CRUISE IS ITALIAN-AMERICAN.Byline: -- Audrey Ramsay Prest NAPLES, Italy -- The jet lag jet lag Period of adjustment of biological rhythm after moving from one time zone to another, experienced as fatigue and lowered efficiency. It reflects a delay in the synchronization of changes in the level of blood cortisol, the major steroid produced by the adrenal cortex I was prepared for, with Italy being nine hours ahead of Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. . But the culture lag on a 10-day cruise of the western Mediterranean was unexpected and unsettling un·set·tle v. un·set·tled, un·set·tling, un·set·tles v.tr. 1. To displace from a settled condition; disrupt. 2. To make uneasy; disturb. v.intr. . Just when my travel companions and I would acclimate to a country and language, we'd be back in America each time we reboarded our ship, Holland America Line's Westerdam. Most of the nearly 2,000 passengers were American, the food was American, the air conditioning air conditioning, mechanical process for controlling the humidity, temperature, cleanliness, and circulation of air in buildings and rooms. Indoor air is conditioned and regulated to maintain the temperature-humidity ratio that is most comfortable and healthful. and other amenities were American. Even the Indonesian and Filipino crew members were fluent in American idioms. Our vacation began with two days in Rome, staying at a tiny hotel that shared a building with apartments. Canova Tadolini Residenza was just a few blocks from the famed Spanish Steps The Spanish Steps (Italian: Scalinata della Trinità dei Monti) is a set of steps in Rome, Italy, climbing a steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by Trinità dei Monti, the church that was under the patronage of , and our window overlooked a bustling street that was lined with chic shops and apartments whose front doors looked like ours. Maps and Italian phrase books in hand, we walked for miles exploring this frantic but fascinating city. We absorbed the atmosphere, some of the language and a fair amount of pasta and gelato ge·la·to n. pl. ge·la·ti An Italian ice cream or ice. [Italian, from past participle of gelare, to freeze; see gelatin.] . But the moment we boarded the ship in Rome's port of Civitavecchia, Italy slipped away and we were back in the U.S. Disembarking the next morning at Monte Carlo was like leaving home again -- this time with French as the official language, Italian the second and some English spoken by shop clerks in the touristy areas. And so it went with each port of call, where we took our limited Italian and Spanish skills ashore and then "went home" to the ship. The exception was Tunis. It seemed that everyone on our tour bus gave a sigh of relief on leaving that North African city. It felt too foreign for comfort. The ship's air conditioning, ice tea and salad bar were especially welcome after the heat and crowds of the old souk (bazaar). Even the ever-present dispenser of Purell hand sanitizer sanitizer a sanitizing product capable of cleaning and disinfecting; usually a formulation containing a disinfectant and a detergent. at the base of the gangway was good to see. |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion