Med Trip - June 26 & 27

June 26
Unfortunately,our last day in Holland felt more like waiting for this trip to end rather than a chance to enjoy the country. Rain was in the forecast and the wind was cool. Our apartment had pasture on two sides, which was leased to a local farmer, who grazed his cows on it for a several hours per day, rotating them around different sections of the field. For the second day in a row, they went to the land immediately beside our apartment. I was standing by the fence watching as the herd of about 150 dairy cows entered the field. They came running towards me, some kicking up their hind legs as they ran. They stopped short of me, as we were separated by an electric fence, and gather around, staring at me. Jo and I really enjoyed the sight of grazing cows around our place. It became sunny so we all went for a walk down the typical, tree-lined country road, to the village of Broekland. It seemed almost deserted. We got back just in time. Soon, there was a major downpour and lightning. We just hung around after that, until we were starving for lunch. Since our trip was winding down, food was running out and the breakfast of fried eggs and untoasted bread was replaced by unbuttered raison buns. Definitely time to go! We drove to Deventer and discovered hat the city was closed. Being Sunday, not only were all shops closed, but so were restaurants. We drove around in vain and then headed for home. We did find an Australian family diner and had more krokets, except Jo. We hung around again, packing, etc. Until dinner. I got my complete boerekoel dinner and Jo had an endive stampot. These were like tv dinners, with the main stampot and a compartment with sausage and gravy. Very good! Supposedly there was a family of "stein" owls living in an owl box near our place, but despite my best efforts, I had not seen any sign of them. That night Albert, the owner, took me to see the box and open it up. It was empty. Stein owls are tiny owls no larger than a burrowing owl. These were registered with the government ministry, who in May had banded the mother and owlets. In the evening, we had to finish off the remaining wine and limoncello. It was sad to think of leaving this place, but the unsettled weather in Holland, that for the first time on our trip, effected our plans, made it easier. That and our kids of course. Ok, Stewie too. We appreciate having been able to connect with them from time to time for very brief moments, since the 9 hour, 10 hour in Greece, time change meant either of us was always just going to bed or just getting up. Apart from the kids, we have barely had any news from home.

June 27
One very long day began with the alarm at 5AM. We were off to Amsterdam's Schiphol by 5:30. Apart from a few very brief slowdowns, traffic was very good. Since we flew to Rome with Air Canada, and were returning from a different city with Lufthansa, we were unable to book in and secure seats. We were given the leftovers on two very full flights, one to Frankfurt and then to Vancouver. The Frankfurt flight was so short, that they quickly handed out a prepackaged sandwich, served the front half of the plane drinks, and then had to pack up for landing. The sandwich looked like it was made by a typical Dutchman, a dry slice of bread with a little mayo and thin slice of deli meat. Needless to say, we were in the back and did not get drinks. The 9 hour flight to Vancouver was a different story. First of all, Lufhansa had no ticket for BIL. The story was that ticket numbers for BIL and sister G were accidentally swapped. When the entered in the ticket the right way, it overwrote the other booking and cancelled it. The flight was full. It made no sense, but they had a tough time getting a seat, although they ended up sitting beside each other with an aisle between. At this point, I would kill for that. I am writing this, crammed into my seat. Jo and I were separated by several rows, and could not change. She sat on he side, by the aisle. I had a seat in the middle section that had 4 seats. I was in the third seat. The third seat does not have its own leg space. The support for the seat in front comes down off centre. That meant that my left leg had to share space with the person on my left, of which 2/3 was mine. My right leg had to share space with the person on my right, of which 1/3 was mine. On my left was a Chinese couple who spoke no English. On my right was an old sikh gentleman who spoke no English either, but grunted and cleared his throat every 5 to 10 seconds throughout the flight. He also had no concept of sharing, claiming both arm rests, and putting a small leather bag in my little right leg space. We sat in the second row behind the bulkhead. The bulkhead seats are bought by young families with crying babies and toddlers. Even though this is a very busy area, with stewards preparing food carts, people trying to entertain their infants, etc., when the food and drink is served, it bypasses this area. I think someone is trying to kill me.
It is difficult for me to write this. This is due to my turbaned friend asleep while leaning over our shared armrest and driving his knee into my thigh. This is the highest contender for worst flight ever. Besides my friend and I playing knee-butt for my little piece of leg space, and being crowded out while he turned his back to me to talk to his son(?) across the aisle, the flight crew is no better. However, I am happy to report I have achieved the impossible, invisibility. My entertainment system did not work for the first few hours. When lunch was served, I was asked if I wanted pasta or a meat dish that included either chicken or beef. I opted for the chicken. I got a tray with wilted lettuce, a dry bun and a piece of cheese. He said he only had pasta on his tray right then. The entree never came. I overheard from a conversation another unhappy person had that we were last to be served and they had run out of everything but meatless ravioli. Another stewardess came by for drinks and I asked for a coffee. Couldn't be done. She only had cold drinks. I asked what there was. She said pop, water or juices. I took a juice. Later I saw that people, including Jo were getting wine and beer. I did finally get coffee, but declined the sugar and cream, since I saw a wrapped block that looked like two sugar cubes. Nope, it was a small chocolate cracker. I drank my coffee without. Why should I enjoy my coffee when I didn't enjoy anything else so far? Not that they ever offered me a refill. The guy who served me the entree-less tray never did return to me, and when quite some time later he came by to pick up the used trays, he picked up my turban friend's tray but ignored mine. I am invisible! I had to wait before another stewardess finally saw tray and relieved me of it. Unfortunately, my neighbour soiled his white shirt during lunch, and dug his elbow into me while trying to wipe it. On the bright side, we are almost 5 hours into our flight and have already enjoyed more than half an hour without babies crying, although not continuously.
We are now 40 minutes from YVR, and it could not cone soon enough. After some people got a meal and drinks early on in the flight, there was about 6 hours of no service whatsoever. People had to go to the kitchen and help themselves. Finally, with an hour to go, we got a second meal. Even I got one! And a glass of wine. My friend continues to encroach on me, and unfortunately, only got up twice. However, the throat clearing stop. It was replaced with horking. Counting the seconds til we land.
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Med Trip - June 24 & 25

Today was the family gathering in Deventer with the Meijer clan. I had put out a message to all Dutch family members suggesting we meet while we were in Holland, and my cousin in Groningen offered to arrange a lunch location in Deventer, about 20 minutes away from us, for June 24 at 11AM. He said he would drive my uncle and aunt from Groningen too. None of my other cousins came, some with legitimate reasons and some with very flimsy reasons. We arrived at the booked location at 11 AM. Twenty minutes later the restaurant got a call from my cousin, who was at our rental place in Wesepe. Oops, miscommunication. He eventually arrived with his 4 year old son, my uncle and aunt, and his sister's, (she declined because she was in Italy), daughter and her boyfriend. We had a very good time meeting each other and having lunch together. We had our first krokets of the trip. I only knew my cousin from facebook and met my uncle and aunt once, on our last trip. It was good. I heard another uncle and aunt might have come but she was put out that she had not gotten a personal invitation, enen though they were not on facebook and her children were notified through facebook. Oh well. In the evening we were visited by a niece of my brother-in-law in Abbotsford, the one who discovered our rental and put my sister onto it. For some reason, she wanted to meet us even though she did not know us. We had a nice visit.

July 25 was my mom's 97th birthday but I was sure she was not only unaware of it, but had not missed us these past four weeks. Jo had phone her cousin at the last minute and arranged to meet for a bosche boll, a local specialty which is really a giant cream puff filled to capacity with a special whipped cream and totally covered with the most delicious dark chocolate ever, in Den Bosch, a quaint Catholic city some 75 minutes away. The weather was a little overcast but pleasant. We found the local park and ride and took the bus to the town centre by the Sint Jan cathedral. We ran into them right away and we had a nice time, enjoying the local pastry as well a few cups of great coffee. The plan was for Sister G and BIL to take the city boat tour, which went through all the underground canals which ran under the old houses and we might explore on our own. The cousin and friend already had plans. A man at the next table said it was going to rain in an hour or so, and sure enough, an hour later, the rain came. We retreated to the cathedral to look around. The cousin went out and bought plastic ponchos for all of us. We walked around for a little while, but it was clear that there was no let up in sight. The boat tours had been cancelled because if the weather. The big square was covered in tents from the Saturday market but it also lost its charm in the rain. We packed it in and drove home. We picked up some more krokets, croquettes n French and English, for dinner. It dried up a little in the evening but the forecast was not hopeful for our last day tomorrow.

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Med Trip - June 23

Today was to be a trip to Spakenberg, a cute port village about an hour or more away. We were warned that a major storm was heading our way and there were reports of trees being toppled and flooding. Even though we had mostly sunny skies, we decided to stay home. The whole day was dry and temperatures climbed to over 33 degrees. We did drive to a nearby village to pick up flowers and ready made stampot. I found my boerekoel at Albert Heins. Using Visa continued to be a problem. After an early dinner we drove to Oom K and Tante G, a distance of just over an hour. We sat outside for a short while before being rained out. Their son Geert came by for an hour or more and their daughter called to say hi. We had a good visit. Driving home, we went through a thunderstorm the whole way. At times the sky was totally lit up with horizontal flashed, followed by a wide vertical flash, that was blinding. It was good to get back, at almost 12:30AM.

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Med Trip - June 22

A good night's sleep! The sun was in my eyes at 7AM, but with patient, it moved on. Now I am enjoying the night air outside our apartment at 12:45AM. After a leisurely breakfast, sans toaster, we drove to the city of Deventer, some about 15 minutes from here, and wandered around the old part of town. We had been here a few times before. It was a sunny day. We again had cash issues, as both the ice cream fountain and a flower store would not take our Visa card, meaning further depletion of our cash. In the afternoon we visited my cousin Ron and Wilma and most of their family. We had a great time connecting again and Wilma had an amazing amount of food prepared for us. We had drinks and dinner here and stayed until 8:30. When we got in the car to go home, he car would mot start. It ticked like the starter motor was gone. We called the rental company, and they sent a man in a tow truck about 20 minutes later. He got in and started the car immediately. Made us look stupid! We were still home before dark and enjoyed some wine and limoncello outside. A good day. I also completed plans for some of my family to meet together for lunch in Deventer on Friday. One cousin declined because she had driven over an hour and a half four times in the last week, and needed time recover. Driving the 60-90 minutes to Deventer from Rotterdam was just too much. Ok, maybe see you next time, which may be never!

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Med Trip - June 20 - 21

Start of a major travel day. We were off at 6:45AM. Of course, this was the day the alarm did not go off and we only had 15 minutes to get ready. We walked to the Termini train station in Roma for our train to Milan. It was a nice train and fortunately had a food car, so we could get breakfast, a choice of croissant or chocolate sprinkled pastry. We got to Milan and checked in our bags, a cost of 12 euros for storing two suitcases a few hours. It was sunny and hot. We asked someone if we could walk to the centrum, where the old part of town was. (Milan was a very modern city with tall, creative glass towers). She said to walk down the street for 10 to 15 minutes to get there. We did so and saw nothing interesting. There was a city relief map that made no sense to us so we asked some women nearby. Only one spoke English, but knew nothing. Jo asked
A cop, who sent us down a road that led nowhere and if you ask me, in the exact opposite direction. We finally gave up, as time was short, and walked back to the station, stopping for lunch along the way. We were all so thirsty, that large half litre beers were now becoming standard. Milan was a bust. When we retrieved our luggage and were going to the train, we had another incident. At the car we were to get on, there were a few young women, one blocking the doorway. She insisted on helping get the suitcases onto the train, even though everyone emphatic that their help was not wanted. A man on the train warned sister G to check her purse because one of the women was trying to reach into it. The older woman then asked for money. We refused, and when a train official was approaching our car, they quickly disappeared. Our train ride to Zurich was awesome. We had many great views of mountain villages and churches in the Alps. When we got to Zurich, we wanted to make sure we did not have a repeat of Milan, so we went to the station info desk. It was here we learned that Switzerland still had its own currency, the Swiss frank, and in order to store our luggage in lockers, at a gross cost of 9 franks for only less than 3 hours, we had to buy franks first. It bought some at an exchange machine, spending 20 euros for 16 franks. On top of this, the machine converted my euros into US$ to charge my account, and then my bank will charge an exchange fee to convert the US$ to Canadian. A very expensive storage, and I was still short 2 franks! I did manage to buy these at a bank exchange office. We then went for dinner and discovered that Zurich is very expensive, even though the restaurants accept euros as on par with franks. (The exchange machine didn't!). After dinner we were going to pay by visa, both because BIL and I were running low on cash, and we did not want to have franks. We were told that the credit card machine was down, and only cash could be accepted. They were very apologetic but too bad. I used all but 1.10 euros, and told her this could hamper our chance of buying breakfast on the train. Not happy. However, the city was beautiful, and we spent what little time we had enjoying the sight. Then it was off to our night train to Amsterdam. I was shocked when the train arrived. It was an old clunker, that wheezed and creaked. We had a sleeping compartment with six little bunk beds, three on each side and it was dark and dingy. We went to a sitting car until close to midnight before turning in. We slept in our clothes. It was hot and stuffy. The train made stops throughout the night. It lurched and rocked. Sleep did not come easy and Jo and I had no idea how much sleep we got. We were awake frequently. We were even interviewed before bed by a Swiss journalist doing a story on the fact that the German rail company was eliminating night trains at the end of the year. We were relieved when morning came and we could get up. We arrived in Amsterdam at 9:34AM to overcast skies and drizzle. Seeing Amsterdam again was comforting and even a sense of homecoming for both Jo and I. The vehicle we rented may have been smaller than what we ordered, and it took some time to cram four large suitcases and four adults into this thing. We arrived at our new place, adjoining two story apartments on a farm property in Wesepe, just north of Deventer, Holland. An deal pastoral setting to relax and end a vacation. We went to the little town to do some grocery shopping and were confronted with finance issues again. They only accepted cash. Now I suddenly remembered what I hated about our last trip to Europe. The other was the showers. The shower stall was open with no door. It came with a squeegee for drying the floor and walls with afterwards, as the shower would wet half of the bathroom floor. I could see that beating Jo into taking a shower would become very important.
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Med Trip - June 19

After another forecast of thunder showers, we woke up to sunny skies and temperatures that rose to the low 30's. We actually slept in and did not have breakfast until 9 o'clock. We had no particular plan for the day so we found a few local things to go to. We saw a large fountain and looked in on a church beside it a few blocks from our hotel. It was amazing to see the lack of awareness or respect of many people. There was a mass gong on and an area was roped off. There were signs at the door asking for silence and no entry with shorts or tank tops on. People wandered in regardless, flashing photos and some even stepped over he rope to get a better picture. Lots of people wore short shorts. After his we made our way to another large cathedral, San Maria Maggori. This was noted for its mosaic art. It actually had a few soldiers on guard, and we had to pass through a metal detector. Being Sunday morning, there was a mass going on and we were restricted to the back of the church. It was beautiful. The ceiling had beautiful golden mosaic tiles and the walls of course were full of art, both mosaic and painted with Biblical scenes. The church was so large that it had two domes. Well worth the visit. We tried to carry on walking, but Joanie felt it was wrong to pass by the bakery and coffee shop across the street without stopping, particularly on a Sunday morning. Alora, so, we had a nice americano coffee and pastry. Very yummy! Somehow, perhaps because I had Rick Steve's book and the only map, I became the designated guide. We decided to check out a little park a few blocks down. We found it quite easily, as well as several monk parakeets in a tree. The park was quite run down, and there was a cricket game going on on a mostly dirt and grass stubble field. This was clearly an ethnic neighbourhood made up of dark skinned people, not sure what area but not African, and was poorer than the neighbourhood we left. We made our way towards the colosseum through seedy street, often with empty beer bottles lying by the curb and guys just hanging out. I fond where I was leading this mass of doubtful people, to an old church built to house the chains claimed to have been used to bind the apostle Peter when he was in jail. There was also a large sculpture of Moses, done by Michelangelo for a crypt of one of the popes. The crypt was never completed because Michelangelo died and the sculpture made its way here. Unfortunately we arrived at about 12:30, and the church was not open to the public again until 3. We carried on. Next it was suggested that, since we had seen everything we wanted to, we could go to the Trevi fountain area which was more lively. We made our way past the site of the forum of Augustus , up another of Rome's seven hills and down again to the fountain, which was packed with people once again. However, it was decided by consent that a gelato was required eating here. After a little shopping we proceeded on to the still fenced in Spanish Steps, and up to the church on top. Again we took a quick tour while a service was going on. There was a large marble sculpture near the door of Jesus being taken down off the cross. From here we walked further up a hill to get to the entrance of the park and Villa de Mercinis. This gave us amazing views over the city. We relaxed on some rustic, old park benches to escape the hot sun. What was lacking here were washrooms, despite a sign pointing to nowhere for a WC. Some people who will remain nameless gave up hope and found some bushes behind a sign. We returned to the square by the Spanish Steps since a mandatory happy hour break was in order. We all ordered large beers. For the second straight time, my lovely spouse outdrank me by a wide margin. I am concerned. Having covered much of he city by foot, and still having 4 bus tickets that we purchased on our previous visit a few weeks ago, when we chose to walk to the train station, we took the metro home. It was underground and was dark and very old looking. We got back at 5:30. Not bad for a day with no plans. We again saw a lot.
For our last dinner we tried to go to the restaurant where we enjoyed lasagna the first night here, but it was closed. We had it at the restaurant around the corner but it did not have the melt in your mouth factor. Here, they always ask you if you want water. It usually comes in a large bottle for a few euros and comes in natural or sparkling. Most Italians order it. Dutch/Canadians are far too cheap to pay for water, no matter how thirsty we are. Italians also eat backwards. A full course meal at the restaurant was, in order of serving: mineral water, lasagna, roast chicken, and finally green salad. We always ordered only the main dish.

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Med Trip - June 18

Sitting with my limoncello ready to summarize another day on this amazing trip. This was a l day. Our hotel n Venice had a free continental breakfast. We were surprised to see the eating room full. We did not think there were that many rooms. There were some buns, bread but no toaster, jams, deli meat, and yoghurt. We checked out and left our luggage while we roamed the streets one last time. Joanie found a blouse and we also found a do -it-yourself gelato bar. Yum! Then we picked up our bags and walked about 15 minutes to the train station for our 1:25 train to Rome. Ok, I also found a bottle of limoncello while buying bottled water. We had a fast train and had reserved seats. Luckily we were one of the first to board and put. Our suitcases on the luggage racks by the door. Soon, the coach was full of people trying to find every nook and cranny to sore their bags. Most were haggard and cranky. One man said his flight from Leeds to Manchester was delayed, he arrived one day late, was due for a wedding Rome in the afternoon, and he was carrying the wedding cake. He was not very jolly. The trip of just under four hours went great and we arrived at our hotel before 6PM. We vibered with the kids, went for dinner and caught up on emails, facebook, downloading photos, etc. Tomorrow we have our last day in Rome, but so far we were not inspired on what to do. Life is tough.


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Med Trip - June 17

Checkout day was a little bitter/sweet. It was sad to end the cruise but we had done what we wanted to do so left with no regrets. I had booked us rooms in an old hotel in Venice but we could not find the exact location on the map although we had an address. Since Inner Venice has only waterways and narrow walking streets, a taxi would not work. We had no idea how to get there. We asked at the water bus wicket but like most of Italy so far, the advice wad vague and mostly unhelpful. We were sent to the tobacco store that sold "people mover" tickets and we were told to walk to the station nearby and take it to the train station. We get to the station, and there were trains coming from both directions. We had no idea which one we wanted, and of course there was not one employee around to help. Others had the same problem. Finally we saw a little train logo and an arrow which suggested that we go to the right. The train, like a very short skytrain, came and we hopped on. 30 seconds later we arrived at the station. In the time it took us to figure out where to go, we could have walked there. We found an information booth with an actual human being inside but we were still not hopeful. I showed her my hotel email and asked how to get there. She suggested we buy a 24 hour bus boat ticket for 20 euros and we could travel as much as we wanted. She showed us where our hotel was, on an unmarked street on our map, and which water bus would take us right to the hotel. That was helpful! We got there smoothly and fond the hotel, a neat old building on a small little street, perhaps 100 yards down from the canal. We checked in, left our bags, and ventured out. The goal for the day was to visit three little islands, Murano, noted for its murano glass worldwide, Burano, noted for lace and brightly painted houses, and Torecello, noted for some old churches. Our passes covered these trips. We took the water bus to Murano, which took close to half an hour across the busy waterways. There were a good number of glassblowing factories and every single store on the island sold glass items at very high prices. Since I collect shot glasses, I did find a nice murano glass shot glass with real gold trip for only 85 euros, about $125, but I was not sure how it would look with the shot glass from Corfu which was only 1.50 euros. We hopped over to the other islands after the women were finished shopping. Burano was quite nice. Every house was constructed of brick, mortared over and then painted with very bright colours. There were vivid bright blues, yellows, pinks, purples, greens, oranges, etc. No two side by side houses were the same colour. After walking around, we took the water bus back to Murano so we could catch the proper bus back to our hotel. We had a choice of the 4.1 or the 4.2 which stopped less frequently than the 4.1. The 4.2 was arriving in 28 minutes when the 4.1 came along. Rather than waiting, we decide to take it instead. We discovered that it circumnavigated the whole city before heading inside. There were some 19 ports it stopped at before the one we needed, and took over 90 minutes. It was also packed full. However, our 20 euro passes got us a complete water tour of Venice for no extra cost. We arrived back at the hotel at 6:45PM and after a quick freshening up, we were off again. We ate at a local restaurant around the corner, along the bank of the canal. The food was ok, although if you did not want seafood, pickings were slim. They gave us a basket of bread and of course balsamic vinegar and olive oil, but no plate. We had to wait for every to order coffee afterwards. Not unusual service. We walked to St. Mark's Square to see how it looked at night. We meandered through many streets before we got there. I feel like I saw a great deal of Venice. We had heard something about a very high tide at 10PM, and to our surprise, the entire square was flooded, all but a narrow strip down the middle that was also slowly disappearing. Guys were selling water shoes, basically plastic bags you put over your feet so people could walk through the water. One restaurant had rows and rows of chairs on the square, all sitting in water. Across the way, another fancy restaurant had a classical band playing, and a few patrons sitting at tables, but service had been halted because the waiters, all dressed very fancily, would have to walk through a stream. Water spilled out over sidewalks on the Grand Canal. Many restaurants and other buildings had water up to their top stairs. We caught a water bus, which was jam packed at 11PM, for a few stops, then got off at the train station to gauge how far the walk to the hotel would be with suitcases, and to have a drink before turning in, beat after a long day.

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Med Trip - June 16

We arose early today to be on deck for our entry into the canal system leading into Venice. We were on the lido deck by 8:00. It was a little misty, so unfortunately the photos we took were not sharp and bright, but it was nice. Our schedule was to be in Venice at noon, but we arrived two hours early. We ate breakfast and caught the water taxi bus which took 20 minutes to drop us off at San Marco. Here we explored St. Mark's basilica and the huge square. (Centuries ago the body of the apostle Mark was stolen from Constantinople and placed here.). We toured the huge church, which featured gold ceilings with depictions of scenes of Jesus as well as the 12 apostles. There were signs everywhere forbidding photography or selfies, (sad that selfies have to be listed separately) and people were asked to be silent. Nevertheless, there were people talking without even an effort to whisper. I reprimanded a Chinese guy who was making flash photos, and a few others were also told. Sister G told a guy not to take photos and he acted like it was his right to. Not to seem holier though, we did take a few photos from outside that showed some of the ceiling through open windows. It was beautiful. We made our way along narrow, dark streets towards the Rialto bridge. We crossed only a few canal bridges with gondoliers. To our disappointment, the Rialto Bridge, a Venice icon, was completely covered in scaffolding and wrap. Leah had recommended we eat at a restaurant with red awning next to the bridge and we found one that fit the description. We all had lasagna and it was wonderful. The pasta did not need to be chewed because it melted in your mouth. After some more meandering through the streets we returned to St. Marks square and saw a few more sites before returning to the ship in late afternoon. Sister G had been real excited about Venice but I think she was disappointed that there were not more waterways with cute little bridges, gondoliers, etc. A gondolier ride cost 80 euros, 100 after 7PM, and was hardly romantic. Most boats had three or more people and they bunched up along the canals, sometimes being squeezed out by water taxis. Not like the movies. I enjoyed he sights but overall, I might like Dubrovnik better. We ate dinner on the ship and dd not go off at night as planned because the boat to the main part of Venice cost 30 euros each, round trip. We had to pack our bags by 10 o'clock. Since Sister T and her friend were leaving us in the morning we had a few late happy hour wines in the bar before turning in. Despite overcast skies and muggy conditions, the weather was not the rain forecast and we were happy once again.

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Med Trip - June 15

The day started with rainy skies, but before we even had breakfast, clearings appeared and we ended up with a beautiful, sunny day. The reality of a cruise coming to an end was taking hold. One had to be very careful in deciding what last few breakfasts to eat, what lunch items had not been tried yet, etc. A little sad. We were docked within easy walking distance of old town Split. It had the iconic Croatian orangey-rust coloured roofs. The waterfront had a broad marble walkway lined with beautiful palm trees. Within the old city walls the streets were very narrow, much like Dubrovnik. We climbed up the central bell tower of a church to overlook the city, for 3 euros each f course. Not only were the spiral steps narrow, but some had huge vertical distances. It was packed with people going up and down. By lunch time we had seen what we needed to see, and returned to the ship. After lunch, Jo and I went in the pool, and I also had the hot tub to myself. Later, we got off the ship and went to a restaurant/pub to se their wifi. I had a half litre beer, more beer than I ever drink in one sitting. What was surprising here as well as at most of the ports we visited was the lack of security. We were told as non-EU residents, to take our passports along. No one looked at us coming or going. We once again skipped the show on the main stage. It was another Holland America crew performance. We have fond the entertainment to be the poorest we have experienced on any cruise, perhaps due to cutbacks, and the fact that the ship was only half full. We even passed on the piano bar because though we enjoyed the musicians, they play the same songs every night, simply repackaging them into about four or five sets like 70's songs, hits that never made number one, or coming to America. The last five or six night we did not hear one song that they hadn't played several times before.

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Med Trip - June 14

Despite a forecast of rain and thunder, we woke up to sunny skies and temperatures that hit at least the mid twenties. The ship was docked some 4 kilometres from the old town of Dubrovnik, Croatia. Outside on the dock, taxis were lined up. Holland America offered shuttle service which costed $16 per person for a round trip. We found that very expensive for such a short trip. The woman organizing the assignment of taxis said it would cost us 50 euros per taxi to go to old town, but we could get to the top of the cable car platform, a viewing area over the city. Because we were with six people, we would need two taxis. She claimed there were no vans here that accommodate more than four passengers, and her rate was less than the cost of taking the cable car to the top. We decided to check out what might be available outside the gated area by customs. We walked through the gate and immediately saw a man holding a sign offering a minivan. He proposed a tour which included going to several locations in the area for nice views, and then driving up the mountain to where the cable car goes, and then dropping us off in the old centre, and picking us ip for a return to the ship, all for 22 euros per person. (The taxi lady claimed the cost of the cable car was more than her cosy, but it turned out to actually cost about 14 euros.) we accepted the deal and were greatly pleased. We spent over an hour visiting nice sites, including a spring hat was so clear, that plant growing under water looked crystal clear as though there was m water there. We also drove up a very narrow road, the first road built in the area by Napoleon, where two vehicles could pass with only inches to spare or one would have to back up to a pullout. We got out at several view points above Dubrovnik and were blown away. The views were spectacular! We spent 3 hours wandering around the city before being picked up again. The old walled city had marble streets, no cars, narrow, narrow streets and long steps leading from the high entry point to the waterfront. It was beautiful. Croatia had its own currency, noted as "Kn", which was seven times more than a euro, but most places accepted euros as well. Luckily, when paying in euros, they also gave change in euros. It was a great day and the sun was an added bonus. We had happy hour in the crow's nest bar as the ship left port at 5 o'clock. We sat through one early set at the piano bar and finished off the night with two for one wines in the gallery bar. The day far exceeded our expectations. The minivan even had its own wifi, so we were able to get caught up on emails and news from home.

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Med Trip - June 13

Today our luck ran out. We woke up to rain. After breakfast we decided to wait a little while to see if things cleared. We wanted to go to old town Corfu, a distance of 3.2 km. Which the cruise line was charging $16US per person for round trip shuttle. We could see the city from the boat. While we waited to decide what to do, it poured and thundered continuously. Then they decided to close the gangway for the safety of passengers. It did let up about 11 o'clock and the gangway was opened. We decided to take a chance, but took a taxi at 5 euros each just in case we got caught in another deluge. We had a few sprinkles but then it improved snd we had a good time exploring the old city with it's narrow marble streets, red steepled churches and old fortresses. We came back by foot for a very late lunch and relaxed in our rooms until it was time to get dressed for formal night dining. Tonight was surf and turf night.
The day ended as it began. Having avoided going to the main stage show at 8PM, which featured an opera singer, we met up with sister G at the piano bar, and she told tales of having seen the last part of the show and it did not feature opera, but musical show tunes. Before I could get my wits about me, I found myself nursing my wine in the main stage audience for the 10 o'clock show. Yes, there were many show tunes from The sound of Music, South Pacific, etc., but sung in a clearly operatic fashion. Julie Andrew's voice never went up like that at the end of a song. On s good note, we could set our clocks back an hour overnight as we leave Greece for the last time and enter Croatia.

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Med Trip - June 12

What a wonderful start to the day, no alarm! We arrived at Olympia, or at least a town on the island of Olympia. The town consisted of two short streets lined with shops. The main attraction, the site of the old olympiad was some 33 km. away, but what remained today was a few columns and remnants of the base of the stadium. We were "ruined" out by now and had no desire to find buses or excursions. Instead, we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, eggs benedict in my case, then wondered around the town before returning to the ship for lunch. After lunch, some of us went to the pool area for a while. I went in the pool and then enjoyed the hot tub. At 3 we were off again, this time to a waterfront bar to enjoy a drink and access the free wi fi. We were like typical kids, the six of us sitting together but each was fixated on their ipad or cell phone. In the evening we checked out what Corfu was all about, saw the magic show, sat through a set at the piano bar, then finished off with happy hour at one of the bars. Busy, busy, busy! Outlook for tomorrow however was rain and thunder, so plans were up in the air. One thing for sure, no early morning alarms.
One thing that has been surprising is the amount of English everywhere. Whether in Turkey, Athens or any other place, English is widely recognized and understood, all menus have the local language with English translations, and even street and other signs often have English. While locals like when you try to use their language, even if you massacre it, you can get by without any problem not knowing one word.

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Med Trip - June 11

Another early morning. We had breakfast in our room to save time, as we had to start an excursion at 8AM. We disembarked just before 8, and immediately found our tour guide, a taxi driver. He was very happy that we were one of the first off the ship, as it allowed us to beat the crowds and save a lot of time. Our tour of Athens of up to 8 hours was ff to a good start. We learned that Alex was an official taxi driver, not a tour guide, so he could not accompany us in the sites. Instead, he began with a complete history of Greece from about 500 BC until the present, including the religious transitions and how this and the different empires that ruled Greece effected the historical sites and particularly the acropolis, the rocky area used as the religious centre of Athens, and the Parthenon, the temple on the acropolis built to the God Athena. He was particularly critical of the Ottoman empire of the Turks, who destroyed many of the ancient buildings and even old single houses in the city, using the materials for mosques and other buildings, and replacing houses with what he called boxes with little balconies. He was clearly a proud Greek and felt that the Romans who ruled Athens really wanted to be Greeks, but were unable to. After our history lesson, he dropped us off at the acropolis to explore it on our own. Then he drove us to the temple of Zeus, explaining its history, and letting us see it on our own. Not much to see, since the only thing left standing were a number of columns. The same with the olympic stadium built in the 1800's in order to resurrect the games, which were originally held to honour the Greek gods, but disappeared once Christianity took hold and the old gods and their temples were rejected. We spent a few hours seeing many buildings around Athens, taking in the changing of the guards at the presidential residence, (Greece now has an elected Prime Minister but also an appointed President of democracy, whose main function is to be a figure head and protect democracy should some leader try to take control away from the people.). We were dropped off for 2 hours at the agora, the market place near downtown, that had streets lined with shops and many restaurants, as well as a site of the old angora, where there were many ruins and one building from the old angora. We checked this out and had some lunch, and before you knew it, the 2 hours were up. In addition to seeing the ancient Greek sites, I must confess I was extremely excited to find hoopoes, as anyone could appreciate. Hoopoes are an interesting bird with a tufted head, long, curved bill and tan, black and white stripes. In 2014 I hoped to see these on my southern Africa trip, but never did. At the acropolis, I saw several fly by. I saw them again at the changing of the guard and the angora ruins, but they flew too fast to get a decent picture. Shortly after sitting down for lunch at an outdoor terrace beside the old angora building, I looked at a nearby tree and sat a hoopoe. I managed to get several great shots of it. What an unexpected pleasure. Okay, maybe not everyone shares that sentiment but I was excited. Alex was prepared to complete our tour by going to an archeological museum but we were getting tired, and were quite done with old ruins. Instead he took us to a few nice viewpoints and got us back by 3:30, which was perfect. Alex was a proud Greek and we had interesting discussions. He saw no need for different ethnic restaurants since Greek food was so good and diverse, that Greeks have no desire for other foods. He said he was very happy with the time he spent showing us around because we showed an interest and made it that much more pleasant for him, unlike some tours where he got very little feedback or even a sense that people were interested. When we left, he gave me a guidebook to Athens as a gift. Very unusual and neat. We had a great day but were bagged. It was also about 30 degrees so that added to the tiredness. After dinner I think most of us rested our eyes and looked forward to not having to wake up to an alarm tomorrow.

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Med Trip - June 10

Another early morning. We docked in Kusadasi, Turkey at 7AM. We had an excursion booked for Ephesus at 8:00. Sister G and BIL were not coming, since they had done this excursion nine months earlier. To save time, we ordered breakfast for our room and were off the ship by 7:50. At the end of the pier we right away saw someone with a sign with my name on it and were off on our excursion before 8 o'clock. Our tour guide, a Turkish young woman was marvellous. We had a very roomy modern mini-van and our guide was both enthusiastic and knowledgeable. She explained that over 95 percent of Turkey was muslim, but very moderate. She was also muslim but not a strong practicer even though she believed in God and prayed regularly. This was Ramadan, a time of fasting, but she did mot fast. Our first stop was an old house dug up outside of the city walls of ancient Ephesus that was reputed to be the house where the Apostle John, who lived and preached in Ephesus, put her up in for her safety. We were lucky that it was still early and we were ahead of the crowds. Of course, since ISIS attacks in Istanbul and the capital, Ankara, many cruise ships stopped coming to Turkey, and tourism, a very important industry here, dropped dramatically. From here we were off to Ephesus. This was a huge archeological site where work continues to unearth the old city. This was the third site for Ephesus, used from the third century before Christ to about four centuries AD. Each time, this harbour city was abandoned after the harbours silted ip from the nearby rivers. Currently the site, which was on the ocean's edge, is now 7 kilometres from water. It was amazing to see. Walking down the marble streets, visiting the most intact building, the library, and seeing the amphitheatre, it was strange to think that the apostle Paul and John walked here too, on these same stones. John was exiled to the isle of Patmos, where he received the vision of the book of Revelations, and returned to Ephesus to write it down. Ephesus was a Greek city and the theatre was used for their tragedy plays, until the bloodthirsty Romans took over. They had superior engineering skills and transformed the theatre to accommodate their preferred entertainment, gladiator fights and animal fights. We learned a great deal. After this, we asked to stop for a quick lunch. We stopped for Turkish beer, Turkish pizza, not unlike our own with minced meat and mushrooms, and kebabs with rice and pita bread. We were asked if we wanted to visit a leather factory, a pottery factory, and a rug weaving factory. We were not keen, okay, I was not keen on any option. We decided on the pottery but the guide pushed us, saying we would really enjoy these, and there was no obligation to buy anything. We relented and agreed to go to the pottery and leather outlets. We got a pottery making demonstration and Jo got to spin a pot. It was a little wobbly, and I was concerned with its welfare after we left. We were offered Turkish coffee, much like expresso. Then of course they tried to sell us pottery, successfully, I might add. Our last stop was the leather factory, where the four of us got a private fashion show and a sales pitch for their high quality jackets. The prices were also high quality and I couldn't wait to leave. We got out unscathed. We loved our visit to Turkey. I believe those who do not travel live with false impressions of many places. We expected Turkey to be somewhat barren. In fact, it was lush and green and beautiful. We arrived back at the pier and found a cafe with wi fi, but alas, my cell phone failed to download anything in the time we spent there. However, sister T and M returned to the ship and came back to tell us that they were not operating the scanners onboard, so they were going to get some wine. We picked up two bottles too and had them in our back pack. We got through the check in without any questions. We learned later that even though they weren't scanning, they were still on the look out for wine. I. Guess only those that made their wine purchase obvious got it confiscated. For the second straight night, they did not close the blinds for dinner. Of course the dining room was more than half empty because they were holding a Turkish bazaar on the lido deck. After dinner Jo attended a classical music performance. I passed.

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Med Trip - June 9

Today, the captain pulled a trick on us all. Last night he announced that we would be entering the lagoon outside Santorini, Greece, at around 6 AM. He said this was a beautiful site to see and passengers would find it worthwhile getting up early to see this. The front section of the 4th floor would be opened to allow for better viewing. We set our alarm for 5:45, a ridiculous and unhuman hour, threw on some clothes, and proceeded to this area. We were there before the sun, and were blown away with the view. I mean, literally blown away. The wind was so strong, it was difficult to stand straight. The crew handed out blankets because of the cold but it was hard to keep wrapped up. There were islands but they were rather misty. When the sun finally decided to get up, it shone right over the land we were looking at, making it difficult to see or take clear pictures. It was not until 7AM that our destination was in site, and frankly, it looked better in the afternoon when the sun was at a better angle. The captain must have laughed at all the suckers who got up early.
We had breakfast and got tendered in to land. Santorini, and the town of Fira, the iconic city of white and blue spilling over the mountainside was above us. There were only three choices for going there from shore, take a cable car up the cliff, take a donkey ride up the long, zig zagging road up the side of the cliff, or walk up this trail shared with the donkey riders, some 600 steps. We chose the cable car, which cost 5 euros and only took a few minutes. We were warned about the hour to hour and a half line ups that often formed as many cruise ships unloaded their passengers here. There were two other ships, but our wait was only about ten minutes. We were on top well before our 9:30 meeting time with our tour guide for the day. Our Greek guide spent the whole day with us, until just after 4PM. He drove us to all the points of this island, from the north to the south and across. He gave us a complete geological and historical account of the development of Santorini. There was a circle of islands around our ship, with Santorini being the major one. These were actually the rim of a crater from a volcano that erupted some 3,500 years ago. The water where the ship was, the lagoon, was actually the inside of the crater, filled with ocean water. We were told that a major industry on the island was wine production, with vineyards everywhere. We were a little confused because we saw no grape vines, only fields with short bushes. Later we stopped and walked into a field. These plants were actually grape producing plants. The island experiences high summer winds and very little rain. However, it gets so humid, that overnight, the mist settles, making the ground wet in the morning. This mist is the only source of water for the vegetation. The grape plants are manipulated to grow in a circle, with the trunk eventually forming a nest. As grapes grow, they are set to hang inside this nest ,along the ground. The plant gets watered by the mist and the grapes inside the nest get protection from the wind. One plant was over 150 years old, and to our surprise, when he lifted some leaves, it was full of grape clusters.
However, our first stop of the day was to the northern tip, the village of Oia. This was the village people think of, with stark white plastered homes into the mountainside, and blue-domed chapels sticking out here and there. We walked the narrow, very busy streets, in awe of the beauty of the place. It was surreal. We also visited a black sand beach, red beach and saw a white beach. The water here was about 12 degrees, unfit for human activity, despite the frolicking of some kids. We also stopped at a restaurant to sample local products and at a winery to sample local wines. Our tour ended in Fira, where, after some shopping Jo and I and BIL and sister decided to walk down instead of taking the cable car. There were no line ups but we wanted to enjoy the views and challenge of the walk. First we had to negotiate begging by some twenty or more donkeys at the top of the path. The donkey drivers, who looked like kind of grubby unkempt farmers, were not very helpful as some donkeys just stood blocking the whole path. Fortunately, when I pushed on the rope over his hind quarters, he stepped forward, for just a few seconds, but long enough to get by. Us city slickers were not used to manoeuvring animals larger than ourselves. The steps down were made of marble, and interspersed with donkey poop, which was scooped up from time to time and dumped along the side of the path. You had to be very careful not to slip or step into poop. From time to time we met tourists riding donkeys up the trail. I discovered quickly that the donkeys preferred to hug the mountain side of the path, rather than the outside edge. I decided not to challenge that, although on two occasions a donkey would walk right to where I was with no indication that it had any intention of changing direction. I had no faith in the amateur riders or the donkey keepers that did not seem to care for anyone not choosing their beasts. We all made it down unscathed. It was truly a fantastic day! We were 15 minutes late getting back for happy hour, but our waiter pleaded with the bartender and managed to get us our discounted drinks for the evening.



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Med Trip - June 8

The day started slightly overcast with rain visible in the distance, but things cleared nicely and we had a sunny afternoon. We were scheduled to arrive on the Greek island of Crete at noon. We discovered that there are more than one class of passenger on Holland America. Sister T's friend and room mate, M., was from Holland. She, along with other Dutch residents, were invited to an Indonesian rice tafel, which is an assortment of Indonesian dishes. She went to the service desk and asked if the rest of us could attend as well, since we were all born in Holland and understood Dutch. They said OK, so at 11AM, after walking off a little of our breakfast, we had a very early lunch. The food was great, including fried food like nasi goreng, chicken, beef and Indonesian vegetables, and a rice pudding. By the time this was over, we were docked at Heralion, Crete. We took a short shuttle bus trip, went through security, if you want to call it that, since no one looked at our documents, and walked into the town centre, a walk of perhaps twenty minutes. There was one modern, pedestrian only street with souvenir shops and higher end clothing stores. Here was very little Greek about it except for the souvenirs. One old church was the only nice historical site we saw. After a little shopping, after all, one needs a shot glass and a pandora bead from the first visit to Greece, apparently, we enjoyed beer at a n outdoor restaurant. These days Jo s outdrinking me. I ordered a Mythos, the local beer, but Jo and BIIl ordered the larger draught beer. Then we slowly made our way back to the ship to get our two for one plus a dollar wine for the evening and take showers before dinner.
Trouble was brewing in the dining room. We had our reserved table by the rear window. They closed the blinds to all the rear windows. We complained because that is why we chose a window seat, to look outside. We were informed by the head honcho that someone at another table asked for it because it was too bright. On our way out BIL jokingly approached him again and said we were requesting to have the blinds up tomorrow. He was told we could move if we wanted. BIL suggested that the other party should move if they don't want the effects of the window. (The dining room was half empty each night. The ship holds 2,100 passengers but there were less than 1,000 on board. We get offers for discounted excursions every night.) after dinner we went on deck to see us leave Crete and watch our first sunset of this trip. Then we took in the early set at the Billboard piano bar before turning in because tomorrow was going to be an early morning. The captain recommended being on de k at 6AM to watch us come into the lagoon at Santorini, an awesome sight.


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Med Trip - June 7

Overnight we had to move our clocks forward one hour, now being 10 hours ahead of Vancouver, even though we were traveling south along the Italian coast. I think this was because today was a sea day, and therefore convenient to do, rather than waiting until we entered Greece June 8. Overnight we also passed through a narrow strait separating the island of Sicily from the "toe" of Italy.
We had a leisurely breakfast and sat by the pool deck in the morning. At 1 PM we had the mariners lunch for repeat guests and got our tile. Then we went in the pool, which had nice warm water and then we sat in the sun some more. It was formal night. Surprisingly there was no steak and lobster on the menu and I had a tiny little piece of beef tenderloin and two shrimp. No potatoes or any substance food. We got our table at the back window, but a lot of good that did when they pull down the blinds!
We were surprised at how the photo gallery changed. When we got on board we were asked if we wanted a photo, and when we said no, there was no pressure to do so. The walls of the gallery, which in past cruises would have been filled with boarding photos, only had a small section. There were no photographers when we left the ship in Naples. A photographer came to our dinner table but did not push for pictures. I suppose they finally realized that most people are not interested and don't buy the photos, especially now that most people do not print photos.
After dinner we took in the song and dance show and sat through two sets at the Billboard piano bar. A few of us checked out the lido deck at 10 o'clock because BIL did not get his ice cream today, and I was able to snag a North America style pepperoni pizza to overcome my hunger. Later a few went back to get a cheese and meat tray.
We learned from our previous cruise that the Ocean Bar had happy Hour between 4 and 5 every day where they have a buy one, get the second for $1 deal. Every day we meet there before dinner, order a drink, and just before 5, we order two glasses of wine. Jo drank hers at dinner, but I started bringing mine to our room, and enjoying it later in the evening, since I am OK skipping wine at dinner.

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Med Trip - June 6

A fine, sunny day as we arrived in Naples at 7:30AM. After a wonderful creole omelette breakfast, we left the ship and had to be shuttled to a location a few minutes from the dock. From here we wandered through the streets of Naples looking for interesting buildings, parks, limoncello factories or anything nice. We of course were met with people pushing excursions to Pompeii. Italy also seems to have a lot of African men who seem to think that tourists flock to Italy to purchase cheap, hand-made African items. I never noticed Italians in South Africa pawning pizza cutters or limoncello. Of course, Italians don't use pizza cutters. They serve you pizza uncut and give you very dull knifes to attack it with. Like our experience everywhere, people at info centres, stores, etc. were mostly rude, abrupt and unfriendly. Naples was dirty, grungy and unattractive. We did find narrow little streets with shops and some old churches, but most buildings were not well kept and were layered in centuries of dust and pollution. Surprisingly, we did stumble across a small limoncello factory. We walked for a few hours and were quite done with it. Returning to the ship, we considered our visit successful in that we all returned alive without anyone being mugged or otherwise accosted by the mafia. We spent the afternoon relaxing on the ship rather than returning to land. We did score for dinner though. We had booked a table at the rear window of the dining room and managed to reserve it for the balance of the trip. Soon after leaving Naples at 6PM, at the end of dinner, we did see a pod of dolphins behind the ship. In the evening we attended the comedy show, which wad good, participated in 50's music trivial and ended the evening listening to Maegan and Diego, the piano players doing 70's tunes at 10:45PM. We also learned that we had to set our watches an hour ahead overnight. Good thing the next day was a sea day.

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Med Trip - June 5

After breakfast, we left our Trastevere apartment. I had bought bus tickets yesterday to take the bus back to Roma termini station, but this morning, while checking the internet, I discovered that we could avoid taking the bus, which was always crowded and an unpleasant experience, and catch the train we needed from a main station i n Trastevere. We decided to forego the bus, since the tickets were open and could be used when we return to Rome, and walked about 25 minutes to get to this station. The fare to get to Civitavecchia was only 4.70 euros and the train was a modern train, like those in other parts of Europe. It took just over an hour to get there, plus a 5 km. taxi ride to the ship. Boarding went smoothly and quickly and we were in our cabins by 1:30.
We had lunch, which did not consist of pasta or pizza and relaxed the rest of the afternoon. We met up with my sister T and her friend in the dining room soon after arriving for lunch. After dinner, a few of us went to a lounge that had duelling pianos. The two musicians played 50's, 70's and a few modern hits and were quite good. Our travel day, usually unpleasant, went quite well.

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Med Trip - June 3 & 4

It is with heavy heart that I write this as my previous post disappeared into cyberspace. The day already began on shaky ground. We got up early so we could leave at 8AM for our Colosseum tour. It was pouring outside. At 7:30 we got an email saying our tour had been cancelled for the day. Apparently there was a labour dispute and the site was closed for the day. We had read by Rick Steves that one day strikes on Fridays in Rome was not uncommon. And the Italians wonder why their economy is suffering. Our tour ended up being rescheduled for June 4, but we could not do the tour of the top and ground floor of the colosseum, so the tour company offered to extend the tour to include the forum and Palatine Hill. Our plans for the day were screwed and we ended up staying home for the morning, doing laundry. Then we went out for lunch. Jo and I had soup and french fries for a change from pasta and pizza. We do find the restaurant staff and store keepers to come across as abrupt and unfriendly. We spent the afternoon exploring the Pantheon, not far from our place, the Navona Piazza, and the campo dei fiori. The weather was back to sunny, therefore requiring some gelato to keep us going. We returned home until evening, and then returned to eat by the Piazza Navona, which was now filled with fire jugglers, a guy in cowboy gear imitating a statute between breaks for a cigarette. I had another wonderful lasagna and Jo had clam penne for a second time. Then we walked back to the Trevi Fountain for a night shot. So did one hundred other people! It was crowded. Walking home at 11PM, we passed buses filled to capacity. We are amazed at how many people are out and about late. Most restaurants have tables outside that are almost right on the road, and at 11 they were still full of people eating big pasta dinners. Outside our apartment, there were always lots of young people milling around. Yet, it felt very safe.

June 4
The day began with a brief facetime with Lauren and Randy. Very nice to see them. We easily walked to the colosseum for our tour at 9:15AM and easily found our tour guide. It was a beautiful day. We discovered that our tour was now a personal tour for just the four of us. Security checks went smoothly and quickly as we entered the colosseum. The guide was a history major in the roman empire and our tour was fantastic. After the colosseum, we went to Palatine Hill and the forum area. We took lots of pictures! We lunched across the street from the colosseum and were back home by
3:30 for quiet time, reviewing pictures, rewriting blogs and enjoying a wine.  We decided to go early for dinner, by Italian standards, in order to get in to the pizzeria around the corner, which always had a long line up.  We got in right away at 7:15.  We ordered pizza.  The line started forming soon after we arrived.  Our pizzas did not arrive until 8:50.  Appetisers did take far less time. It was good, and the price was right, but I don't think it was the best pizza in Rome as suggested to us.  Packing for tomorrow.

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Med Trip - June 2

We woke to a threat of rain. After a quick breakfast we walked along the Tiber River to Vatican City and St. Peter's Basilica, which took about 35 minutes. Just as we were arriving, we hit a cloud burst and got soaked. We met up with our tour guide at 8:30 and toured the Vatican museums, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peters. There was a constant sea of people inside. Each guide had some item the would raise up above the crowd so you could find where they were. Ours had a scarf on a stick. She was an art expert and was extremely knowledgable. Going from gallery to gallery there was renaissance art everywhere, some with ancient Egyptian and Italian sculptures along the sides, and ceilings covered with paintings. One gallery had large tapestries designed by artist Raphael, who used gold and silver thread to make the images stand out. One had Jesus, with eyes that seemed to follow you from any angle. Some ceiling paintings looked 3D even though they weren't. It was almost over whelming, but due to the crowds and sheer volume, you had to move along at a reasonable clip, not even looking at some of it. I hate to say it but large groups of Chinese were particularly bad at taking over an area and pushing and shoving their way to the prime viewing positions. After the museums, we entered the Sistine Chapel. It is a still functioning chapel so could be closed at any time if the Pope decides to hold mass or some event for dignitaries. It was a large room and the ceiling, painted by Michelangelo by standing on scaffolding and painting for hours above his head, at the threatened insistence of the pope, moved through history from the creation to the flood, David and Goliath, etc to the final entrance into heaven or hell. One side of the room captured images of Jesus's life, and the other side images of Moses's life. The room was wall-to-wall people with some seating along the walls. We had 15 minutes to take it all in. Officials kept telling people to keep moving if you did not get out of the people flow and stand in the middle or luck into an empty seat. The no photography rule was strictly enforced. People were asked to respect that this was a sacred place and not to talk. (You were not allowed in with shorts or uncovered shoulders). Every few minutes a voice would drone, chastising the crowd for noise and telling people to shhh. I don't know what was more annoying, the overcrowding and noisy disrespect, (a lady beside me sat on a seat and was checking her email), or the officials pushing us along. A young Chinese couple even tried to take a selfie! After this, we toured the basilica, which was also amazing. Our tour ended after almost 3 hours, and we had to pay 8 euros each for the privilege of taking an elevator, then climbing 315 more steps to reach the top of the dome. The Vatican charges for everything, and overcharges for most.
After this and wandering around St. Peter's square, which was set up for a special service the next day to recognize some Bishops, we went for lunch. Lunch and dinner always seemed to come down to a choice between pasta or pizza. Today it was lasagna. The lasagna here has very thin, soft lasagna noodles that seem to melt in your mouth. There were perhaps 5 or more layers. The best though was BIL, who was very thirsty and ordered a one litre glass of beer. It was huge, but he managed to finish, with sister's help. The sky turned sunny, and we spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around, visiting the Spanish Steps, which were fenced off for repairs, the Trevi Fountain, which was extremely crowded, the Pantheon, an ancient Roman temple to all the gods of Rome, several other first century monuments and finally back to our apartment so Jo and BIL could rest their swollen limbs. We walked almost 20 kilometres! I am beginning to detest all the stupid selfie sticks everywhere. There were men that should know better walking around with these sticks, taking selfies of every ancient monument in sight. Even young pre-teens had these monstrosities. It seems so self-absorbed to me to feel the need to prominently have your face in front of everything you take a picture of. Ok, rant over.
Our plan was to return to the Trevi Fountain area for dinner and to see the sights at night, but we lost enthusiasm for this after happy hour, so we ate locally. Since dinner usually begins after 8 PM, there is often only time for one glass of wine before bedtime. Our neighbourhood was always hopping with young people. We wanted to try a pizzeria around the corner, but when we got there at 8:30PM, it was packed, and had a long lineup on the sidewalk. We walked there after dinner at about 11 o'clock and it was still lined up.




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Med. Trip -June1

Travel day. Yuck! It was slightly overcast and drizzled for a little while, but then turned nice. After breakfast I was treated to a show by a pod of about five or more dolphins. Of course, I had my long camera lens in the suit case which was already picked up by the porters we ordered for transporting them up the hill to our bus stop. We had to walk up to meet them. After walking the dreaded 184 steps to the road, we started our accent. The road goes up in gentle switchbacks. I discovered an internal route, a road which would cut out the long loops. It was a staircase. And around the corner was another staircase, and another, and another. We climbed hundreds of stairs before we were finally spewed out on the highway, just past our bus stop. My choice may have saved some distance and time, but did not win me any credits. We stupidly followed the manager's advice and got to the bus stop 40 minutes early, supposedly because the bus arrivals can be unpredictable due to traffic jams. Perhaps the bus early. Is it even possible for a bus to be 30 minutes early? If so, it is really the previous bus that is really late. Waiting for the bus we were amazed at the scooters that zoomed along with dogs standing on them, and parking everywhere. The narrow three foot wide shoulder, clearly marked as a walking path, was covered in parked scooters. When the bus came, right on schedule, it was very full. Of course we were traveling with four large suitcases. We had to open the luggage compartment ourselves and load in the bags. The curb side was full so I had to go in the middle of the highway to open the other side. The bus driver never got up or even offered any advice or assistance. We got on and had to stand all the way while the bus lurched around corners and jerked to the fast and slow pace of traffic. Italians rarely just talk. They always seem to yell at others and it is difficult to know if he conversation is friendly or not. The driver was even yelling on his cell phone. Driving and using a cell phone, even on narrow, tight-curved and busy highways does not seem to be a problem. Neither is flying through stop signs with a bus full of people. Taking the train from Sorrento to Napoli was uneventful but at the station, waiting for the departures board to tell us which track the Rome train was on, we were suddenly approached by a fellow with a blue jacket on. He asked if we were going to Rome, and then took Jo's suit case and told us to follow him. He showed us a logo on his coat which supposedly showed that he was an official worker. Before I knew it, he took my suit case out of my hand and walked a ways, with me telling him I did mot need assistance. Another man came, clearly his buddy, and too my suit case. At that point I stepped in and protested, says I did not want them touching our bags. Jo too took her bag. The second fellow quickly disappeared when I said I did not care what his jacket supposedly indicated. The first guy still stayed with us to show us where the Rome train was, and then took our bags onto one of the cars. There was not enough room in the overhead, so he packed all our bags together on a pair of seats at the back. I would have been afraid to do that but he said it was ok. I decided I should give him something for find storage for us, and gave him two euros. He said no, it was 10 euros. After a bit I gave him 10 euros. Then he said no, that was only for the two bags, and he wanted another for my sister and BIL's bags. I refused, and he asked BIL for 10 euros. Ee said no, he was not getting any more. We argued a little, but could see we were not budging, and left very quickly. I am sure it was a scam but that's the way it goes. After some blind searching we did find our apartment by asking a fellow on the street near where we thought we had to be, and he right away said, "Are you Gerry Meyer?" He was the neighbour we were instructed to get the key from. Our building was a very old heritage building. In the stairwell, they were uncovering a fresco of virgin Mary, painted some time in the 1600's. Our apartment was accessed by hauling our luggage up three floors of stairs. We thought we were done with that after we left Positano!

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Med Trip - May 31

We left at 7:15 for what we thought was a half day tour of Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius. It was a beautiful, hot day. We were picked up by taxi at the end of our staired walkway and driven to the pick up location in Sorrento. Turned the tour was actually a full day tour. Not bad for 47 euros. We had a nice tour bus and first drove ip Mount Vesuvius, Vesuvio as it is known here. There was a long walk up to get from the parking lot to the rim of the crater at the top. (Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, covering the city of Pompeii in over 7 metres of ash. There was also a crater for Mt. Montezuma, which erupted some years later.). It was wonderful. There were great views of Napoli, Naples, and Sorrento across the water from Napoli. The crater was very large, and you could see vents with steam wafting out. Napoli residents living within 10 kilometres of the crater, a good chunk of Napoli, may receive 3 days warning if an eruption is expected. Unfortunately, the roads around this area are so narrow and slow, it is doubtful all the residents could get away within 3 days. After a few hours on the mountain, we drove down to Pompeii, at the base of the mountain, and had lunch. Though we had to pay ourselves, 14 euros, we had reserved seats, a selection of items to choose from, our choice of beverage, and ice cream. It was well organized and went smoothly. There were about 40 people on our tour. From the restaurant we walked a few blocks to the Pompeii excavation site and spent over two hours getting a tour of the site. The area is huge, over 60 acres. There were many, many blocks, complete with original old Roman streets. While entire structures were not found due to the destruction by the ash, there were partial walks and complete walls on most lots. There was a theatre, a street with shop stalls, several brothels, one with erotic scenes painted on the walls still visible, a forum area, etc. It was very impressive. Of course what everyone wanted to see were some plastercized people caught at the moment of their death. The ash fell and fleeing residents, and animals, were covered in the ash, suffocating from the gases, their remains preserved by the ash. A few hundred years ago, someone found a way of plastercizing the bodies to preserve them. There were 3 on display, others are in museums, etc. The tour was great. We returned to Sorrento at about 5:30, and we abandoned our plan to explore Sorrento and eat dinner there. We were all bagged and looking forward to getting back to Positano so we went right to the bus depot and were back in Positano at 7 PM. We stopped for dinner at a restaurant along our walk back, one we ate at a few days earlier. We ended a long day with showers and packing.


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Med Trip - May 30

Today was a quiet day. We needed a break from all the stairs, so we decided to just stay. Home all day. We had bought some paninis to warm up so we did not have to go out for lunch. The day was mostly spent working with photos on the ipad, playing games by some on their ipads, doing crosswords, and doing laundry. Laundry took from 10:30 to after we got home from dinner because the washing machine here takes 3 hours for a load. It was a beautiful, warm day, but then after 5 o'clock winds picked up and it cooled down substantially. I actually wore long pants in the evening. We still had to take the stairs to go for dinner and pick up a few groceries. We started to get more comfortable with the Italian menu, and Jo and I both ordered meatballs, 3 balls each prepared a different way. We also ordered a plate of fried veggies and an order of french fries to share.

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Med Trip May 28 - 29

May 28 was a quiet day. We had no plans so we had a leisurely breakfast, (3 pieces of miniature bread, two covered in a large boiled egg, and one with nutella, same as every other day here), and then descended our staired walkway to the road and then to the main hub of town. There, after pizza and a cold drink, we split up for several hours, the women going shopping and the men killing time. We found a little cave near the beach to get out of the sun and spent a few hours solving many problems. No one had the energy to have to walk our walkway any more than we had to, and it was too early for dinner, so we bought two pizzas to go so we could go home and stay there. I think all restaurants here have Italian food. Go figure, so pizzas and pastas are a steady part of our diet. We took the local bus home. It drives the loop around town on the only road every half hour. Italians are not as civilized as Canadians when it comes to buses. A crowd formed at the bus stop, and people would wander in and casually stand in front. Often the last people there were first on to the grumbling of my sister. However, here the area along the narrow street has very little room, so when the bus came, it slowly drove right into the crowd, and almost squished some people as it creeped to within inches of the side of the building. This scattering of people changed the order of boarding. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening at home. We still needed to plan an excursion to Pompeii, so I found a guided tour out of Sorrento for May 31. I had seen on a website that times were 10AM and 10:15AM. While going through the booking procedure, time and location for pickup were never mentioned. After completing the purchase, I got an email confirming our tour commencing at 8:15AM at a hotel in Sorrento. The first bus from Positano to Sorrento could not be guaranteed to get us there on time. So, despite getting a great deal on the tour, we had to get a taxi, at 65 euros, to ensure we did not miss the tour. So much for last minute deals.

On May 29 we decided to go up the coast to the towns of Amalfi and Ravello. We could take a bus, which would cost only about 280 euros and take about an hour to do the 17 kilometres, or we could take a boat which cost 8 euros and take only 20 minutes. Our experience with buses had not been very positive and the road can get very slow and jammed, so we opted for the boat. It was a nice trip and probably gave much better views of the coast than a bus would, particularly if you don't get a window seat on the right side of the bus. In Amalfi, we had to get a bus for the 7 kilometres up the mountain yo the high altitude town. We had visions of the crappy buses in Capri, but were pleasantly surprised by the touring type bus with comfortable seats. There were people standing, but we got seats. The trip took 25 minutes. Ravello was beautiful and well worth the trip and extra 5 euros. We toured a garden which had spectacular views down the coast and the next town after Amalfi. The town had a lot of ceramics, plates, dinnerware and even very expensive garden tables. Lemoncello was also prominent everywhere. We spent over 3 hours exploring and eating. Then we buses back to Amalfi. It was also very beautiful, with a large cathedral, duomo, which we checked out. The town had one long, winding street with touristy shops on it. I was happy to find mango gelato! We returned home by boat and walked home, rather than the local bus, and ate at a pizzeria along the way. I did not have pizza but veal. Luckily I also ordered roasted potatoes because when you order something like veal, that's all you get, a plate of meat. Now I got some nice small potato balls. No other veggies though. Joanie had pasta, so that was not an issue, unless you have a large appetite. It was a wonderful day. The Amalfi coast setting is nothing short of spectacular.

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Med Trip May 27

It was a hot, sunny day. We walked to the beach to catch the boat to the Isle of Capri. It only took 30 minutes, but here the more important issue was how many stairs we needed to ascend or descend. 184 gets us down to the road, and then there were several long staircases to get to sea level. After a 30 minute boat ride, we arrived and immediately arranged a local boat tour around the island. It was beautiful, with high sheer cliffs with pockets of caves and a white, green and the famous blue grottos at water's edge. At the blue grotto, for 13 euros you transfer into a small rowboat, and get rowed through a small opening into a cave. You need to lie flat as the rower pulls the boat through the opening using a rope on the wall. You can only do this if the tide is not too high and the water not too rough. Inside the cave the light coming through the opening makes the water glow a beautiful blue colour. It was gorgeous. The many, many tour boats gather outside and wait their turn. We had to wait about 45 minutes for our boat's turn. After the tour we had lunch, with a Caprese theme, from Jo's caprese salad to my caprese salad pizza. Limoncello, a strong lemon liquor was big here and Jo and my sister were talked into a limoncello and strawberry drink that cost more than our food. Next on the agenda was taking the bus to Anacapri, another town nearby but high up with great views. That was an experience! The buses were like old metal boxes on wheels. They had 8 seats, and crammed another 15 to 20 people in as standees. The road was a narrow, lane like road with shoulders of about two feet on either side, except where trees encroached on the lane, that wound back and forth with tight switchbacks. When buses or larger vehicles passed they were often so close that anything thicker than one or two pieces of paper would not fit between them. On top of that, people sometimes walked along the side, vespas scooted in and out and sometimes some genius car driver would park along the side, reducing the width to exactly the with of our bus, but no more. Everyone drove with sideview mirrors turned in. How this could be a two way street is mind boggling. Fortunately, the hairy ride was only 20 minutes. We did enjoy great views from the town and decided to skip the chairlift ride to a higher point because of the lineups. We needed to get back for our sail back to Positano, so lined up to take the bus back. The first bus came almost full already, and we could not get on. However, we were now first in line. We continued to bake in the hot sun for another 15 minutes, and the next bus came, full! Only the four of us managed to cram on. Capri was beautiful and we had a wonderful day, but the bus experience was not so great. I did get a nice shot glass though. By now, perhaps the combination of standing in the hot sun as well as all the stairs we climb daily were taking a toll and we were all worn out. We found a place by the dock in Positano that began serving dinner at 6 PM, so we ate "early" for once. We took the local bus back to where our stairs began for our ascent to our house.

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Med Trip May 26

Okay, so I am trying a new way of preparing this blog.
Last night we had a great meal opposite our house along the narrow street. Positano, at least the part below the "highway", has only one narrow street that loops around. Of course, every excursion requires walking down and up 184 steps just to get to the street.
Today, May 26, we stayed around town. We walked the kilometre, about 400+ stairs, down to one of the little beaches and put our feet in the Mediterranean. Then we walked the path near the bottom until we got to the main beach, where we had lunch. We discovered that this area was a hub of activity, with many restaurants and shops. Rather than returning on foot, we took the local bus, for 1.3 euro, which loops around town. It gave us a good overview of the whole town. The narrow street is amazing. Cars pass within inches of parked cars, pedestrians, and maniacal vespas, and traffic comes to a halt when, on the highway, oncoming buses meet and manoeuvre around each other, mirrors missing each other by no more than three or four inches.
The weather has been quite good, sunny with some clouds and highs approaching the mid twenties. Dinner must be after seven o'clock and by then the evenings have cooled off to where you need a light jacket. Tonight we went to the closest restaurant, a pizzeria where the food was great but we had to beg for coffee and our bill, or we would still be there.
Highlight comments of the day was BIL commenting on a picture posted on Facebook by his daughter-in-law, saying she was wearing a topless dress. Jo noted that we call that a skirt. We also discovered that when we met the owner of our house yesterday, he introduced himself. His name was Giovani. Jo was quite impressed that he knew her name despite never have met her or corresponded with her. She mistook him saying his name as calling her Jo-annie.

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New Med Posts

Due to editing issues, future posts to Mediterranean blog will be a series of shorter posts.

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Mediterranean Travelin 2016

May 23, 2016
 After over a year of planning, our Mediterranean trip finally arrived.  We traveled with G&G, my sister and BIL.   Since we had to get up early for our 9AM departure from Vancouver, we tried to go to bed earlyish, 12:45 AM instead of 1AM, that is until I remembered at that time that I forgot to book in with Air Canada.  It didn't matter though. I am not sure how long I slept but is was probably longer than 30 minutes but less than one hour.  Soon after I finally got to sleep, I was awakened by Jo getting up to go to the bathroom.  I waited, thinking I might get back to sleep after she returned, until I checked the alarm and saw that it was 4:20, and the alarm was set for 4:30.  Everything went smoothly at the airport, and our three hour early arrival was perhaps a little overzealous.  Lots of time for breakfast though.
Our Boeing 777 to Toronto was very nice and we had seats near the back.  Ours was one of the few rows with no middle seat and there was plenty of space not only for legs but even for storing bags beside the seat.  We also had full entertainment unlike the American domestic flights in their rickety planes with no extras at all.  We also left on time.  Our 8h20min flight from Toronto to Rome left at 6:15PM, 3:15 Vancouver time, and arrived in Rome at 8:35AM, 11:35PM Vancouver time.  We had booked a window seat and an aisle seat, hoping the middle seat might remain unsold.  We were in luck.  Given our lack of sleep, and the extra room, you might think sleep would come easier, but finding a comfortable position was still impossible.  Sleep was reduced to a few short naps.
Our plan was to take the train to our hotel, but we were bombarded by shuttle bus drivers and decided the nominal extra cost was worth getting driven from door to door.  Driving in Rome was crazy because of aggressive driven on narrow streets, parked cars cramming in to ever available space, whether it was a parking spot or not, and motorcycles and vespas squeezing through the traffic from all sides, often only inches away.  Our hotel, the Capitoleum townhouse suites had only seven rooms on an old building, but was nice and clean.  It was blocks from the main train station but in a less
touristy part of the city.  We spent the afternoon visiting some nearby Roman baths and having a
much needed nap.  Restaurants generally do not open before seven at night because Italians do not dine until after eight PM.  We had our first pasta and turned in early.  A good first day for such a long commute.

May 25, Wednesday
Despite a relatively good sleep,I was still awake by 6:30.  After our free continental breakfast, we were off, walking our suitcases for six blocks to the Rome Termini train station.  We were early for our 11:06 train to Napoli (Naples) but relieved to be able to get our luggage to fit in the overhead compartment.  Other than the more expensive fast trains, the regular trains look crappy and many have graffiti on them.  The train was delayed and did not leave until 11:40.  We arrived in Napoli after 1:30PM and had to buy seperate tickets for the commuter train to Sorrento.  This looked more like a delapitated skytrain.  It was very crowded at the track and we were warned by some girls standing near by to be alert for pickpockets.  I already knew that Rome and Naples stations were
notorious for this, and we saw a suspicious fellow just wandering through the crowd.  Sure enough,
 when a train arrived, the crowd converged on the doors, and as he was being jostled, BIL felt a hand go into his pocket.  Fortunately he reacted quickly to see what was happening and the guy quickly disappeared out the door before it closed.  The only casualty of our Napoli experience was my suitcase, which decided to break its top handle.  We arrived in Sorrento after about 35 station stops.  Some stations looked like ghettos, with graffiti everywhere.  Even some station names were obliterated by graffiti.  From Sorrento we caught a bus to Positano, arriving at about 5:15.  Traffic was absolutely nuts!  The streets of both Sorrento and Positano were very narrow, and generally lined with parked cars.  Traffic crawled at a snails pace and vespas darted in and out, driving mostly on the white line on in the face of oncoming traffic, and shooting between tiny gaps.  I can not understand why the roads are not littered with the bodies of dead vespa and motorcycle riders.  The drive along the coast was gorgeous.  We were let off at the top of Positano.  From there one narrow road switchbacked down the mountain, through the town towards the sea.  To get to our accommodation, we had to walk down this road between parked cars and traffic only inches away and then up 185
steps.  Our view was great though.

Caribbean Cruising 2016

Feb. 20 to Florida We left home at 5:15am. The R and C's SIL Ross drove us. Shortly after leaving, we discovered that Joanie had left her camera on the kitchen table. Unbeknownst to her, I immediately texted Leah and asked her to give the camera to Margie. (See Feb. 28). We flew to Phoenix, where we had a four hour layover, and then on to Fort Lauderdale, arriving at 10:15pm local time. After waiting a while for the shuttle I had booked, we arrived at our hotel at about 11:15. I was very concerned about the hotel, the Universal Palms, because though it was not cheap, at $175 US per night, it was much less than most other hotels near the airport and cruise terminal. It was ok, although the mold in the corners of the bathroom walls left something to be desired. We all escaped without short term illness. Feb. 21 Cruising After a McDonalds breakfast, we tried to buy a box of wine to smuggle onto the ship. We found some, but learned that under Florida law, you can not buy alcohol before noon on Sundays. That was too late for us. We got picked up at 10:45am and were in our staterooms by 12:15. The cruise terminal was only a few kilometres from the airport, but on weekends the traffic is horrendous because 10 or more cruise ships may be in. We also learned very quickly that when you order a drink special, don't get it in the cheap, plastic "fancy" glasses which cost over $3 extra! It will be an exercise filled cruise, as our inside state room is on the first floor, breakfast and lunch and the pool are on the ninth floor and we decided to not use the elevators. For dinner R and I wore shorts but were told by other men who were turned back that you could not get in the dining room without long pants. We noticed over the week that while long pants were not permitted for men, ladies could wear just about anything, and even on formal nights, some men came in jeans and t-shirts. Perhaps it depends who you are and how much money you spend? Feb. 22 Sea Day Today we had to turn our clocks an hour ahead to be on Grand Turks time. We also had a bit of trouble getting to sleep due to time changes. The day was spent relaxing, reading, doing ten laps on the promenade deck, (3 laps are a mile), and dressing up for dinner. Tonight we discovered the piano bar and Mike McCabe. It was a great tome of singing along to old songs from the 50's, 60's and even older. It was kind of fun joining in with 70 and 80 year olds, all belting out old rock and roll and Frank Sinatra. After this, we went to the piano bar every night after the show at the theatre. Feb. 23 Grand Turk We docked at 8am and went on shore about 9am. The beautiful beach was at the end of the pier and was lined with beach chairs which were available free. That was a relief since we tried to book clam shells, a cover for shade, but they were sold out. It was a nice day and we found chairs in the shade. We did some snorkelling which was actually quite good. We also got some mango smoothies and wi fi connections before we had a brief, fine shower. I did manage to sneak in a bottle of wine. We boarded before 2:30 for our scheduled 3 o'clock sailing, but there was a long delay due to a medical emergency. A lady died of some medical complications. We saw her husband (?) go off the ship with his luggage, wait for over an hour, and then be escorted back on. Its never good though when you hear a request for the chaplain. We learned that she died and there was a delay getting clearance from the coroner and local authorities. After a 5 hour delay, we finally departed. The captain made up some of this time, but our arrival at San Juan was moved from noon until 3. The evening show was a steel drum band (quartet) from Trinidad call Island Magic. They played everything from classical to rock music and got a standing ovation. They were very humble. Their leader spoke softly, beaming after every ovation with a simple, "Thank you" that had people laughing. Feb. 24 San Juan, Peurto Rico We arrived early, at 2:30pm. We walked the streets of old town. While trying to get internet at Starbucks, I did spot some parrots and other small birds in the park. Joanie and C bought friendship beads for their pandora bracelets. R and I shared a bench once and it cost us nothing. We then went to a bar on a five storey rooftop, not using the elevator of course, and had a drink. The women had two drinks and were feeling no pain. We got back to the ship around sunset and went to a bbq on the lido deck. The evening was very fun. The show was a comedian, Kevin Jordan, an ex LA cop, who was quite funny. Then we watched the marriage game, which was like the newlywed game with three volunteer couples. We laughed a lot! One man, married 40 years, when asked what little signal his wife gives to show that she is "in the mood" said, very straight faced, "she takes the brake off of her wheelchair." Everyone roared. They did not get the answer right. Feb. 25 Sint Maarten It was a hot, sunny day. We had booked an island tour. This took us through Philipsburg, the capital of the Dutch country within the Dutch kingdom, and to Marigot, the capital on the French colony of Saint Martin. We saw Majo Beach, by Queen Juliana airport on the Dutch side where jet liners come in so close to the beach that you could be pushed by the force and your belongings could be blown away. We spent time in Marigot getting French pastry and a cold drink and looking at the rows of souvenir booths that lined the street. We also drove near the famous French beach known for its nudity, but not near enough to see people. Perhaps not a bad thing. We got dropped off in Philipsburg and walked the cement boardwalk along the beautiful beach, being harassed every few feet by people trying to rent us beach chairs, some including four to six beer. They were very aggressive. We finally found a French Canadian bar that sold bitterballen. We enjoyed these with carib beer and accessing wi fi. We decided not to rent a beach chair but just sit by the side of the water. Again, the colour of the water was stunning. After a nice dip in the warm water, we walked the mile back to the ship, stopping to buy a bottle of wine, and photograph a gorgeous, orange-headed parrot and hummingbird we saw on the way. The wine was detected and confiscated, although small souvenir bottles of rum were not. We had a juggler for our entertainment and of course Mike at the piano bar. Feb. 26 at sea Today was a sleep in day. It was still taking a long time to get to sleep, but every day it was getting better. We attended a fancy lunch held for repeat customers of Holland America. We all received a tile souvenir. We spent the day hiking around the promenade deck, reading and relaxing. I saw many flying fish and a whale that came right along side the snip, just below the surface. It was not there long enough to get a picture. Sea days are also formal night, although a white tux jacket and old baggy jeans seem to qualify. It was also surf and turf night, steak and lobster. Though I am not a lobster fan, I did order it. R triple dog dared me to order a salmon tartar and also for it to be cooked. I had no choice. I did tell our waiter, Alberto, that I wanted salmon tartar but I wanted it well done. We laughed and then I said, seriously I want another appetizer. When the first appetizers came, there was my tartar. (Not cooked of course.). I did eat it and it was small and ok. I guess Alberto didn't get the joke. Feb. 27 Half Moon Cay, Bahamas Half Moon Cay, HAL's private island had a beautiful beach. The water was clear but a little cooler than Grand Turk. It was also a little cooler weather. There were free beach chairs. We did some snorkelling, and saw a turtle, many little reef fish along the edge of the bay, and several barracudas. They had a bbq at lunch and I had a good hamburger. We walked around, saw a fenced off area where you could feed sting rays, very lame, and Joanie had a drink at a beach bar. At night we went to the concert by Island Magic as well as the piano bar, although Mike fooled around more with the songs and we just weren't into it as much, so the four of us had a drink in our room. We talked to the front desk about whether we were on a 14 day cruise or two 7 day cruises since our dinner table reservation was only good for the first week and we could not get the photo gallery to hold our photos to the end of the second week so we could choose because they would not mix the two cruises. If the second week was a new cruise, we should be allowed to bring on a bottle of wine each like other passengers, but they insisted we were not eligible for that. Feb. 28 Fort Lauderdale We were off the ship by 8am for our everglades airboat excursion. The bus drove us 30 minutes or so to the start of the everglades. Here we boarded airboats that held about 20 people and we scooted around the everglades over the sawtooth grasses. We did find one alligator. The everglades are the only place where gators and crocodiles coexist. After the 30 minute ride, we explored a wildlife rescue centre that had many gators, caiman, Florida cats and other animals. I also saw a good variety of wild birds, including a number of parrots. We returned to the ship just in time for lunch. A few weeks earlier, R and I were told that Luke and Margie had booked to join us for the second week of our cruise and today they were coming aboard. We kept this a secret from the women, making it awkward sometimes when they talked of making plans for this week, and we were evasive . We decided to have lunch on the lido deck, figuring this would be a likely meeting spot. While everyone sat outside, I went inside to get some nachos, scouting at the same time. I turned a corner at the same time L and M passed by. I quietly walked beside L and put my arm on his shoulder, surprising him. They then followed me to our table, where C looked up and then did a double take. Joanie did the same. We had celebratory chi chis. Unfortunately, L lost his cell phone, so a frantic search began. After no success, and racking up heft long distance snd roaming charges on M's phone, I asked if he retrieved his phone after the security scan while boarding. A light went on. Just as he was explaining his dilemma to the service desk, someone was bringing in a tray f items from the scan area, including his phone! For dinner, we had invitations to the Tamarind Asian restaurant, a higher end restaurant that normally costs $20 per person extra. The difference was apparent from the free dining room. The quality of the food, the presentation, and the service, including helping choose off the menu, was so good. We thoroughly enjoyed it. The servers were all attractive women, unlike the dining room, which was staffed by men only. What was strange was seeing a couple dressed as absolute slobs in such a fancy place, and that was ok because the man's pants went to his ankles. Afterwards we met up with L and M and went to a BB King review. Not my favourite style of music but the band was excellent. We finished by closing down the piano bar. Feb. 29 Nassau, The Bahamas After a sleep in and leisurely breakfast, we walked into Nassau. The main activity here was shopping, so we walked the streets, did some shopping, had a local beer and chips at Fat Tuesday bar because it had wi fi and we could finally reconnect with home, and dipped our feet in the ocean. We also walked to a rum factory where L took a rum tasting. We were back at the ship by 3 o'clock. 4o'clock was now officially the daily meeting time in the Ocean bar (since mid last week) for happy hour. The drink of the day was usually about $6.50 with a second identical drink being $1.00. We would also get two free appie trays, containing about 4 different appies. R had been dealing with the maitre 'd for the past few days to secure a table reservation for the week. We got the table we had for our special lunch last week, by the window, in the middle of the back wall of the ship. It had a great view! After dinner we took in a comedy show and dropped in on the piano bar. It seemed like Mike was on drugs or something. He never finished one song properly, interjecting crude words or lame jokes and making errors. He was off, and it did not take long for people to start leaving. We too left early. Mar. 1 at sea Our clocks again moved ahead an hour to match Turks time, but we were able to sleep in. It was taking a while, but still less time to get to sleep. We had breakfast with L and M. Joanie then sun bathed by the pool and I did laps on the promenade deck, walking three miles. I joined the others by the pool and we then had lunch together. I had nasi goreng. Joanie went wth the other women to an art auction and I sat in the shade reading the newspaper, doing the crossword and reading my book. It was formal night again and afterwards we went to the crow's nest, a bar and library on the 11th deck. All but R took the elevator up. We went to the BB King show after that and then to the piano bar. Tonight Mike was back to normal, singing lots of great tines, properly. We left at 11 because some were very tired from doing nothing all day. 😄. I finished recreating this blog that I accidentally wiped out a few days ago. Mar. 2 Grand Turk It was a beautiful, sunny dat, the first in four days here. We had to be on the dock at 8:15am for our catamaran snorkel cruise. I had chosen another excursion that included swimming with sting rays and cost $30 less per person, but I was out voted. We did not get underway until about 8:45 due to mechanical problems. We sailed perhaps half a mile down the beach and anchored a few hundred yards from shore. We had a small area to snorkel in so things were a little crowded. There were lots of fish, but that was mainly due to the crew feeding them. R, who is somewhat afraid of snorkelling because of a bad experience, liked this because he could not get prescription goggles and the fish were close up. After about twenty minutes of snorkelling, we went a short distance back towards our ship, and landed at a quiet part of the beach. We were given rum punch, which made most people's mood good, and went ashore. We were not allowed to do any more snorkelling here though. Then we returned. The whole trip took just over three hours, but we were always within walking distance from the ship. At this point we split up. Joanie and I returned to the ship for lunch. Joanie had a hot dog and fries while I had nachos with all the fixings, and taco shells with pulled pork and beef. After lunch we returned to shore to find wi fi and do some more snorkelling by the beach in front of the ship. Happy hour was moved to 4:30 today. At dinner M knocked over her full wine glass, sending white wine across the table and over my shirt and arm. She got a free wine replacement but I promised to remind her of this regularly, perhaps on line. We went to a Beatles tribute and then the piano bar. R & C baled on us at 10 already but we persevered until after 11 and then had a drink in our room. Mar. 3 Amber Cove, Dominican Republic We all had low expectations of Amber Cove as it was a new stop for cruise ships, open only six months and only the second visit for Holland America. We heard there was no beach and only a cement pool. That part was true, but Dominican Republic was a beautiful island with lush green forests of palms and rain forest trees, and significant mountains. We were the only ship in port. The water around the ship was a murky green. However, there were a good selection of shops at the end of the pier, a bus depot if you want to travel around and a luxury resort type complex with a winding pool, swim up bar, water slides, children's play area, grossly underused by our ships very senior passengers, a zip line, and small cabanas over the water that were available for $200 for the day. The pool, slides, and deck chairs were available for free. After some shopping and trying to connect through wi fi, I had over 30 emails all deleted because they were ads, we returned to the ship for lunch. Then we went to use the pool and water sides. It was a very good time. Joanie bought a large bottle of flavoured rum that I did not know about. After my bag passed through the scanner, I heard something about a bottle and a motion towards the table for turning in alcohol. I ignored it and walked by. No one stopped me. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. As we sailed away at 5 o'clock, I noticed that as we passed the end of the cove, you could see a long beautiful beach around the corner, one featured on past cards of Punto Plaza. We could have walked there or taken a very short ride to it. Next time. Tonight we saw an illusionist act and took in western night at the piano bar. We packed it in at 11 o'clock because... I am still having difficulty getting to sleep. Mar. 4 at sea Today was a relax day. It was very warm and muggy. We did our own thing, sleeping in and having breakfast at 9:45am. Then we walked two miles and before you knew it it was time to get dressed for the special lunch. After that it was get changed again and find a peaceful, shady place to sit and read for a few hours. Then it was time to get changed again for formal night and steak and lobster dinner. We skipped the ship's song and dance show but helped close down the piano bar, which featured 50's sock hop songs. Fotunately, we turn our clocks back an hour tonight. Mar. 5 Half Moon Cay Forecasted thundershowers did not materialize today. It was cloudy and downright hot whenever the full sun broke through. The water seemed slightly cooler than last week. Snorkelling was not very good. However, we enjoyed the beach and the bbq for lunch, and some of us enjoyed a drink and final dip in the ocean. We were back on board by 2pm and spent a few hours reading and relaxing. At dinner time I spotted several whales out the back window. Unfortunately, they were too far away for a picture. After dinner we skipped the variety show to pack. Then it was off to the piano bar. We got our confiscated bottle of wine so we did not go dryly. For the third time, Jo was assigned to lead the bar in the actions for The Unicorn song. We stayed until just after midnight and had a blast for our final piano bar song-a-long. Mar. 6 Going home? The worst day of any vacation is going home. Today was no exception. I was awake at 6:30am already. We met with the others for a last breakfast and then went through the debarkment process which went quite smoothly. Even getting a taxi went well. We got to the airport over three hours early. It was an extremely busy and old airport. The cost of food was outrageous as everything seems to be in Fort Lauderdale. We boarded the plane at 1:30 and then were delayed at the gate for almost an hour due to a fuel issue. Apparently, there was a lot of paperwork to do. Then we were warned that if we were not airborn within 20 minutes or so, the pilot and copilot would not be legal and we would have to return to the terminal. Fortunately, we got up, but I think it was really close. Though we arrived a little late in Dallas, our connecting flight was the same plane, so we had to get off and then reboard. We had another long delay, again because of an issue regarding the amount of fuel vs number of passengers. However the arrival in Vancouver was not too late. It felt very cold though! Sad to see an end to the trip, but I keep reminding myself that we will be on board again soon, in the Mediterranean.