Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Entry 66 5.15.11

Entry 66, May 15, 2011, 6:29pm (ship time GMT +2)




It has been a pretty quiet few days. Nicky and Lincoln both signed off this morning, leaving me two friends short, but I went drinking with some of the new cruise staff last night and so there are a couple new friendly faces as well – Chris, who just transferred from the independence and is Tyler's new roommate, and Sofia, one of two Swedes on the boat (the other is the staff captain).




This week's cruise takes us to Italy! I'm excited, particularly for Rome. A few of the cities we visited last week where established by Augustus Caesar on the locations of Phoenician settlements, and so I am excited to visit the source of so much history. Cannes will be nice as well (my first visit to French soil!) but I think we have a rehearsal that day and so it may be difficult to visit.




The depth of history here in Europe is difficult to comprehend. In the United States and in the Caribbean, conventional history (i.e. the history of European settlers) is so short that the narrative arc can be perceived all at one go. Europe is not at all that way . . . empires have risen and fallen so many times here that I can barely remember who follows who. It would be even worse in Mesopotamia or China.




Our headliner tonight is seriously playing “Apache” . . . I think I'm the only member of the orchestra who is sitting in back singing the dance hall remix in my head (jump on it, jump on it . . . etc.).

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