147 more days....

148 more days...

Cruising with Cyn
Collection of useless information circuitous to the OPERATION: Poisson Rouge Adventure.



Happy Holidays All!

Momma mia Florence
We will be arriving in Livorno (Florence/Pisa), Italy on Thursday May 27, 2010 the third of five ports of call.

Fun Facts

• In 1339 Florence became the first city in Europe with paved streets.
• Florence Nightingale, famous for revolutionizing the field of nursing, was named for the city of her birth.
• The identity of the architect of the legendary Tower (Leaning Tower of Pisa) is still unknown. [cb says I just read an interesting article on the web about the Leaning Tower of Pisa but for the life of me I can't remember where or else I'd pass the link on.]

Web Bites

• Florence is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and its artistic, historic and cultural heritage and impact in the world remains vast up to this day.
• The best time to visit Florence is in May, early June, late September and October.
• Proclaimed as the "art capital of Italy"...
• Michelangelo's David, one of the most frequently reproduced statues in the world, is located in Florence

In the News

The Green Initiative is important to the poeple of Florence. Read all about it...I'm dreaming of a green Christmas

Just * The * Facts

Elevation: 3 feet Latitude: 43 41N Longitude: 010 23E
Avg Temp: 61
Avg High: 71
Avg Low: 52
Avg Precipitation: 2.4
With a population of 367,569 Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany.

See you next week on Deck 14 where the cool kids hang.

149 more days...

Mo's Travel Tips

Shopping:
Duty-free Shopping. You are allowed a personal exemption of $800 worth of duty-free purchases intended for your personal or household use. This means you won't pay a tax - or duty - on these items when you return to the US.

Value-Added Tax (VAT). 20% in Italy and France!! (4% & 10% on basic products) 16% in Spain. On select itineraries we are required by the local law to collect value added tax (VAT) on select onboard purchases. The tax will be added at the time of purchase onboard. The VAT requirement is applicable to itineraries that sail only to European Union* ports of call. (Spain, Italy, and France are part of the European Union.)

Travelers from countries outside of the European Union are eligible for a VAT refund on select purchases they make within the European Union. Such travelers will be eligible for VAT refunds on qualifying purchases made onboard or shoreside through Global Refund, the world's largest VAT refunding company. VAT refunds are available whether you shop in shoreside luxury-brand stores, high-end street stores, department stores, souvenir shops, or the shops onboard our ships. Keep in mind that not all stores show the Tax Free Shopping sign, so remember to ask for your Global Refund check when shopping. Once the check is stamped, your refund can be obtained in a number of ways: cash at the airport or in some cases, close to the cruise terminal; direct crediting of your credit card; or a bank check sent to your home address. For some countries, you can even receive a cash refund when you get back to your home country. Check onboard for more detail about the VAT and VAT refund process or go to http://www.globalrefund.com/

When you arrive at the airport you must present your tax refund cheques at customs BEFORE you check your bags in. Immigration won’t let you go back to the place to claim your VAT refund once your passport has been stamped that you are departing the country. Customs may request to check the items before they stamp your cheques. Once your cheques have been stamped by customs you can cash your cheques at any Bureau de Change in your chosen currency. (Hint, the claim area at the airport is a little window located to the left of the baggage claim carousel in the international terminal).

150 more days...

Five Months to the Day...

Five months, to the day, we will be in Barcelona, Spain!!!...still hard to believe! My passport is on the way, and I am beginning the "list process" of planning what to bring and wear on the anticipated cruise. I'm glad I have a late January birthday - cruise wear will be on my list...hint-hint..... (Ken & Cindy are, of course exempt.)

This week has been a hectic one with Christmas preparations and working full time. The loss of a weekend shopping day due to the biggest ever snow storm in December put me behind on checking off everyone on my list, but I'm working on it and hope to be done by Christmas Eve morning...*yikes!*


...so much to do, so little time....and so I leave you with this until next week...





Cruise along and enjoy....^_~

Karen

151 more days...

Photo-taking for Tourists - 101 concluded
The Leaning Tower of Pisa - Solutions

So what does work? 
A closely cropped picure helps.  Plus placing the hand on the "face" of the building instead of trying to line up with the edge makes for a nice effect.

http://www.sailblogs.com/member/windancer/?xjMsgID=68269

The best one that I have see is this one.  It's different!  It's original!

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1fdXpZ/www.hongkiat.com/blog/100-funny-photos-taken-at-unusual-angle-humor/

And what are my plans?  Expect something like this:

...and that's a wrap on Photo Taking for Tourists 101
And the blogs, they are a changing...
The quality of the blog has come a long way in the 45 posts that got us here. Originally I just saw this as a outlet to post a few one liners, have fun with some quick Photoshop creations, and countdown the days until the big event. But now that there is real content coming in from Karen, Mo, and Cindy, it has become much more that just a few of my own disjointed thoughts.

With that I have decided to change to a 5-day format. The Finance report will move to Mondays, my main post will be on Tuesdays, Karen on Wednesday, Mo on Thursday, and Cindy on Friday. My posts will return to the more frivolous one liners and pictures that I originally envisioned.  I'll leave the heavy-lifting to the ladies, who are doing a smashing job.

Time to get back up to deck 13 to see what's shakin'!
Mike

152 more days...

Photo-taking for Tourists - 101 cont'd
The Leaning Tower of Pisa - What not to do


While we like to figure out most of our shots on our own, one cannot help but to be influneced by the work of people around us.  Some of it is quite good, and inventive.  And some, not so much...

In fact, the web is filled with examples of Pisa shots gone wrong.  Here are a few examples to learn from.

1) Realize, that you are not alone...  Any shot that you take of the leaning tower is bound to be filled with many others doing the same thing.

http://dailyfailblog.com/2009/11/21/originality-fail/

2) Unless of course, you opt to take your picture from one of the less dramatic points of view.  Then again, you get what you pay for...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/94971185@N00/3829933647

Now, this isn't too bad.  I like that it is unique!  But something just isn't right...

http://jeannemadsen.blogspot.com/2008/06/pisa.html

For more Pisa Photo Fails, go to:
http://cabinet-of-wonders.blogspot.com/2008/06/art-of-gesture-in-tourist-italy.html

TOMORROW'S INSTALLMENT:
The Leaning Tower of Pisa - Solutions: We will look at some of the better Pisa shots out there and come up with a few ideas of our own.


Not quite ready to go back to deck 13 yet...
Mike

153 more days...

Photo-taking for Tourists - 101

One of the things that I enjoy to do when I go out, be it a day trip, a visit with family and friends, or a major vacation such as O:PR, is take and share pictures.  Lots of them...  My personal photo album contains just under 40,000 images at this time.

The pictures that I most enjoy are the unique ones.  People letting loose, strange scenes, or something seen from a different perspective.  What photo opportunity fits this bill better than...  (wait for it)


The Leaning Tower of Pisa

First, a little background on the subject:

Original architect:  Unknown (do you blame him?)
Location:                Pisa, Italy
Building Type:       Church complex

The Tower of Pisa was a work of art, performed in three stages over a period of about 177 years.

• Construction of the first floor of the white marble campanile began on August 9, 1173.
• The tower began to sink after construction had progressed to the third floor in 1178. This was due to a mere three-meter foundation, set in weak, unstable subsoil, a design that was flawed from the beginning. Construction was subsequently halted for almost a century.
• In 1272, construction resumed under Giovanni di Simone, architect of the Camposanto. In an effort to compensate for the tilt, the engineers built upper floors with one side taller than the other. This made the tower begin to lean in the other direction. Because of this, the tower is actually curved. Construction was halted again in 1284.
• The seventh floor was completed in 1319, and the bell-chamber was finally added in 1372.  There are seven bells, one for each note of the musical major scale. The largest one was installed in 1655.

That is all well and good, however, the real reason that the tower of Pisa leans can be traced back to Andre' Jandini who is reported to have told the original architect...

"You might have to tilt it." *

TOMORROW'S INSTALLMENT:
Photo Taking at Pisa - What not to do

I wonder if I will have to tilt it to get onto deck 13!
Mike


(*) - Ahhh, the footnotes.  If you ever are asked to carry something with Andy Lang, he will invariably want to discuss the fact that "we are probably going to have to tilt it" before any actual work begins.  You can tell him that at this point in your life (46 for me) that you are aware of that fact.  You can explain that you are sure that "the need to tilt it" was sure to become apparent before the object being carried would come crashing into any doorways, but that will not keep him from explaining, "I'm telling you, we might have to tilt it!"

He also likes to read the directions to things...  Out loud...  Loudly...  With EMPH-asis, AND WITH subtle inflections...  But he's a good guy, so we let him slide.