Friday, 2 April 2010

Hello Everyone and Welcome to the first new blog entry.  Remember you can link back to "Home" at any time to return the itinerary.

I received a big surprise from Holland America on Thursday—an upgrade to a Verandah Stateroom on the Upper Promenade Deck. I expect it will be too cool to spend much time out there while crossing the Atlantic, but it will be wonderful to have room service breakfasts on the verandah as the Eurodam sails into each of the European ports.

Will drove me to the airport at 4:30 am and I left Tucson at 6:10. Arrived in Ft Lauderdale at 4:40pm (with a change in Atlanta and a three hour time difference). Both flights were on time and full. My suitcase was one of the last to come off the carousel in Ft Lauderdale; Delta had put a big “heavy” tag on it. I wonder why!

The Renaissance Ft Lauderdale at Port Everglades is close to the intracoastal waterway and only five minutes from the cruise line piers. I took a short walk and found a local Italian restaurant in a nearby strip mall: Trattorria Pizzeria Pancetta. The restaurant was full of happy, noisy people, many of them speaking Italian, so I had high hopes for dinner. But, alas, the food was ordinary: a very large green salad with a bland Italian dressing and penne with Italian sausage and peppers, neither of which had much flavor. The glass of Montepulciano d’Abruzzo and the amuse bouche (what is the Italian for that?) of sliced large white mushrooms with Parmesan cheese and olive oil were quite good. I stopped for chocolate ice cream at Stone Cold Creamery but the ice cream pales in comparison to the gelato we get at Frost in Tucson.

I'm reading Philip Roth's American Pastoral--the only book I've brought along.  But I do have eight more recent novels waiting on my Kindle to read on the crossing.

Now for a good night’s rest.