European On Me!

Day Twelve: Venice, Italy and Madrid, Spain

Venice

On this, our last day on the ship (sniff), we woke up at 8:30 to watch the ship pull through all the canals.


We ate breakfast on our balcony while others on the ship went to the bow to have complimentary Bellinis as we greeted Venice, our final city.


After breakfast, I went back to sleep until 1100, while Rob stayed on the balcony to watch the ship pull in. 


Buongiorno, Venezia!


The Queen of the Seas


The  City of Water


The City of Light, under a veil of  fog


The  City of Bridges  - okay, I'm done with the nicknames!



A manmade island full of buildings and trees


Isn't she beautiful? *sigh*


We finally passed Piazza San Marco (St. Mark's Square)


Little  man on campus


Isn't it cool?  I loved this kind of view.


When we  were both  up, we showered (I'm always finding it necessary to make you aware of this, for some reason), dressed (that too), and went to  catch a waterbus to Piazza San Marco. We tried here to take a gondola ride  - the one and only thing I really wanted to do in Venice, and one of the  main things I was looking forward to on this trip - but the cost was 80 Euros and we just didn't have it on us. Oh, I was so sad.


And so what do you think we did next? Yep. We walked to the café that was right next to the gondolas (don't go there) and had a soda. We paid 7 Euros each for a small one. Of course we sat somewhere with white tablecloths, which should have given us our first clue, but apparently we missed it.


Then we went back over the little bridge and  did a little souvenir shopping.


I just love masks! I had already bought some Venetian glass, in the form of a pen, for a Bunco prize, and we didn't have the packing space for any more. Otherwise, I'd have loved some.


And that, my friends,  was all the time we had left for sightseeing (boohoo) in Venice. We caught the waterbus back to the ship. Thankfully, we made it to the right stazione on the first try.


Arrivederci, Piazza  San  Marco!


Oh, man. What a quintessentially Venetian sight. I wish that were me...


More of the Venetian waterways; surprisingly, we didn't find anyone swimming. Or is that not such a surprise?


Arriving back at our stazione to disembark the waterbus and huff it back to our ship. This was another extremely hot day, and the walk was not short.

When we returned, I was hungry for lunch and went up to the Lido Deck to have  one last yummy Caesar salad.  Rob, however, was very antsy about the time and our need to get to the airport, and he was being a right  pistol about it.  Finally I threw down my fork and stormed out of there. It was our only tiff on the trip, and it was shortlived, but man, I wanted that last  salad!

We went to our stateroom and packed up the rest of our  stuff, and then  without further ado,  we simply walked off the ship for the last time.  I wanted to cry then, and I want to cry thinking about it now. It was a marvelous, wondrous journey, and I've been so glad to share it with you all here. 

However, it's not quite over yet!
It was a long walk in the broiling sun to the taxis, but fortunately a pier worker drove over and picked up our luggage, and delivered it to the taxi station for us, so we only had to carry ourselves around the stazione. We waited about 20 minutes and didn't see a single taxi ready to take passengers. Then Drew and his parents, from dinner the other night, arrived on the scene. Drew is in law school and is doing a monthlong summer course in Austria; he needed a ride to the train station.

When a taxi arrived, I offered for him to share it with us. We would drop him off first and then proceed to the airport. Rob was chomping on the bit about this a little, but I hushed him. After all, we had plenty of time. Also, the driver charged both of us less money than we would have spent alone.

Once at the airport, we were dropped off into a mass of confusion. European airports do not make any sense, from my perspective! Okay, okay, we figured things out a little bit. Here are a few rules: Do not arrive until exactly two hours before your flight time, even to go internationally. No ticket counters will serve you. Since we had arrived three hours early for our flight to Madrid, we had an hour to figure the rest out! Once it's two hours or less from your flight time, then you look on the computer screens for your exact airline and flight number, and it will tell you exactly which counter(s) are open for your needs. So, I hope that helps someone out there. They all (Venice, Madrid, Barcelona) worked the same way.

The flight to Madrid was short and sweet. We had no problems once we got to our gate.

Madrid

However, from there, we had quite a few problems, and it was a lucky thing I spoke Spanish, because I used an awful lot of it there. If you speak a little Spanish, tell them "màs despacio" - "more slowly" and you'll be able to understand them, too. Our problem was that we had a 14-hour (or so I thought) layover, overnight, and we needed somewhere to crash without worrying about being pickpocketed or having anything else done to us. The obvious decision was to get a hotel room. Actually getting to one proved not to be so simple. We asked the información people, we asked multiple taxi drivers, we even hopped on a shuttle bus - all to be told they couldn't take us to a hotel.

Finally, we decided to board the next hotel's shuttle that stopped at the bus stop and get on with it, already.

Well. That turned out to be for the Madrid Airport Hilton. We looked at each other, having an idea what that would cost, and then hopped aboard. Oh, well! We needed to go somewhere. I did, especially; I was about to cry for having a potty emergency!


To call this hotel "swanky" would be a bit of an understatement. It was ultramodern and had a pricetag to match. We spent 200 Euros on the room, for what turned out to be a  ten-hour layover (oops, calculation error with all the mixed up time zones).  Rob kept bemoaning what we spent on basically a nap, a shower, and a snack.  Oh, well. One last hurrah before we buckled down... This was our suite.  It was posh. And I'd asked for the cheapest accommodations possible.


The very cool bathroom sink


The open restaurant, four floors below us.

Every detail of the hotel was really cool, and I wished we could have stayed there longer. I couldn't give you enough details, nor take enough pictures, to do it justice. If you're ever in Madrid, at least spend one night there!

We ate a very expensive dinner at that restaurant, when all we ate were sandwiches and fries.  I paid about 10 Euros to get online for an  hour, but the computer died after half the time because there were no  110V outlets, and they didn't have any more converter sets available.  Maybe if we ever go back, we'll still have a half-hour balance?

Then we went to sleep until 0400. We slept the sleep of the just. The just plain tired. (Edward Abbey)

Because the shuttle didn't begin again until 0600, we had to call for a taxi back to the airport. More Euros down the drain! The Madrid airport was no less confusing than the Venetian one, but I've got it all figured out by now. We finally got ourselves to the correct gate, after some trouble, and away we flew back to our starting city of Barcelona.

In Barcelona, because we were changing airlines, we had to retrieve our luggage, recheck it, and get to our gate in the space of an hour and a half. We made it! The 8-hour flight to New York City was less comfortable for Rob, who couldn't sleep, than for me. I slept the entire flight, except when it was time to eat or drink something. As soon as they took my garbage, bam! I was out like a light again.

It was such a relief to get back on American soil after the discombobulation of the whole trip past two days of travel. I could kiss the first person I heard with an American accent! And I could call home without worrying about roaming charges! And I could spend my American dollars in my crappy American economy! Rob was less excited than I was to be there, but he was a little bit, because it was his first time in the Big Apple.

We went through customs and had to claim and recheck our bags once again. Ugh. Then we went for lunch and had horrible service. Ah, home. We did a little shopping at the airport's Discovery store for the children, since we felt they would expect a little more - and better - than what we'd gotten them in Europe. And we were right, those toys were the biggest hits upon our return.

On the tarmac, we waited two hours (!!!!!) with no air conditioning, drinks, or relative comfort before we were finally given the clearance to take off. That blew. But finally were were in the air for the fourth and final leg home!

Rob was tired and cranky when we arrived in Norfolk, but I was happy and chipper at last to see the children and, of course Stim (Stephanie and Tim, our friends who took care of the children).  The children ran to us, and all of them were in tears. They missed us, too. And Stim missed us - or at least their peace and quiet!

Rob collected our bags while the rest of us caught up, and then we packed into the van and headed to our house. First, Rob went to get a haircut so he could be back 'in regs' for work the following day, while I opened all our packages and showed off all the goodies we'd brought home for the children, ourselves, Bunco, and Stim. Lots of oohs and ahhs - some of them from me. Hehe.

Then, when Rob returned, we had a chance to use all those shot glasses I'd purchased! We'd brought a bottle of Ouzo from Greece and Limoncello from the top of Mt. Etna, Sicily.  I poured a shot of the ouzo first for the four of us, and I counted to three. Steph pounded hers first, then Rob. While I drank mine, Tim swallowed his. I pulled away my cup and asked Tim if he'd drank it. His eyes were red and watering as he choked out, "yeah." It was freaking HILARIOUS. That ouzo was NOT good, on my list of tasty alcoholic things to drink.

Then I poured out shots of the Limoncello. It was much better. More palatable. But still, not a fruity piña colada. I miss those. I miss days of waking up, looking out at the Mediterranean Sea. I miss breakfast in bed. I miss delectable six-course meals. I miss having to speak in Spanish. I miss touring the Tuscan countryside, the lava-covered mountain, the canals, and oh, all those Sprites in all those cafés.

Rob misses not doing dishes! He misses being pampered. Being called "Sir Bob," he says to be funny. He misses being in countries where people realize they don't need a giant freakin' automobile. He misses having me all to himself. Awwww.

Hope you enjoyed it! I did!

Fin.

Day 11: Dubrovnik, Croatia

Our breakfast was late again that morning. It came while Rob was still sleeping, but I was up showering. Normally we used it as our wake-up call, although we didn't always abide by it as you read over the past few days! But we got right up and out this morning, for once.

The beautiful first-look views of Dubrovnik, from our balcony

Because it was early, and there was a tender to shore, we needed to go to the Queen's Lounge to get tickets to ride. They were free, but we had to wait our turn. In the interim, we played trivia with the rest of the loungers.

The tender ride to shore was a long one this time, and ours had a leak at the front that splashed  tons of water all over the passengers in the first rows. Good thing they all had a sense of humor about it, and we all laughed.  Here was our view of the "new town," as we pulled up on the tender.

 
The modern buildings overlooking the marina


But once again, we were headed to the old city, which was also walled-in, like so many we had seen up to this point. We took a taxi ride of 10 Euros  to the old town, which was about the same as the shuttle we could have purchased tickets for from the ship. Why not take the faster route?


The view of the wall as we went through from Old to New


It was early in the morning, but  the crowds were already enormous. Dubrovnik is a popular vacation spot for  Croatians and others in the Northern Adriatic Sea.


Remembering the little pink nymph who performed for Rob in Rome at the Trevi Fountain, we decided to see what would happen when we bought this performer's 1-Euro souvenir. In a word: nothing. It was just a photo op. Oh, well. That little souvie is still floating around this house somewhere. It's a gold heart on a gold string, and the girls love it.


It was very hot, so we tried to stay in the shade as we made our way down the long main street. There were lots of interesting little shops - more than just the standard souvenirs here although we did stop right away and get some -  and places to exchange dollars and  Euros for kunas, the Croatian currency.


Soon, on our left,  we spotted the 'stepped streets' we'd been reading about for a few days!


Here's a better view, as we went in further to investigate. You may be able to read the sign advertising an internet café, on the right. There were many such cafés in the old city of Dubrovnik; it was kind of surprising. I was even able to get online for a minute with my Palm, just to see.


A lot of them weren't open yet, but we found one that was and stopped to have - guess?  That's right, a Coke and a Sprite.


The Sprite was normal enough, but  this time the Coke bottle was all in Croatian. Interesting.


Some Croatian money, the kuna. It was about 5 kuna per USD.


It's not every day you see octopus salad on the menu. Would you eat that? I also like "schrimps."


In the stepped streets, the cafes and sidewalks were very narrow and, this time, that meant they were too narrow even for the tiny European cars. But of course, no cars were allowed in the old city at all, so it didn't matter.

 
We kept browsing around after downing our drinks. We found this embroidery shop and almost bought something, since Croatia is well known for both being the origin of the cravat and its embroidery. We didn't though, because ... it's just not our thing.



A tiny little church tucked in the side of one of the stepped streets



A shop for "natural products" that we would have loved to take home, but we were afraid of being stopped by Customs.  There was fragrant lavender  all over, and it smelled wonderful!


Another church in one of the main squares, as we approached the water front


We decided to take a ride on a glass-bottomed boat that would take us all over Dubrovnik, old and new.  While we waited for them to gain more passengers for the trip, we stopped and had ourselves another drink at an open-air café.

Fishies through the bottom of the boat

  Leaving the  old , walled-in city on the boat



The view out of the boat to the newer buildings in the city



More of the wall; you can see the four teenaged Italian girls we shared the boat with (along with their parents). They were snotty and uninterested. Sound familiar?


 
An island we circled, out in the Adriatic


Can you see the tiny swimmers here? This was a "beach"!


Me on the boat; Rob was standing on the tippy edge of the stern


The  new city of Dubrovnik


The coast was very rocky and irregular


In the distance, a ship approached. It looked to me like a pirate ship!


Another cool, many-masted ship



A grotto where there was a sea kayaking excursion, possibly from our ship. We were supposed to go on that, but we had to cancel it.

Coming back to the old city now


This mansion with the turquoise domed roof really caught our eyes


Another small rocky 'beach'


That  'pirate ship' turned out to be just another  fun ride around  the sea


Another small church, with three bells in the steeple, peeks out over the wall


And a very large one, in in the main  square. Again we were left to wonder who the figures around the roof could be.


More cafés, this time on the wider streets, line the opposite side of the old city than we had come down originally


We asked for water and received these tall glass bottles, at the pizzeria where we stopped in the old city


I ordered a pinapple pizza; I guess the green olive in the center was complimentary


Check out this kooky knife!


On our way back to the taxi stand, we spotted these candy-colored condominiums.



We paid another 10 Euros for a taxi ride back to the tender station. That driver was crazy! He ranted and raved and flung his hands around at the other drivers as he sped through the streets. We waited forEVER in the heat for our turn on the full tenders. Finally we were far enough ahead in line to get those wonderful cold washcloths and lemonade.


Our tender approaches, hurray!

Back on the ship, we changed and went swimming. Ahhh, it was so refreshing this time. We relaxed back in our room for a while before changing and returning to the Queen's Lounge for the lightning art auction. I had missed the first one, and I'd never been to an auction before, so I really wanted to go. We had no plans to buy any more art, although there were plenty by Rembrandt, Joan Mirò and Peter Max that we would have liked to take home. We bid on nothing and won no prizes, but it was a lot of fun. Juliette was an excellent auctioneer, and she ran a really fun show. She was a very giggly girl back in the gallery, but at auction, her bountiful knowledge about art just came streaming out. I was impressed.



It was the last Formal Night - and, sadly, our last night on the ship - so we returned to our stateroom and dressed for dinner. Rob ate escargot for an appetizer, the first time he'd ever had snails. I'd had them on a previous cruise and felt no need to try them again.


My appetizer, the shrimp cocktail


I ate this strawberry bisque; Rob  had chicken and wild rice soup


We both ate the lobster tail entrée, which was delicious. Best lobster I can remember eating in a long time.



Sweets that arrived with Rob's after-dinner coffee



My dessert: raspberry mousse in a meringue crust



Rob ate the peach melba sundae

After dinner, we went down to the Vista Lounge for the last time to watch the show. Oro, a Filipeno bar server who had sung in their show a few nights earlier, talked and joked around with us for a while. He gave me a gift, he said for ordering his first drink of the night: a shell necklace from the Philippines. Of course, my kids have since broken it, and it's long since gone into the trash. Oh well, easy come, easy go.


The show that night was once again the Zuiderdam singers and dancers, and they were great for a third time.  Here are the lead singers. Rob liked the prop car!


I remembered not to use my flash this time!


After the show, we stopped back at the art gallery to admire the masters some more and  talk with Jody and Juliette.   I was thisclose to a Rembrandt!!


Juliette.  She and Jody, who also works in the gallery and auctions,  both want children, and they were asking all about ours. Finally, I burst into tears and ran off before I could sob in earnest. I missed my babies!

We went back to our room and  packed and shoved and  pushed and pulled and packed some more.

For the late-night show, we went to the Queen's Lounge where the Battle of the Sexes was to be chosen. Surprise! Jason, the Cruise Director,  chose me for the girls' team, and I went up on the stage. It was  a little  scary, since I knew nothing  about the game, but it ended up being a lot of fun, and we had tons of laughs. I kept putting down silly answers, and the guys' team came over and wanted to know "who the funny one was"!   We lost, though. 

Then we dropped off our cruise surveys to the Front Desk and got more cash for spending in Venice the next day. We went up to the Lido deck and had a late-night snack of Croatian food,  the names of none of which I can remember, but it was pretty good.

Tomorrow: Stay tuned  for Venice!

Fin.

Day Ten: Corfu, Greece

Once again, we stayed in bed very, very late after eating breakfast: 1:30 PM! We sure wasted that day away. I really wish we hadn't done that. But, I was sick still and needed to catch up on sleep.


There was a long, hot walk to the terminal to catch a cab, after we finally rousted ourselves, showered and dressed.  We paid 25 Euros to get to this beach, just to the north of Corfu (aka Kerkira).


A nice little children's playground at the beach, smartly placed in the shade.


There was no sand on the beach; it was all rocky. That was the only downside; it hurt our feet. It was a really beautiful little beach town that we would have loved to explore if there was more time. See how everyone faced their chairs away from the water? That was unusual. The water was nice enough. It was salty, because we were in the Med, but it was very murky, like a lake. And there was an extremely cold stream coming in from the side. Rob didn't like that so much, but I thought it was great! We saw lots of bare boobs on that beach. It was Europe, after all!
 

When we finally, begrudgingly realized we had to get out of the water and dry off in the sun (having forgotten our towels on the ship), we went to the bar nearby . Rob had a gyro sandwich and I had a tuna.


Me at the "bar," looking oh-so-glamorous


This time, I received an actual Sprite. They were always in green glass bottles. Rob had a beer.


The little bar kitty; can you tell we love animals?



This wasn't the first time Rob received French fries IN his sandwich!


We asked the bar owner to call us a cab, and we ordered a dessert to go  (the same one I showed you yesterday,  we think).  Unfortunately, it melted long before we made it back to the ship, and we had to pitch it.  We ended up paying 20 Euros for lunch and 20 more for the return cab ride.  If I haven't mentioned it a zillion times before, Europe is very expensive!

We had gotten out very late that day, so we caught the very last shuttle from downtown Corfu - which we never did get to walk around and explore, sadly - back to the ship. Whew! We made it. A few times, passengers were left behind in the ports.


 We went back to our room then, to see if there was any word on Jack's condition. There wasn't any, so we relaxed a long while on the balcony. Here's Rob reading the signed Britto book we were given for buying his art. We took showers and dressed for dinner after a while.


A beautiful Greek sunset, from our balcony

 
Our wake, far below


While we were on the balcony, people started shouting about dolphins frolicking next to us, from the Lido Deck just above us. We ran to catch the camera and started snapping!

They were so far away, they look minuscule, but they were definitely full-sized! There had to be at least a half-dozen of them, and they stayed a while. I took umpteen million pictures to try and get a good one, but these were the best I could do.

Finally, dinner. Rob had the salmon "dialogue," whatever  that means, along with lobster bisque, duck a l'orange, and a Grand Marnier soufflé. I had a phyllo dough and baked Brie with cranberry sauce appetizer,  sour cherry soup with creme fraiche, alfredo pasta with chicken and sun-dried tomatoes, and a white chocolate chef's hat  (signed by Chef Rudy) filled with milk chocolate mousse and red berries.

It was the Fourth of July that day, by the way. We didn't get so see any fireworks.  There really wasn't much of anything. I guess it makes sense, though, considering our location!

We went to the Art Gallery afterward to see the art that had newly been put up by the masters. There were Rembrandts, Picassos, Dalís, Chagalls, and more. It was so cool to be right there in front of them.  We settled our auction account for the Britto and picked our framing options for the Bellet Rob won.

Rob went downstairs to get our passports back - the Greek officials had required everyone to give theirs up to be examined while we were there  - while I went to our stateroom to change shoes and check on Jack. He was doing much better by then, and I relaxed knowing he was okay.


We went to the Vista Lounge for the show after that. Here's Jason Venner, our hilarious (and cute!) Cruise Director, opening the show.


I'm surprised this picture came out at all.  Until that night,  I had thought no photography at all was allowed, but I finally realized it was okay, just no flash. Well. I *thought* I had turned off  my flash, but it popped bright as anything when I took this picture of singer Annie Francis from Australia. I was so embarrassed, I practically threw my camera at Rob and buried my face!  Whoops. No more camera for me that night. The singer was okay, but she was kind of of the boring cruise-ship variety.

When Rob ordered drinks that night, and from then on from bar hostess Rebecca, she called him "Sir Bob." We thought that was highly amusing.


We walked through the casino on our way out of the Lounge, where they were trying to get everyone to do red, white, and blue kamikaze shots for a buck. No one was taking them up on it. So of course, we did. While a small crowd watched, we picked our shots and slammed them back. Everyone cheered. We laughed and left!


We made our way up to the Lido  Deck to photograph the big dessert  extravaganza that was going on that  night.

  There were desserts everywhere we looked!


The  Table  O' Breads


This was made of bread!

Everything chocolate that you could imagine!


Yep, still more desserts


That's it!

Phew. By that point, before we even ate anything,  I  had an upset tummy. Rob stayed behind to  get a few things to eat while I went downstairs to yet  again check on Jack.  We ate a few goodies after that, and then we went to bed.

Stay tuned for tomorrow:  Dubrovnik, Croatia!

Fin.

Day Nine: Katakolon, Greece

Once again, we slept in late, this time until our breakfast was cold. Every morning, I ate two blueberry muffins and OJ, and Rob would get a ham and cheese omelet and some coffee. Sometimes we mixed it up and got a few other little things, but mostly that was it. So my muffins were okay, but his eggs were nasty. We finally got up when Aden, the cabin steward,  was banging on our door to find out if the pillows were better.

I kept saying we shouldn't sleep our trip away, but Rob's point was that he should be able to sleep in and not rush around on his vacation if he wanted to. It's a good point; he does work so hard. While he lazed around some more, I checked email to see what was going on with the folks back home.  I also received phone calls from both my dad and my sister, who thought we were back home already. They were both surprised when I said, "No, we're in Greece right now!"  Kind of fun for them, I guess.

We'd also received some text messages from Steph in the middle of the night. Jack was sick and needed to go to the emergency room, because his temp was 105. Oh, no. We called back and forth, and we really worried about our son. But we decided to go out and make the most of it.


This was our first view off the ship. The big duty-free shop in Katakolon. No need for tender today; we were  docked in the port.

 
At the end of the pier was the Greek Coast Guard station


The signs telling us where to go. I really wish we could have gone to the beach, but we had gotten up too early and it was another short day, like in Nàvplion.


What are these, impatiens? I don't know. They were bright fuschia, that's for darn sure!


After  we walked around and did a little souvenir shopping, we came across three horse-and-buggies lined up for rides around the island. (I asked Rob to take a picture of the horse, and this is what I got! Der.)  For five Euros each, we decided to take the ride.

  Me, hot and sweaty and waiting for the ride to begin, obviously not bothering to hide my passport pouch anymore!


The  island in front of us as we headed on out


Starting to enter the little village. It was tiny, and almost everything was a souvenir shop.


A playground among the houses

There's our pretty ship!


Three men walking down to the "marina,'" such as it was


This very Asian-looking house. Except for that, I was always interested on the tours when they pointed out architecture not necessarily from that country. Like, in Spain there was French and Italian and Greek stuff. In Italy, there was French and Spanish and Greek and other influences, etc. You get this perception that they are all discrete little packages, with their own little cultures, but they're not. There is a lot of intermingling. In Croatia, a lot of times I couldn't tell if they were speaking Croatian or Italian! There were a lot of similarities.


More of the beach and marina. Not a lot of swimmers that we could see. Almost back to the starting point. It was a very small, very disappointing port for us.  We maybe should have taken the tour up to  Mt. Olympus, because there really wasn't that much to see or do.  We probably could have done without that one.

Husband parking!  There was a nice bar - a real bar, not just a café although it was that, too - so we decided to go in and see what was what.


The bar was indoor-outdoor, but it was more open-air than other places. We sat in the shade, out of the heat.


Rob, sitting and waiting for our order


We ordered  a small sampler platter, and this is what we received . Those are beans in the sauce, along with some olives, some fries, some yogurt dip, some pita, some gyro  meat, some  grape-leaf-covered somethings that I liked and Rob didn't...

The view of the bar from the front.  When we went to pay,  I was relieved to find we still had enough Euros in our pocket for it, and  I said, "phew!" to Rob about the bill.  The female shopkeep, who was from New Orleans but moved to Greece and runs this bar with her Greek husband, said, "What, what's wrong?" I told her I was worried we wouldn't have enough, and she said she didn't care whether we did or not, as long as we'd had enough to eat! Then she gave us some baklava to take back to the ship. Isn't that SO NICE?! I love these people!

It was damn good baklava, too.

We walked passed these ride-on toys on our way back to the ship. I had to take a picture, because I was thinking how much my little ones would love these colorful rides.

 

One last view of Katakolon, Greece, before we reboarded the ship. It was so hot; I couldn't wait to get my lemonade and cold washcloth!

Once aboard, we changed into our bathing suits and went swimming on the Lido Deck. It was barely cooler than the air, so it wasn't very refreshing, but it was better than nothing! Later, I took a nap while Rob went out drinking at one of the ship's bars with an older Dutch couple. He was there quite a long while, just chatting about stuff, and he came back a little sloshed but happy.

We tried to complete our art auction after that, for the Britto and the other thing, but we had the wrong appointment time.  So we went down to dinner.

This time, we were seated with an American couple from Arizona, another from Texas, and their son Drew, who is in law school and very frat boyish. We later shared a taxi with him in Venice. They were all very nice, and we had lots of fun, lots of laughs, over our meal. Rob ate the salmon ceviche, cream of onion soup, white perch, and baba au rum for dessert. I had crab and spinach quiche, onion soup, white perch, and a phyllo dough with chocolate mousse for dessert. It was delicious! I usually love anything with phyllo dough, though.

Afterward we went to the show, which was "Moscow Magic." We had to stand in the way back, so we didn't have a very good view, but it was still a good show. There were some predictable tricks, but there were also some good and very surprising tricks. Somehow, the female kept changing outfits right in front of us, without doing anything. Her outfit would just change, over and over. I still can't wrap my mind around that one!

We went down to exchange more USD for Euros after that. We did that a lot. The Front Desk people began to know our names, between that and all the postcard stamps we bought!

We went back to the room to check on Jack, and to talk to Chloë and Stephanie. He was doing a little better by then, so we were relieved, but then the girls got sick. Poor Stim. They had plenty to deal with in our absence!  And after that, we went to bed.

Tomorrow, stay tuned for Corfu, Greece!

Fin.

Day Eight: Nàvplion

Or Nafplio, as we also found it spelled, in Greece. But not in Greek, of course. I couldn't begin to show you how they spelled it...

We were in this port from 0800 to 1600, a pretty short day. And yet, we slept in, had our breakfast in bed, and then went back to sleep some more! Too bad; we should have gotten up, toured around town, and gone to the beach for once. As it was, we did cancel the rest of our tours, being so tired and preferring instead to tour on our own.

Finally, I got up and showered and dressed, and eventually Rob woke up and did the same. We mailed off about 3 dozen postcards and then caught the tender into town.


On the tender, which was actually one of the lifeboats. We were anchored out a way, so the only way to town was by taking these smaller boats.  I remember being in one a long time ago, with my grandparents, and it was probably pretty similar to this one. Our trip over was virtually empty, but the tender was packed on the way back.


A castle offshore - can you see the Greek flag waving on top?


Our first view of Nàvplion, Greece - very tropical looking

 
Scooters and bikes parked in the narrow streets between apartment buildings.


 We walked around the brightly-colored buildings, doing a little souvenir shopping and a lot of people-watching. We went into the folk museum and bought a few trinkets at the shop there, one of which was a bird mobile for a Bunco prize that turned out to be from India. They had lots of interesting things in there. If you're ever in Nàvplion, visit the folk museum!


After we bought  a few souvenirs here, the owner stopped us from leaving. He told me he had a gift for me.  He started pulling out postcard after postcard, telling me he had taken the pictures himself of this, his beautiful town, and wanted me to have them.  So nice, these Europeans sharing their talents  as gifts.  So if you received a postcard from me from Nàvplion, it came from that man.

Robert walking around town


While I was stopping to take a picture of this monument, some Greek teenaged boys came out of a building and shouted, "No take picture!" I looked up, surprised, and they ran off laughing.  Pranks are pranks in any country, I guess.


We had worked up quite a thirst, so once again we stopped at a café for a drink. Here's the  wine list, which I can't read. It's all Greek to me! (C'mon, you knew that was coming.)


Rob poring over the menu, trying to figure out what to eat. They had broken English explanations for lots of the items. We ended up eating sandwiches with our sodas, but  they were kind of weird. The bread was thick and crusty, for one thing, but I can't put my finger on what was so strange, exactly.


I ordered a Sprite, and this is what I received. It had a different flavor than Sprite, and there's no telling  from the bottle what it actually was.  'Twas good, though.

 Once again, the check - all greek - came in one of those cuppy things. Really, you're supposed to squish your money down in there?


We were at the Music Cafe, but there was no music. Perhaps because it was time for the afternoon siesta?

  On my right, there were café upon café upon café, as far as the eye could see. The chairs from one butted right up against the chairs of the neighboring restaurant. I found that very curious. It just didn't seem like there was a lot of competition.


Rob's dessert. We don't know what it was called, but  it turned out to be very good.


Then we decided to take the train ride around town, to look at the churches and monuments and stuff. There was a tour voice over the speaker, but the train was so loud, we couldn't hear a word of it.


The rest of the train


Heading through town


Pretty orange lilies, just like at home!

Another side street - the oceanfront buildings were  brightly colored; the side buildings were all the same beigey-yellow, pretty much.


I did not catch what that was - ruins? - atop the hill.


Pretty roses alongside. There were lots of bright, beautiful flowers all over Nàvplion.


Going through the middle of town

The view from Rob's side

Something kept  drawing my eyes up that hill. I really would like to know what that structure was!

Another monument in the square; no one shouted at me this time!


A memorial

  The Greek Orthodox church

Another view of that castle on the water. Oh, that water.  I would love to be back there again, right now, actually swimming in it.

After the train ride, we spotted something that said "toy store." Being the parents of three little ones waiting for us - and goodies - at home, of course we needed to investigate further. But this 'toy store' turned out to be one of those claw grabber game machines! I thought that was hilarious.

We were still very tired from all the trekking around we'd been doing, so we went back to the tender station to get back and take a nap. There was a long line for the tender this time. But fortunately, as at each other port, the crew were passing out ice-cold washcloths with which to clean and cool ourselves, and cups of lemonade. I thought these were nice touches.

  Finally, after eight days of struggling to get comfortable in bed, Rob finally decided to switch the mattress around! Here's a picture of me, not helping.

At 1730, we had a reservation for just the two of us for dinner. Sometimes it was nice to join others, but sometimes it was nice to just be on our own. It was, after all, our long-awaited honeymoon! I had a Caesar salad, chicken breast, and bread pudding with berries. Rob had a seafood cocktail, cream of asparagus soup, chicken stuffed with prosciutto, and chocolate raspberry cake. Have I told you he put on seven pounds during this trip? That's an amazing amount for him. He ate well, to say the least! (Never mind what I gained, I can do it just looking at the food.) (Okay, I found out today, I gained three.)

After dinner, we headed straight to the infirmary. I was having trouble breathing before, but I was having a full-on allergic reaction now, after taking a nap. (Of course, dinner took precedence, are you kidding?!) It turned out, I was allergic to the down in the pillows. The infirmary was actually closing when we made it down there, but as soon as they heard the words "allergic reaction," they ushered us right in. It was a quick examination, and I was given medication, instructions to find new pillows, and sent on my way.

That was easier said than done. An initial search from the Front Desk turned up one foam pillow. Really? I'm the only person, out of thousands, to be allergic to down?  I took my medication, though, and immediately started to feel better.


While Rob went out and about to search the ship for another pillow for our bed, I became giddy about all the tiny, individually-wrapped packages clogging up our loveseat. So I happily unwrapped each little thing, laid it out, and gazed over all our new possessions, prizes, and pieces. Some of you might recognize some of the items - you might actually now be the owner of them! That blue "bowl"(ashtray)  was from Pisa, and I now find myself using it every chance I get. Looking at this picture brings back a lot of memories for me, of all the shopping, visiting, sight-seeing, and thinking about the folks back home that we did. What fun.


Eventually Aden, our wonderfully cheerful and resourceful cabin steward from Indonesia, heard about my visit to the doctor and came to check on me. He was genuinely concerned for my safety and comfort and begged me to let him know if there was anything else we needed. And, he procured three more pillows for us! What a great chap.

So, we ventured back out, to watch the show. That night, it  was a harpist from Uruguay. She was dreadfully boring, and we stayed for only three pieces before ducking out.  We relaxed in our room some more and then went up to the Lido Deck to partake of the Japanese  late-night snack.  We had miso, tofu, lotus balls , green tea, etc. Good stuff.

Then we went down to the Lounge again to watch the Filipino crew members put on a show and tell about their country. They told  stories, sang, danced and greatly entertained us. It was a lot of fun. Much better than that old harpist.

We went back to the room and crashed.

Stay tuned for tomorrow: Katakolon, Greece!

Fin.

Day Six: Messina, Sicily; and Day Seven: Sea Day

Day Six: Messina, Sicily

On this day, there was "scenic cruising" as we entered the port of Messina and glided past the Stromboli Volcano, but we missed taking pictures of it.  We went up to the Lido Deck for a late breakfast, since we still had several hours before we actually got to Messina.

Then it was time for our couples' massage in the Greenhouse Spa! That was part of our "romantic voyage" package. First, because we got there plenty early, we changed into our bathing suits and went swimming in the hydropool. It was hot water, with penetratingly hard streams of water that we used to massage our backs and shoulders. It felt wonderful. We only stayed in for about 15 minutes, before it was time to don our robes and visit the relaxation room. There, we lounged on comfortable chairs and ottomans, filled out our information forms, and ate fruits as the Sicilian waters streamed by the giant windows.

When our masseuses finally arrived, I was ready. I don't know about you, but I am not one to be able to just sit and relax. That doesn't mean I don't know how to loaf and be lazy, but I have to actually be DOING something, not just sitting there chillin'. I have to read, or crochet or knit, or some darn thing. Plus, I was worried about the time factor; we were getting short on it, with our Mt. Etna excursion looming.

Fortunately, I was able to relax and enjoy the massage. Rob was on a table right next to me, and we had a good back, neck and shoulder rub. I don't know what my lady (hee) did to my back, but it felt so amazing for the first day or two after. (I have back trouble.) And I know Rob felt great after his, too.

Afterward, we quickly said adieu and rushed to meet our tour in the Vista Lounge. We were just on time! We got our stickers, met our tour guide (I believe he said his name was John, but I could be completely making that up), and boarded the bus for the two-hour drive up to the top of Mt. Etna. Not the tippy-top, that is, but as far as they allow one to go.

So along this two-hour drive, "John" talked about the capital of Sicily, Palermo, and its one million inhabitants. There are a total of five million on the island, the largest in the Mediterranean. There are only 22 rainy days per year, with a very short water supply. The tap water only runs in their sinks - except for hotel guests - from 6 - 7 AM! If you miss your shower, or whatever, in that time, too bad, so sad. 

More details I remember: The scirocco (sp?) wind from comes from Libya, "where that bloody Moamar Qadafi lives," said John.  St. Francisco's church was built in the 1200s. They call a highway a "motorway." There are 21 bridges and 21 tunnels to get up Mt. Etna.  One can see the Calabria region of Italy from "here," wherever "here" was at that point in the conversation.

Anyway... the picture above is from when he started talking heavily about trees. He was a high school teacher of English and German, but botany was his main hobby. He pointed out every species of tree - giving both its common and scientific names - on the island, I swear. It was impressive, but not altogether interesting for all those of us on the tour. He talked about the citrus plants, the pines, the eucalyptus and oleander.

Here, climbing higher, you can see the lava amongst the flora. The lava contains potassium sulfate, so everything is fertile about 75 years after the eruption, which is why so many different kinds of plants are able to grow. There are three levels up the mountain:

• From sea level to 600 meters, everything grows
• From 600-2000m, it's just woods
• From 2000+ meters, there is no more flora

Here, we're getting near the 2000m point, so the trees are disappearing.

 We're getting there, lots more lava to be found everywhere

Our first few of the top of Mt. Etna!

Ready for its close-up

Our guide, possibly-John

Finally, we reached our limit. You can see almost all of the flora was gone except for some mossy-licheny type stuff. Everything was covered in lava.

  Down into one of the craters

Another crater, the Silvestri canyon. Some of it is red because the lava contains a lot of iron that oxidized (ie, rusted)

Rob in the canyon. He wore his jacket, because we were 2000m above sea level, and it got quite cold compared to the boiling heat down in Messina!


And then he climbed the top of the "lava window" and took a picture of me, way down below...

Another lava hill, heavy with iron

One last view of the lava

After we were done touring around all the lava formations, we went to both of the "bar" cafés at the location. Yes, even up there! At the first one, we each had a piece of pizza and a cannoli. I probably had a soda, and it looks here like Rob was completely smashed! Really, he probably just blinked. He saved his big drinking for the ship. ;)

The best cannoli I've ever had in my entire life. Mmm, mmm, mmm.

Pausing outside before going across to the second bar and seeing what they had to offer

La Capannina, the second bar, where we bought some post cards, a few snacks, and some lava souvenirs. I bought a vase covered in Mt. Etna lava for myself, and a small ashtray - to be used for some other purpose, like holding coins or a small candle - as a Bunco prize.

The hazelnut chocolate sticks we bought for the long, two-hour drive back. I was very glad John didn't talk much on the return trip. His voice was loud and abrasive; it was very harsh on the ears to listen to his rhythm of speaking for so long. For the first time on a tour, I brought out my iPod and zoned out.

We saw a herd of goats on the way back down.

One little straggler

Ah, back home, sweet home, at last.

It was late at that point, so we changed and went right to dinner on the ship. This time, we were seated with one American couple, and another lady from L.A. who was traveling with her teen-aged grandson. For dinner, Rob and I both had the tuna tartar and "grandma's" chicken noodle soup. This soup had nothing on Grandma, I tell you what. Or Rob - his chicken 'n' dumplings are waaay better. He had the mussels and fettucine for a main course, and I had the silk salmon with rice and currants. For dessert, the L.A. granny brought out - surprise! - a box of cannoli she'd purchased in town. It was good, but nowhere near as good as what we'd had up on Mt. Etna. Seriously, that was out-of-this-world. The dinner cannoli, well, we get better at our local pizza joint, I'd say.

We didn't have enough time after dinner to go back out and tour around Messina, so instead we went up to the Observation Deck for the first time, to take pictures from up there. This old church stood out among all the other buildings.

Another pretty building, in the far-off distance


The streets of Messina, Sicily

Ooh, look, one of those little Smart Cars that's like half a regular car! Isn't it so cute? I want one.

Rob looking down at the scene below and pretending to be oblivious to my picture-taking


The other side of the ship. Can't read Latin, something about a city?

Eventually, we put on our bathing suits and went down to the Lido for the Sail-Away piña colada party. We had piña coladas out of pineapples and swam late into the evening.

Makin' coladas

There was a pretty lame ice sculpture contest between two of the crew members who normally make them. The commentary , by "party planner Joy," was beyond lame. And one of the sculptures broke in half  by accident. That part was entertaining, at least.

My piña. They actually kind of tasted like crap. We ended up bringing our drinks down to our room to relax and have a late-night snack. But we forgot about the drinks, and by morning they had leaked all over our coffee table and the papers we had there. So here's your lesson of the day: pineapples aren't leakproof!

Day Seven: At Sea

I have exactly zero pictures of this day.

We lazed around in bed all morning, and then Rob went to the art auction, to see about that Britto on which we bid, while I lazed around in bed for half the afternoon, reading my book and writing tons of postcards. It was just the sort of lazy day we needed, after all the touring around.

And guess what? He won the auction! The Britto is ours!!!!! Whenever it arrives, I will take a picture and show you our lovely new piece of art.

And guess what else? He bid on a second piece of art and won that, too! That was an "Oh, really?" moment, with eyebrows raised, when he shared this upon his return to the cabin. But it's okay. I really wanted about three more of the Brittos - and oh, a Picasso and a Rembrandt - but alas, we are not Warren Buffet here!

Finally, I got up out of bed, and we went up to the Lido Deck for lunch before going down to the Front Desk to spend another fortune in postcard stamps. Each one cost over a Euro, and I must have sent out at least five dozen cards during the trip. Hey, I like it. I like getting them, too, so if you ever go anywhere... ;)

Then we came back to the room to dress up, since it was the second Formal Night of the cruise. We went to the show, which was the Zuiderdam singers and dancers, and again they were very good. Then we got our portraits taken, and oh, wait! Because we received a free portrait with our "romantic voyage" package, I do have a picture to show you after all:

 
Neither of us likes it. Oh, well. You want it?

We went down to the dining room and got a pager for the 20+ minute wait for a table. In the interim, we went into the adjoining study and read some coffee table books that we both wished we owned! For dinner, we were seated with an Australian couple, Dennis and Denise, whom we later saw many times during the remainder of the cruise. Rob ate some greens and feta cheese, chicken and spinach with barley soup, and a feta- and spinach-stuffed breast. I had grilled scallops, pumpkin soup, and the same yummy entrée.

There was a late-night take-off game of the Newlywed Show in the Queen's Lounge after dinner, so we went to that hoping to be picked. We were chosen by the Cruise Director as a "maybe" couple, which the audience then voted on by applause. In the end, we weren't picked, but we stayed for the whole game and it was pretty hilarious. For the next few days, people pointed us out and asked us if, after seeing the bawdy questions and topics discussed during the game, we still wished we had played, our joint response was, "Oh, yeah! We would have knocked it out of the park!"

And we would have.

Tomorrow: Stay tuned for Navplion, Greece!

Fin.

Day Five: Civitavecchia & Rome

On this Sunday - not the best day to be in Rome, by the way, if you have your choice (things are closed for the Sabbath) - we woke up late, around 10. We were pretty worn out from all the tours by then. We didn't have any excursion tickets, so we hadn't quite decided what to do with our day. We were already docked in Civitavecchia, about an hour west of Rome, on the coast (duh).

So, we had our breakfast in bed (and boy, was I spoiled by that; I keep waiting for my food to be delivered when I wake up, and it's NOT happening!), took slow, relaxing showers, and dressed. Then we took the shuttle from the ship to the center of Civitavecchia (pronounced "Chee-VEE-ta-VEH-key-uh") to see our fortune. Well, part with it, anyway.

Immediately after we stepped off the bus, there was a young man asking if anyone needed a taxi. His English was poor, so we negotiated in Italian ("How much?" is "Cuanto costa?"), Spanish, and English for a ride to Rome. For an hours' trip there, back, and sightseeing in the old city, we paid *gulp* 200 Euros. That's a lot, folks. We talked it over for a good five minutes before deciding to go ahead with it. It ended up being worth it, to see all the old and well-known points of interest, but man, it was hard to hand over at the end of the ride!  We didn't have much time, either, so it was a whirlwind tour, for sure.  Here we go:

The scenery on the way from Civitavecchia to Rome

Monuments, monuments everywhere

The price for gas - we stopped twice, once on the way there and once on the way back. It seemed like for just a little bit at a time. Why, I wonder? Why not just fill up? He had our money, anyway.

More of the Mediterranean passing by; I never get tired of seeing it, do you?

Coming into Rome, now

Approaching Vatican City! After the Leaning Tower of Pisa, that had to be my next most anticipated landmark for this trip!

Here we are! Our tour guide, Max (who was from Civitavecchia, by the way), pulled into a parking place (one of the few times he actually did so; they'll just park any old place over there!) and let us out for about 40 minutes to walk around and take things in. We ended up only needing about half that time. See the sights, take the pictures, get in the car, next!

The fountain in Piazza San Pietro (Saint Peter's Square, which is really a circle)

St. Peter's Basilica

This group of folks was chanting something in the square. I have no idea what they were saying, but I either have it or will soon have it on video here - take a listen and let me know if you know what they're saying. Not sure if they were protesting or just happy to be there! Note their parasols...

On top of the wall surrounding the Piazza. We decided these must be the Popes?

More papal types