Wednesday, October 3

Citavecchia. We were supposed to take a ‘Rome on your own’ tour today, but decided not to. Wendy still didn’t feel good and I was tired as well. Our plan was to take the bus in and then walk to Trevi Fountain, Spanish steps etc, but as Wendy said, do we really want to return? Somehow 4 hours of bus to spend 6 hours walking around wasn’t real appealing after Tuesday. Instead we went into the port town and found the morning markets. Vegetables, fruit, flowers, fish, jeans, handbags and everything else you could imagine, for several blocks. People were friendly and polite. So different from Rome. We decided that we liked the small town/country better than the big city.
Tomorrow is Florence. We have a long bus ride into town from the port Laverno, and then probably the same kind of tour again to view more of Michelangelo’s work. At least we know what to expect.
Had a really good chat with Carl and Colin!!!

Tuesday, October 2

Roma: 2 hour bus ride from the port. One hour was on a freeway but the last part was in horrendous traffic. Our tour was called ‘Eternal Rome’ but I think it referred to the traffic. Traffic signs and rules are viewed as suggestions, not absolute. Our guide was difficult to understand. We had earphones so that we could hear her, but with the background noise and her accent, it was hard. We started off with Vatican City. We stood in line for half an hour, compared to the two hours for non group people. First was the museum with statues of various gods and things and then huge tapestries that told Biblical stories. We couldn’t hear our guide, so just moved through this hallway with the items on the sides. Volume of people is such that you can’t stop to look at things, but you also can’t walk at a normal rate. Very tiring. We then went into the Sistine Chapel for about 15 minutes. You have to stand and are not supposed to talk. Hard to believe one man painted those 500 years ago. I had seen pictures of panels of some of the fresco, but seeing it all at once was surprising. He obviously knew his bible. The lighting is dim and the ceiling too high to see much detail, but it is very impressive. Next we went to St Peters Basilica. The Pope was busy, so we just showed ourselves around. It is so…catholic. The design and the art are awesome and very hard to put into words. As we noticed in Westminster Abbey, whose glory was all this for?
We went for the compulsory shopping stop and watched a group of scam artists selling handbags. When a cop appeared, they grabbed their stuff and fled, only to reappear after he left. This was followed by a very long lunch in a restaurant.
We drove around town to the Coliseum. We saw the Forum, Pantheon and other land marks from the bus. After standing in line for awhile, we had free time to explore it. Amazing building – 2000 years old. It was built in 10 years. Much has been removed or destroyed, but still a lot to see and appreciate. Unfortunately Wendy was not feeling very well. It is something that had been building since Turkey. Head ache, upset tummy and the like. That, plus the 30c and the crowds, and rude Italians made for unpleasant impression. I really liked the Coliseum, but I think in part because the crowds were bearable and we were able to explore on our own. We snoozed on the way back, but Wendy really felt awful.

Monday, October 1

Napoli, that is NAH pole e. Not Naples. We didn’t actually see much of the city, but from what we did see, I don’t think we missed much. The pre tour briefing warned us our friendly the Neapolitans are, and how willing they are to share, that is, share what you have. Our tour was a long one, but just incredible. Our guide was a 34 year old vivacious lady named Manuella, but she referred to herself as Momma and we were her bambinos. What made her so entertaining was we got to learn something of life there and what the people are like rather than just facts. For instance, how a ‘good mamma’ hung her clothes on the railing so that the more personal items were covered by towels or sheets, and everything hung according to lengths. Naughty women did not consider such things.
We drove through Sorrento, with a quick pit stop. Then, we drove along the coast to Amalfi where we had a stop for wandering around the streets before lunch. How do you describe the Amalfi Coast? It holds the record in Guinness Book for most curves at 1091 in just a few miles. In places the road is so narrow and the curves so sharp that the buildings on either side are damaged, We could see the scrape marks where less experienced bus drivers had timed things wrong. The road did not allow us to stop, but we were on the right side of the bus and I was able to take a ‘few’ pictures out the window. When the area was settled, they terraced the hill side or just built into the rock, resulting in towns built down the cliffs. The result is incredibly beautiful, with red roofs, blue sky and blue-green water. In one town the houses are all pastels while another they were all white.
We stopped in Amalfi for a stroll up the narrow streets. Really charming. Then to a hotel for lunch. After lunch we drove to Pompeii. Good time for a little snooze.
Pompeii is much larger than I expected. The town of 20,000 people had been covered with 30 feet of ash when Mt Vesuvius erupted in 89AD. People were killed where on the spot by poisonous gases and then the hot ash. All organic material was vaporized, but left cavities. They filled many of these with plaster and made moulds of the people, wooden doors and things. They have excavated much of the town, but a lot remains. We went into a beautiful villa with colored walls, courtyard and various rooms. All the roofs were gone, as they collapsed with the weight of the ash. She pointed out the house of prostitution where they had diagrams on the walls describing the services offered. Some things never change. Interspersed throughout were fountains. Each was unique and was the means they used to identify locations, rather than street names.
We were exhausted, but had a great time. We opted for the alternate dining so we could get to bed early in preparation for Roma.

Sunday Sept 30

A day at sea. We had plans for the day that weren’t exactly ambitious, but they were all cancelled after I had a run in with some kind of shell fish. I guess I ate something last night that had come in contact with shellfish and I just had some latent effects. Didn’t need the epi pen at least. That kept us up for a good portion of the night and so the day was even lazier than planned. Lots of reading on our deck or in the room, snoozing, walking on the deck and of course eating. Tonight is formal night, so we have to get all spiffied up. After that there is another show with the singers and dancers. It was so good last time, that we’ll likely go again.
The next five days will be very busy with 8-10 hour tours of Naples, two days in Rome and then Florence. We are on a bus, so that will give a chance to rest between stops. Naples tour includes Pompeii and the Almafi Coast. **WARNING** postings may be sporadic!!!
We told our room steward of my need to avoid shell fish, so rather than our usual appetizers, he just brought a cheese tray with smoked salmon, crackers and fruit. Wendy wants to know who will be doing this when we get home, as well bringing fresh towels twice per day, changing the sheets, bringing fresh flowers, morning coffee and freshly squeezed oj??

Saturday, Sept 29

Turkish night was fun last night, but overly crowded. The food was good, but it was hard to find a table. We finally did, and then shared it with tablemates from Windsor. Turkish music is…different. No real beat and kind of goes on and on. They had ethnic dancing after, including belly dancing, and that was fun to watch. Very colorful costumes.

We slept in Saturday and had a relaxing morning. After our waffles and omelets, we walked along the waterfront. Palm trees, warm sandy beach, it was great. We walked to Pigeon Island for which Kusadasi is named and enjoyed some shade. Forecast was for around 30c and it felt like it. I thought we should at least walk through the bazaar area, even if just for the cultural experience. We did for a bit, but found ourselves back along the beach. It was interesting that in a Moslem (albeit moderate) country that having that kind of beach ware would be present.
After three hours of hot sun we headed back to the ship for lunch. Freshly made hamburgers and ice cream we watched the sail away from port. We then talked to Carl by IM, and came up to our room to watch the sun set from our deck. Then we had to get ready for supper. Such stress! This was the night for the Chocolate Midnight Buffet. We dropped in to watch the Newly wed/not so newly wed game which must have been very embarrassing for the participants. Glad it wasn’t us. The buffet was amazing, but we both just looked and didn’t partake

Friday, Sept 28

Kusadasi, Turkey is the name of the port, but the main attraction here is the ruins at Ephesus. We had a full day tour in about 30c heat walking through Greek, Roman and Byzantine ruins. We were told that John had fulfilled his promise to Christ by bringing Mary here to live. She is apparently buried in the hills up from Ephesus. Of course there are shrines and stuff for her, but we didn’t want to see that. There is also a Church of John the Baptist where he is apparently buried. We didn’t see it, but we saw the arena where the riots occurred when Paul was preaching there and the jail area where he was held. The ruins there are extensive and it was great to be able to explore there. Then we went to Myletis, where Paul met with the church elders before going to Jerusalem. We read the corresponding scriptures and it was great. Our next stop was Didyma, which is a temple for Apollo. Oracles were given there. Our last stop was at a Turkish carpet show room. Beautiful stuff and apparently great prices, but still more than we were willing to spend.
Tonight is Turkish night: food, music and dancing. Should be fun.

Thursday, September 27

Thursday
Amazing production to get all of these people out on their tours. Ours was Athens sightseeing and the Acropolis. There were about 40 people on our bus (#12) but I think there were a total of 15 buses for this one tour. Traffic is horrendous; slow and dangerous. Not a place I would want to drive. We only drove past some sights I would of liked to have seen, like Hadrians Arch and some Roman columns for the Zeus temple. We did get to spend 1.5 hours at the Acropolis. The crowds were so bad that you if you stop on the way up to take a picture, the Tourist Police yell at you to keep moving. We did have time to explore around some and take pictures. Amazing sight. They are doing a lot of restoration work, but with cranes and scaffolding. Not the way it was done originally! A highlight was seeing Mars Hill where Paul first preached to the Athenians. We could sense his bravery. Acts says he was troubled by what he saw and so spoke up. Even now the temples are awe inspiring. 2000 years ago they would have been even more so.
We had planned on spending more time in Plaka for shopping, but it was too busy and not that interesting looking after what we had seen, so we came back for a nap instead.