World Aquarium Tour, Lisbon Edition

Baltimore, Camden, Monterrey, Barcelona, Osaka, Cape Town, and now Lisbon. We have become aquarium connoisseurs over the years, and Lisbon's did not disappoint. Jr said it ranked somewhere up with Osaka and Baltimore.

Continuing on the fish theme, after we watched them swim in big tanks, we ate some for lunch. Portugal's version of fish and chips is called "bacalhau" and it was yummy.

There was also a tram around the peaks of the old Alhambra section of the city, some beautiful churches, and some lovely hill street walking. We were back on the ship early for Grandpa to give a lecture on the history of jazz for the community-sourced Explorer Seminars, then Sr headed back out with an onboard friend for a quick tour of the old city evening life before we sailed at 2300 for France. We have a whole two days at sea before reaching Le Havre, in the Normandy region of France. Some people are heading for Paris, others will explore the countryside. We are splitting up to do both--Grandpa is going to Paris, the rest of us may head for Honfleur and other picturesque spots you can see in impressionist paintings.

Pics: Cool fish, pretty fish, yummy fish, and the old city tram.

Play It Again, Sam

We are back in Casablanca today after two great days in Spain. The EV is retracing the S13 steps a little bit, though the stop in Spain was Cadiz since the EV started in Barcelona.

Since we'd already been to Morocco just three weeks ago, we decided we knew enough to take a train from Casablanca to the city of Rabat today. We found the train, got to the right station in Rabat, and had a nice day exploring Morocco's capital city. Jeff and Christie, we thought about you all day. 

We had no sea days in between, so here is a report from the last port, too. Southern Spain was so different from Barcelona. Cadiz was small, beautiful, and easy to walk around. We spent a few hours at a crystal clear but cold beach, took a siesta just like the Spanish do, then explored the old city after dark. Yesterday we went on another bike tour, this time in Seville. In addition to a bunch of stylish Moorish and turn-of-the-century buildings, we saw rowers on the river (in regular racing shells this time), and ate some yummy tapas. Jr had a good time riding a bike for the first time in many months, and did some bunny hops on the folding bike he rode. That's our boy.

Tomorrow we'll visit some of the places in Casablanca we liked last time. We are almost locals ;-)

Pics: the MV Explorer docked right in downtown Cadiz, the closest we've been in any port; the beach in Cadiz, Spain; the oceanfront in Rabat, Morocco.

Food pictures from Italy

Because, really, what else is better in Italy?

Today we are going back through the Straight of Gibraltar on our way to Cadiz, Spain, then back to Morocco for two days. The past two sea days in a row are the longest stretch we will have on the EV, so the library is very busy with people making travel plans for multiple ports in a row. Jr is spending some time between the children's programs working on his typing. Hurray for Mavis Beacon!

Food pics from Livorno: Jr with a real pizza; my pizza; Jr with a lot of pasta; my pasta with lobster; Sr and Grandpa eating the local specialty of "cacciucco" which was a seafood stew with bread in the bottom. We only ate two meals in Livorno, but they were good ones.

Monaco and Italy

We hit our first port on the enrichment voyage yesterday, then our second one today. Monaco is the second smallest country in the world (after the Vatican, I believe). It was tiny, luxurious, and yesterday quite wet. We only spent about two hours in Monte Carlo, Monaco after we returned from an all day trip to the French Riviera. The modern art at a museum called the Maeght Foundation was a highlight of the day, the village of St. Paul de Vence was cute, the rain and fog that cancelled our stop in the picturesque town of Eze was not.

The ship moved just a few hours last night to port today in Livorno, Italy. I am soooo excited to finally be in Italy. I think part of me has wanted to visit Italy since I was 3 years old and my parents spent 6 weeks here while leaving my sister and me with my grandmother in Pittsburgh. Today did not disappoint. The Cinque Terre area of Tuscany is as picturesque as it comes. I have saved up all of my cheese and dairy consumption for Italy (lactose and I are not friends), and spent it all today on lunch and dinner. Mozzarella, gelato, eggplant parmiagiana, pizza, and my favorite, cannoli, were all worth the calories and enzyme pills. Fruit juice fast after Italy, right?

We are getting used to the different rhythm and routines of the enrichment voyage. It is more laid back, and with the European itinerary we move quickly from port to port. We do still miss the students but are meeting some very nice people on the ship and on trips. I will admit we were thrilled today to run into Matt and Christine, a sister and brother set of students from S13 in one of the Cinque Terre villages, and to hear they will be back on the ship when we get to Belgium. Their parents were amused and surprised we were all so excited to see each other.

Tomorrow Sr and I are off to Lucca for a bike tour, it will be a very easy hop on and off tour but we'll need that after all the months off. Jr and Grandpa are headed to Pisa which is only 12 km from our current port in Livorno.

Ciao!

Photos: Jr in front of the MV Explorer in Monaco as we hiked up to the Prince's Palace; Cinque Terre town of Venere where we had lunch; rowers we saw in the canal in Livorno on our way to dinner. Rowing friends, notice there are no sliding seats, only extra thick shorts and a smooth platform.

Still Afloat

Yes, I am still here. Sorry for the long silence, we've been a little busy. Things that have happened since my last post:

- We all went to Morocco, but on different trips. If you had asked me a few months ago whether I would be able to decide with five minutes notice to send my son and husband on a four-day hiking trip in Morocco while I went on a camel trek with my dad, my answer would most certainly have been different.  I liked Morocco way more than I expected, and camels about as much as I expected.

- The Spring 2013 academic voyage (S13) ended on Thursday morning. Part of me wants to write volumes about the closure of this amazing, complicated, unforgettable experience. Part of me will still be processing it all years from now. I'm going with the still processing part for today, but will try to write some about it as things settle into a routine again. 

- The May 2013 enrichment voyage (EV) started on Thursday afternoon. Yes, you read that right. I had about 3 hours off the ship in Barcelona, then back on to start the final part of this journey. About a third of the voyagers boarded on Thursday, the rest yesterday. The demographic and feel of the enrichment voyage are very different than the academic voyage, and we've all experienced the most significant culture shock of any part of our voyage so far. Here's a quick list of things that are the same and things that are different:

Different:

1. On S13, we had about 50 lifelong learners and around 600 students. On the enrichment voyage, there are about 50 students and the rest are lifelong learners, around 400 I think. 

2. There is a higher volume of questions in the library so far on the EV, but the variety is smaller. Schedule and directional questions are popular as always, as are travel questions. Instead of questions about reserve books for courses, requests for reading recommendations are a hot item.

3. Most learning is in short, 1-hour lectures, rather than traditional multi-session courses. There are a few workshops taught by faculty, though. Sr is thinking of taking one on ornithology and environmental conservation.

3. Our room is smaller, and on a lower deck. It rocks noticeably less when seas are high.

4. The food is much better. We've already seen more ice cream, fruit, and salad in two days on the EV than we saw during the entire S13. One of the dining halls now has sit-down meals. It takes some getting used to seeing the crew so formal, and the tables with linens and more forks than I know what to do with.

5. The faculty lounge is no longer just for faculty, and no longer a quiet work space during the day. Quiet reflection spots are a bit hard to find, but I expect that may improve as people start attending lectures and getting settled into routines.

Same:

1. The numbers of faculty and children are about the same on both voyages. The children's program is a bit more like camp, with activities in both the mornings and afternoons. Jr and Sr are still doing some writing and other homeschool work on sea days.

2. Travel books are still the most popular thing in the library.

3. The ship still rocks in rough seas. The Mediterranean is usually calm, but we are really rolling today.

4. People who travel on the ship are friendly, smart, and interesting.

5. The crew are wonderful. I think they are as happy as we are to see familiar faces. Denver, Paul, and Martin (some of the housekeeping crew members who take care of the library) came in to the library while I was writing this section, they all laughed when I told them I was writing about how nice they are.

We dock in Monaco tomorrow though we will spend most of the day in France, then right on to Livorno, Italy the next day with no sea day in between. I told Sr that sailing from Monaco to Italy is like moving your car from one end of the parking lot to the other.

Pictures:

Library work study student "photo shoot" in the stacks, Alumni Ball at the end of S13, Parc Guell in Barcelona.

Dear Readers

Morocco was fantastic, and I owe it a whole blog post. However, things are rapidly coming to a close for the Spring 2013 academic voyage around the world. We were very busy with end of voyage library tasks today, including our last meeting and photo of our library team. They were a great team all semester, and really got into posing today!

This Week at Sea

This week is our last between-port transit for the Spring 2013 voyage. It has been much like other transits since leaving Ghana on Wednesday.  Well, except that we stopped in an unexpected country in for a few hours, and watched some very talented shipmates for two evenings in a row.

On Thursday (I think, the days kind of run together), the dependent children's program had a demonstration of fruit carving by the dining crew. The kids were transfixed!

Mid-morning on Saturday, we stopped in The Gambia, which is a very small country surrounded by a not much bigger country (Senegal). We took on fuel and some medical supplies, then were on our way after a few hours. None of us were allowed off the ship, but I did have an interesting view out my cabin window for a few hours since the refueling vessel was parked right there (see below).

On Friday evening, we had the shipboard talent show. The musical and dramatic abilities of our shipmates blew us away. On Saturday evening after a study day, there was the first ever (we think) ship-wide drag show, which was as well-attended and as full of talent as the night before. 

The semester is drawing to a close with just one more days until we reach Morocco. Today is exam day for Global Lens courses, broad courses like Water for the World, Human Nature, International Law, of which each student took one to get a comparative view of a specific area of focus. Tomorrow is A day exam day, then four days in Morocco. After Morocco there are just three days which include a study day, an exam day, and packing/convocation. As you can imagine, things have been pretty hectic during both days and evenings. Things were hopping in the library the last few days with studying, materials returns, and end of voyage tasks, but it is quiet today with students taking exams.  

Photos: fruit carving, refueling in the Gambia.