I love languages and was a Spanish teacher at the middle school level for fourteen years! Recently, I enjoyed learning Merry Christmas in many languages! Merry Christmas in Italian, in Spanish and in Portuguese and how they say it in the Philippines! What a welcoming worldwide greeting!
Lin and I just got back from a cruise touring Spain and Italy. It ended up in Portugal. Holiday decorations appeared at the beginning of December, so I decided I wanted to learn how each country said Merry Christmas. I added a couple of new “Merry Christmas” greetings to my repertoire. In each country, I practiced as much as possible and received lots of smiles, giggles and responses when I said Merry Christmas in their languages. I greeted shop clerks, workers at the airport and anyone I could! Practice was important for retention—the teacher came out in me.
I learned how to say “Merry Christmas” in Spanish years ago as a Spanish teacher—Feliz Navidad! And One of my favorite Christmas songs is Jose Feliciano’s “Feliz Navidad.” However, it’s pronounced differently here in the United States and Mexico than Spain:
One of our waiters on the cruise shared with me how to say Merry Christmas in the Phillipines, so here it is. It sounds musical!
How to say Merry Christmas in several different languages
This is a worldwide holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, so I enjoyed seeing the decorations in the different countries that mirrored what we see here in the United States: twinkling lights, Santa Claus, Nativities, and season’s greetings, and I loved learning these greetings.
Can you say Merry Christmas in different languages? Check out these videos I’ve listed and share them with your family and friends.
~For me, it’s Christmas all year long!Here’s a variety of Christmas greetings from Flippo & Neeca, featuring his song, “When It’s Christmas Time in Texas”: https://youtu.be/mpJCUGffU3A
~My new book, Coronavirus Reflections: Bitter or Better? WON the 2022 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards in the Body, Mind & Spirit Category. Have you bought your copy yet?
~Wish You Were Here: A Novel by Jodi Picoult, one of my favorite authors, deals with the COVID pandemic in fiction as opposed to my nonfiction book. Check it out! Interesting story!
~MY FIRST AUDIOBOOK IS AVAILABLE: Go to Audible to buy my first audiobook, Let Me Tell You a Story. I’m working on Coronavirus Reflections: Bitter or Better? but have gotten stalled with shingles.
~Do you listen to podcasts? Here are three podcasts with interviews about my new book & some Flippo stories:
~Have you bought a copy of Flippo’s biography yet? Believe it or not—it’s been two years. Go here for your hardback or paperback: https://www.laradasbooks.com or at Amazon.
Our first two ports onboard the Norwegian Epic moved us to France and then on to Italy. What breathtaking sights we saw!
October 3—Cannes, France
We procrastinated on our excursions for this cruise, so the flamboyant trips to Monaco and Monte Carlo were full. We chose a delightful excursion to Nice, France, weaving our way through the streets of a quaint town on a small “train” (motorized).
Little Train in Nice, France
Our ship couldn’t dock at the port at Cannes, so the morning began with a tender ride to Cannes, which always adds to the day. Because of my still experiencing neuralgia from shingles, my doctor said I might experience motion sickness, so I bought bands my husband uses. Thankfully, the ship and the tender didn’t cause motion sickness.
As we traveled through Cannes, I’ve heard of this place my whole life with the Film Festival—I couldn’t believe I was there. It felt surreal as we passed a mural of Marilyn Monroe the full size of the building. From Cannes, we traveled by bus twenty-seven miles to Nice, following the coast and seeing the allure of the beautiful French Riviera with sparkling turquoise water.
Horserace Track
On this trip, I enjoyed seeing a horserace track between Cannes and Nice, actually at Cagnes sur Mer—my country roots!
Repeatedly, we saw boats, boats and more boats—all sizes but mostly gigantic yachts!
Palace Hotel Le Negresco
In Nice, we passed the massive Palace Hotel Le Negresco, a landmark. “Staying at Le Negresco is like jumping into a joyous mixture of eras and styles. Contemporary artists, masterpieces, monumental sculptures… Le Negresco owes its well-respected identity to its important collection of artwork and period furniture with over 6,000 references.”
And the centerpiece of the square is the Sun Fountain with Apollo standing regal and powerful.
Larada at the Sun Fountain with Apollo statue
After our tour, we had a little free time here and went to a restaurant to get a drink, but mostly to use their restroom. We asked the owner if we would be served in 10-15 minutes—she said, “No!” So, I asked if we could use her bathroom. She saw our age and kindly said, “Yes!”
When we returned to Cannes, we walked around the port and took in the beauty. One thing I notice were the outrageous size of yachts and number of them!
At the end of the day, we tendered back to our ship. I had to deal with our internet package, and the line to the tech was way too long. I ended up figuring out our problem with the help of a woman in line.
That night we saw the “Burn the Floor, The Ultimate Ballroom Sensation!” What a great show it was! They moved from Viennese Waltz to the Latin influence to contemporary dance.
October 4—Livorno, Italy port; visited Florence & Pisa
The next day began early at 5:30 AM and then we went to breakfast. We ported at Livorno, grabbed our tour bus and headed to Florence or Firenze to the Italians for an hour and a half ride. I thoroughly enjoyed the ride through the countryside, seeing a castle on a hill and beautiful green fields.
Our guide, Claudia, began immediately sharing information about the area we traveled through.
Ponte Vecchio bridge
When we arrived in Florence, we did a walking tour through town. First, we saw the Ponte Vecchio bridge that was bombed during World War II.
Replica of David
Then we walked to Piazza della Signoria, the square where the famous David statue used to be, but now we saw a replica of David—he’s so big! This was one statue I was so anxious to see! David was featured in a square where there were many statues. We also saw there the Poseidon fountain and Equestrian Monument of Cosimo I.
Claudia shared fascinating stories as we walked like you can see Galileo’s index finger from his right hand in a museum. The church cut it off because he used that figure to show them the rotation of the earth.
Dante Statue
Also, Dante wasn’t buried in a church because in Divine Comedy, he has a pope in “the Eighth Circle of Hell.” We saw his statue in Piazza Santa Croce, outside the Basilica of Santa Croce.
Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore
We also saw the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, a massive, beautiful church.
Then we had free time in this square, and I bought a beautiful leather handbag and reversal belt. Lin bought a wallet. And Lin squeezed in a gelato break for us before lunch.
Next we ate lunch where Claudia’s husband was a chef. We had vegetarian lasagna and chianti. Lin sampled the chianti; I had water. Then we had prime rib and potatoes and a delicious dessert.
Lin and I with the Leaning Tower in the backgroundLarada with fun pose—catching the towerLin with fun pose—catching the tower!
From there we drove to Pisa and didn’t nap. We enjoyed driving through the Tuscany landscape. My new camera’s battery died! We walked to the Leaning Tower of Pisa near the Cathedral and Baptistery. We took lots of fun picture (using my iPhone), taking cues from creative people. Lin had another gelato, and I had a Fanta.
Our trip back to Livorno from Pisa was shorter. This excursion day exhausted me with so much walking, so I napped until 8:30 PM. We had a light dinner and turned in early.
I’ll end with a haiku I wrote that summarized our first three days:
Three countries, three days
Spain, France and Italy—Wow!
Connected by smiles!
Have you been to Cannes? Florence? Pisa? Share your experience with me.
~My new book, Coronavirus Reflections: Bitter or Better? WON the 2022 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards in the Body, Mind & Spirit Category. Have you bought your copy yet?
~Wish You Were Here: A Novel by Jodi Picoult, one of my favorite authors, deals with the COVID pandemic in fiction as opposed to my nonfiction book. Check it out! Interesting story!
~MY FIRST AUDIOBOOK IS AVAILABLE: Go to Audible to buy my first audiobook, Let Me Tell You a Story. I’m working on Coronavirus Reflections: Bitter or Better? but have gotten stalled with shingles.
~Do you listen to podcasts? Here are three podcasts with interviews about my new book & some Flippo stories:
~Have you bought a copy of Flippo’s biography yet? Believe it or not—it’s been two years. Go here for your hardback or paperback: https://www.laradasbooks.com or at Amazon.
~For me, it’s Christmas all year long! Here’s a variety of Christmas greetings from Flippo & Neeca, featuring his song, “When It’s Christmas Time in Texas”: https://youtu.be/mpJCUGffU3A
I walked and walked and walked for a two-week total of 193,199 steps! Julius Caesar’s famous quote: “I came, I saw, I conquered” inspired me for today’s topic. Lin and I just got home last night from an eleven-day Mediterranean cruise with a two-day extension before in Barcelona, Spain and a two-day extension in Rome, Italy. On almost all of our excursions, we walked!
MY STEP COUNT FOR THE TRIP=193,199:
September 29–4594—Flight day to Barcelona, Spain
September 30–0—Barcelona—my FitBit wasn’t working!
October 1–272—Barcelona: we did lots of walking, so my FitBit must have not been charged!
October 2–10387—Left Barcelona on the ship
October 3–14047—Cannes, France
October 4–15176—Livorno, Italy port; visited Florence & Pisa
October 5–18517—Naples, Italy; visited Pompeii
October 6–7126—Messina, Italy
October 7–12070—Kotor, Montenegro
October 8–9241—Corfu, Greece
October 9–17067—Santorini Island, Greece
October 10–16003—Piraeus Italy; visited Athens
October 11–12227—Mykonos, Italy
October 12–10605—At Sea
October 13–12231—Rome, Italy
October 14–26323—Rome, Italy
October 15–7313—Flew Home
Some of these days’ totals don’t reflect that day’s activity because of the seven to nine-hour difference in time zones from ours in New Mexico, but they are close.
But we had to walk! How else could you see the ruins at Pompeii? Or the mind-blowing Acropolis in Athens? Or the massive colosseum in Rome?
I Walked the Most in Rome!
My largest walking day was in Rome, Italy, on October 14, where we followed suggestions given by the desk clerk at our hotel and wandered around from site to site. Lin’s amazing map reading skills made this possible. Then we had an excursion that evening where we moved from restaurant to restaurant sampling traditional Italian food. I walked 26323 steps in one day and ended up with busted blood vessels on my right leg from this action-packed day!
For the next few weeks of my blog posts, plan on traveling with me. We had such a fantastic time; I want to share this trip with you! I haven’t downloaded my pictures yet, so I shared none of mine today, but be ready for some great shots!
Finally,
As I walked where centuries ago many people walked, I felt in touch with those ancient ones. Are you a traveler? Have been to this part of the world? What was your experience?
~My new book, Coronavirus Reflections: Bitter or Better? WON the 2022 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards in the Body, Mind & Spirit Category. I’M SO EXCITED!
~Wish You Were Here: A Novel by Jodi Picoult, one of my favorite authors, deals with the COVID pandemic in fiction as opposed to my nonfiction book. Check it out! Interesting story!
~MY FIRST AUDIOBOOK IS AVAILABLE: Go to Audible to buy my first audiobook, Let Me Tell You a Story. I’m working on Coronavirus Reflections: Bitter or Better? but have gotten stalled with shingles.
~Do you listen to podcasts? Here are three podcasts with interviews about my new book & some Flippo stories:
~Have you bought a copy of Flippo’s biography yet? Believe it or not—it’s been two years. Go here for your hardback or paperback: https://www.laradasbooks.com or at Amazon.
~For me, it’s Christmas all year long! Here’s a variety of Christmas greetings from Flippo & Neeca, featuring his song, “When It’s Christmas Time in Texas”: https://youtu.be/mpJCUGffU3A
