Brilliance of the Seas Part 1

In August, we had to actually sign-on to the Brilliance for 1 week in order to re-texture the climbing wall. We worked for about 5 days and thoroughly enjoyed the time we had when we were not working. Here is a re-cap of our week:

Tuesday, August 23– Barcelona, Spain. We left the hotel around 11am and were able to sign-on to the ship without any problems. In order to avoid any issues with Kevin's tool bag, we took our bags with us and went straight up to the Windjammer for lunch. We met up with Richard - our primary contact on the ship - and got some details about the paint and the process we would have to go through in order to start working. After we set a plan for the day, we dropped our bags off in the room and then explored the ship before our muster drill. Before we could start working we had to meet with the Environmental Specialist to go over the contractor work plan and get a briefing on "Saving the Waves." While we were in our meeting, we learned that we did not have the correct form and we almost couldn't do the scheduled work. The paint we would be using is considered hazardous material, so the Environmental Specialist was apprehensive about us doing the work. Finally, after we ensured him we had the proper safety equipment, we had permission to begin painting. The first step in the process was to strip the wall of all of the artificial holds. We started "stripping" around 6pm and were finished in about an hour. We went back to the room to shower and change and then went to the Schooner Bar to enjoy some drinks before starting the hard work the following day.

Exploring the ship. This is the entrance into the Schooner Bar.

All of these knots were on display in the Schooner Bar. Kevin was psyched!

Ready for our Muster Drill!

The view of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona from the ship. 

This is what the wall looked like before we started any work. 

Wednesday, August 24 – Villefranche (Nice), France. The ship got into port around 9am and was tendered because the port was pretty small. We went up to the wall around 10am and started scraping all of the excess texture off. We took a 2 hour break around lunch time, and then went back up to the wall to finish.  After we had scraped for about 6 hours, we power washed the wall and even more paint chipped away. We finished work around 5pm with just enough time to shower and go to dinner in the dinning room. After dinner we went to see the evening show which was a Beatles cover band. They were pretty good, but certainly not the Beatles. We were pretty tired so we went to bed around 11pm.

Overlooking the French Riviera. 

Chipping away.

Don't mess with a woman with power tools!

Ready to paint. All of those black spots are patches where there is no texture. It was amazing how much of the texture chipped away. 

All dressed up for dinner. This is still overlooking Villefranche.

Guests can go out onto the helipad if the choose to. It is a beautiful view from the front of the ship. 

Thursday, August 25 – Livorno (Florence/Pisa), Italy. We met Richard at the wall around 10am and because the wall was in the direct sunlight, we decided to wait until later in the afternoon to start painting (and the wall was still a little wet from the wash the day before). We decided to go to Pisa!! Unfortunately we never made it that far…We paid $8/person just to get from the ship to the city. Then we had to buy Kevin some new shoes because his shoes were soaking wet from power washing the wall the day before. After we successfully purchased some new shoes (well boots really) we went to the information booth to get the details on traveling to Pisa. We learned that we had to take the city bus to the train station, then ride the train for about 25 minutes, then walk another 30 minutes to get to the tower and then repeat to get back to the ship. We decided to try it, but got on the city bus going in the wrong direction! By the time we realized we made a mistake, we realized we would not have time to make it to Pisa. I pouted for about 45 minutes, and then got over it. We will make it happen another time. We ended up just going back to the ship to have a FREE lunch and started painting around 2pm. We painted for 6 hours….until the sun went down and we had to return the paint to the mooring deck. We missed dinner in the dining room again this evening, but still made it to the show featuring the Brilliance of the Seas singers and dancers in their Broadway tribute. We crashed pretty early again, knowing we had a long day ahead of us!

Ready to paint!

Slowly but surely making progress.

The end of the first day of painting. It took a lot longer than anticipated. 

Friday, August 26 – Rome, Italy. We started painting at 8am on Friday in an attempt to beat the heat, but no such luck! The wall was in the beating sun ALL day. We painted for about 5 hours, took a lunch break, and then painted until 8pm again that evening. It was at 8pm that evening that we ran out of paint. That’s right, the job is incomplete because we didn’t have enough paint. The paint seemed to just soak into the part of the wall that was still textured and so we only got 7 out of 10 meters finished and are going to have to go back at a later date to finish up. We missed the show this evening because we were working so late, but still had time for dinner in the Windjammer and enjoyed a few drinks at the Schooner Bar. We were exhausted after such a long day, so we checked in early.

Day 2 of painting. We knew at the end of the first day of painting we would not have enough paint to finish, so we strategically estimated where the paint would reach and then painted down. That way, Kevin wasn't standing on wet paint. 

A close up. He was such a hard worker. 

Beautiful sunset! 

Saturday, August 27 – Naples, Italy. We finally got to sleep in! We had to wait 24 hours for the paint to dry, before we could re-set the routes, so we had a nice relaxing morning. We spent some time at the pool, reading books, and even napping! It was so nice to finally relax. We went up to the wall around 4pm and Kevin re-set the routes. It took him about 2 and a half hours to get all of the routes back up and then we went down to the room to freshen up, eat dinner in the Windjammer, and make an appearance at the Disco Party!! Richard had to perform at the party to we made sure not to miss that! Went to bed around 11pm.

This is Richard at the 70's party!

Sunday, August 28 – Our first sea day. The only work we had to do today was a normal safety inspection. The wall was finally open for guests to use, so we spent a good portion of the day sunbathing and reading at the wall while we watched guests climb. It was so cool to finally see the wall in use. Our normal inspections typically take place while the wall is closed, so it was awesome to see how the wall normally functions. The inspection took us about 2 hours and then we were finally done working on this trip. This was the first and only formal night while we were on the ship so we got all dressed up and then ate dinner in the Windjammer.  The show this evening was another production number with the Brilliance of the Seas singers and dancers called Tango Buenos Aires. It was another great show followed shortly by us calling it an early night. 

The finished product (for now). 

Relaxing by the pool!

Formal night in the dinning room. 

The entrance to the Schooner bar on formal night. 

 Monday, August 29 – Venice. We didn't arrive into Venice until about 2pm this afternoon, so we spent the morning enjoying the sun. We "bronzed" by the climbing wall and enjoyed watching the climbers before our scenic entrance into the Venice Port. When Kevin and I were on the Splendour of the Seas last year, we sailed out of Venice so we knew what was coming, but it was just as spectacular the second time around. The ship goes right past St. Marc's Square and basilica and you get such a unique view of an incredible landmark. We decided to venture out onto the island around 6pm and got so spend some time with Richard off of the ship. We went to a pub called Devil's Forest Pub and our families got to see us on the live webcam! This link wont show you our picture, but you can see what is happening at the pub at this very moment. It was awesome to be half-way across the world and be able to see our families (well they could see us). We got back to the ship around 11pm and packed for our early flight out the next morning. Our time on the ship was busy, but we had a blast! Stay tuned for updates on the finished wall!

All of the gondolas lined up outside St. Marc's Square. There were so many people!!

Overlooking St. Marc's Square. The white building on the right is Dodge's Palace and just behind that is the basilica. Such a unique perspective! 

A towel animal on out last night. 

Italia - Venezia and Roma

I am so sorry this post is so late and I am SOOOO behind on posting! If I could just catch up it would be so much easier to post recent updates. Please stick with me! I will do my best to get updated ASAP! This post is a continuation of our 3 week trip in August - hopefully you are not too confused having to think that far back....I know I am!

Monday, August 15: On Monday morning we inspected our third of seven ships on this trip (Venice). We finished work around 1pm, went back to the hotel to drop off the bag and change clothes, and then went back into the city around 2pm. We walked through the Jewish Ghetto to try and go into a children’s bookstore (which seems to never be open) and met a Jewish man named Saadia. After talking with him for a few minutes we found out he has an uncle that lives in Colorado Springs and is the Rabbi of the Chabad group in Colorado Springs. It is amazing to me how small our world really can be. Saadia invited us to join them for Shabbat dinner in the ghetto on Friday night and Kevin and I told him we would do our best to be there! We continued our walk over to St. Marc’s and went into Hard Rock to find a pin for a friend of Kevin’s, but there were so many people in there you could not even turn around, so we escaped as fast as we could. We went to have some dinner at a familiar restaurant and the food was as good as always. We had a caprese salad and each had a plate of gnocchi pasta with a Gorgonzola cream sauce. It was delicious!! After dinner, we spent a little time people and pigeon watching in St. Marc’s Square, but it was so HOT again and we decided to go back to the hotel earlier than planned. I have never seen so many tourists in my life! There were people everywhere. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped in the grocery store to get some wine and the line to check-out was backed up to the back of the store. It probably would have taken at least 30-45 minutes to get through the line. We by passed that line and got some gelato instead. Then we stopped in a bottle shop closer to Piazza le Roma and were on our way back to the hotel. We got back to the hotel around 7pm, packed our bags again and called it an early night.

So HOT after work!!

One of the many canals. 

There were more pigeons this time than ever before!

The pigeons loved this woman - I am sure the bread in her hand played a role. 

This little guy landed on my shoulder without any bait!! Kind of cool and nasty all at the same time!! 

 Tuesday, August 16: Our flight from Venice to Rome left at 8am and we were at our hotel by 10am. We were pooped from going non-stop for the last 5 days so we decided to take a well deserved nap. We slept for 4 hours and when we woke up we spent some time catching up on emails. By the time we even considered going into town it was 4pm, so we decided to just stay at the hotel (our hotel was about 30 minutes outside of the city and it would have been almost 60 Euros just to get there and back). We had dinner at the hotel and enjoyed a nice and relaxing day!

This was an awesome shot of the island from the plane. It really does look like a fish! 

 Wednesday, August 17:

We left our hotel at 8:30 am to go to the ship. When we inspect ships in Rome we stay in Rome but the ships actually dock in a city called Civitavecchia, which is about an hour and 20 minutes north of Rome. Our hotel was right near the airport, so getting to the ship was a bit tricky. We took the hotel bus to the airport, then we took the airport train to Termini train station (Rome’s main train terminal), and then we took another train from Termini to Civitavecchia. We finally got to the ship around 11:30 and started working. We were on one of the bigger ships in the fleet and there was a good bit of work to be done. The hardest part of the day was moving one of the top rope anchors from one position of the wall to another. Now, this ship is different from most other ships in that it has 2 walls connected by a walk way. I had to go inside the wall while Kevin stayed outside and we tried (not well) to communicate through the empty t-nut holes on the wall. The inside of this wall was covered so there was absolutely NO airflow inside, and I was literally dripping sweat and hanging in a very uncomfortable position. I can honestly say it was one of the most uncomfortable situations I have ever been in! We got through it, but I was not a happy camper (or DRY camper) when all was said and done. In fact, I had literally sweat through my entire shirt and needed a replacement – fortunately the ship had some extras!! We worked until about 4:30pm and then started our journey back the hotel. We had to wait almost an hour at Termini, and did not get back to the hotel until about 8pm. It was a very long day!!

Not a happy helper!

YUCK! Thank goodness for the clean shirt!

Thursday, August 18:

This was the only day on this long trip that we were not working and/or traveling, so we decided to spend a day in the city. We woke up around 9am, ate breakfast, showered, and then went to the airport around noon. We decided to try and find a cheaper way into the city (instead of paying 14 Euros/person/direction) and fortunately didn’t have any problems making that happen. We found a bus from the airport to a metro/train station (Piramide/Ostiense) that only cost 6 Euros/person/direction and we hopped on the opportunity. It took about 30 minutes to get to the city and then we explored. I had planned to explore some of the cathedrals in Rome (aside from St. Peter’s) so our first stop was Basilicas di Santa Maria Maggiore – which is the largest cathedral in Rome that is dedicated to Mary. It was beautiful! The layout was very similar to that of St. Peter’s but it was neat to see a new place. I feel like every church in Rome is so extravagant and beautiful. Nothing in the U.S compares to what you see overseas! We spent about 45 minutes at this church and then walked about ½ a mile to the next destination which was San Giovanni Laterano – which is known as Rome’s Cathedral and was the first cathedral ever built in Rome. It connects to Lateran Palace which was the home of the pope before 1305. We entered this church from a back entrance and were a little disappointed in the appearance, until we realized we had not seen the full beauty of the cathedral from its proper entrance. The layout was very similar to that of Santa Maria Maggiore, but it was much larger and even more exquisite (I still prefer St. Peter’s, but it was beautiful none-the-less)!

The back of the Santa Maria Maggiore...

And then the front - such a difference in appearance! 

An exquisite ceiling. 

Beautiful stained glass. 

The backside of the San Giovanni Laterano. Can you see why we would have been a little disappointed, not knowing this was not the main entrance? 

From the alter looking toward the main entrance. Gives you an idea of the size. 

The Alter 

And finally the front of the building. This is what we expected to see! 

Trying to be artistic with the sun...not too bad if I do say so myself. 

Our next stop was just across the street to the Scala Sancta – The Holy Steps. These steps are believed to have been walked upon by Jesus himself during his Passion. They were originally located in Jerusalem, but were relocated to this location in 1589. The tradition is to climb the steps on your knees in order to be granted indulgence by the catholic church (forgiveness of your sins). We did not climb the steps, but it was very interesting to observe and learn about. Our final destination of the day was the Coliseum to play a game of Canasta – this has become a tradition of ours in Venice, and we thought it would be fun to implement in another city. Easier said than done! There were people everywhere, it was stifling hot, and there wasn’t a great place to sit and get comfortable. It was worth a shot, but didn’t work out so well. Because it was so hot, we decided to go back to the hotel early to cool off and eat dinner. It was a great day of exploring!!

Very neat experience!

Trying to be artsy again. 

Our attempt at a card game.

This building is just so incredible! I can't get enough of it!! 

The next 4 days of the trip played out like so: On Friday we flew back to Venice for a ship inspection on Saturday. Saturday afternoon we flew back to Rome for a ship inspection on Sunday. And Monday we flew to Barcelona to sign-on to a ship and work for the week on the ship (separate post to follow). Because it was so hot and we were busy working and traveling, we were not able to sight-see, so I won’t bore you with the daily details. It was a hectic and busy trip, but we certainly enjoyed spending the time together! Stay tuned for the next post about out adventures on the Brilliance of the Seas!! 

Always an Adventure!

On Thursday, August 11 Kevin and I began a 3 week trip over the pond. We flew from Colorado Springs to Dallas, Dallas to Madrid, and Madrid to Malaga, Spain. About 2 hours into our flight to Madrid, the captain came on the intercom and informed us that a problem with the plane’s navigation system would prevent us from continuing our trip across the Atlantic, so we made an emergency landing in NYC. We were greeted with emergency crews, police, and fire trucks (the problem was not that bad, I guess it is just protocol to send the crews when a plane makes an unplanned landing). We unloaded our first plane, received two $12 food and drink vouchers, got some snacks, and were loaded on our new plane within an hour and a half. The process was actually much easier than I expected it to be, and we received 5,000 bonus miles for the inconvenience. Our flight continuation was uneventful and we landed in Madrid only about 2 hours later than originally scheduled. Fortunately, we had a very long layover scheduled – 5 hours to be exact, and with the delay, the layover was much more tolerable (only 3 hours). We flew from Madrid to Malaga and arrived at our hotel around 6pm on Friday, August 12. We showered and went out to grab some dinner – a fabulous Burger King dinner (it was right next to the hotel and if we wanted anything authentic we would have had to walk about 25 minutes) – and then fell asleep early!

Our unplanned stop in NYC. 

 Saturday, August 13: We woke up on Saturday morning and went to the ship. We worked until about 1:30pm, went back to the hotel to shower and pack, and then checked-out of the hotel at 3pm. We really didn’t have much time in Malaga so we did not get to see much of the town, but from what we saw last time (June) we weren’t missing much. We flew to Palma de Mallorca, Spain that evening and arrived at our hotel around 8:00pm (we spent almost an hour at the airport trying to exchange currency). This was a brand new city for us so we decided to go out and explore – and try to find a place to exchange currency since we were unsuccessful at the airport (what international airport doesn’t exchange US currency?). I did not do any research about Mallorca before we arrived so I did not have any idea what to expect, but on our way to the hotel we passed this incredible Gothic cathedral so I decided we would go there – when Kevin and I travel together it is almost always my responsibility to plan our adventures and I leave the food aspect of things to him. We walked about 25 minutes from our hotel to The Cathedral and were once again unsuccessful at finding an open exchange office (we found one, but it was closed before 9pm). Instead, we decided to eat. We found this neat little restaurant near The Cathedral and ordered a large beer and a large sangria, along with a pizza and pasta. The sangria was AWESOME!! It came out with about 15 different colored straws in it that were about 2-3 feel long. It was quite an experience to drink! Thank goodness the drinks were good and fun, because the food was less than desirable….I would definitely go back for another massive sangria though! After dinner, we briefly walked around The Cathedral and then went back to the hotel around 11:30.

The view of the Cathedral on our walk from our hotel. 

My massive Sangria...the straws were SO AWESOME!

Isn't he so handsome!?!

I couldn't resist this one!

Sunday, August 14: On Sunday morning we went to our second ship of the trip and this time worked until about 11:30. We got back to the hotel around noon, arranged to check out at 4pm and went back to The Cathedral. We were still on the hunt for a currency exchange, but settled for an ATM instead - that was enough to at least get us back to the airport. We shopped a little (I bought a new bag) explored The Cathedral in the daylight, and then went to an Irish bar for some drinks and nibbles – it was SO HOT and a pint of something good was just what we needed. We went back to the hotel to shower, since we were sweating so much in the heat and humidity, and went back to the airport for our flight to Venice, by way of Barcelona, at 6pm. If you have lost count, we were in 10 airports and 7 different cities in 4 days! It was crazy! We landed in Venice around 10:30pm on Sunday evening for another ship on Monday morning.

Beautiful flowers everywhere! 

Windmills on our walk. 

The architecture all over the city was so unique. 

This is like the "tree of life" from The Lion King. 

More architecture. It reminds me of a chess board. I think this was some kind of government building. 

Just us in front of the beautiful Cathedral. Unfortunately, we didn't have a chance to go inside. Maybe next time. 

A guard station in front of the Cathedral.