our port hole you can see the waves splashing on the side of the ship as he plows through the sea.
Then, it was time to get up and dress for supper. Supper was good. Our table mates keep playing musical chairs. I think they may want to confuse the waiters, Ricardo and Angel. Oh well. I sat beside Jack tonight. Not much conversation happening there. Dad was beside Richard and they talked almost none stop. The other three ladies go at it all night. Gitta and Ted bought the liquor package for one, $59 dollars a day plus 15% gratuity. You aren’t supposed to share it but everybody does. He gets 15 drinks a day. No matter the cost. And tonight I think he had drunk all of them. They are spending about 1700 Canadian dollars on this for the cruise. OH MY! Richard had complained about the $7.95 plus 15 % gratuity charge for the soda and water package. He didn’t buy one.
Well, the show tonight was a magician! So I played on my kindle. I do not care for magicians. Dad talked to the tech for his first talk tomorrow after the show. His talk is at 10 am. He is doing one of his pirate talks. We will see how many come out.
Well, that is all for tonight. It has been a great cruise so far. The tablemates are okay but it is hard to hear at a table for 8 and I sure can’t outtalk these people.
Love you all.
Mom, Granny and Bonnie
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