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Musicus

By Musicus,
in Solo Cruisers

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nonna5

nonna5

Posted
Posted

Yellowbird have you heard from Egon. I was just wondering if he was able to get over his cough.

 

So sorry some found it necessary to post such negative posts. Thank you for keeping up with Egon's travels for us.

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yellowbird23

yellowbird23

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Posted
Yellowbird have you heard from Egon. I was just wondering if he was able to get over his cough.

 

So sorry some found it necessary to post such negative posts. Thank you for keeping up with Egon's travels for us.

No, I haven't heard from him, but I think I'm going to e-mail him later and ask him. You're welcome.

Pat

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PartyOfOne

PartyOfOne

Posted
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Here's the next installment courtesy of yellowbird.

 

# 20: March 10-April 2, 2012

 

On the ship there are almost as many Canadians as there are Americans this time -775 vs.801- and they are mostly from Quebec Province. There are 213 from France and 288 from the UK. I am also told that there are 300 Gays and Transvestites on board - very low key, I am sure; so far I have not made any identifications. At the same dining room table as before, there are two boring German ladies but thanks goodness one very nice one from Belgium called Silvia whom I meet every morning in the pool.

 

In my cabin I found a note from Susie (Susan Lindsay, a Black Card holder whom I got to know a year ago, now married to Tom Plillips), saying that she had come aboard as a surprise for Gina Bianchi, another MSC Club member with whom she is befriended as I am also, and asking whether I would join them at the Captain's Cocktail party at this Gala night, which I did. Both these ladies are well over 60 (but, how can I put this?) in good shape and we all get along very well. I had three happy martinis. Life is good.

 

March 13: Silvia and I spent a nice evening together, had a lot of conversations and several drinks in my cabin. We skipped Dinner and eventually went to the cafeteria for a bite to eat, then back to the cabin for more talk, some Kaluha and Harveys. And, as I said, more talk. Then to bed around 10pm - seperately. Life could be better.

 

Mach 16: Two days at Sea, one Scrabble game and two piano playing. And then Dinner at the Obelisco with Silvia, where I was annoyed at the fact that when asked if one wants water, only mineral water is available at a $ 2.95 charge plus 15% Service Charge - regardless of the fact that one has bought wine and drinks only a small amount of water in the first place. Since at that restaurant the menu never changes, |I know it by heart and eat there only rarely.

 

March 17: Good bye to Susie and Gina; pre- and post-dinner drinks with Silvia who is also leaving tomorrow, but I meet her again for breakfast on the 18th, when we take leave of each other. Once again I wish I had been 30 years younger!

 

March 18: After waiting over 1/2 hour for wheelchair transportation, I decide to take the Scooter because I am afraid that I'll miss the dates made with Dennis and Lea and Bill. Got through the masses of disembarking passengers by using the lane dedicated for wheelchairs and met Dennis shortly thereafter who brought me a large envelope sent by my stepdaughter Leda with the stuff needed for my Income Tax but I discover that she did not send the Tax Forms with it so that I am not able to file a return unless the Canadian Embassy in Bern has the forms required. Par for the course.

 

And finally my beloved friends Lea and Bill arrived, having driven up from Miami in their BMW Convertible, but before they came, Dennis phoned them for me to ascertain that they were en route. With two ships at close quarters disgorging thousands of passengers, the whole area was in absolute gridlock and chaos. Anyway, the Scooter had to go into the back seat of the open convertible, after I had removed the back rest, since of course trunk spacie is practically non existent, and Lea insisted on squeezing herself into the back seat besides and with it. Where did I want to go? Well I had three envelopes to mail, including the one for Pamela with her photos, so we were looking for a Post Office. Lea in the back seat had a GPS in her hand and we spent the next hour for many miles on a wild goose chase for no longer existing postoffices shown on her machine and finally gave up and aimed for their selected Deli restaurant which turned out to be the same, where one week before Dennis and Barbara and I had our lunch. Of course it was again very crowded, but Matzoball Soup and half a pastrami sandwich were wonderful. Before we went into the restaurant, Bill decided to close the top on the car, which required considerable repositioning of the Scooter in the back seat and this time I squeezed in besides it for the trip back to the ship with a stop en route at a Walgreen's for more cough syrup. The automatic closing of the roof coverts the car to a hardtop and is a real marvel at engineering. The time with Lea and Bill was truly precious and once again I was almost embarrassed by their generosity which even included taking the envelopes to be mailed and refusing my paying for the postage. They are truly wonderful people and I have great admiration for both of them, not to mention Bill's abiding patience and calm in the face of heavy traffic and the frustrating search for a post office. I regret so much being unable to reciprocate in any way and was annoyed at myself to have even forgotten to give BIll a pair of MSC slippers I had brought along. We got back to the ship around 2 pm and I went straight to my spot upstairs at the terminal building where I had WiFi, which, while it had a good signal was almost unuseable and frustratingly slow. So I was able only to send out three emails in almost 3 hours of annoying difficulties and went back to the ship and my cabin and a drink around 5 o'clock. Goodbye US, Hello Europe!

 

 

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Dennis

 

 

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Cococay Mar 2-2012

 

 

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Poesia at anchor taken from tender

 

 

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with Silvia March 15-2012

 

 

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Susie - Gina March 2012

 

 

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Lea-Bill March 17 2012

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monicajay

monicajay

Posted
Posted

Thank-you for continuing to share the travels of Egon. Hope when I'm his age I can still drink 3 martinis and enjoy cruising around the world. If there are people on this thread who are negative or don't feel welcome........ go away, and let those of us who are enjoying this continue.

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emailingann

emailingann

Posted
Posted

Just joined this thread Friday evening and thoroughly enjoyed it! I can't believe he is going on for another year! Good for him. Wish my parents had done something like this.

 

Thanks to all for sharing this wonderful adventure. What a treat.

 

Ann

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PartyOfOne

PartyOfOne

Posted
Posted

The next installment compliments of Yellowtail...

 

#21 to April 2, 2012

 

After two days at Sea and San Juan, Puerto Rico, where I spent several hours at Starbucks with good WiFi; today, April 21, we are in Phillipsburg (Antilles) and I did a long and pretty hazardous trip with my scooter from the ship to the center of town, where I landed at MacDonalds (where else?) and for a little while had good WiFi but for the past 2 hours was completely stymied with the inability getting on line, although the signal was termed "excellent". I am now, at nearly 12 noon, ready to give up, having been able to reply to and send only one email. It's very frustrating indeed, but it's the only internet access that is awailable for free and, having forgotten to put my wallet into my pocket, I cannot go to one of several internet cafes which I passed. But with no less than 7 cruiseships in port it isn't really suprising that from the thousands of people ashore several hundreds will be on line somewhere and the available bandwith just cannot handle the onslaught and so even in one of the hot spots the access to the internet may be jeopardised.

 

March 22 in St. John's, Antigua and the last stop before the five day Atlantic crossing. In the morning before we landed I swam my 20 laps again in 78.6F water and afterwards, while I was drying myself, was approached by two people whom I didn't remember but who remembered me from when they were on Poesia a year ago; her name is Susan from England, but married to a Swiss and living in Switzerland for years (and speaking faultless

 

Switzerdütsch!) I hope to see these two again to find out exactly when they were aboard - I may have them immortalised already in my computer. After breakfast I went on land into a vast area of shops and among throngs of people milling about; eventually settled in an outdoor bar advertising free internet, ordered a $ 3 cup of coffee and struggled long and hard to attain a useable internet connection, which was as sketchy as the one in Phillipsburg the day before because of the many users from several ships in port. However, eventually I was able to do almost everything I wanted, but was asked to vacate my table early by a rather unpleasant manager because they "needed it" - even though there were many places still empty. So I went around the corner from the building, sat in the shade on my scooter and continued for another hour using the bar's signal which bedame even more sporadic so that at 1pm I gave up. It had become very hot (94.8, almost 35C) and after cruising around for a while, I returned to the ship, happy to escape not only the heat but also the noise and the mass of people. Tomorrow starts the five day Atlantic crossing to Funchal -2614 nautical miles- and for the next 6 nights we lose one hour's sleep as we catch up with the European timezone.

 

March 23, first of the 5 sea days and I am sitting inn the wine bar, with the Scrabble box prominently displayed in hopes that someone will bite. Before, I went to talk to the reception about the fact that they have a 'meeting with bridge players' listed in the program but wouldn't put one in for scrabble players because "the bridge players are a group". It's tough thinking out of the box.

 

March 24: After I received a "bleeding heart" pep talk from one of the officers with whom I discussed ny opting out of the automatic gratuity program at $ 12,00 per day per passenger, I decided to make the following calculation, taking very conservative figures of (low) passenger and (high) employee counts:

 

2000 passengers @ $12 per day = $ 24,000 divided by 1000 *) employees = $ 24 per day per employee. This works out to $ 168 per week and $ 720 per month per employee. *) I just was informed that the total of all employees is only 936 and as of today there are 2360 Passenger on board.

 

Apart from this gratuity charge, a "Service Charge" of 15% is added to mineral water, soft drinks, coffee or ice cream bought on board, as on all wines and spirits. I can of course not ascertain any amounts here, but these must be very formidable and are presumably also added ro the pot to be divided. Now I am curious to know what the salaries are!

 

This afternoon I had my most successfull piano session in a long time; not only were there many people but I had great applause and at least 8 people came up to me afterwards and told me how much they had appreciated my playing. (Wonder what they would say if they knew my age?) But I am once again struck by the fact that not once in all these many months that I have been entertaining for free on Poesia had there been any gesture of appreciation by the management - not even a thankyou once. And not only am I providing a valuable contribution to the enjoyment of passengers, many of them also buy drinks while they sit and listen to my playing, especially on these long sea days and so I even add to the ship's revenue.

 

March 28: We are in Funchal (Madeira) and I am struggling with too many emails and this report. Well, here it is, for better or worse .....

 

　



　

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Martha-Puerto Rico

 

 

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St Marteen March 21 2012

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PartyOfOne

PartyOfOne

Posted
Posted

The next installment, from Egon to Yellowtail to you.

 

# 22 to April 2, 2012

 

"Have Viagr*, will travel"

 

In Canada, there are some 2000 medical doctors from South Africa and my physician in Osoyoos, where I lived for 34 years was one of them. Since I saw him several times a year, eventually we became befriended. He was of course much younger than I, a very jovial, outgoing and positive thinking man with a great sense of humour to boot. So, when I left BC for the long drive to North Bay, Ontario in September 2010 to board "Poesia" in Quebec on October 9, h e gave me some samples of Viagr*. These I have carefully guarded but they are beginning to burn a hole in my pocket. You see, this is one of the vagaries of getting old: the chronological age does not necessarily match your inside, for want of another term. The Swiss, who often show a surprising propensity for humour, coined a prayer, which, translated, reads "Dear Lord, you have taken my ability, please, now also take my desire!"

 

Looking around, there is so much water and nothing to drink. Never mind laughing. There is, after all another aspect of chronological age, which I, in one of my inspired moments, added to my macabre collection of verses. Here it is:

 

" I have Viagr* and know how to please her,

 

but who wants to shack up with an old geezer?"

 

Don't be shocked by this epistle, but join me, the inveterate romantic with a sense of reality but also lot of humour, and laugh it off! There. That's better.

 

March 28: Funchal, capital of the beautiful island nation of Madeira, and a most welcome sight after 5 days at sea! Wonder how it would be to live here? Lots of flourishing agriculture and cattle farms - after all, anything not produced here must be brought in by ship or plane. I wind up at an internet cafe, am faced with 26 emails and reports to send out, but after over three hours my battery dies and I return to the ship, the report # 21 in German unsent.

 

March 29, last day at sea, last day at Scrabble (which lost for a change) and last piano playing to considerable acclaim. And beautiful Marta from San Juan, Puerto Rico, and a very smart lady who is mastering many physical challenges, prresented me with an excellent photograph taken of us at the last cocktail party. She looks like 40 but says she's 68. Darn it, I still could be her father. In the evening I meet her at a cocktail party after dinner (I still don't understand a) why they call it "cocktail" when they only serve champagne and b) hold it AFTER dinner!). Anyway, both of us being black card holders and having "connections" get martinis. We have good conversation and I discover once again the joy of being "on the same wavelength" with a kindred soul and laughing at ourselves. Unfortunately, she is leaving in Barcelona.

 

March 30, Malaga, I have to take two buses to go into the city. Eventually I am at McDonalds with free WiFi which starts out very good and allows me to attend to many emails and to send out the report in German, but then, with once again many cruiseships in port and too many internet users, becomes agonizingly slow and unreliable. But I receive from Marcello the listings of the new handicap cabin assignments which he has been working on and I am very grateful to see that almost all has been well arranged. In the evening I am once again invited to the Obelisco restaurant for a dinner with the hotel manager whom I hadn't met before. Marta is there also, as is a guy from the States, another officer and a female young MSC reservation employee. Marta and I are offered Martinis (first time that this happened at a dinner with other officers at Obelisco) and there is a slighty different and special menu which is excellent. I guess that the hotel manager has a very high status.

 

March 31, Alicante, the place where a year ago I fell for a scam and was relieved of two credit cards. This time I found McDonald's and sat there outside for several hours with good WiFi for a change.

 

April 1: Barcelona. For the first time this year I had breakfast in the cabin. Did not go swimming the last three days - both air and water just were too cold and even the jacuzzi was only lukewarm. Said good bye to Marta over the phone at 7.15. I had looked for her last evening at the farewell (and 3 martini) cocktail party that was held for everyone but couldn't find her. Went ashore at 8.30 this morning, took the shutle bus into town, drove down La Rambla untill I finally found McD's which wasn't open yet but for a little while I was able to connect to the Internet. Later I spent over one frustrating hour on the second floor where last year I had such a good WiFi experience ... not so this time. McD's Free WiFi disappeared and didn't come back until I finally found an free alternate at a quarter to eleven and so am able to send this out, because it will be some time before you'll hear from me again. Tomorrow in Genoa and I still don't know how/where to store my luggage before taking the train to go to Bern. A lot of complicated logistical problems which begin to wear me out! Until next time! Ciao!

 

　



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PartyOfOne

PartyOfOne

Posted
Posted

The next installment, from Egon to Yellowtail to you.

 

 

Sorry about that. I've been thinking Yellowbird, but typing Yellowtail.



I guess my mind took a little vacation.

 

The lovely lady who receives these reports from Egon is Yellowbird23.

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yellowbird23

yellowbird23

Posted
Posted (edited)
I keep wondering if he is going to try out his ******:confused::D;) (censors just removed the V word that Egon said his doc gave him)

 

If something were to happen that he used the "V", he would probably never get off that ship!!! That may be the secret to his age. He's still looking for that "moment" once again! lol Keep those dreams alive my friend!

Edited by yellowbird23
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PartyOfOne

PartyOfOne

Posted
Posted (edited)

From Egon to Yellowbird to you...

 

#23: April 2-11 2012

It was a rather emotional goodbye from many officers and employees on Poesia, my home for the last 15 months, where I was considered "part of the family" and practically belomged to the inventory.

I had to leave the ship at 10.30, took a taxi to the station, only to discover that this was Genova Principe and not Genova Brignole my tickets called for - I had been wrong in thinking that the latter was the station closest to the port, but it is actually 9minutes away by trrain and in the middle of the city. Eventually I decided to take a train to Brignole because the main station was under reconstruction with no restaurant or cafe to while away the next 5 hours wait I faced. I had to to a heck of a lot of walking -very slowly I assure you- towing my pretty heavy case and a bag over my shoulder; up and down many stairs, where I always had to solicit help from people to carry the suitcase, as also in and out of the rrain. And now, In Brignole, I have discovered that here too the station is also under reconstruction with no commodities available. So I had no choice but to schlepp myself out of the station and found a hotel, where I sat in a comfortable chair in an anteroom to the hotel lobby.. After about half an hour.started walking again, hopeful to espy a McDonald's or other likely retaurant but no luck. Eventually I sttled at an ouside table in front of a small shop which, apart from iceream also advertised a few other items of which "Krapfen con panna" peaked my interest because "Krapfen" - as I remember the German/Swiss/Austrian Version would be something like a jelly doughnut. So I ordered one and, given a choice, chose it with Nutella instead of Cream. Well, it came, a soft sweet bun cut in half and filled thick with this Nutella and in no time flat I was smothered with it's chocolatey sweetness oozing out from all around the bun. What a mess!I was lucky to prevent it from spreading over my clothing. Afterwards I had to go and get a couple of paper towels to perfuncturally clean myself up, but a bath would have been more effective. As I said, you get too soon old and too late smart.

Now,1-1/2 hrs away from traintime, I sit in a very dilapidated waiting room at the platform, were 95% of the seats are unusable because they are broken. I am fortunate and am sitting, not comfortably, but sitting. And I have decided that this sort of adventure is no longer in the cards for me. Enough already.

Eventually the train came and I managed to hoist my suitacse up the three steps of the car since there was noone around to help. We got to Milan almost 10 minutes too late and it was quite a long walk to the platform of the train to Bern but I made it, slightly exhausted, with 5 minutes to spare. However, the car # 7 assigned to my reservation was the first after the engine and I had to creep along the entire length of the train to get there since the Milan station is a dead end. This will mean that also in Bern I'll have to walk a long way to get to where I can take a taxi, since I do not expect that Emile will be there to meet me; I have after all not received a confirmtion from Ursula or him to my email sent some weeks ago asking whether they, or he, could meet me and bring me to the Marthahaus. Since Ruth wrote that her boarder has left and invited me to stay at her house again, I'll do so from thre 5th to the 11th because I expect mail at the Marthahaus from Leda who had forgotten to include the Income Tax Return forms when she mailed the rest of the stuff. I am writing this on the train by the way and we have just left Domodossola, where they now have added a restaurant car - too late, as I already had bought a humdrum ham sandwich and applejuice from the cart wich cost the equivalent of almost US$ 10 - a real bargain ;-)! I forgot to tell you that I received all the boarding tickets for the other MSC cruises which they had to fax to the ship after they had botched their delivery at Fort Lauderdale prior to the ship leaving for the transatlantic crossing, which had been promised after I agreed to prepay the entire lot before it was due. So much for efficiency.

April 5: Both Ursi and Emile met me at the station, even though they never had answered my email long ago asking whether they could and this was a great help to me cause at this point I was really bushed. The Marthahaus is a wonderful B&B in an old building with five floors but inside completely modernized. The rooms, while not big, are very comfortable; some are available with a private bathroom, mine has a washbasin but there are two bathrooms with showers on the floor just steps away. Each room has a wall mounted and well functioning TV, ample lighting and storage, a comfortable bed with raiseable headrest, a large table and chair. Best of all: I have free WiFi of good quality right in my room! Breakfast from 7-10am offers everything for a continental one, including three types of the wonderful Swiss bread, cold cuts, cheeses, jams, hardboiled eggs, juice, yoghurts and fresh fruit. Best of all is the automatic coffee machine which dispenses excellent expresso, capuccino, coffee with milk or hot milk. Down in the basement there is an ultra modern kitchen where guests can keep food in baskets with their room numbers in one of two fridges or freeze compartments, cook their own meals and eat at one of the tables provided. The clientele is quite international and of varying ages and the whole atmosphere is quiet and dignified and because this is a civilized country, even dogs are welcome, always well behaved and can also travel on buses, trams or trains.

It turned out that my friend Ruth is involved with so much work activity that I have decided not to add to it by staying with her and will remain here until the 11th. But Beatrice, whom I'll see for the first time tonight and she and I will go to her for Dinner tomorrow (Good Friday). Meantime, I always have to walk quite a lot to get anywhere from where I am located and it's not too easy because it always starts with almost 60 steps I have to climb because Bern is an "up and down" place. So, after I received the Income Tax Return forms from Leda and was able to download one of the missing dividend forms, email these to the Marthahaus office to have them printed so that I could attach it to my completed Return, I climbed the stairs on my way to the post office and mailed it with a sigh of relief. I then took a streetcar (taking a chance by not buying a $2 ticket for two stops) to go to the cafeteria of a supermarket, where I had a not very good soup and bread. Prices are very high in Switzerland, particularly in restaurants. I bought some instant soups, sausage, milk and a basket of luscious strawberries to have evenings in the kitchen with bread, butter, cheese and yoghurt taken down there from the breakfast table. But tonight, when Beatrice comes, we'll eat at a restaurant, after we've had a drink in my room - I brought Whiskey and Ginger Ale and have some Pretzel sticks. All good. But the jaunts to get anywhere are pretty exhausting a this point - even to get to public transportation means walking quite a lot.

April 6: Dinner at Ruth's was fabulous in wonderful surroundings, complete with a roaring big fireplace. Have a look at a few attached photos. The meal was outstanding; Ruth is not only a phantastic cook but also an equally great hostess. April 7 was a a gathering of pretty much the last of th

König Clan" (my wife Heidy's family) who came together in my honor and we had Dinner in a wonderful restaurant - very excellent and such a welcome change for me from the eternal Italian fare!

April 9: This morning's temperature was 32F, 0C and I sure am not dressed right for this temp[erature and am glad that I at least took my warm jacket along. I invited Beatrice and Ruth for lunch (in Europe actually the main meal of the day) in the restaurant of a very nice assisted living place with an excellent kitchen. Afterwards we drove to where Beatrice lives so that I could see her very nice apartment which is amazingly modern in every respect considering that the 3-storey building has no elevator and she lives on the second floor which I reached eventually, step by step. And then we drove to Eggiwil in the lovely Emmental to visit our old friends Hans and Ruth Kern in their "Berghaus" B&B - and what a wonderful and happy reunion that was. Beatrice had made a huge and delicious Apple pie and we had coffee. Their Golden Retriever Sky has a slipped disk and often is in great pain - they are trying to help the only 5-year-old with giving him warm water therapy; i.e. the dog swims in a basin, which hopefully may help the situation. Now they also have Sky's son Benji, who is only 7 months old and just as sweet an animal as the father. But the situation is very worrysome for my friends because they must consider the possibility of having to eustanize Sky if there is a worsening and the dog is in too much pain. - It was such a great afternoon, even though the weather was not the nicest.

April 10: My old friend Gertrud, same age as I am and a former collegue of my sister Suzanne, had invited me for a meal in a nice restaurant. She is a very remarkable lady; we are in permanent email connection and she is quite a computer geek - she considers her PC the best friend, particularly since she cannot use the telephone because of hearing problems. - Beatrice came after work for a last visit and to say goodbye. We had a drink together and then went down in the guest kitchen. of the Marthahaus where I had a few edibles and we had instant soup and a little sandwich - she had eaten practically no lunch because of work pressure in the hospital where she works as an OR Nurse. I shall miss her a lot. - After she left, I packed and was in bed by 9pm, set the alarm for 6 am but got up shortly after five because I wanted to finish and send out this report before leaving Switzerland. However, by now, 6.15AM on April 11, I still have no internet access even though I am connected to Marthahaus. So it will have to wait for a few days to be sent.

Edited by PartyOfOne
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