A Bike Ride Through Memory Lane

Originally written in 2009

by Paul Pakusch

I bike ride on average about 4 times a week. One night, it was twilight when I set out. Since I didn't have lights on my bike, I did not ride in the road after dark. I stayed on the sidewalk.

Very often, I do not have a route in mind when I set out to ride my bike. Usually I head into the wind so I can pump hard the first half of my bike ride, then let the wind push me a little while I ride back. On this evening, I don't know where to go. The wind is coming out of the west, so I simply head west, into the wind.

As I ride along, I start to think about the route I used to take from home to school. My current home is about a mile from the house where I grew up, and by staying on this road, I will ride past the old neighborhood. I lived there for 17 years.

The route to school is slightly over a mile from my old home, so it is a little over two miles from where I live now. Even though I drive this route frequently today, it's not very often that I use the sidewalk next to the road. And that sidewalk is where I spent 8 years of my youth.
I ride past my old neighborhood. From the side street where I used to come out to the top of the prominent hill where my old school still sits, I once knew every single crack, hill and dip of that sidewalk. I stepped on a lot of cracks in those days; my poor mother's back!

As I ride along, on the right is the public school where I spent the second half of my kindergarten year. We moved into this neighborhood in February, 1967 when I was 6. The old donut shop next to it was there for a long time. Sometimes I stopped there on my way home from school. Now it is a pizzeria. I also remember the steak house that used to be in the same plaza. Other businesses have come and gone so many times I've lost track. Next to that is a bowling alley. I was in a league in my youth; my 15-pound bowling ball was torture to carry this far and back!

Next is the only major intersection I had to cross. If I took a right here, I'd be in the neighborhood where I once had a weekly paper route. After crossing the intersection, I look to the right and see the empty lot where a popular pizzeria and deli once stood. It burned down years ago. Weeds now grow through the cracks of its concrete foundation. On the left is a creek where a brick bank building once sat on the shore. Nothing but grass on that spot now, overshadowed by the plaza beyond that has expanded since then.

After a slight dip, the long climb up the hill begins. My modern 24-speed Trek eases up most of the way with little effort on this Fall evening. Back then, my 5-speed Stingray was a chore to pump up the hill. But the climb isn't constant. The sidewalk levels off here and there, and there is yet another dip to coast down before the ultimate and steepest climb begins. Oh, how I looked forward to flying down that hill at the end of the school day!

Here it is mostly residential. Most of the houses look pretty much the same as they did years ago, but with new paint jobs or siding. One very large piece of property has been broken down into several lots with new homes. Across the street, an old apple orchard still exists, but its trees are old and spindly.

After crossing a side street, I now reach the final, steep stretch. Most of the time I'd get off my Stingray here and walk it to the top. Occasionally, I'd pump hard, knowing that when I reached the driveway, I'd make a left turn and be able to enjoy a ride down a slight hill. This evening, my Trek makes the grade in no time flat, and next thing I know, I'm riding down that driveway. Past the old convent and into the church parking lot behind the school: The site of many recesses and phys ed ball games, sometimes with the boys playing "shirts" against "skins." I'm sure that's illegal for schools to do these days. And yeah, in choosing team members, I was one of those where they saved the best for last! LOL!

From the church parking lot we go behind the school building, where the younger kids' playground was. It was always pavement; the two swing sets, the slides, the monkey bars, the carousels caused many skinned knees! The lot is empty now as I ride through it, up to the iron grille where I used to lock my Stingray. The grille is still there! Bent, painted over many times and showing some rust, it's the same one!

I look across all the windows and pick out my old classrooms. This is a parochial school and I was here from first grade through eight grade. Grammar school and junior high. There was no "middle school."

From here I ride past the big windows of my old first grade classroom and reach the front parking lot, which back then was the bus loop. This is from where I got my biggest thrill as a bike rider to school back in those days, and I am about to relive the moment: The ride down the big hill!

I start building up speed as I intersect the sidewalk out front. I stop pumping and let gravity do the rest. Faster I go, the wind blowing across my body. It blew through my hair then, but I have a helmet now. I watch carefully for traffic coming out of the side street at the bottom of the steepest part; I have never forgotten the day that the brakes gave out on my Stingray and I was unable to stop the roll down the hill. I nearly collided with a school bus that had stopped there. The bus moved out of my way just as I reached the street. It could have been ugly. So tonight, I give the brakes a quick squeeze and make sure there is no traffic before I continue downhill.

It is well past sunset now as I continue the route back to my old neighborhood. Past the orchard, the creek, the bank, the deli's old foundation, across the intersection; I roll past the bowling alley, the restaurant, the pizzeria, and the public school. This time, I turn down the side street to the training grounds of my youth: Where I learned to ride a bike in the street for the first time.

I ride past the homes of schoolmates and friends I grew up with. A few of their parents still live here. I pause by the home where I grew up. I moved in there as a 6-year old and moved out the day I got married at age 23. The living room's two front windows are illuminated by the glow of a TV that sits in the same spot where our old Zenith console once sat. That TV's innards were tubes; color tubes! It had a loose connection in it somewhere that caused the picture to turn to snow a lot. Stomp your foot on the floor and the vibration would jolt the picture back again.

I look up to the dormer that was my old bedroom. When we moved into that house, the upstairs was unfinished. My dad, a carpenter, finished it. I was always proud of his carpentry. He was very good at what he did. Moving into that room was my 9th year birthday present. I wonder what the current owners have done with my "secret room." It was an attic that was only accessible by going through my closet and opening the sliding half-door. You had to crouch down to get through it. My "secret room" was my little hideaway. Years later as a tall teenager, I wondered how I ever fit into that little crawl space!

The route of my school journey is complete. It's another mile back to my current home. As I continue riding through the neighborhood, I pass the house of one of my sisters. She recently moved back to this neighborhood and her back yard is only several hundred feet away from the back yard of our old house. At the time we moved there, her current house didn't exist. In fact, her entire street and the next street down didn't exist, either. It was all woods, with a creek running through it. It was a young boy's delight to have that creek and the woods. The times I swam in the creek, my friends and I picked up bloodsuckers. And how I loved to climb trees!

Yet it was actually a thrill when the woods were being bulldozed over, conservation be damned. This young kid loved tractors. I watched as Drott backhoes dug the basements of dozens of these homes. On evenings and weekends, my friends and I crawled down into those rectangular pits and threw around the freshly-layed stones meant for a foundation. We played in the wood frame rooms of many unfinished structures. Only one time was I ever chased out; a friend and I just happened to be in one of those homes when the future family showed up to see its progress. We were caught. The father simply said, "Don't go in there again." After they moved in, they became among my family's closest friends to this day. A 40-year friendship that endures!

I ride out of the old neighborhood and stick to the sidewalk. It is dark now as I head back to my current home. I had no plans for this evening's bike ride. I simply headed west, into the wind.

Autobiography Chapter 1 - "Autobiography of a Nobody"

Autobiography Chapter 1
by Paul Pakusch

PROLOGUE

     It’s conceivable that I could change clothes four times in one day.  I might wake up to put on jeans and a t-shirt to drive my school bus.  After the morning run, I’ll change to a men’s suit so I can officiate a wedding.  Then I’ll change to jeans and a t-shirt again.  When the afternoon bus run is complete, I’ll put on an authentic Civil War uniform and march in a parade, playing my rope snare drum well into the evening.

CHAPTER 1 – AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A NOBODY

     As an avid reader of biographies, it has always struck me as quirky that people would gravitate to biographies of historical figures or celebrities.  Reading a historical biography makes a lot of sense.  It’s how you learn what influenced or shaped the course of history.  Celebrities are generally egomaniacs that sell their stories to make a buck, or someone else trying to make a buck off their story. (So, what does that make me, since I’m writing my autobiography?)

     One of my favorite biographies is “On Hitler’s Mountain: Overcoming the Legacy of a Nazi Childhood,” by Imgard A. Hunt.  It’s a fascinating story of her youth as she lived a short distance from Berchtesgaden.  She lived a seemingly simple childhood but with constant exposure to history.  At first she was under the influence of Hitler’s propaganda, but later became skeptical.  Never a celebrity or a powerful figure of history, Imgard shares the story of her life in a historical setting, one that could have been told by thousands of other people in similar situations.

     Another favorite biography written by Violet Jessop, an ocean liner stewardess who survived two famous ship sinkings:  The Titanic in 1912 and the Brittanic in 1916.  She was never successful at publishing a book during her lifetime but her niece found her manuscript and had it published long after her death.  Obviously capitalizing on the resurgence of all things Titanic after the 1997 movie came out.  In the book, she talks not only of the two sinkings, but of what life was life in the cruise ship industry in the early 1900’s.

     In both cases, these were not historical figures, nor were they celebrities.  Just ordinary people living in extraordinary circumstances.

     So, what am I?  I’m not a historical figure nor am I a celebrity.  The title of this chapter jokingly implies I’m a nobody, yet I’m writing my autobiography.  Part of the reason I did this was for therapy.  I was going through a divorce when I started writing this, a very difficult time in my life.  I never saw it coming.  I was under the impression we had the perfect marriage.  Maybe we did for a quarter century, but then we drifted apart.  I’m middle-aged and was starting over again.  In counseling to deal with the breakup of my marriage, it was suggested that I keep busy.  It was also suggested by my nephew, Matthew Martino that I write a book about the many experiences I’ve had in my life. I’m proud of those experiences and I’m happy to share them with people who want to read about them in my blog.  And while writing my autobiography, it  gave me something to do.

     This first chapter will be a timeline of my life up to now, highlighting those experiences.  Subsequent chapters will give further details of those different experiences.  This format will allow the reader to first get an overview of all I’ve done, and then be able to read in depth about the experiences that interest them and skip the chapters they are not interested in.

     Many of my memories have been preserved in journals and letters that I’ve written on and off since freshman year in high school.  In my first English class, we had an assignment to start each class by writing in a journal.  I continued my journal writing when I got involved in my first band.  Then letters to my friend Burt after he moved away and we continued our friendship in a pen pal-like relationship.  I saved all those letters.

     My girlfriend Mary, who later became my wife, and I wrote a lot to each other in our early years.  I’ve  kept random journal entries on my computer.  I also sort of journalized a lot of my thoughts on an internet political forum for several years.

     I’m using a lot of these letters and journals to help me remember what was going on at various stages of my life and of the activities I was involved in.

      

     My dad emigrated to the U.S. from Germany in 1955.  His parents had six children, five of whom came to the U.S.  They grew up in Nazi Germany and became refugees during the movement of German civilians from east to west.  My mother and her sister grew up in Rochester, New York, to parents who were also of German heritage.

     I grew up exposed to a lot of German culture, although I never learned the language.  I remember going to parties with German bands, early Oktoberfests in Rochester at the Hofbrau Haus on Lyell Avenue, and parties at the Labor Lyceum where a lot of other kids wore lederhosen.  I hated most of the German food as a child, but happily, my tastes changed and nowadays I enjoy a lot of it!

     If you read virtually any history of the 1960’s, you would think that every young person was a hippy and went to Woodstock, everyone protested the Vietnam war, and everyone was listening to psychedelic rock. That’s not how I remember it.
     I was born in 1960, so this period accounts for the first ten years of my life. I was doing what kids that age typically do. I occasionally saw long-haired teenagers called hippies, but most of what the sixties are known for was not a part of my life. Superman, Batman, comics, Bewitched, Adam-12 and the NASA rocket launches and recoveries were. I had a cool 5-speed Stingray bike that I rode constantly all over the neighborhood. I loved climbing trees; we had a couple of trees in our yard that were awesome for climbing. Eventually we put a rope swing on one. My parents listened to country music of the day and so did I.
     I remember President Johnson. I didn’t really understand who he was or what he did, just that “President Johnson” had a nice ring to it and couldn’t imagine saying “President-anybody-else”. I was too young to remember Kennedy. I once asked my mom what I was doing when the word of his assassination came on TV. She told me I was playing in the living room. She remembered Walter Cronkite breaking down on TV, so I guess I must’ve seen that. On November 22, 1963 I was a few weeks away from my third birthday. I do remember watching the episode of Bewitched in 1968 that was interrupted by a news bulletin about Martin Luther King being shot. Before then, I didn't know who he was. I also remember watching the long train ride of Robert Kennedy's funeral on TV and my mom crying.
     My first big interest was magic.  When I was in third grade, we had a school assembly where a magician did a performance.  I was spellbound!  Pun intended!  At first I believed everything he was doing really was magic.  After that, I learned that there were tricks and secrets to what he was doing.  I started borrowing books from the library about magic tricks and purchased some magic sets.  That interest lasted several years and then eventually faded away.  By my early teens, music was becoming the most important part of my life.

     In November of 1971, my mother signed me up to join the Greece Cadets Drum & Bugle Corps.  She had seen a clip in the newspaper that they were recruiting new members.  The day she took me in the first time, I met the director, Dale Bond.  I didn’t play a music instrument at that time so he asked me if I wanted to learn drums or horns.  Without giving it any thought, I blurted out, “Drums.”

     That single, impulsive decision has been the catalyst for just about everything I’ve done in my life since then, and it has affected untold numbers of other people.   In 1975, to further my drum education, my mother signed me up for lessons on a drum set.  That led to my forming a band in 1978 with a group of Greece Athena students.  I went to Greece Arcadia at the time.  Most of our rehearsals were in my basement, which meant my sisters and their friends got to meet these Athena students.  This is something I think about from time to time and it still boggles my mind.  Who knows if they would have met otherwise?  Friendships, relationships and families formed and many of these people still socialize on a regular basis.  Because of my drumming, I’ve joined other bands through my life, met more people, and have formed friendships with many of them.  I’ve introduced some of these people who have met other people and formed more friendships.  It’s just really interesting for me to think about how I impacted other people’s lives.

     In 1974, I was invited along with about 10 or 12 other members of the Greece Cadets to appear on a local TV show in Rochester named after the host, “Louise.”  The purpose was to promote a show that we had coming up.  We entered the studios of WOKR Channel 13 and I was intrigued by all the TV equipment.  I wanted to see more.  I wrote to one of the news anchors, Don Alhart, and inquired whether I could come and visit to watch them do a newscast.  I made several visits, both to WOKR, and also to the two other affiliate stations in town, WHEC Channel 10 and WROC Channel 8.  My career began in high school radio in September, 1975 when I joined WGMC radio in Greece, NY, when I was 14.  That led to both part-time and full-time radio jobs through the next few years at WEZO/WNYR, WPXY/WPXN in Rochester, WJJB in Hyde Park, and WSAY in Rochester.  I was heavily involved in college radio & TV at SUNY Geneseo from 1979-1983, at WGBC-AM, WGSU-FM, and GSTV.  In the summer of 1982, I worked at WROC TV 8 and then WHEC TV 10.  My career at WHEC lasted from August, 1982 to September, 2014.

      In 1973, my family was vacationing in Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire, where I saw a sign advertising seaplane rides.  No one else wanted to go for a ride, but I convinced my parents to let me go.  So I did.  I’ll never forget the feeling of transitioning from skimming across the water to floating in air as the seaplane lifted off from the water.  In 1978, I had an opportunity to fly again, with a neighbor who was taking flying lessons.  My next flight occurred in 1984 when Mary and I flew to Florida for our honeymoon.  It was during that trip that I determined I wanted to take flying lessons.  I couldn’t afford them until 1990, but in the intervening years, I subscribed to aviation magazines and read everything I could possibly find about flying.  I passed my flight test in September of 1991.

     I met Mary at college in a folk dance class in 1981 and we quickly became college sweethearts.  We married in 1984 and had three girls; Kristi in 1986, Tracy in 1988, and Melissa in 1991.  I was so in love with my family and imagined that we would always be close.  My relationship with Mary was so passionate; I couldn’t believe we would ever drift apart, and I always felt like we were a model of how a marriage should be.  Mary survived a Sudden Cardiac Arrest in 2006.  She nearly died in my arms.  She is now in the “5% Club.”  Only 5% of people survive what she went through.

     In 1985 I became a union officer.  This was a pivotal moment for me as it led me into experiences that I never dreamt would occur.  It not only exposed me to the whole labor movement, but also introduced me to bookkeeping and accounting.  I was my Local’s treasurer for a good part of the next 30 years.  That led me into getting an accounting degree, bookkeeping experience, and starting up my own tax preparation business.

     Also around 1985, I tried my luck with a DJ business.  I got a few gigs but quickly lost interest.

     Travel is a recurring theme throughout my life.  I’m addicted to travel and can never get enough.  In 1995, we took our first family trip to Disney World.  That led to quite an association with Disney, as we got my sisters and my mother to join us on a big family trip in 1999.  We’ve had more group trips since then, and ultimately my nephew and then Kristi ended up working for Disney in the college program.  In 2004, we took our first cruise.  It was a 9-night Western Caribbean cruise and I fell head over heels in love with cruising!  I loved it so much that I decided to try selling travel, with an emphasis on cruises.  I became a home based travel agent for about four years.

     In 2014, coincidentally just about the time I lost my job at WHEC, I signed up to become a Wedding Officiant.  It’s turned out to be the biggest success story of all my side ventures.   Also in 2014, as a direct result of losing my TV job, I decided to try out as a school bus driver.  These are two paths that I never pictured myself taking, but together they have become my new life.  Neither one of them earns me enough to live on, but together, they are now what I do for a living.  I thoroughly enjoy both!

Subsequent entries to my autobiography series will be posted every Thursday morning until further notice.  If you wish to subscribe to notifications of my posts, please enter your e-mail address in the form at the right, under "Follow by e-mail."  

Choosing My Favorite Airline

by Paul Pakusch

I have a love-hate relationship with airlines.  On one hand, I love to fly, as evidenced by the fact that I earned a pilot's license in 1991.  I flew steadily for 17 years before taking a break in 2008 to attend to other priorities in life.  I haven't gone back yet.

In the meantime, I've set my sights on travelling the world.  I've done many trips from Rochester, NY to Florida.  When Airtran was around, it was my favorite domestic airline because of the inexpensive Business Class seats.  I NEED legroom!  If I don't pay extra for legroom, then I have a miserable time on a flight due to the extreme discomfort of trying to squeeze behind the seat in front of me.  I hate those flights and can't wait for them to be over.  On the other hand, if I do get a seat with good legroom, then I am in my glory flying.

When Airtran was taken over by Southwest, I was really disappointed.  I try to grab the bulkhead seats or exit row seats, but since Southwest doesn't assign seating, there is no guarantee.  I really like Jetblue's seating arrangements, but their schedules and pricing don't usually work out well for me.  No other airline really stands out to me at this time for domestic flights.

On international flights, Air Canada has become a clear winner for me.  Toronto is a 3 to 4 hour drive from my home.  I've found that Air Canada has non-stop flights to almost every destination that is on my bucket list.  I'd rather drive a few hours to and from an airport with a non-stop flight to my destination than deal with connecting flights somewhere.  I feel more in control that way.  There's less chance of being stuck somewhere due to cancelled flights.

In 2016 I discovered the beauty of flying Business Class on Air Canada.  I was lucky that year; I just happened to stumble into a sale of Business Class seats when I was looking for a flight to Rome, Italy.  I think I paid a bit over $2,000 for a round trip ticket.  Yes, it's a high price for your average traveler, but that price was well below the usually $5,000-$6,000 ticket for that class.  The fact that the seats lie out flat meant that I would be able to get some decent sleep on a red-eye.  Due to my legroom issue, it is nearly impossible for me to get any sleep on an overnight flight.  On this particular flight, I took a sleeping pill shortly after departure from Toronto, had dinner about an hour later, then promptly stretched out to sleep for a solid four hours.  I followed the same procedure in 2017 on an Air Canada flight from Toronto to Copenhagen, Denmark and got about 4 1/2 hours of sleep.  In both cases, I woke up feeling quite good, considering I had to deal with jet lag.

Now when I want to fly overseas, I start watching Air Canada's prices on their website months in advance.  I watch for patterns in sales.  I know that most of the Business Class seats normally sell for somewhere around $5,000 round trip, so when I see a sale for half price or better, I jump on it.  It takes some vigilance and patience to do this, but it pays off for me in the long run.

I do have plans to travel to Europe again this summer.  This time, I will have a companion with me.  Air Canada has an Economy Plus section that I have not yet experienced.  The seats appear to be the larger, cushy seats that you normally see in First Class on domestic airlines.  While they are not the type that stretch out flat, I'm willing to give this a try.  For the same price that I would've paid for a single Business Class seat, I've now purchases two Economy Plus Seats for my companion and me.  I'll take the sleeping pill again on our overnight flight from Toronto to London and we will see how this works out.

Stating for the Record: My Political Philosophy

My political leanings are pretty much middle of the road.  At times I have taken those so-called tests that pop up on Facebook to see what my political leanings are.  Most of the time, the results are squarely in the middle.  If anything, they would lean slightly to the left.

I have spent more than half of my life as not a member of any political party.  When I did join one, it was because I wanted to have a voice in the primaries.  I questioned whether I should sign up as a moderate Democrat or a moderate Republican.  I decided to go with the Democrats, as they represent the working people better than the Republicans do.

I don't like political extremism in either direction.  No party has ALL of the right answers.  It is by sharing ideas and cooperating to solve problems that society can move on for the better.

I believe in a mixed economy, which combines public and private enterprise.  Each one by itself leaves too much room for greed to take over, so I believe the combination is the best prevention of fraud.  We need private enterprise.  But we also need a reasonable set of rules by which everyone should play by.

I am troubled by the push for "privatization" of government functions.  One must remember that the primary purpose of a business is to earn a profit.  Everything else is secondary.  Let's use an interstate highway as an example.  What is the purpose of building a highway?  If it's a public highway, the answer is so that people can drive from Point A to Point B.  But what if that highway was owned by a private company?  What would the primary purpose be?  Because it's owned privately, the primary purpose would be to earn a profit for the owners.  Therefore they would need to charge a toll for anyone using that highway.  But when the public owns the highway, it is paid for by public funds and it is available for any citizen to use.  Remember that when you think about other functions being privately owned or owned by the public.

Mediterranean Cruise, 2016

by Paul Pakusch

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My cruise on the Mediterranean Sea began on July 6, 2016 aboard the Norwegian Epic, one of the largest and newest ships operated by Norwegian Cruise Line.  Although the actual beginning of the cruise was in Barcelona, Spain on July 3, I boarded at the midway point in Civitavecchia, near Rome, Italy. The itinerary included Pisa/Florence, Italy; Cannes, France; Marseilles, France; Barcelona, Spain; and Naples, Italy.

A highlight of my on-board experience was my participation in the solo cruisers program, and I shall make comparisons to the experiences I had with the solo cruisers aboard the Norwegian Jade back in March.

Background

I became newly single in January of 2016.  Up until then, all of my cruising experience had been on ships where we could have traditional dining times.  In March, I decided to pick a cruise line I had never been on before, Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), from a port city I had never been to before (Houston), with as many ports of call as possible that I had never seen.  In this case, it ended up being Belize and Honduras.  We also visited Cozumel, where I had been twice before.  NCL is noted for its "freestyle" dinner times, meaning there is no set time, table, or table companions.

Once I boarded the Norwegian Jade, I noticed on the schedule that there was a Solo Cruisers meeting scheduled for early that evening.  Since this was my first time on a cruise ship by myself, I decided to see what it was all about.  It turned out to be the most profound change to my life as a cruiser that I could have imagined.  A crew member is assigned to host the Solo Cruisers group by helping to arrange activities, seating together at dinner, and seating together at the shows in the theatre.  We had a very vibrant group of solo cruisers that week that knew how to have a good time.  My activities with various people in that group included dancing, zip lining in Honduras, and renting motor scooters to ride around Cozumel for four hours.

Not long after that cruise was complete, I decided to take a Mediterranean cruise.  This time, I would be on the Norwegian Epic, which actually has cabins designed for solo travelers.  I looked forward to meeting a new group of Solo Cruisers.

Rome

On July 4, I drove to Toronto for my flight to Rome.  Since I'm 6'5", flying coach in most aircraft is a nightmare for me due to the lack of adequate legroom.  Being an overnight flight, I decided it would be well worth the money for me to book a seat in Business Class. The seats there lay out flat.  It was the best decision I could have made!  I was so comfortable that I actually got four hours of sleep on the flight to Rome.

I took a train to Roma Terminii, the main train station.  My hotel was a five-minute walk from there. Once checked in, I walked to the Vatican and spent a few hours touring it.  If you want to tour the Vatican, I recommend purchasing tickets online ahead of time so you can skip a long ticket line.

I took many pictures during my walk through Rome.  It was hot.  I guess it never occurred to me that this part of Italy was in the tropics.

I also noticed that many of the high profile locations, including the Vatican, had armed guards posted around the perimeter.  That's a sign of the times, with so many terrorist acts being committed.

I had dinner at a restaurant near my hotel and spent one night in Rome before boarding my ship.

The Norwegian Epic

I took a train from Roma Terminii to Civitavecchia, where I was to board The Norwegian Epic.  There were hardly any people in the check-in area.  It wasn't until I was on the ship a bit later that I realized this ship was halfway through its cruise.  Most of the guests had boarded three days earlier in Barcelona, and would be leaving in another four days when the ship reached Barcelona again.  Thus, I was going to see a major change in the ship's population.

The Norwegian Epic is a huge ship.  I believe it's the largest one I've been on to this date.  It holds 4,100 passengers.  It has some features that I think work very well on a ship, and some features that don't excite me very much.  I love the group of solo cabins, along with the solo cruisers lounge.  There is some fancy, colorful lighting in this area that can set a relaxing or romantic mood, depending on how you want to look at it.  There is a large TV screen in the Atrium, with a dance/activity floor in front of it, that is used for a multiple of activities.  I think this is a great feature.

This ship is well-equipped for families.  We had over 1,000 kids on this cruise and they had various age-appropriate playrooms and lounges for them, as well as a water park, pools, and water slides. There is an adults-only pool in the back of the ship, but it's small and the biggest complaint I heard is that there is no shade in the adults-only area.  On the plus side, the adult pool has a bottom that rises to floor level at night and the whole area is converted to a dance floor for parties.

I noticed that the theatre was smaller than other ships I've been on.  Furthermore, they have a system where you need tickets to get into shows.  I found this very odd and I'm not fond of the idea.  Perhaps it's their way of dealing with a large number of passengers.

The Solo Cruisers

Norwegian Jade, March 2016

Norwegian Epic, 1st Solo Group, July 2016

Norwegian Epic, 2nd Solo Group, July 2016

The solo group I met in March on the Norwegian Jade was a very lively bunch.  Because we all got on and off the ship in the same port, we were able to bond for a full seven days.  In contrast, my Mediterranean itinerary had some people getting on or off at almost all of the ports.  The largest group was in Barcelona, where the cruise actually started and ended.  I got on in Civitavecchia, near Rome, which was halfway through the cruise.  So I had 4 nights with the first group and 3 nights with my second group.  There were a few others that got on and off at the same time I did.

On the Jade, most of my fellow cruisers seemed to come from the southwest, including Texas and some neighboring states.  Others were from Kansas City, Michigan, Illinois and California.  I believe I was the only one from New York.  On the Epic, most of my fellow solo cruisers were from Europe, including England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Holland, Luxembourg, one from Australia, and a couple from Canada. With my hearing issues, I had a rough time understanding some of the accents at first, but I started to get used to it. There were a few from the U.S., like myself.  With accents that I'm familiar with, I found it easier to talk to them.

There is a crew member assigned to host the solo cruisers group.  On the Jade, a guy by the name of Guida did a tremendous job for us.  He went above and beyond what I thought was necessary to keep the solo group happy.  He made dinner reservations for us every night so we could sit together and reserved a row of seats for us in the theatre for the nightly show.  He also arranged for tickets on the early tender to shore for those who wanted one.  He treated us to champagne and wine as well.  I believe he is continuously the solo cruise coordinator while on the ship, in addition to some other duties.

By contrast, on the Epic, the entertainment staff rotates the job of being solo cruise coordinator. When I boarded the ship in Rome, Krista was the coordinator.  After my first group got off in Barcelona, William was the coordinator for the next group.  Both of them were fun and energetic, and made arrangements for us to sit together at dinner every night. Both of them danced with the solo cruisers at the parties.  I'm not aware that they arranged any show tickets, but that might be because the Epic has a ticketing system that the Jade does not have. As I mentioned earlier, I found the ticketing system to be odd.  Maybe they just have to do that on larger ships.

In both cases, the solo group would get together every evening around 6:00 or so to socialize and then head for dinner.  We often decided on activities to do after dinner, including going to a show, going to the Karaoke bar, or going dancing somewhere.

It was great being able to meet such fun groups of people on these cruises.  I don't know what other cruise lines do for solo travelers, but I give Norwegian Cruise Line high marks for what they have organized.  There's no reason to feel alone if you book a cruise by yourself.

The Dancing Machine

I seem to have picked up a reputation for being a dancing machine.  I have to admit I like it!  I think the breaking point was the March cruise on the Norwegian Jade.  During that cruise, my solo cruise mates saw how much I was on the dance floor and started calling me a dancing machine.  That gave me the confidence to go out and dance whenever I had the urge, whether I had a partner or not.  One night I was on the floor for an hour and 40 minutes non-stop.

After I got back home from my March cruise, I had a couple of opportunities to be dancing with friends.  That kept my confidence up and made me even more daring.  Quite frankly, I have spent most of my life being quite shy about dancing with anyone other than my now ex-wife.

When I got on the Norwegian Epic and joined the solo cruisers, we went to a lounge for 70's disco night.  As soon as the beats started, I jumped out of my seat and said, "OK, who's with me?"  About four women went on the dance floor, too, and we danced as a group.  Later on, one of them told me that they were surprised I got out there so quickly as most men would not do that.

The entertainment staff was there to lead the crowd into disco dancing.  It is their job to stand up on the stage or at various points on the dance floor to encourage guests to get up and dance. They also show people how to do line dances.  Krista, our solo cruise director, was among them.  At one point, she grabbed me by the hand and led me backstage,  Four other men were also called up.  When I saw her pulling costume pieces out of a box, I realized we were about to be dressed as the Village People and dance to the YMCA.

We weren't exactly the characters in the Village People as the costume pieces were a bit ad hoc.  I ended up with a Mexican hat, a Mexican shawl, and a bandana around my face.  The entertainment crew made sure we knew the moves to the YMCA and then led us out on stage.  It was a blast!  No pictures for me, though, as my camera was upstairs in my room and none of my solo cruisemates were positioned to see what was happening on the stage.

After the costumes came off, I was back on the dance floor for the rest of the night.  I didn't know any of the  modern music but it was a good beat and I could groove to it.  Some of the songs were starting to grow on me by the end of the cruise.

The next night, a Celebrity Dance Off contest was scheduled, similar to the TV show, which I have never watched.  In this case, the entertainment staff are the celebrities, so Krista asked us solo cruisers to come watch and support her and cheer her on in the competition.  I think about eight of us went.  When I arrived, Krista asked me to put my  name in the bucket to be a contestant!  I said I had no idea what to do, but she said it was all for fun, and that I should try it.  So I gave in and signed up. The celebrities consisted of three men and three women crew members, plus three judges.  All six of the entertainment staff plus the cruise director and assistant cruise director are involved.

The celebrity dancers had to pull names of guests out of a bucket.  Three women pulled three men's names out, and three men pulled three women's names.

Krista pulled my name out!  She says it wasn't planned that way, but hmmm......!   In any case, I think she was happy she got her solo cruiser guest, and I was happy to have her as a partner.

The first three dances were all six couples.  We all danced as the judges watched.  At the end of each dance, the judges gave their opinions of each couple, then each judge decided which was the best couple and which was the worst couple.  If any couple was chosen "worst" by more than one judge, then that couple was automatically eliminated.

As we launched into the first dance, I had no idea what we were going to do.  I let her take the lead.  From there, we improvised together and it seemed to work.  I was too focused on what we were doing to notice what the other couples were doing.  At the end of the first round, we got one "best" vote and one "worst" vote.  But we survived!

For the second round, based on comments I got a bit braver with some moves.  I included some moves that I remember doing in college, like dropping down to the floor, push-up style.  Once again, we survived!  I was feeling pretty good that I was making progress in a dance competition, something I never fathomed myself doing.

Up to this point, I had not noticed that we were on the giant TV screen behind us.  I made a comment to Krista about it and she said it was being recorded for the ship's TV broadcast.  I thought, "Cool, now I can get a recording of this!"

For round three, one of the judges had said we should do the "Flamingo."  So we got goofy and imitated flamingos by standing on one leg and flapping our arms like wings.  Another judge didn't like it, so we and two other couples were put up for a vote by the audience.  We were eliminated. There was a quick moment of disappointment, but I truly felt like I was having fun with this.

We went into a TV studio in the next room, called the Loser's Lounge to do an interview about "what happened out there."  They wanted us to act like sore losers, so we played along.  It was part of a larger skit involving the previous two losing couples.  Then I went back out to sit with my solo cruisemates and watch the rest of the show.

NCL is not allowed to sell DVD's of this competition, but later on I managed to record the whole show off the TV in my room with my Droid.

The next big dance event was White Hot Night, where everyone is supposed to dress up in white.  On the previous cruise aboard the Jade, the solo cruisers wanted to wear togas.  We were prepared to use bed sheets to make togas, but our solo cruise director got real togas for us.  No such luck on this cruise; no one but me wanted to wear a toga.  So I wore a white shirt and lightly tanned pants.  The party was outside on the back deck, where a huge TV screen hovered over us.

As with all the dances, the six members of the entertainment team were there to get the party started. There is a small riser that they stand on.  They were all getting to know me and my crazy dancing by now, so I was invited to dance on the riser with them.  I loved having the high view of the activity and I took the opportunity to record some video, especially with some of my solo cruisemates being there.

The next night was an 80's music night, and I was SO into it!

Midcruise for me was Barcelona, where most of the passengers got off and new ones came on.  That afternoon they had a departure party on the pool deck.  The entertainment team was out there again and so was I.

I was disappointed that I had lost most of the first solo group, who were a bunch of enthusiastic dancers, so I quickly tried to find out who the dancers were in the group of new arrivals.  I managed to get a few of my new solo cruisemates dancing with me that night.

The next night was the "Night Out" party on the back deck again.  Just like the "White Hot Night" party, I was ready to hit the dance floor as soon as the music began.  The entertainment team was out there to get people moving again, and I was on the floor with them, along with a few other solo dancers.

Not many other people were out there to start.  The videographer was shooting, so I hammed it up with a goofy dance and the shot ended up in the final video for the TV broadcast.  Not long after that, they said they were going to choose the best couple of the night.  They chose me and Charlotte, from Luxembourg!  We each got a shot of Blue Lagoon.  I don't think I've done any shots in 30 years! Then they did a quick interview with Charlotte and me for the TV broadcast.  Charlotte is an opera singer and also sang some pop songs in the Karaoke lounge.  I even jumped up on stage when she was singing "Walk Like An Egyptian" to do the Egyptian moves.  That got a round of applause, ha ha!

The next night was my last night on the ship.  At dinner, there was a live band playing dinnertime music.  One of the new solo cruisers, whose name I can't remember (I'll call her Minnesota, where she's from), commented that she wanted to dance a waltz, as she had never really done one with her ex-husband of 20 years.  I asked her if she'd like to do one with me and she said yes.  I have the feel for it, but I'm not that great a teacher.  We did all right.  She seemed to enjoy it and appreciate it.

Later, at the Fiesta dance, I had one final night of dancing with the entertainment staff and my solo cruisemates.  Minnesota was there and I spent my last dances on the cruise with her.  We tried doing some couple-style Latin dances but neither one of us was very good at it.

I really appreciate the fact that the whole entertainment team went the extra mile for me, and they were all so nice and we had a lot of fun through the whole cruise.  I wrote up a nice review for them on a guest comment card.

Pisa/Florence, Italy

My first stop was Livorno, Italy, where we docked.  I took a day-long excursion to visit Pisa and Florence.

No matter how many times I've seen pictures of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, it looked really odd to see it in person.  Yes, there really is a building amongst other buildings that is leaning.  I don't know how else to describe it but it just looks so out of place.  I took a bunch of pictures and then bought a ticket to climb to the top of it.  The staircase winds around inside the outer wall.  There is no railing.  You are climbing a staircase that, because of the leaning building, on one side you feel yourself shifting one way on the steps, and on the other side you are shifting the other way.  The wall is worn smooth from so many hands pressing up against it as people steady themselves going up and down the stairs. At the top, there is a great view in all directions.  And there is a bell, too.  Oh yeah...so that's why they built the tower.  It's to keep a bell at the top.  Pain and simple, it is a bell tower.

We had an hour to visit Pisa and then the bus moved on to Florence.  I seriously did not do my homework for this city because I had no idea what was there.  Four hours to kill, and only with an hour and a half left did I realize that this is where the famous statue of David resides.  I missed out on that one.  But I did spend time walking around the city and I visited another art museum, the Bargello Museum.  I found the artwork there to be just as impressive as what I imagine the statue of David to be.

Cannes, France

Well, what can I say?  Cannes has to be the most beautiful city I have ever seen.  The mix of classy hotels, gardens, landscaping, mountain scenery, historic old buildings, ocean and beaches is just what I imagine the perfect, romantic vacation spot to be.  It's no wonder filmmakers love it so much.  We had to take a tender to get to shore, which is fine with me, because I think it would ruin the beachfront if they built a pier big enough to handle large cruise ships.  Once I got to shore, I discovered the beautiful beaches.

I bought a ticket to ride a touring train/tram that rides through the streets.  It was an hour-long, narrated ride, just enough for me to get a relaxing view of what the city has to offer.  After that, I decided I needed to go to the beach.  So, I took the tender to the ship, changed into my bathing suit, and took the tender back to the beach again.  I spent about an hour laying in the sun and swimming.

Marseilles, France

Cannes was a tough act to follow, so Marseilles didn't excite me much at first.  There are a large number of ferry boats that dock there, especially ones going across the Mediterranean to Africa.  We got caught in a traffic jam of cars lining up to board the ferry boats.  But once past that, we headed up the mountain to visit Notre Dame de la Garde.  It is a tremendous piece of architecture dominating the city skyline, and offering in turn a tremendous view of the city and nearby mountains.  During the Nazi occupation in World War II, they took it over because of its high vantage to control the city. You can see bullet pock marks on the walls of the building from a fierce firefight that occurred there during the War.

Back in the city, we were given some time to walk around on our own.  I took a ride on the large Ferris wheel by the fish markets.

Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain, and was host to the 1992 World Olympics.  Our tour there was on a Sunday morning, meaning we didn't have much traffic to deal with.  We passed the sites of the Olympic venues, and then toured the streets of the city.  We stopped to walk to La Sagrada Familia Basilica, which has been under construction since 1882.

We also went to the historical Gothic section of Barcelona, which is where the city originated during the time of the Roman Empire.

Naples, Italy (Pompeii, Sorrento, Capri)

My last port on this cruise was Naples.  I didn't actually spend any time in Naples; I took a 10-hour tour with stops in Pompeii, Sorrento and Capri.

Like Pisa, Pompeii is another historical place where the pictures don't do it justice.  There are very intact buildings giving you an idea of what life in this ancient city must have been like.  I suppose, for archaeological reasons, the volcanic ash did a great job of keeping the structures preserved through the centuries so that us gawkers of the past few hundred years can see what they had.  The price they paid was horrible; the volcano that looms overhead spewed gas that made them choke to death wherever they happened to be, while ash covered the entire city.  Their bodies ultimately decayed, leaving empty cavities.  Once these cavities were discovered, they were filled with some kind of plaster or concrete, creating the form of the body that shaped it.  Adults, children and pets were all found.  The whole experience was very sobering.

From Pompeii, we drove to Sorrento, a beautiful city that sits on a cliff.  The tour group stopped here for lunch and then had time to walk around the main square and its nearby shops.  Then we took the series of steps and ramps down the side of the cliff to walk past the beaches to the ferry boat.

At this point, we were done with the tour bus.  From Sorrento we would take the ferry to the island of Capri, and then a ferry from Capri back to the pier to meet our ship.   Once off the ferry in Capri, you can take a tram up the mountainside to the main square.  Capri, of course, is very beautiful and lives up to its romantic image.  I spent a little bit of time walking around, but being that it was mid-afternoon in 90-degree heat, I had had quite enough of being a tourist.  I wanted to get back to the ship, take a shower, and be cool.  I pictured coming back to Capri someday, in cooler weather, with someone special.  So I asked the tour guide if it was possible for me to take an earlier ferry boat back to the ship.  I did.

Rome, Part 2

After my cruise ended, I spent one more night in Rome before flying home.  I had purchased a ticket to tour the Coliseum.  It only took me about 35 minutes to get through the "bypass the line" line, ha ha!  I wonder how long I would have had to wait if I'd gone through the regular ticket line.

This is yet another well-known landmark for which pictures don't do justice.  It was pretty epic to see it and walk through it in person.  It has an amazing history that I never knew about.  Rather than describe it all here (because I'm tired of typing), I encourage the reader to Google the Coliseum and read its history yourself.

After that, I went back to the hotel and crashed for the night.  My exhausting week of dancing and touring European cities in 90-degree heat had come to an end.  What awaited me was a 9-hour airline flight, relaxing in a cozy stretch-out seat in Business Class!  Ahhhhhh!

Summarizing My Tourist Thoughts

One of the reasons I enjoy cruise ships so much is the same reason some people don't like cruise ships:  The visits in many ports are short.  That suits me just fine.  I am not a shopper.  I came back to the U.S. with "zero dollars" on my Declaration Card because I didn't buy anything.  I am happy to look around and take pictures.  I'm sure I pass up opportunities to enjoy some nice meals ashore, but I prefer to eat the meals that are included in the cruise fare, so I generally don't eat anything when I'm on an excursion.  Call me cheap, or whatever.  Maybe when I have someone special travelling with me again, I'll take time to stop and smell the rosey flavors emanating to sidewalk cafes in romantic getaways.  Until then, I'm happy to spend my dollars for experiences only.

Random Thoughts and Observations

This was the smoothest cruise I have ever been on.  The sea waters were relatively smooth to begin with, but the ship's modern stabilizers made it so that I did not feel the ship rock at all the whole week.  NOT ONCE!!

Are there any Italians that DON"T smoke?

Why are there young women with babies sitting on the sidewalks, begging?

Italian drivers are crazy!  I witnessed one fender bender accident and passed the scene of two others.

Italian jaywalkers are even crazier.

I think Cannes is the most beautiful city I have ever seen.

Italians don't put butter on their bread.

I got on the ship and Britain had one Prime Minister.  I got off the ship and Britain had another Prime Minister.  Meanwhile, the political arguments in the U.S. continued to drag on.  And some silly Pokemon game made people lose their sanity!

Music really makes me high.

Living in Rochester as a child, I had the sense that Lake Ontario to the north was the top of the world. I couldn't comprehend that there was a huge country beyond those waters.  While flying over Canada, I could see how puny Lake Ontario is.  Yes, there is a HUGE country to the north!