Rome
May 9, 2009
8:05 PM
All went well disembarking this morning our driver was holding a sign at 8:45 when we exited the luggage area. We got the Rome Airport Marriot Courtyard by 9:45. Rooms were not available so Charlotte and I left luggage and the Snows and had the driver take us to the Hilton Garden Hotel on the other side of the airport.
At 11:30 we boarded another tour bus with 52 other Noordam Vantage Group travelers for a trip to Trivoli a town about 30 miles from Rome where many cardinals built summer homes.
We toured one such palace built in the 1650-1680 time period. It was the palace of a Cardinal who was the son of Lucia Borgia. The frescos were very pretty and had been restored but the gardens were better with lots of fountains and beautiful gardens. More pictures and the last three postcards and deck of playing cards (Roma....that makes 21)
We got back to the hotel by a curious route the Hilton shuttle to the Airport and Courtyard shutte out and were back by 5PM. Luggage was in our room (which is huge by ships standards) so we came down to the lobby for drinks met some fellow passengers from the Noordam two of which will be on our flight to Philadelphia and just finished dinner with them and the Snow...it was spagetti and with drinks and dinner cost over $100....so it is time to stop spending money..(the internet is free so I am typing this one live)
We have said goodbye to the Snows who have to leave at 4 AM to catch their 6 AM flight our schedule is a bit easier with a 9 AM shuttle. Now it is time to get all suitcases to 50 lbs to get around extra luggage fees. The Snows have all three suitcases over the weight limit and Charlotte is weighing ours as we type but we have 4 bags and I am optimistic that we will pass.
Well there are now folks waiting for this free computer so I will close.
Adverdierci
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Off the Dam Ship
Civivecchia
Saturday May 9, 2009
7:45AM
Just finished my Eggs Benedict Italian (tomato sauce and mozzarella) and am sitting here at the Lido with Charlotte and Marlene. Kastawa our Bali an assistant server just brought us another fresh squeezed orange juice and Marlene is going to fill up our coffee again.
We are on board the Noordam until 8:45 because there is a scheduled disembarkation and we asked for the last window. It is the nicest day yet in Rome with sunny skies and probably high 70s. Should be a great day for our last excursion to the Borges estate palaces and gardens for 5 hours.
Last night we redeemed our dam dollars. Charlotte got a t shirt and a sweatshirt (they only had medium small sizes left). Marlene and Lyle took a sweatshirt and a beach towel. We each had over 50 dam dollars. Our meals in the dining room were an exact match on the next to last night Surf and Turf with baked Alaska and last night Lyle had his last steak, Charlotte chose duck orange and my sister and I had beef tenderloin.
After dinner we had to pack up suitcases and have them outside our stateroom before retiring for the night…..we were done by 10:30 and got a good rest until awakened by “our cruise director JT” waking us with disembarkation information at 6:20 PM. So now we have about 30 minutes to kill. I have 7 internet minutes left so I should be able to log on and send this very soon
We just were talking….this is the longest time I have been with my sister since I graduated from high school. It was a very fine experience being with Lyle and her and we all did very much enjoy the cruise experience….but I believe 21 days is ENOUGH so it is back to microwaves, dishwashers, and full time internet.
I hope the blog has let you know we are doing well but I doubt it was that good but it will provide a record for us to maybe organize the pictures (almost 1500 so far) and maybe do a scrapbook.
So once again we are off the dam ship and will do one last day in Rome before flying home on Mother’s Day. I think we will be in Philadelphia mid afternoon if the children want to speak to their Mother. We should reach Raleigh about Midnight Monday morning.
Thanks for reading and in honor of the 200 Russians that sailed with us this leg...
Dos v danya.
Your blogger from the Mediterranean
Dick Macartney
Saturday May 9, 2009
7:45AM
Just finished my Eggs Benedict Italian (tomato sauce and mozzarella) and am sitting here at the Lido with Charlotte and Marlene. Kastawa our Bali an assistant server just brought us another fresh squeezed orange juice and Marlene is going to fill up our coffee again.
We are on board the Noordam until 8:45 because there is a scheduled disembarkation and we asked for the last window. It is the nicest day yet in Rome with sunny skies and probably high 70s. Should be a great day for our last excursion to the Borges estate palaces and gardens for 5 hours.
Last night we redeemed our dam dollars. Charlotte got a t shirt and a sweatshirt (they only had medium small sizes left). Marlene and Lyle took a sweatshirt and a beach towel. We each had over 50 dam dollars. Our meals in the dining room were an exact match on the next to last night Surf and Turf with baked Alaska and last night Lyle had his last steak, Charlotte chose duck orange and my sister and I had beef tenderloin.
After dinner we had to pack up suitcases and have them outside our stateroom before retiring for the night…..we were done by 10:30 and got a good rest until awakened by “our cruise director JT” waking us with disembarkation information at 6:20 PM. So now we have about 30 minutes to kill. I have 7 internet minutes left so I should be able to log on and send this very soon
We just were talking….this is the longest time I have been with my sister since I graduated from high school. It was a very fine experience being with Lyle and her and we all did very much enjoy the cruise experience….but I believe 21 days is ENOUGH so it is back to microwaves, dishwashers, and full time internet.
I hope the blog has let you know we are doing well but I doubt it was that good but it will provide a record for us to maybe organize the pictures (almost 1500 so far) and maybe do a scrapbook.
So once again we are off the dam ship and will do one last day in Rome before flying home on Mother’s Day. I think we will be in Philadelphia mid afternoon if the children want to speak to their Mother. We should reach Raleigh about Midnight Monday morning.
Thanks for reading and in honor of the 200 Russians that sailed with us this leg...
Dos v danya.
Your blogger from the Mediterranean
Dick Macartney
Friday, May 8, 2009
Sorrento and Pompeii
Friday May 8, 2009
Naples, Italy
5:15 PM
Another wonderful day and this is the last full day of the cruise. We landed in the industrial harbor of Naples around 7 AM. Marlene, Charlotte and I had breakfast at the cafeteria and were ready to go on our tour by 8 AM. We were on bus 11 for the full day tour of Sorrento and Pompeii. Again we got on the 2nd bus of the 5 going there and were underway by 8:15. About all we saw of Naples was the port area and then we hit the road to Sorrento about and hour and 15 minutes away. The traffic was a little hectic as we took a narrow scenic route driving along the coast past Mount Vesuvius and then along what is called Amalfi coast. The bus dropped us near the center of town where we had a short demonstration of how the designs are put on that fine Italian furniture. The demonstration piece of furniture was a beautiful card table that had multiple hidden features like a backgammon board, a crap table, a black jack surface and finally a roulette table and wheel. Marlene thought it might make a nice gift for Chad but alas we never did price it. The main shopping area of Sorrento was very close and we had an hour or more to stroll and look at beautiful flowers scores of lemon and orange trees and thousands of motor scooter. We were successful in finding some napkin rings and some other Italian mementos.
We had an early lunch in a very excellent nearby restaurant. We sat on a patio in a garden under grape arbors surrounded by lemon trees. By the way lemon tress bear fruit most all the year here because of the climate. There are also lots of olive trees which are harvested at the end of October. We had an Italian meal of Cannelloni and Veal Scallopini of with a bottle of very good white win for the four of us. Our guide Ezio was helpful in Marlene making a call to Rome confirming our taxi for tomorrow and was good enough to pose for a picture with both Charlotte and Marlene (He is a very handsome Italian man and I would not be surprised if those photos make the scrapbooks.
After lunch a little more strolling and shopping. I finally bought a bottle of Lemoncello after looking at all the lemons and being tempted in almost every store.
We then bussed back towards Naples to Pompeii. Ezio was well versed in this site which was built by the Romans had an estimated population of 20,000 people and was destroyed in 79 AD when Mt. Vesuvius erupted Lava did not covered Pompeii it flowed the other way but cut off any escape, however three days of ash emitting sulfur fumes suffocated any people who had not evacuated and covered the town with 10 to 28 feet of ash and pumice. The town was discovered in the 1700s and was excavated for amount 200 years until about 20 years ago. About 75% of town has been recovered and the ruins were the very finest we have seen. We truly enjoyed the visit.
A quick commercial stop at a cameo factory was the last stop before returning to the ship at 4:45 PM.
So it is time to pack and get ready to leave ship in the morning. I am out on the Veranda and the ship has not left port and now the very warm sun is in my eyes. We are finishing the bottle of excellent wine we bought in Florence. It looks like we may have too much stuff to fit in the suitcases so some of you may be disappointed. We have decided to go to the formal dinner one last time at 8. Before that I will send this blog and try to use up my internet minutes which are bout 40. We also have to redeem out dam dollars for more souvenirs.
Tomorrow we are staying at the Courtyard near the Rome airport. Charlotte and I have booked the Vantage day tour but Lyle and Marlene are going to stay at the hotel and rest.
I may to try to send a couple of pictures either tonight or tomorrow.
Well the sun has now made typing this very difficult so Ciao ciao…
Naples, Italy
5:15 PM
Another wonderful day and this is the last full day of the cruise. We landed in the industrial harbor of Naples around 7 AM. Marlene, Charlotte and I had breakfast at the cafeteria and were ready to go on our tour by 8 AM. We were on bus 11 for the full day tour of Sorrento and Pompeii. Again we got on the 2nd bus of the 5 going there and were underway by 8:15. About all we saw of Naples was the port area and then we hit the road to Sorrento about and hour and 15 minutes away. The traffic was a little hectic as we took a narrow scenic route driving along the coast past Mount Vesuvius and then along what is called Amalfi coast. The bus dropped us near the center of town where we had a short demonstration of how the designs are put on that fine Italian furniture. The demonstration piece of furniture was a beautiful card table that had multiple hidden features like a backgammon board, a crap table, a black jack surface and finally a roulette table and wheel. Marlene thought it might make a nice gift for Chad but alas we never did price it. The main shopping area of Sorrento was very close and we had an hour or more to stroll and look at beautiful flowers scores of lemon and orange trees and thousands of motor scooter. We were successful in finding some napkin rings and some other Italian mementos.
We had an early lunch in a very excellent nearby restaurant. We sat on a patio in a garden under grape arbors surrounded by lemon trees. By the way lemon tress bear fruit most all the year here because of the climate. There are also lots of olive trees which are harvested at the end of October. We had an Italian meal of Cannelloni and Veal Scallopini of with a bottle of very good white win for the four of us. Our guide Ezio was helpful in Marlene making a call to Rome confirming our taxi for tomorrow and was good enough to pose for a picture with both Charlotte and Marlene (He is a very handsome Italian man and I would not be surprised if those photos make the scrapbooks.
After lunch a little more strolling and shopping. I finally bought a bottle of Lemoncello after looking at all the lemons and being tempted in almost every store.
We then bussed back towards Naples to Pompeii. Ezio was well versed in this site which was built by the Romans had an estimated population of 20,000 people and was destroyed in 79 AD when Mt. Vesuvius erupted Lava did not covered Pompeii it flowed the other way but cut off any escape, however three days of ash emitting sulfur fumes suffocated any people who had not evacuated and covered the town with 10 to 28 feet of ash and pumice. The town was discovered in the 1700s and was excavated for amount 200 years until about 20 years ago. About 75% of town has been recovered and the ruins were the very finest we have seen. We truly enjoyed the visit.
A quick commercial stop at a cameo factory was the last stop before returning to the ship at 4:45 PM.
So it is time to pack and get ready to leave ship in the morning. I am out on the Veranda and the ship has not left port and now the very warm sun is in my eyes. We are finishing the bottle of excellent wine we bought in Florence. It looks like we may have too much stuff to fit in the suitcases so some of you may be disappointed. We have decided to go to the formal dinner one last time at 8. Before that I will send this blog and try to use up my internet minutes which are bout 40. We also have to redeem out dam dollars for more souvenirs.
Tomorrow we are staying at the Courtyard near the Rome airport. Charlotte and I have booked the Vantage day tour but Lyle and Marlene are going to stay at the hotel and rest.
I may to try to send a couple of pictures either tonight or tomorrow.
Well the sun has now made typing this very difficult so Ciao ciao…
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Second Day In Sicily this time Palermo
May 7, 2009
Palermo, Sicily
4:10 PM
Well the cruise is winding down for us. Our second day in Sicily was much like the first but not as exciting. Charlotte and I tried the Vista Dining room for a sit down breakfast at 8 AM and sat with a couple of widows from the Tacoma Washington area. I did enjoy what I thought was my best breakfast, corned beef hash with two poached eggs.
Around 10 AM we left the boat. It was a 1 kilometer walk to the town the port city of Palermo. The town is a mixture of Italian and Arabic, new and old, sophisticated and plain. We started walking but I could not resist one taxi driver who wanted 50 Euros to take us to all the major sites but I talked him into 20 for the four of us…Oh the taxi was actually an open motor scooter with room for three in the back and one up with the driver. Marlene sat up front and we were off. It was a very delightful ride on a very comfortable sunny day. Within an hour he had scooted us to about 10 locations where we could take pictures of old buildings. He could not speak English and we did not know Italian so he would point to the name of the building in a brochure. It was so good we gave him 25 Euros. Then we shopped as we walked from the center of Palermo back to the ship getting back on about 12:30.
A quick lunch then we went for the dam dollars again. We got 3 each for a game of Trivial Pursuit and a game of Wi Baseball (Lyle was very good at hitting home runs). We tired to double up by winning the Mega Trivia game again but came up way short.
Back in the room starting my blog I realized we still had time to make the daily bingo game. So Marlene, Charlotte, and I just played bingo. It took 45 minutes and it is now 5:15. We had to pay $20 each for Bingo but Charlotte tied the last coverall game with 4 others and got back $15. She and Marlene now went to walk the Promenade Deck.
So I will send this and probably have a drink as we are leaving Palermo. Tonight will be our sixth and last formal evening and we are expecting another excellent meal….remember the surf and turf with baked Alaska.
Tomorrow we stop at Naples and we are on an early tour to Pompeii and Sorrento. Then it will be time to back as that is the last port of call.
Palermo, Sicily
4:10 PM
Well the cruise is winding down for us. Our second day in Sicily was much like the first but not as exciting. Charlotte and I tried the Vista Dining room for a sit down breakfast at 8 AM and sat with a couple of widows from the Tacoma Washington area. I did enjoy what I thought was my best breakfast, corned beef hash with two poached eggs.
Around 10 AM we left the boat. It was a 1 kilometer walk to the town the port city of Palermo. The town is a mixture of Italian and Arabic, new and old, sophisticated and plain. We started walking but I could not resist one taxi driver who wanted 50 Euros to take us to all the major sites but I talked him into 20 for the four of us…Oh the taxi was actually an open motor scooter with room for three in the back and one up with the driver. Marlene sat up front and we were off. It was a very delightful ride on a very comfortable sunny day. Within an hour he had scooted us to about 10 locations where we could take pictures of old buildings. He could not speak English and we did not know Italian so he would point to the name of the building in a brochure. It was so good we gave him 25 Euros. Then we shopped as we walked from the center of Palermo back to the ship getting back on about 12:30.
A quick lunch then we went for the dam dollars again. We got 3 each for a game of Trivial Pursuit and a game of Wi Baseball (Lyle was very good at hitting home runs). We tired to double up by winning the Mega Trivia game again but came up way short.
Back in the room starting my blog I realized we still had time to make the daily bingo game. So Marlene, Charlotte, and I just played bingo. It took 45 minutes and it is now 5:15. We had to pay $20 each for Bingo but Charlotte tied the last coverall game with 4 others and got back $15. She and Marlene now went to walk the Promenade Deck.
So I will send this and probably have a drink as we are leaving Palermo. Tonight will be our sixth and last formal evening and we are expecting another excellent meal….remember the surf and turf with baked Alaska.
Tomorrow we stop at Naples and we are on an early tour to Pompeii and Sorrento. Then it will be time to back as that is the last port of call.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Today in Tunisia
5:15PM May 6
LaGoulette (Tunis) Tunisia
Well it has been a couple of days since I wrote. All continues very well. Yesterday was a sea day and we had a good time on board. Marlene won the Explorations Café daily trivia contest and the Snow Macartney team with two helpers convincingly won the Mega Trivia Challenge against about 100 people it was the third time we tried but we got 14 of 15 plus the bonus question (What was the name of the dog in Peter Pan?). Lyle and I entered the ping pong tourney and the ladies went to tea and learned how to make bananas Flambé. The result is that we each have about 40 Dam Dollars to be exchanged the last day for Holland American logoed merchandise. Dinner was formal and after we watched the Marriage Game again (we would have a harder time with this tour’s questions, this week the newlyweds won) we went to bed early. We lost an hour which we will pick up tonight.
At 8AM we joined 1100 other passengers on tour buses, but we were lucky getting on bus #2 getting out early. We learned about the country of Tunisia…10 million populations in three regions the north for agriculture, the middle for olive trees and grazing and the Sahara desert in the South. Carthage was about 10 miles from the commercial port. We toured some ruins (a roman bath from 300 AD) and learned about Carthage founded by a woman from Phoenicia around 800 BC and the home of Hannibal and the site of the three Punic Wars. The last one ended in 146 BC. Roman rule lasted about 500 years then came the Vandals who destroyed much of the statutes. Next the Turks and the Byzantines took over finally Arabs. The French ruled from 1880 to 1956,
We toured Bardo Museum for an hour, it has wonderful Mosaics, Roman artifacts and a glimpse into palace life under Arabs. Saw a bedroom for the Harem. Lots of souvenir peddlers especially at our next stop in the Medina where we visited a Souk drank mint tea and learned about handicrafts (read carpet demo again) finally we had lunch around 1:30 at a Roman motif restaurant where we had a buffet and wine (a vin rose… the worst wine yet) It was near the cisterns built in emperor Hadrian times that saved water that flowed from aqueducts from the mountain miles away in giant cisterns which are partially excavated. We had toured the baths earlier in the morning.
We then went by St. Louis Cathedral built after the Crusades for the son of a French king and saw more Punic ruins. We finished up in shops at Sidi Bou Said where everything was whitewashed with Blue shutters and window panes… very pretty. Marlene bargained for some ceramic bowls I found some playing cards and finally bought a magnet (those who have seen our refrigerator know there is little room left). The bus made a quick stop at the American cemetery for WWII dead some 2100 graves very well maintained and pretty. We got back to the ship and some enterprising folks were doing camel rides and playing Arabic music (but alas, out 2 gig memory card decided to give out just them some 1450 photos). Sorry you do not get to see the pictures but schedule a three day visit to our house and you may be able to see them all…
Marlene just stopped by to tell me she had decided not to do a tour in Rome on Saturday that I had discussed with the Vantage tour group. So maybe Charlotte and I will go by ourselves. The Snows flight is very early Sunday AM while ours is not until 11.
Whoops the engines just started I guess we about to leave another port. At this one there were 6 cruise ships again so the cruise industry is surely supporting Tunisia.
I thoroughly enjoyed my day in Africa...
LaGoulette (Tunis) Tunisia
Well it has been a couple of days since I wrote. All continues very well. Yesterday was a sea day and we had a good time on board. Marlene won the Explorations Café daily trivia contest and the Snow Macartney team with two helpers convincingly won the Mega Trivia Challenge against about 100 people it was the third time we tried but we got 14 of 15 plus the bonus question (What was the name of the dog in Peter Pan?). Lyle and I entered the ping pong tourney and the ladies went to tea and learned how to make bananas Flambé. The result is that we each have about 40 Dam Dollars to be exchanged the last day for Holland American logoed merchandise. Dinner was formal and after we watched the Marriage Game again (we would have a harder time with this tour’s questions, this week the newlyweds won) we went to bed early. We lost an hour which we will pick up tonight.
At 8AM we joined 1100 other passengers on tour buses, but we were lucky getting on bus #2 getting out early. We learned about the country of Tunisia…10 million populations in three regions the north for agriculture, the middle for olive trees and grazing and the Sahara desert in the South. Carthage was about 10 miles from the commercial port. We toured some ruins (a roman bath from 300 AD) and learned about Carthage founded by a woman from Phoenicia around 800 BC and the home of Hannibal and the site of the three Punic Wars. The last one ended in 146 BC. Roman rule lasted about 500 years then came the Vandals who destroyed much of the statutes. Next the Turks and the Byzantines took over finally Arabs. The French ruled from 1880 to 1956,
We toured Bardo Museum for an hour, it has wonderful Mosaics, Roman artifacts and a glimpse into palace life under Arabs. Saw a bedroom for the Harem. Lots of souvenir peddlers especially at our next stop in the Medina where we visited a Souk drank mint tea and learned about handicrafts (read carpet demo again) finally we had lunch around 1:30 at a Roman motif restaurant where we had a buffet and wine (a vin rose… the worst wine yet) It was near the cisterns built in emperor Hadrian times that saved water that flowed from aqueducts from the mountain miles away in giant cisterns which are partially excavated. We had toured the baths earlier in the morning.
We then went by St. Louis Cathedral built after the Crusades for the son of a French king and saw more Punic ruins. We finished up in shops at Sidi Bou Said where everything was whitewashed with Blue shutters and window panes… very pretty. Marlene bargained for some ceramic bowls I found some playing cards and finally bought a magnet (those who have seen our refrigerator know there is little room left). The bus made a quick stop at the American cemetery for WWII dead some 2100 graves very well maintained and pretty. We got back to the ship and some enterprising folks were doing camel rides and playing Arabic music (but alas, out 2 gig memory card decided to give out just them some 1450 photos). Sorry you do not get to see the pictures but schedule a three day visit to our house and you may be able to see them all…
Marlene just stopped by to tell me she had decided not to do a tour in Rome on Saturday that I had discussed with the Vantage tour group. So maybe Charlotte and I will go by ourselves. The Snows flight is very early Sunday AM while ours is not until 11.
Whoops the engines just started I guess we about to leave another port. At this one there were 6 cruise ships again so the cruise industry is surely supporting Tunisia.
I thoroughly enjoyed my day in Africa...
Monday, May 4, 2009
Monday in Mallorca
Mallorca
9:20 AM
Shirtsleeves and shorts sitting on a shady veranda what a beautiful day in Majorica. The ship just dock on our starboard side and I watched in my bathrobe as the lines were thrown and secured. You see we ordered room service and it was on time hot and very good (ham and cheese omelets with bananas and orange slices and of course toast and coffee.
Well I see the passengers streaming off the ship. The gang way is on starboard side aft and people are exiting the second deck into a covered area that open on to a covered walkway which runs parallel to the ship and is fifty feet from my position
Last night we ate at our normal dining time I had prime rib as did Lyle and Marlene. Charlotte ate salmon. After dinner we play two games of pinochle and got back to the room in time to see us depart from Barcelona at 11. We tried taking some pictures with the nighttime landscape feature and some may have turned out.
Charlotte says her knee feels better and she is going to go ashore as is Lyle I think we are waiting for the Snows to return from breakfast then we will be off. It is good not to fight the crows as there are over 1800 passengers who like to all do the same thing at the same time it seems. We will report on the Mallocra Meanderings a bit later we have to be back for a 6 PM sailing.
2:20 PM
I just finished eating a couple of scoops of pistachio mint ice cream after two pieces of pizza. That’s a light lunch on this cruise ship. We had a nice Monday in Mallorca getting of the ship around 10 AM. We had a 30 minute wait for the local bus to town as it was a 40 minute walk or a 10 Euro Taxi ride. We saved 50% since it turned out the 2.50 euros we paid for a ticket was only one way not both. Dropped in the town Centro, at a very modern thoroughfare, we managed to find our way to an older part of town and eventually to the major tourist attraction the old palace and the Cathedral. Since the place is now a museum and the Cathedral both charged for entry we skipped. and just shopped a little. A major shopping item here are imitation pearls mad from glass and ground fish scales. I think Charlotte and Marlene both bought some. I found my postcards and playing cards so I was done early. Finding our way back was difficult (the pigeons must have eaten the breadcrumbs) but we did finally find a bus stop in front of the local department store that made several stops the last of which was back at the port. We shared the bus ride with a couple from New Jersey who are big Vantage Tour and had been to South America too. We may look into the Vantage tour offerings on Sunday when we are back in Rome.
Charlotte’s knee held up pretty well but she did buy an elastic wrap for her knee for 4 euros (the same price as the Cathedral). Somehow we missed the Snows up here for lunch we are sitting at a table by the pool….the roof is open and just now I felt a cooler breeze otherwise it has been warm and pleasant. A PA announcement said the ship was going to test the emergency diesel generator and that the elevators and lifts would be out of service.
Thats the latest from Mallorca …..Adios...
9:20 AM
Shirtsleeves and shorts sitting on a shady veranda what a beautiful day in Majorica. The ship just dock on our starboard side and I watched in my bathrobe as the lines were thrown and secured. You see we ordered room service and it was on time hot and very good (ham and cheese omelets with bananas and orange slices and of course toast and coffee.
Well I see the passengers streaming off the ship. The gang way is on starboard side aft and people are exiting the second deck into a covered area that open on to a covered walkway which runs parallel to the ship and is fifty feet from my position
Last night we ate at our normal dining time I had prime rib as did Lyle and Marlene. Charlotte ate salmon. After dinner we play two games of pinochle and got back to the room in time to see us depart from Barcelona at 11. We tried taking some pictures with the nighttime landscape feature and some may have turned out.
Charlotte says her knee feels better and she is going to go ashore as is Lyle I think we are waiting for the Snows to return from breakfast then we will be off. It is good not to fight the crows as there are over 1800 passengers who like to all do the same thing at the same time it seems. We will report on the Mallocra Meanderings a bit later we have to be back for a 6 PM sailing.
2:20 PM
I just finished eating a couple of scoops of pistachio mint ice cream after two pieces of pizza. That’s a light lunch on this cruise ship. We had a nice Monday in Mallorca getting of the ship around 10 AM. We had a 30 minute wait for the local bus to town as it was a 40 minute walk or a 10 Euro Taxi ride. We saved 50% since it turned out the 2.50 euros we paid for a ticket was only one way not both. Dropped in the town Centro, at a very modern thoroughfare, we managed to find our way to an older part of town and eventually to the major tourist attraction the old palace and the Cathedral. Since the place is now a museum and the Cathedral both charged for entry we skipped. and just shopped a little. A major shopping item here are imitation pearls mad from glass and ground fish scales. I think Charlotte and Marlene both bought some. I found my postcards and playing cards so I was done early. Finding our way back was difficult (the pigeons must have eaten the breadcrumbs) but we did finally find a bus stop in front of the local department store that made several stops the last of which was back at the port. We shared the bus ride with a couple from New Jersey who are big Vantage Tour and had been to South America too. We may look into the Vantage tour offerings on Sunday when we are back in Rome.
Charlotte’s knee held up pretty well but she did buy an elastic wrap for her knee for 4 euros (the same price as the Cathedral). Somehow we missed the Snows up here for lunch we are sitting at a table by the pool….the roof is open and just now I felt a cooler breeze otherwise it has been warm and pleasant. A PA announcement said the ship was going to test the emergency diesel generator and that the elevators and lifts would be out of service.
Thats the latest from Mallorca …..Adios...
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Another Sunny Sunday this time Barcelona
6:05 PM
We are still in Barcelona, a bigger cruise ship than us just passed beside us exiting the busiest cruise ship port in Europe. We are sitting on the Veranda, again me with my shirt off as the sun is hot and the temp read 26 degrees centigrade at the Columbus statute about an hour ago.
By 10AM this morning we were going ashore. Lyle elected to stay on the boat so it was just the three of us. We had a bit of a hassle getting on the port shuttle bus as there were two lines and the bus pulled to ours and the other line had formed earlier(not all cruise ship passengers are genteel). The quick bus ride to the end of the piers was about 5 minutes and I think I counted five cruise ships docked.
We formulated a plan to take the hop-on hop-off tourist bus for 21 euros each. It was also crowded and we started seated on the lower deck instead of the open air second deck. We hopped off a couple of times to check out a Cantaylan museum and Picasso’s art museum but quickly decided that we needed to stay on the bus…for two reasons. First because there was always a line to re board and seats on second deck were hard to get and secondly, because it is a huge city and to finish the bus routes would take several hours. So we rode both the blue and the red lines (skipped the green) for about 5 hours. We considered the highlight the unfinished Cathedral started in the last century worked on by the famous architect Gaudi until his death in 1956 and is still going up. It is called Sagrada Famlia. It will have 17 towers one for each disciple plus the gospel writers and the Virgin Mary with a huge center devoted to Jesus. All donations for entry go to fund the construction and the lines were around the very extensive block. We have lots of pictures and a couple of postcards but we stayed on the bus.
Many other highlights including churches, significant architectural buildings, and beautiful residential areas and sports complexes like the two Olympic sites. Midway of the tour we stopped for a refreshments and a toilet stop which was fun I tried Spanish beer this time but it was draft so I am not sure of the brand. The major mishap early was a severe knee jam by Charlotte when she was told she was going down the up stairs to the second deck on the bus. She turned too quickly and hit it on a sharp corner. She is now sitting along side me on the deck drinking a little Merlot with an ice bag cutting the pain.
We are in Barcelona until 11 and the city of 3,000,000 should be beautiful under the lights but I think we have had enough so it will probably be an early evening since the casino does not open until we are at sea.
Tomorrow is Mallorca…
We are still in Barcelona, a bigger cruise ship than us just passed beside us exiting the busiest cruise ship port in Europe. We are sitting on the Veranda, again me with my shirt off as the sun is hot and the temp read 26 degrees centigrade at the Columbus statute about an hour ago.
By 10AM this morning we were going ashore. Lyle elected to stay on the boat so it was just the three of us. We had a bit of a hassle getting on the port shuttle bus as there were two lines and the bus pulled to ours and the other line had formed earlier(not all cruise ship passengers are genteel). The quick bus ride to the end of the piers was about 5 minutes and I think I counted five cruise ships docked.
We formulated a plan to take the hop-on hop-off tourist bus for 21 euros each. It was also crowded and we started seated on the lower deck instead of the open air second deck. We hopped off a couple of times to check out a Cantaylan museum and Picasso’s art museum but quickly decided that we needed to stay on the bus…for two reasons. First because there was always a line to re board and seats on second deck were hard to get and secondly, because it is a huge city and to finish the bus routes would take several hours. So we rode both the blue and the red lines (skipped the green) for about 5 hours. We considered the highlight the unfinished Cathedral started in the last century worked on by the famous architect Gaudi until his death in 1956 and is still going up. It is called Sagrada Famlia. It will have 17 towers one for each disciple plus the gospel writers and the Virgin Mary with a huge center devoted to Jesus. All donations for entry go to fund the construction and the lines were around the very extensive block. We have lots of pictures and a couple of postcards but we stayed on the bus.
Many other highlights including churches, significant architectural buildings, and beautiful residential areas and sports complexes like the two Olympic sites. Midway of the tour we stopped for a refreshments and a toilet stop which was fun I tried Spanish beer this time but it was draft so I am not sure of the brand. The major mishap early was a severe knee jam by Charlotte when she was told she was going down the up stairs to the second deck on the bus. She turned too quickly and hit it on a sharp corner. She is now sitting along side me on the deck drinking a little Merlot with an ice bag cutting the pain.
We are in Barcelona until 11 and the city of 3,000,000 should be beautiful under the lights but I think we have had enough so it will probably be an early evening since the casino does not open until we are at sea.
Tomorrow is Mallorca…
Breakfast in Barcelonia
Sunday May 3, 2009
8:20 PM
We are in Barcelona and trying to get breakfast up- here in the Lido but it is a very crowded space again. We will wait for the Snows and try to get out here and on shore by 10.
It is sunny and temperature should be in mid 70’s.
Yesterday was a sea day and we had a good time, work outs, trivia games, and a couple of games of pinochle, volleyball serve and about 150 pages of Snowball. The show was the last of the three production shows we had not seen so we it (The Walls Rock). It was preceded by a captain’s toast of champagne and introduction to the crew all in formal white dinner jackets. We also had a bottle of Chardonnay at dinner (three lobster thermidors and I had a rack of lamb). After dinner I played poker for a couple of hours and for the second night in a row won a little. There is a group of Russian on the ship all pretty young and about 5 or 6 play on the automatic poker table with us so maybe it is a bit less competition than the last leg where a guy from Reno (Bill) won most nights.
The ship is docked here until 11 PM so this will be the longest shore day we will have. There are some excursions but we are going to explore on our own. There is a tram that will give us an overview and then I think we will look for the hop-on hop-off tour bus.
Who won the Derby I wore one of my Brown Bag tee shirts yesterday and we caught a few early races on ESPN 2 but this morning I was not able to hear anything about who won. The race ran at about 2 AM Barcelona time and we were asleep.
8:20 PM
We are in Barcelona and trying to get breakfast up- here in the Lido but it is a very crowded space again. We will wait for the Snows and try to get out here and on shore by 10.
It is sunny and temperature should be in mid 70’s.
Yesterday was a sea day and we had a good time, work outs, trivia games, and a couple of games of pinochle, volleyball serve and about 150 pages of Snowball. The show was the last of the three production shows we had not seen so we it (The Walls Rock). It was preceded by a captain’s toast of champagne and introduction to the crew all in formal white dinner jackets. We also had a bottle of Chardonnay at dinner (three lobster thermidors and I had a rack of lamb). After dinner I played poker for a couple of hours and for the second night in a row won a little. There is a group of Russian on the ship all pretty young and about 5 or 6 play on the automatic poker table with us so maybe it is a bit less competition than the last leg where a guy from Reno (Bill) won most nights.
The ship is docked here until 11 PM so this will be the longest shore day we will have. There are some excursions but we are going to explore on our own. There is a tram that will give us an overview and then I think we will look for the hop-on hop-off tour bus.
Who won the Derby I wore one of my Brown Bag tee shirts yesterday and we caught a few early races on ESPN 2 but this morning I was not able to hear anything about who won. The race ran at about 2 AM Barcelona time and we were asleep.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Froliciing on the French Rivera
Monte Carlo
May 1, 2009
3:40 PM
Magnificent Day in Monaco. Temperature is about 77, the sun is shining and I am sitting out on the Veranda looking across a harbor full of Yachts. The Gran Casino shows just over the top of my computer screen about 300 yards across the water up on the higher ground. The panoramic view is quite attractive and a small sail boat and a power boat a gliding by our great ship down below our 6th deck vantage point.
Today we frolicked on the French Rivera. We had a half day excursion that left about 8:30 PM on a bus for the tour called Nice and Eze and it was nice and easy (which is not how you pronounce the cities). Our guide was a pleasant Italian lady (the tour company ran out of French guides). Today with 4 or 5 different tours they took 21 bus loads (nearly 800) of passengers of the ship. The difficulty is that everyone is trying to eat at same time both for breakfast and for lunch since most tours were back for lunch around the same time (1 PM).
Today is May 1 and it is a holiday in this part of the world they called it Labor Day in Italy and a bank holiday here in Monaco. That means at 8:30 AM there was little traffic as no one was working and no stores other than souvenir stands were open so we zipped over to Nice in France in about an hour. Nice is also on the Med so we followed the sea road around and the views were terrific. The bus dropped us right on the beach near a commercial area known as “the flower market” We had an hour to browse the flowers the vegetable and other artisan stands …..An open air market in other words. We did a little shopping and snapped a lot of photos. The area were in was the “old town” which was the part of Nice the Sardinian king ceded to France in 1860 to pay off for help in a previous war. Just above this area was the French part of Nice for always. What happened was that the Greeks originally settled near the coast and the Romans more up the hills. Amazingly we could see Mountains (Alps) with fresh snow from last Monday on them and we also saw people in water and in bikinis on the Mediterranean.
Our second bus stop was a medieval village called Eze. To reach it we had to climb up a very steep path to a walled in town with stone walls, narrow stone streets, and stone living quarters and shops. Since it was so steep Lyle decided to sit and wait for us. The other three of us had about an hour in the village. Again great photo opportunities were presented as there were gardens and the spring flowers are very pretty.
On the way back to Monaco, about 5 miles, the bus stopped and we were able to snap a photo of the royal place from above. Prince Albert is not here as the flag is not flying but shortly a lot of the world will be here in Monte Carlo as the scaffolding and other preparations are moving forward for the Gran Prix of Monte Carlo---a world event for Formula 1 cars.
After a quick change of clothes and a little lunch we were off the see Monaco and the Gran Casino. You must be dressed with no caps or shorts for the Casino and we heard it cost 10 euros to enter. Since it is a 40 minute walk around the harbor and up hill we took a taxi over for 12 euros. After taking pictures we went inside and had to check our cameras. We found there was a room off the vestibule where there were slots and you did not have to pay and present a passport. We did not have a lot of time so we played the slots (draw poker) Lyle won .80 euros and I lost 1.80 euros. Charlotte and I then walked back to the ship as it is a beautiful day and it was downhill. Just as we entered the dock area Marlene and Lyle were getting out of a cab (which cost 17 euros for the return but they were able to share with 2 other passengers.
At the moment we are trying to decide whether to go to a French themed dinner at the pool early or attend out normal dining. Regardless I believe we will drink some champagne and maybe a little wine before the comedy show and dinner. Life on the Rivera is just fine…. now where did I leave my Ferrari or was it the Bentley? There are over 300 Ferraris registered in Monaco and about 50 Bentley in a town half the size of Central Park and with only 32,000 people…Cost for new construction is 50,000 per square meter…………so I guess I will have to settle for my little seaside home in NC which is quite a bargain by comparison. Bon jour
May 1, 2009
3:40 PM
Magnificent Day in Monaco. Temperature is about 77, the sun is shining and I am sitting out on the Veranda looking across a harbor full of Yachts. The Gran Casino shows just over the top of my computer screen about 300 yards across the water up on the higher ground. The panoramic view is quite attractive and a small sail boat and a power boat a gliding by our great ship down below our 6th deck vantage point.
Today we frolicked on the French Rivera. We had a half day excursion that left about 8:30 PM on a bus for the tour called Nice and Eze and it was nice and easy (which is not how you pronounce the cities). Our guide was a pleasant Italian lady (the tour company ran out of French guides). Today with 4 or 5 different tours they took 21 bus loads (nearly 800) of passengers of the ship. The difficulty is that everyone is trying to eat at same time both for breakfast and for lunch since most tours were back for lunch around the same time (1 PM).
Today is May 1 and it is a holiday in this part of the world they called it Labor Day in Italy and a bank holiday here in Monaco. That means at 8:30 AM there was little traffic as no one was working and no stores other than souvenir stands were open so we zipped over to Nice in France in about an hour. Nice is also on the Med so we followed the sea road around and the views were terrific. The bus dropped us right on the beach near a commercial area known as “the flower market” We had an hour to browse the flowers the vegetable and other artisan stands …..An open air market in other words. We did a little shopping and snapped a lot of photos. The area were in was the “old town” which was the part of Nice the Sardinian king ceded to France in 1860 to pay off for help in a previous war. Just above this area was the French part of Nice for always. What happened was that the Greeks originally settled near the coast and the Romans more up the hills. Amazingly we could see Mountains (Alps) with fresh snow from last Monday on them and we also saw people in water and in bikinis on the Mediterranean.
Our second bus stop was a medieval village called Eze. To reach it we had to climb up a very steep path to a walled in town with stone walls, narrow stone streets, and stone living quarters and shops. Since it was so steep Lyle decided to sit and wait for us. The other three of us had about an hour in the village. Again great photo opportunities were presented as there were gardens and the spring flowers are very pretty.
On the way back to Monaco, about 5 miles, the bus stopped and we were able to snap a photo of the royal place from above. Prince Albert is not here as the flag is not flying but shortly a lot of the world will be here in Monte Carlo as the scaffolding and other preparations are moving forward for the Gran Prix of Monte Carlo---a world event for Formula 1 cars.
After a quick change of clothes and a little lunch we were off the see Monaco and the Gran Casino. You must be dressed with no caps or shorts for the Casino and we heard it cost 10 euros to enter. Since it is a 40 minute walk around the harbor and up hill we took a taxi over for 12 euros. After taking pictures we went inside and had to check our cameras. We found there was a room off the vestibule where there were slots and you did not have to pay and present a passport. We did not have a lot of time so we played the slots (draw poker) Lyle won .80 euros and I lost 1.80 euros. Charlotte and I then walked back to the ship as it is a beautiful day and it was downhill. Just as we entered the dock area Marlene and Lyle were getting out of a cab (which cost 17 euros for the return but they were able to share with 2 other passengers.
At the moment we are trying to decide whether to go to a French themed dinner at the pool early or attend out normal dining. Regardless I believe we will drink some champagne and maybe a little wine before the comedy show and dinner. Life on the Rivera is just fine…. now where did I leave my Ferrari or was it the Bentley? There are over 300 Ferraris registered in Monaco and about 50 Bentley in a town half the size of Central Park and with only 32,000 people…Cost for new construction is 50,000 per square meter…………so I guess I will have to settle for my little seaside home in NC which is quite a bargain by comparison. Bon jour
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