OCTOBER 21

Thursday, October 21 – Being awakened by the alarm in a situation like this is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, you know you’ve had a better than average sleep. On the other hand, if it weren’t for that damn alarm, you’d still BE asleep! Ah well, no rest for the wicked. Or the tourist. Not necessarily in that order.

Today is the last full day of the trip – well, tomorrow is a full day but spent pretty much at the airport and in an airplane. Just the thought of airplane food makes me rise more quickly and head to the buffet. We’re going to Crete in the morning, and Santorini in the afternoon/evening, which means an early start for those going to the Knossos palace and a gentle but shorter morning for those of us not. I am not. I went on one tour, and that was really more than the budget could afford. So I ate and waited for the hordes to leave and then I wandered into the harbor. 

Crete (geography moment here) is the island, and the harbor is dedicated to St. Nicholas. Every port has a chapel to St. Nicholas, but here the whole harbor is dedicated to him, and there is a gorgeous Orthodox Church in his honor. (I have pictures of the outside – others took pictures of the inside.) 

I wandered through town, found the lake and climbed the hill alongside. At one point I was wandering down a street and outside a bar there was a pair of women’s shoes. I looked around for the woman but didn’t see anyone barefoot. I took a picture but I left them there, in case the owner returned or someone came by who needed a pair of shoes. 

Bought a few minor souvenir things as gifts for people (Note on travel – buying of stuff for people who are at home. Or not with us. I know that whole economies are built on this notion, but it becomes an obligation worse than Christmas. People dashing around desperately to find “something” for a niece or a nephew or a whatever. There are, it seems to me, two kinds of people – those you want to buy something for (a small and select group) and those you need to buy something for (a class virtually without end). I find myself buying things with no one in mind, so I will have something to give someone I have completely forgotten about but feel I should have bought something for. You’d think a vow of poverty would free me from some of this. Wouldn’t you.)

Crete was small enough that people kept running into one another, and there was no pressure about getting back to the ship because it was right there at the dock and a gentle stroll away. Nice morning. I even found a wifi connection on a public square that did not involve the buying of a glass (or boot) of beer. We sailed and at 11:30 had a meeting with Eliza bethm the Cruise Director, about disembarking procedures for the next morning (we have to have our packed bags outside our rooms in the hall by midnight!) and then a final tribute to the crew, which included them singing “We Are the World.” A short meeting with Yanni, and then folks dispersed for lunch and Mass at 1 PM.

                                                         That's our ship - Home Sweet Home

Small gathering but nice. We finished briskly, for one member to go for a massage and me to go to a meeting about the Talent Show.

The Talent Show. Yes, there is a Talent Show. There had been a call for interested people last Tuesday, and I had not gone. All sorts of people had talked about it, but not many showed up. People had been hearing me sing in the lounge during the week, and Elizabeth was really pushing me to come and sing. We talked and since it did not seem there would be too many, I said I would sing 4 songs – If I Were A Rich Man,  Bring Him Home (from Les Miz), Largo al Factotum (from Barber of Seville) and a jazzy version of “Slow Boat to China.” I went to the meeting, we set levels -  I normally don’t like to use a mike but it is a strange space acoustically, and the ears have gotten to used to the amplification, I’d work too hard without getting the result. So mike it is. I ran through the four songs, and the musicians in the band sat and listened and people came in and listened and the bar waiters sat – a good sign.

I then went and took a little nap. I was awakened by the call to see the arrival at Santorini, a village built on top of a mountain, which is really part of an ancient volcano. There are three ways to go up – walk, ride a donkey (E5) or ride the cable car (E4). I was tempted by the donkey but I had 8 euro 50 cents and I didn’t want to break a 20 Euro note for 50 cents. I also did not want to talk down the hill, and I had been warned that while riding the donkey up might be hazardous, riding one down was outright dangerous, bordering on crazy.

                                                                    Loading the tender boat

                                                 A tired dog can sleep pretty much anywhere.

Lovely – small streets, whitewashed buildings, and a view at every corner. I visited the Catholic Cathedral, and had a long chat with a guy who runs a shop who is a Rotarian. I was wearing a Rotary shirt and we got talking. The Rotary Club was meeting that night, but we were sailing and I was singing, so that didn’t happen. I didn’t want to buy anything – and I didn’t want to drink or eat anything – so in a very short while, I had sort of “done” Santorini. I took a cable car down, waited and gone on the first tender back. Had a quick and light dinner, and took a shower, packed most of my clothes and stuff, dressed, collected my passport, and it was show time.

                                                          Yup, they've got donkeys here too.

At rehearsal there had been only three of us who were going to perform: a man who plays the harmonica from Austria (just outside Vienna) and a woman who was going to sing “Girl from Ipanema”in Spanish, and yours truly. The other singer was to start things off, and she never showed up. So we had the harmonica player, and me. How do I put this humbly? I blew them away. I worked hard but it is less work with a mike. The audience was very responsive, the mix of songs was good and I left them wanting more.

When I finished, the professional entertainers – of whom my earlier critique not only stands but was enforced pretty much each time I heard them – then followed with a Broadway revue – Cats, Phantom, Chicago – so I watched for a very small time, had a couple of drinks, and then it was time to finish the packing, stick the bag outside the door and head for the bed. Because tomorrow starts even earlier.