Living in an Inside Cabin

Vietri sul Mar on the way from Naples near Salerno and the Amalfi Coast

825  So we are off to sea again.  This time we are headed to Venice to board the Nieuw Amsterdam.  We will spend a couple of months in the Adriatic and Mediterranean Seas call in Turkey, Greece, Croatia, Italy, France, Spain and Tunisia.  In mid november we will arrive in Ft. Lauderdale to begin a series of 7 day cruises in the Caribbean.  For once it was relatively easy packing because I didn’t need to bring all the heavy cold weather clothes.

For the 8 days before we actually board the ship, Michael is headed to London to visit his sister and some friends.  I am taking the opportunity to visit an area of Italy unknown to me and a lot of other people, Apulia or Puglia.  It sits in the heel of the boot in the southeast section of the county.  The big draw here is a particular architectural style called the trullo.  The trulli are cone shapes roofs on top of small, almost cavelike rooms  with lots of arches that form a home.  Although they can certainly be larger to the point of being a church like St Anthony’s in Trulli city.  The adventure begins…

Flying Alitalia started me off experiencing all things Italian.  For a start the sound system was a mess on the trans-Atlantic portion of the trip.  No apologies, just an “oh well”.  So I finished my book, guess that was a good thing.  We were a bit late arriving into Rome which put me into an even shorter connecting time.  Does it matter to the security people that you have to clear again, even though you are just transiting?  No!  The lines looked like a ride at disneyland.  Does it matter to the immigration official stamping your passport? No!  Turned out I got to the gate just in time to get in line for boarding.  Okay, then, all set.  No!  We waited on the tarmac for 55 minutes before taking off.  Got to Naples and waited 50 minutes for my one lousy bag.  Where am I again?  Italy, of course.  The correct response is yes, but I got the bag.  So by now I am running on Italian time and am saying “non,c’è una problema”.