11 more days…according to the crew manifest.
I can manage to not go insane for 11 more days…
Somehow…
Of course today I had Venice to distract myself with, and that’s always a rather fantastic thing.
When we arrived this morning Venice was smothered under a thick blanket of fog and it remained so until quite late in the morning, this was actually quite wonderful as it cut down on both the crowds and the heat, but it didn’t last long as the sun will blaze through almost anything around here and soon enough we were making our way with shielded eyes and sun-reddened skin through the streets of mask vendors and pizzarias.
I am still deeply craving real Italian pasta…I must get some before I leave this part of the world.
While the latter part of my morning was spent in an exhausting power-walk back from St Marc’s square (we had miscalculated how much time we needed to get back in time for our respective shifts and that meant moving fast in the direct Venetian heat) – the rest of my morning was spent ambling pleasantly from place to place, sampling whatever bakery we felt like buying something from, and picking up the various knickknacks I’d had my eye on last time I was here. Miraculously I managed to find everything, although the mask I’d had my eye on prior to this jumped about three times in price since the last time I was here so I ended up getting another (nicer and cheaper) instead.
Also among the not-so-random purchases was the throw pillow I’d seen last cruise. Woven in a tapestry style in ice blues and silvers with a classic carnival mask, it’s probably going to be the latest addition to my little cabin-in-a-bag. I swear eventually I’m going to give in and buy my own curtains for my bunk beds…since there’s certainly no rule that says we can’t do such a thing. Picked up my patches for my duffel bag (the lap-top bag, after three and a half years of travel, is finally full and is sadly showing signs of wearing out so I’m having to find something new to make into a visual passport 😉 ) and a calendar as I forgot to pack mine. Found out when I got back ‘home’ that it wasn’t a proper large-square calendar but it’ll at least give me something to keep track of the days. Perhaps I’ll just make my own somehow….hmm…I wonder how one would go about doing that….
Anyway, as usual I digress.
Though if I manage to not go mad in the next two weeks I will be very impressed with myself. Seriously, I never knew that keeping a fun secret could be this HARD! I mean, big serious secrets? Secrets that people give to me in confidence that imply massive levels of trust and such, what my family and I call ‘glass vase’ secrets? Those are no problem for me at all…but THIS kind of secret? Apparently this is much more challenging than I anticipated.
In the meantime I’m attempting to distract myself with the usual controlled chaos of embark day. This is a particularly odd one since we’re still in port until tomorrow so it feels like it should be a standard port day but it isn’t. We have a slowly dropping number of CVG guests, in fact when I loaded the manifest this morning I was convinced that I’d made a mistake because I could only spot a handful – so come the end of the month there will be a massive turnover in both guests and crew (the whole band changes over for one thing, well, most of them).
Honestly, nothing really seems to be able to upset me much this contract. It’s one of those seasons where things just seem to be going right.
One odd thing? I haven’t embroidered at all so far this contract. Not one single solitary stitch. I’m not sure if this is just because I’m missing a colour (which has never stopped me in the past) or because I have a roommate (also never stopped me) or if it’s because I haven’t…needed to. Through no fault of my own I seem to have crept somewhat out of my cave. This is very unusual for me….I think I’m still getting used to it.
Of course it helps that I keep falling deeper in love with this part of the world every time I set foot in port…