Barcelona, Spain

Sangria, Sun and Sailing

This morning at 7am the ship tied up to the pier in Barcelona. As the gangway was lowered tourists boiled out into Columbus Square. Here they call it Columbus Square because Columbus was actually here. There is a huge statue in his likeness with his outstretched hand pointing to the sea. Spanish is the language, Euros is the money, and history is everywhere. Back in the good ole USA we talk about the 1960’s as recent history and 860 as ancient history. In Barcelona when they say the 60’s they don’t mean the 1860’s the 1560’s or 1360’s, they mean the 60’s as in 60 AD!
The local business in Barcelona is selling souvenirs to tourists and picking their pockets. We warned everyone about the chance of having your wallet stolen but some people just don’t pay any attention. One of the KZST Cruisers brought along a big Ole fat wallet stuffed into his back pocket. On a local bus he was bumped into and instantly felt for his wallet. It was gone. He watched as the man who had snagged his wallet passed it to another man and shot out of the bus doors seconds before the doors slammed shut. The KZST Cruiser is no one to be trifled with. Unknown to the thieves, his “Wallet” contained no money and no credit cards. He had packed a cheap 2-dollar wallet with loads of baby wipes; his cash and cards were safely tucked away in his front pocket. Hey that gives a new meaning to the words “Clean get Away”!
We got onto a bus and it took us to the local train station. We jumped onto a Starbucks logo green train headed up to Monserrat. Monserrat translates roughly to Jagged Mountain and they weren’t kidding. Jagged boulder strewn cliffs jutted up for thousands of feet in every direction. At the very top is a monastery where the monks are vowed to silence so that they can hear the words of God. I guess God told them to build a huge castle and paint the gilded ceilings with fabulous works of art. As we sat in the pews of the basilica in comes a group of boys in clerical robes to sing.
Then it was off to one of the most Holy relics in Barcelona, “The Black Madonna”

Next stop France and the home of topless beaches and the Cannes film festival

Ciao Bella

23rd KZST Farewell (almost) Party

We just finished the big KZST party so if my writing is a little blurry, blame it on the ice sculpture that Carnival carved especially for us. It was a massive chunk of ice with 2 tiny holes carved though its center. When you asked for an Apple Martini, Raspberry Martini, Lemon Martini or Classic Martini, they poured the booze into one of the holes at the top of the ice sculpture. The liquor would slip gracefully down the frozen slide and into a chilled glass waiting patiently underneath. Ahh now that’s a martini. The bar bill for the 1 and a half hour party was HUGE! Lets just say they made over 1200 Martinis and that didn’t include the other drinks that KZST paid for. (Note to Gordon, the owner of the radio station…. It was all a necessary business expense… really…. Just ask anyone at the party)

After the party we all went to the top deck of the ship to watch in amazement as the Captain changed his route to get us “Up Close and Personal” to an active Volcano. Stromboli! Imagine a mountain that has raised up in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea for the last few thousand years. As the sun was setting we sailed so close you could smell the sulpher from the smoke billowing out of its jagged caldera. You could hear the cracks of volcanic thunder each time a chunk of rock fell into the boiling cauldron. In the now darkened sky, under the light of a full moon rising in the background, fiery orange lava spewed into the night air.
We will try to get some photos up in the next few days but our wireless Internet connection is spotty at best.

Ciao Bella
Brent

Sicily

They made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.

Today we landed in Sicily, the Church strewn City of Messina, and it was closed. Evidently every Monday the city closes and people all go home. Why? I don’t know and nobody that was still in the city seemed to care. Did the KZST cruisers represent themselves well…. Depends on what you mean by “well”. One of our passengers took his laptop into town looking for a corner café. When he found one, rich with atmosphere, he popped it open, loaded a CD into the drive and watched ”The Godfather, Part1” on the screen.
Back to the trip. Undaunted by the closing of the entire city we dropped 100 Euros and hopped into a cab. Digging our fingernails into the back of the seats, the driver rocketed up a winding 2-lane mountain path at a zillion kilometers an hour. “Don’t worry,” he said. “ I have a horn” Whew, who needs brakes or seatbelts when your driver has a horn.
We skidded to a stop in the town of Taormina. I can see why the Corleone family sent their son there in the Godfather. It is a quaint little village filled with sidewalk café’s and art shops. Old narrow cobblestone streets that wind their way through narrow alleys opening every now and then into romantic plazas. There were couples sitting at café tables sipping freshly steamed espressos and nibbling cream filled canoli. Ahh Italy! The views were spectacular. Stunning views of the Mediterranean beaches were filled with hundreds of Europeans in the skimpiest of string bikinis tanning in the afternoon sun. We turned our view a few degrees and there was the recently active volcano of Mt Etna. Just days before we arrived it blew, but there was no smoke filling the air.
We shopped, we ate, we shopped some more, and then all the women in our little group of gawking tourists decided that they should do a little shopping. Next stop … Barcelona

Ciao Bella
Brent

Venice

Venice
As I sit here sipping a glass of wine at a café on the Grand Canal in Venice I am trying to get a grip on all that we have done in the last few days. Rome, The Coliseum, the Spanish Steps, the Vatican, the Sistine chapel, a dozen Churches, a hundred statues, a thousand works of art, and millions of people from all over the world.
We have shopped on the Isle of Capri at Gucci, Fendi and Prada, sipped cappuccino in Naples and dined on octopus in Sorrento. Tasted olives and fig at a farm house in Dubrovnik and climbed the walls of an ancient castle. Now we are in the city of canals and gondolas. I am in Saint Marks square watching people wade through a sea of pigeons as a 5 piece string orchestra plays classical Italian music.
Venice is a city with no cars; transportation is by foot or by boat. Imagine if you were in downtown Santa Rosa and all the asphalt was replaced by canals with tiny boas on them. If you want to get to a friend’s house you must walk over small stone bridges and through tight alleys or take a Vaparosa. (It is like a big city bus on water). We walked the streets for hour’s window shopping the designer stores and small “Mom and Pop” shops that are arranged in no particular order. None of the businesses are very large, the smallest store in the mall would be considered huge in Venice. Each vendor has their own specialty, a soap shop, a shirt shop, gelato store and a jewelry store that specializes in silver next to a store that specializes in gold.
I scored major romance points with my wife when we went on a romantic gondola ride at sunset. Yes it was very touristy but “when in Rome” uhhh Venice it is THE thing to do. You pay the gondolier 100 bucks for a 30 minute tour of the back canals of Venice. The boats are about 15 feet long and just wide enough for two, sitting side by side, on golden embroidered pillows. He hops on the back and starts oaring his way through the water. Ok, my wife loved it, but what they don’t tell you is that you are about 8 inches above the green water that smells slightly of sewage..Ohhhh Romantic.
On the plus side we did see the House of Casanova and the back entrance he used to sneak out to his many romantic conquests. We also saw the house of Marco Polo the famous Italian Explorer. I wonder if he ever got lost on his way home…the canals don’t have any street names.
Well I have got to go, it seems that my wife has discovered another Italian Leather shop and is motioning for more Euros. The man sitting next to me from France was right; men are just “Wallets that Talk”
Ciao Bella

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Just left Dubrovnik and I had no idea what a beautiful place it was. After years of civil war Croatia is now an independent country. Probably the biggest bargain in all of Europe, it is also the most beautiful of all the ports so far. We were guests of a family that has lived in the countryside, farming olives for over 500 years. They treated us to their home made wine, crusty artisan bread, Olive oil and figs from their orchard. Then we were on our way to a little coastal town whose name I can’t’ spell or even pronounce.
We sipped Latte’s at a corner café just inches from the most brilliant blue water in the warm afternoon sun. The water was so clear that you could see schools of fish swimming 30 feet below. If I ever get the chance to come back to Europe this is where I will return.
Before the day was over we had hopped a bus to the main town of Dubrovnik. The city is situated inside a walled fortress that goes back hundreds of years. We climbed the 400 tiny stairs to the top of the walls for a view that was breathtaking. In the US, this entire castle would never make it past any safety inspections. The stairs were about 4 feet wide, went up 100 feet and had no handrails, one slip and you fall onto the streets below. Speaking of streets, they were made of slabs of white marble, tiled together, and polished by the feet of a million visitors. Again back in the US, they would be sued by everyone who slipped and fell if the streets ever got wet.
Oh yeah, there was a man playing a guitar for money on the street corner. When he finished he carefully put away his beautiful guitar in its well worn case. I asked him where he got such a beautiful sounding instrument and he answered proudly “In America, from the city of music in Petaluma California”
On to Venice
Ciao Bella

Mama Mia

First off, the ship has been wonderful. It's Brand New with a giant outdoor Digital Movie screen, Shushi Bar, bars everywhere and Fabulous Food. Today we are off to The Island of Capri, Naples and Sorrento. Oops! Got to go. The tour guide is here. I'll be back!

He's back .. Ok when last I left I was heading out to Pompeii. We piled into a bus with 40 KZST Cruisers on our way to Pompeii, the city destroyed by Mt Vesuvius 2000 years ago. I was expecting a tiny little town but what I saw was the ruins for a city of 20 thousand, and these people knew how to party. Their number one business was Wine production and their number two business was Entertainment. They had more brothels than any other business. In fact every house of "entertainment" had a tiny little penis carved over the door. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to be partying in a major city one minute and having the entire mountain next to you explode in a wash of hot ash and fire.

From Pompeii we headed to the most beautiful little town so far, Sorrento. Our tour guide took us on a ride on a tiny little two-lane road carved in the side of a 500-foot high sheer cliff over the ocean. In Italy they really don't have any rules of the road, so they make Sonoma County drivers look refined and polite. Imagine a sheer cliff with barely two lanes. Now imagine two huge tour busses heading in opposite directions so close that their mirrors almost touch. Now put a guy on a vespa scooter going as fast as he can, between the two buses and behind him is a little Italian car thinking he can make it too.

Sorrento is a quaint little town of great shops and places to eat. Vendors selling Gelato (Italian ice cream) and pizza restaraunts are everywhere. Mary's has nothing to worry about; the Italian pizza is more like a flour tortilla with tomato sauce and cheese. Its great, but I wanted to take them to Mary's for a TOTOs special and say."Now that's a Pizza" !

We lunched in a tiny café with accordions playing, just like a post card. For those wondering about the price of the dollar in Europe, the Euro (same as the dollar in the US) is worth about 60 cents. Not too big a deal unless you are buying lots of designer name purses. I don't think my 10 thousand dollar budget is going to be enough.

Off we went to the Isle of Capri and my goal was to buy purses. Prada, Gucci, Fendi, Furla, Dolce and Gabana, the shop keepers in Capri loved me. We will start uploading photos as we get them to download. Sonoma County, you are going to love what we at KZST have planned with the purses I am bringing back to the US.

By the way.. I am going to try to upload a photo taken at the Prada store. the guy in the pink suit looks familiar.

Well that's it for now

Caio

If its Tuesday it must be ???

Sorry I'm late, but we have been having the greatest trip EVER !!! How do I start? We took over 62 planes to get all 600+ KZST Listeners to Rome. The best story from the trip to Rome was one passenger from Germany (not one from our group) had major medicals problems on the plane midway over the Atlantic. A Nurse from Sonoma County broke out the emergency medical supples, inserted an intravenous saline and kept him alive until we made it to Rome. WOW!

We arrived in Rome to discover that it was the biggest party in the history of Italy called White Night. Over a million people in the street. Every Museum open, every shop open, and every bar serving into the early hours of the morning.

Next day we hit the Vatican. What an experence!! If you have never been, the Vatican is massive and St Peters Bassilica will take your breath away. To see the Pieta , carved by Michelangelo, all you have to do is go inside St Peters. We also went underground into the tombs of the Popes. I cannot tell you how emotional the experence was.

Oh by the way... one KZST listener could be heard saying "I had too many Pepsi Cola's and need to use the Vati-Can. Ahhhh a class act.

On to the Sistine Chapel. I have read many books about the chapel and the frescoes but the real thing is so much more brillant that I could have imagined. Here's the one fact that I have to pass on that blew me away. When you go into the Chapel a guard says over and over "No Photographs!" He didnt say "No Flash".. he said "No Photos"...period. The reason--and I am not making this up--it was a Japanese company that paid for the restoration and they have the rights to sell all books and photos. To make sure that people buy the photos and books, they prevent anyone from taking pictures....Who Knew?

More tomorrow.
Brent