…not a commentary title, I’ve been catching up on Nerdist podcasts and I almost died when I heard this was a magnet on CM Punk’s refrigerator.  And who KNEW that Tom Morello may be *THE* coolest guy EVER??!  I less than 3 you Chris Hardwick!!!!!

Wednesday, our boxes finally were offloaded onto the ship where we could access them.  Funny thing?  There are words printed ON the boxes that don’t necessarily say THIS END UP but imply such and often, a giant arrow is the universal sign for up, yet…at first all the WARDROBE boxes were on their sides and then when we said, stand these upright…some were turned upside down.  Lost in translation or it’s just that sea thing…13 miles out anything goes?  HOWEVER, in typical awesomeness…we unpacked the 53 boxes in about 6 hours.  Currently, about 97% of the alterations are completed for what we’ve got and we’re just waiting for the rest of the stuff to arrive from CA.  …yes…there is still more to come.

Our luggage FINALLY arrived on Thursday evening.  What craziness THAT was!!  Once the bags got to Rome the port agent there was working to arrange transport with the port agent here.  Each gave us different information…which was also completely different from what the airline said…and all THAT was different depending on whether WE called, an Italian speaking ship person called and which Joe was on the other end.  45 different stories from 11 people.  AMAZING!  But it arrived and it was JUST as it was when we closed the bags in LA!

We went back into the city on Friday afternoon.  There is this store called KIKO that we seem to always pass.  It’s a makeup store (?)…there is an advertisement for mascara 3,54 Euro on the window but EVERY time we go past, there is a line down the block to get in!  It’s bizarre!  We had dinner at a pizzeria.  Soooooo good!  Better than the pizza was the cappuccino.  Holy crap!  Why doesn’t coffee THAT good come in a Venti?!?

I had to go back to the ship’s doctor and was given a Z-pak (?) for my sinus infection.  It’s starting to clear up but the “sea sickness” thing is still happening.  It’s getting a little better but I still feel like I’m going to fall over most of the time.  Seriously, this is NOT normal.  Odd, but true.  There really is only so much water I can drink and since the water is shut off most days…it REALLY makes me NOT want to drink ALL the water so…I suffer…sigh…

Now about this dry dock thing…they are working on the ship, obviously.  The big thing is they have added a bunch of fancy new cabins on the top of the ship.  They craned in this giant hunk of metal and have been welding it on all week.  The carpets are being replaced in various parts of the ship and general maintenance is happening.  Which means…there are all sorts of crazy stinks EVERYwhere!  Glue, varnish, metal paneling, sanded wood, welding, etc.  The water is shut off from about 7a-8p supposedly on varying floors but it always seems to be 1…where all the people are.  The electricity goes out periodically for however long it’s out.  They try to give a heads up but…  However, the most useful thing in all this chaos has become my new workout regime.  The fire/watertight door workout.  When the magnets get turned off, the doors close.  ALL of them.  There are 7 doors between my cabin and the theater.  I think they weigh close to 8 tons and the only way to get anywhere on the ship is through them.  There are a couple doors that have air blowing around them in kind of a back draft effect and THOSE are the BEST!!!  I have to put both feet on the wall for leverage to the get the door open.  Never mind going the other way when I have to push.  The hardest part is remembering which shoulder I used last time to throw myself into the door.  Gotta keep it even!!

But it’s really not so bad.  The food is decent, beer and wine is a dollar and while the internet is slow (263 mins to d/l Doctor Who from iTunes GAH!) it’s still faster than most days in Russia and there are 2-3 movie channels that rotate 2 movies/day/channel.  They are even pretty good movies!  Last night was Avengers and some Sean Connery movie (w Nick Cage?) on 1 channel and Hunger Games on another.

We are going to take another day to be a tourist and check out the city…just gotta get the shows ready to go up first.

An odd rainbow over the Opera house.

Ray and Kristin…and their beers.

City center.

Our menu…and part of Mekhell.

Looking down the street

Random cafe…Guido served me the BEST fresh OJ!!! (seriously, his name is Guido.)

Palermo Opera House

The city off the water side of the dry dock.

I really wanted to get a pic of these boys “Parker Lewis” dos…and they provided.

We sailed from a port outside Rome to Palermo.  It was fine!!  And then we dry docked…we have been out of water for over 24 hours and *I’m* still moving.  The turbulence is CRAZY!  We finally got some information on our luggage.  They found it!!  And were waiting for the “other 2 bags.”  Mine…because they had no record of them transferring and making it to Rome with me.  Alitalia…DON’T EVER FLY WITH THEM!!!

The costumes that were sent ahead are still not off the container.  So…we went shopping yesterday.  We probably would have anyway since we are all tired of wearing the same thing everyday.  It was good.  We may go back into town today, this time to check out the city.

The luggage update is…if the bags arrived here at 9:15p yesterday as they were “supposed” to, we will have them later this morning.

dry dock

Sunset at sea

Arriving in Palermo

Sunrise in Rome

So, after much excitement at LAX, being told, “no, you get *1* carry on item!” on a Trans Atlantic red eye, much rearranging of things and bags, the 3 peeps of wardrobe arrive in Rome with a total of… 2 personal bags (of the typical carry on nature), and 2 of the 5 costume suitcases. Everything else is still in Paris. 2 flights to Rome have passed after the one the bags originally missed and some how they missed both of those. WORST airline ever!!! I won’t even mention the overage that was paid to get the bags on the flight in the first place. I am one WITH one of my bags so I do have pj’s, 1 change of clothes and my toothbrush, because I’m a paranoid packer like that, but UGH!!!! Extreme thanks to whichever of the 3300 Indian gods, I sent the peanut butter ahead in the pack out!!!

It was a full flight and I got put right in the middle of South High’s band!!! And in front of a VERY popular other-Jamie! And me, w/o my ear plugs!! A little crushed Valium in there dinners and they were all out pretty quickly. Mwahahahahaha! The plane had a camera on the tail so you could watch the plane take off and land. Maybe not the best idea at LAX where the planes have a freakishly close choreography! I kept thinking about how this could be a new Eli Roth movie that’s kind of a Clockwork Orange/Final Destination mash up. Actually, THAT would have made a better ending to LOST!!!! Guy trapped on a plane with body & eye restraints as the plane plummets into the ocean all the while some amazing classical piece (performed by the high school band) plays in the background…just like in his nightmare! Freddy & Jason play in-flight hosts, or whatever they’re called and wait! Is that Robert Hays passed out in the cockpit? Omigawd, THIS could be GOOD! Now where can we stick Sam Jackson…

There is no sleep til Brooklyn and we weren’t going there, so I watched 5 movies!!!! Hitchcock, HOW did I miss this????????? A…HITCHCOCK!!! B…remarkable cast!!! Dare I say Scarlet was good? Of course, she was playing an ACTUAL someone else in an iconic role, but I liked her!! It was so how it should be! Wreck It Ralph was cute. Silver Linings Playbook…I napped and don’t think I missed much, but it was funny in a neurotic kind of way. Bachelorette…catch it ONLY if its free. Fun cast (Rebel Wilson, Kirsten Dunst, Cyclops…umm…James Marsden) but was just weird, mean and not really funny! #5…Life of Pi. WOW! I wish I’d seen that in the theater!!!!!!

Today we go to the ship in a weird named city about an hour away and cruise to Palermo for dry dock. It’s 3 am and I’m wide awake probably because its only 6p in CA…or cuz i just don’t sleep well much of the time. But, here’s to hoping I don’t get seasick! Cuz all my extra decongestants, migraine meds & B vits are in Paris! Meh…always an adventure!