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Ponta Delgada, Sao Miguel, the Azores, 1985 |
Update: It is almost January 2005. I haven't visited my Virtual Tourist page too often, but I do love the idea of this wonderful Web site. My goal is to add more content to my VT page. I hope you're all doing well!
Ponta Delgada, Sao Miguel, the Azores, January 1985.
Welcome to my travel page! You can see a picture of me and my beautiful niece Kara above! Long before Kara was a twinkle in either my brother's or my eventual (and much-loved) sister-in-law's eye, I was enlisted in the U.S. Navy for five years. During that time I deployed with the USS Richard E. Byrd (DDG 23) on a Mediterranean cruise as well as a North Atlantic cruise. Both were six months in duration and wonderful opportunities to see parts of the world I otherwise wouldn't have seen.
I kept a diary for part of the time I was in the service. I'm going to post some of the trivia that my 20-something self included in that diary. Of course, as a 20-something sailor, away from home for the first time, most of my diary entries include, "Got drunk. Chased girls." Youth can be truly wasted on the young. I joke with my friends that I've seen Europe through the bottom of a beer mug and that's pretty much the case as I reread my diary.
There's a picture of Ponta Delgada, Sao Miguel, the Azores included on this page. I took this picture January 1985 during our ship's port visit there.
From my diary: "Liberty call 1615. It rained. I went out. I got wet. I tried to use the phone, but I couldn't understand the operator. - Portugese"
Yeah, that's such a James A. Michener moment I could just cry. :)
During a ship's tour I learned that "Sper aqui" means "Wait here" in Portugese. Manuel Portelada, a native of Portugal who was serving in the U.S. Navy onboard the Byrd, said it often during the tours. I said it politely one time and a group of tourists began speaking rapidly in Portugese. "Uh oh." I only knew two words and for all I knew I could have been saying anything!
[I checked Google and was directed to:
http://www.intelcad.com/translat
e/
which says that in Portugese "Wait here" should be "Espera aqui" which is probably what Manuel said, but my untrained ear didn't understand.]
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