My Sailing Playlist

I love my iPod.  I truly do.  I have a docking station for it on my desk at the office as well as one at home.  One of my "must haves" on my car was a plug-in for my iPod that will play through my sound system.  With over 3000 songs in my library, I have divided them into playlists depending on my mood du jour.  Today's mood is my Sailing Songs list.  There are three versions of Sea of Love, but all of them are so good, I just couldn't resist putting them all on.  There's a lot of Jimmy Buffett on this list as well. 

Nautical Wheelers - Jimmy Buffett
Michael Row The Boat Ashore - Peter, Paul & Mary
Come Sail Away - Styx
Splish Splash - Bobby Darin
Strange Boat - The Waterboys
Sailing - Christopher Cross
Sea Cruise - Frankie Ford
Under The Sea - Mannheim Steamroller
Sea of Love - The Honeydrippers
Shiver Me Timbers - Tom Waits
Sail Away - Neil Young
Coconut Telegraph - Jimmy Buffett
Tryin' To Reason With Hurricane Season - Jimmy Buffett
Sail On - The Commodores
Sea of Love - Cat Power
On A Slow Boat To China - Bette Midler & Barry Manilow
My Bonnie - The Beatles & Tony Sheridan
Sail Away - Joe Cocker
Son Of A Son Of A Sailor - Jimmy Buffett
Stars On The Water - Jimmy Buffett
If I Had a Boat - Lyle Lovett
The Captain And The Kid - Jimmy Buffett
Sailing - Rod Stewart
Terra Nova - James Taylor
Rock the Boat - Hues Corporation
Lovely Cruise - Jimmy Buffett
Sail Away - The Oak Ridge Boys
Boat Drinks - Jimmy Buffett
Beyond the Sea - Bobby Darin
Sea of Love - Phil Phillips

Yep, I'm definitely getting ready for our cruise.....

My Least Favorite Thing about Traveling

As much as i LOVE to travel - and, make no mistake, I do love to travel - I truly hate the packing and unpacking part.  In twelve days we are leaving 90 degreee plus temperatures to go to London for a Trans-atlantic cruise.  Today's high temperature in London is 72; in Dublin, which is one of our ports, the high will be 64; and in Reykjavik, Iceland, another port we will be visiting, the high today is 57.  So, the dilemma begins.

What do we pack?  We'll be cruising glaciers in Iceland and are then going to Greenland, where it will be even colder.  Do we take heavier jackets?  Or do we take clothes we can layer?  Do I take gloves and hats?  Do I take swimsuits and flip-flops for the ship's Sanctuary and Thermal Suite? 

I remember a few years ago on our first trip to Italy, the Brentwood Six thought it would be a great idea to ship our dirty clothes back home.  Each couple boxed up dirty underwear, socks and clothes and shipped them back home via UPS.  Great idea!!!  WRONG!!!  When we got the bill for our great idea, it was $189 for a box of smelly, dirty clothes that still had to be washed.  UGH!!!

The following year when we went to Germany and Switzerland, we all took our oldest underwear and socks, even old washcloths (most hotels in Europe have hand towels, but no facecloths) and threw them away as we used them each day.  You can just imagine the housekeeping staffs at our hotels when they would empty our trash cans and find dirty underwear, socks and washcloths. 

This weekend will be spent getting out warmer clothes, choosing and sorting them and trying NOT to take everything we "might" need while we are gone.  For Pete's sake, there's a laundry on the ship and we will be at sea on seven different days!!!  I think I can find my way there.....

Some of the best things that happen are accidents

You've probably made some of those vacation videos.  You know the ones - the voice over describing things that you know should be interesting and you want your friends to be jealous that you've been there, but as hard as you try to dress it up, it's dry and it's bo-ring.  That was pretty much the case when the Brentwood Six went to Italy on a "free" vacation built around a 14-day Eurail pass (that's another story and there's another two or three blogs from that one trip yet to come), and we found ourselves in Rome.

There we were at the Spanish Steps, and I was panning around the square at the foot of the steps and describing the shops, the architecture, the ..., and that's when I panned around and there, full frame, stood my buddy Jim Tidwell.  Who knows why, but I blurted out "Excuse me sir, are you an American tourist?" to which he replied in his own inimitable accent "Why, yes I am!"  A bit of banter about what brought him to Rome ("an airplane") led to a discourse on what he had seen while in the Eternal City.  He assured me that he had seen every "church" and every "picture museum" that was ever built.  And his wife, Linda, had dragged him to every shoe store in the country, whereupon he confided "You know she'll buy shoes just to keep another woman from gettin' 'em.  And another thing - gun control.  You know I ain't seen a single gun since we got here!  But ever'body's got a knife.  'Cept me.  And I really wanted a knife, and they was two or three stores I saw that had them, but could I go in and look at 'em?  Nooooooooo.  I had to go look at shoes." 

We discovered that day that we all but read each other's minds, Jim taking my questions and improvising hilarious replies that led to other questions that fed the fire like gasoline on a barbecue grill.  The interviews became the "Man on the Street" series that we did all over Europe, Hawaii, Alaska, Canada, and the Caribbean.  Like the time The Six went to one of I, Snorkel Bob's dive gear stores in Maui and. totally improvised and spontaneous, became a crew from WGN, channel 20 in Chicago, doing a story on famous icons in Hawaii.  Or the time we were in the South of France and shot fifteen minutes at a junk pile that Jim insisted had come from his wife Linda's suitcase.  Sometimes the dialog would drift off on a tangent that would have squeezed a PG13 rating, but the bits were always really funny and made many good memories.

We've compiled about two hours of video that maybe someday I'll get really adventurous and convert to digital and upload to You Tube.

I Have a New Love

I have a new love and it's not another man.  My plate is already full with Charlie, the love of my life.  However, I've fallen in love with Greece again.  It all started when I found Fage Greek yogurt at Costco.  You know, it's the kind that is so thick your spoon will actually stand straight up in it.  I love it with with a few blueberries or strawberries mixed in and honey on top. 
Every morning when I'm having my yogurt for breakfast, my mind wanders back to our journeys to Greece, particularly Athens, and the first time we saw the Parthenon in Athens.  We had been on our first Mediterranean cruise and Athens was our last port-of-call.  I was so excited because we were spending a couple of nights there after the cruise and could get out in the city and experience some of the local Greek cuisine.

When we left the ship, we had a sightseeing tour of Athens before going to our hotel.  When we got into the city from Pireaus, the port nearest Athens, we immediately saw Acropolis Hill and the Parthenon.  It was breathtaking.  We have our own Parthenon in Nashville, but to see the original was truly amazing.  Regardless where you are in Athens, you can see the Parthenon.  It is on the highest point in the city, and at night it is illuminated so all can see it.  It is spectacular!!
Of course, on our tour, we climbed the Acropolis.  However, on the day we got there Greece was experiencing a heat wave, and it was 105 degrees.  There are approximately 150 steps from the bottom of the hill to the Parthenon.  However, they are not steep.  Each step is about 4 feet deep so you step up and then take a couple of steps before you step up again. 
We had a guide who trained at the university in Athens for four years before he could become a licensed tour guide.  He would stop periodically on our climb to give us facts about Athens, the Acropolis and the Parthenon.  We saw Mars Hill where Paul preached and was the site of the council of elders, like the Roman senate.  Our friend, Jim, had another description that Mars Hill was where Snickers, Mars bars and Milky Ways were invented.  On one stop, we saw Hadrian's Arch, and the Placa, a wonderful shopping district in Athens.

As we neared the Parthenon, a member of our group happened to mention to our guide that we were from Nashville, TN, and that we had an exact replica of the Parthenon in our Centennial Park.  Without missing a beat, he told her that was not true.  However, he would be wrong.  We do have one, it is an exact replica, and ours is complete with the statue of Athena inside just as the original had. 
One other thing - the Greek cuisine.  I couldn't wait to get to Greece to have a real Greek salad.  We went to a little restaurant in Athens for lunch that first day.  Of course, I ordered my Greek salad.  Expecting a bowl of greens with cucumbers, tomatoes, feta cheese, and kalamata olives, was I ever surprised when I got actually got no greens, wonderful cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers, onions, feta cheese, kalamata olives, some oregano and the most incredible olive oil and vinegar to top it I've ever had.  The spanikopita, the dolmades, the tzatziki, pitas with hummus, the baklava.......

My mind and my tastebuds take me back to one of my favorite places on earth.  Maybe I should try a Greek salad with some Greek yogurt on top.  Hmmmmmmmm.....

What The Love Boat Did for Cruising

In the 70s and 80's, The Love Boat was one of the most popular TV sitcoms.  It was set on a cruise ship - the Pacific Princess.  The original 1976 made-for-TV movie on which the show was based, also titled The Love Boat, was itself based on the nonfiction book The Love Boats by Jeraldine Saunders, a real-life cruise director. Each week new guest stars would board the ship with the intentions of having a romantic vacation getaway.  The popularity of cruising began its climb as more and more people wanted to getaway to exotic ports and have a little romance in their lives.  The Love Boat was on ABC, and there were 244 episodes over a ten-season run.      

The original cast of The Love Boat included:
Gavin MacLeod - Captain Merrill Stubing
Bernie Kopell - Dr. Adam "Doc" Bricker
Fred Grandy - Burl "Gopher" Smith
Ted Lange - Bartender Isaac Washington
Lauren Tewes - Cruise Director Julie McCoy

Each had unique traits.  Captain Stubing was very outgoing and caring.  He met all the passengers as they boarded the ship.  He was very visible throughout the cruise and could call most passengers by name.  Dr. Bricker was a womanizer who had a different love interest on each cruise.  Gopher Smith was the yeoman purser, the officer in charge of all money matters on the ship.  In other words, he was the bean counter.  Isaac Washington was a bartender who knew everyone on the ship.  For some reason we never saw any other bartender or server.  He sure could get around.  Julie McCoy was a female cruise director, something we see rarely today.  Like Captain Stubing, Julie knew everyone and loved making sure all of the passengers were having a good time.

The Love Boat was an escapist sitcom where those of us watching it each week could envision ourselves sailing away on a beautiful ocean-liner, sitting by the pool sipping one of those drinks with the little umbrellas in it  while being waited on hand-and-foot. 

Today, cruising is an affordable vacation that includes all of your accomodations, meals, entertainment and the opportunity to visit ports-of-call all over the world.  Isn't it time to treat yourself and your family to the best vacation of your life?   

Three Weeks from Today.....

.....we depart the U.S. for London!!!  Ironic, isn't it, that we own a travel agency, but haven't had a true vacation for ourselves in two years.  Last fall, we were scheduled to take a river cruise in Europe, but had to cancel when my mom became very ill and passed away.  We went to Gatlinburg with our family in March, but there was no one to make our bed or cook our meals unless we went out.  With four kids, ages 8 months to 8 years, it was a chore to pack everyone up and go out.  Although it was fun to just spend time with the family, it wasn't a relaxing vacation for me.  We also took our grandson to DisneyWorld for his fifth birthday - great trip, lots of fun watching him, but vacation for us?  No way.
     On August 31, however, we are taking a big people vacation for just us.  We're flying to London on Virgin Atlantic in their Upperclass.  Rewards Plus with American Express allowed us to move miles to my new Frequent Flyer account with Virgin and fly for only the taxes on this trip.  This airline is phenomenal and the Upperclass seats are actually individual "pods" that will recline completely flat, so you actually have a bed for sleeping over the pond.  We'll be ready to hit the streets running when we arrive in London the next morning.
     We are staying at the Crowne Plaza St. James in London, right in the heart of the city.  When we were there four years ago, we were fortunate to be able to actually go inside Buckingham Palace while the Queen was on holiday at Balmoral.  Because of our staying there for three hours, we didn't get to see everything in London that we wanted to see.  So, this time, we're going back to Westminster Abbey and to the Tower of London.  Of course, a trip to London without a visit to Harrod's would not be complete. 
     The best way to see this amazing city is by the hop-on, hop-off double decker buses.  For one fare, you can visit all the attractions you want and stay as long as you wish at each.
      England is not known for its cuisine, so we learned quickly to enjoy "pub grub" - fish and chips with "mushy peas", shepherd's pie, and bangers and squee, or as some call it, mash (sausages and mashed potatoes).  I'm sure there will be pub grub and a pint or two in our near future.
     After two nights in London, we'll head to Southampton and board Princess Cruises' Crown Princess for a 14-night Trans-atlantic crossing to Cornwall, Dublin, Belfast, Rekyjavek (Iceland), Qaqortoq (Greenland), St. John's (Newfoundland) into New York. 
     Our blog while we are gone will go into detail on each of these wonderful ports-of-call.  Don't you wish you were us right now!!!  We can make this happen for you.

One of the Many Reasons I Love Italy

There are so many reasons why we'd go back to Italy year after year after year that I couldn't count them all.  One of the things we love the most in Italy is the food, primarily the pastas and gelato.  We learned quickly that we prefer trattorias, little mom and pop cafes, rather than the multi-course ristorantes. 

One of our favorite restaurants is Scarpone's, located on one of the seven hills of Rome.  It's a little family place where you can sit under the grape arbors, sip some low-alcohol wine served in pitchers and have wonderful pasta dishes.  For years, I've tried to recreate the pasta we've had there and until about six months ago, I couldn't do it.  However, I've finally concocted my own version of their marinara sauce, and we both love it. 

Here's the recipe:
Olive Oil, just two or three tablespoons
Garlic (as much as you want), pressed
1 large can of petite diced tomatoes with the juice
Fresh basil, chopped
Kosher Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
Pasta of your choice, al dente
Parmesan or Romano cheese, grated

Saute the garlic in the olive oil until the aroma releases.  Add the tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper.  Simmer on low heat.  While this is simmering, cook your pasta until almost done.  Drain and add to the sauce. Continue simmering the sauce and pasta together until the liquid is absorbed by the pasta.  Serve in pasta bowls and top with a sprig of fresh basil and the cheese.

Serve with a salad and bread with olive oil (Italian butter) and a little balsamic for dipping. This is one of those meals you can prepare in 15-20 minutes and is so good.  The secret to this recipe is allowing the pasta to soak up all the wonderful flavors of the sauce.

Now, if I could just figure out how to make gelato like we've had in Italy.....