Last Night at Sea

This is it...our last night at sea. What an experience our traveling home has been. Our dinners at night have been fantastic fare - dining with the same staff each night, they have become old friends. Melwyn from Bombay and Made from Indonesia, and our two lady servers from Romania. Amazing how people from all over the world are just so comfortable with each other. Food has a way of doing that!

We spent all day today touring this southern part of Italy - First docking in Naples, then taking a tour bus down to Sorrento - a beautiful beautiful city. My mother actually performed here back in the 40's with the USO - so it was just even sweeter knowing that. While in Sorrento we visited a lemon and olive farm where we were treated to an outdoor dining experience of freshly made mozzarella, artichoke spread on homemade bread, and local wine - all under the shade of their olive and lemon trees - Fantastick! After Sorrento, we went to the ancient city ruins of Pompeii, right under the nose of Mt. Vesuvious! Incredible. Hard to explain without the photos - but those will come when I get back. Needless to say, Rick and I are speechless at the incredible opportunities we have been able to take advantage of on this trip. We'll be in Rome tomorrow and spend the rest of the week there. Hope to find a blogspot on the internet to continue. Until then, Arrivaderchi, and Ciao on the trail!

City on a Hill

Today is an "at sea" day - where we mostly catch up on reading and sunning and recuperating from our day yesterday on the island of Santorini. Oh My Goodness. Santorini is a place that feels like God just plopped it down out of heaven for us to enjoy. It is a city - literally - on top of a mountainous island - mostly volcanic around it - but the homes are carved out of the cliffs of the mountain and sit so closely together that one's roof is another's front walkway. All in white - like Mykonos. It really was a slice of heaven - once on the top, the cities pan out from one peak to another, and then out of nowhere, there is a vast farm area of flatland on top. Amazing. There are also little white churches everywhere - almost one per family it seems - and all of them looking alike with white walls and blue domes on top. Rick and I walked and walked and walked and couldn't get enough of this beautiful oasis in the middle of the sea. But - back to the ship we went - I actually took a cable car down the side cliff - closed my eyes the whole way! Tomorrow is Naples/Capri - Pompeii and then to Rome. Until the next trail - many blessings to you.

Island to Island

Hard to believe it's already Friday - the last few days have been amazing and have gone by way too quickly. The highlight of our trip so far has been our visit to Turkey and to the ruins in Ephesus. Seeing the places that Paul walked, John walked, and even the acclaimed house that Mary lived out her life in - hard to process it all. The excavations of the city of Ephesus and the theater, library, homes, and more are breathtaking. We met a family that goes to Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale in the midst of all this! Go figure!
After Ephesus, we went to the Island of Rhodes - another glance back in time as the city is built on a fortress - I've taken hoards of pictures!
Rick and I leave in about an hour on a tender to the island of Santorini - we're docked right by it, but it is a city on top of the island so we are taking a cable car to the top once we hit port. We've been told it is the most beautiful of all the Greek islands - more pictures to come!

white as snow

What a day today! We got to Mykonos and went ashore to experience an incredible town of white homes, stores, and churches everywhere! The streets are narrower than any I've seen before and yet somehow little cars, scooters, pedestrians, and tourists alike manage to all make way for each other. We ate at a fish place right next to the sea, so close that the waves added to our menu! Just a beautiful little island - perfect for being "away from it all".
Tomorrow we port in Ephesus - Can't WAIT!! Tonight, we dressed to the nines in our "formal" attire - you'd never recognize us! It's just overwhelming for us to be here and we count our blessings each day.
Happy trails.

Talk about blue water!

Today we are in Athens and are still pinching ourselves that we climbed up to the Acropolis and walked around this ancient of ancients...The Parthenon, the Theatre, and more... just incredible to see things surviving from BC era.
Our first stop was Sicily on Saturday and that was a great start to our trip. We went to their museum and saw one Caravaggio after another, then toured the city with its many many churches and frescos. We had a full day at sea until we arrived here in Athens this morning - needless to say a full day at sea has produced a full map of sunburn on this Floridian body - who could imagine! Even Rick with his Italian pigment managed a few red markings. Our dinner partners are a couple from Norway (Brunte and Harold) and they have made our dinner times quite enlightening - Fjords and all!
We're off to Mykonos tomorrow and as soon as I can figure out how to download my pictures onto the blog - I will. Until then - I wish you many blessings on the trail today.

First Leg on the Trail Completed!

Well - we made it! Not too many bumps in the road, either - or bumps in the sky! Rick really is an old hat at flying and even though we didn't get upgraded to Business or First Class, he got us in Economy Plus, right at the front in the bulkhead - so there was plenty of legroom and space to catch a few zzz's and watch a movie or two. Believe it or not, we actually had dinner served - and it wasn't pretzels and cheese...an old-school, hot, probably-marriot-catered, foil-wrapped dinner. There was cause for prayer against coveting, though... Our seats were just behind the "curtain" of Business Class, where tablecloths cover trays, actual china is used, and chairs are upscale recliners in blue - with personal overhead lamps, I might add. We watched all this through the "curtain" which was made out of fishnet material - BUT we let it go and enjoyed our private bulkhead accommodations (next time I'm bringing my own tablecloth!).
Got to the ship early this morning in beautiful (bella bella) Italy. Driving here (on the bus) brought us through vineyards and farmland that was breath-taking. We're practicing our syllables to end in vowels so we can communicate - si! Prego. Our room is FABULOUS! We have a huge double bed and a sitting area with a big window looking out to sea. Stephanie sent flowers (thank you so much!!!) and Cindy our Travel Agent sent a welcome basket! We're feeling the love here! I'm wearing my ear patch and not feeling seasick - so all is well.
Tomorrow we dock at Sicily (Messina) and tour in the afternoon. Can't wait.
Will blog again in a few days... but in the meantime, know that our footprints are walking through a beautiful season of refreshment. Happy Trails.

Our ship awaits!!!
Let's hope the ship's Internet Cafe isn't bombarded with bloggers and I can find a spot to bombard you all with my "notes from the field" as we call it!
Just for TODAY, however, I will not worry about tomorrow. I will finish work, run around with last minute list priorities, then PACK PACK PACK, and most importantly, PRAY PRAY PRAY!
Ciao for now. Happy Trails.

Counting down the days....

Okay - so I've got five more days until Rick and I take off into the sunset on our 25th Anniversary trip. First landing in Rome then getting over to Cittavecchio for our 11-day cruise in the Mediterranean...Greece, Sicily, Turkey, ahhhhhhhhhhhhh. Then back to Rome for five days. We just went shopping for some "cruisewear" at Beall's BIG SALE! yikes! You know what that looks like - crazy tropical shirts, lots of white capris, striped sweaters, etc. It's kind of a tacky-meets-manhatten, if you can imagine. It's all good in the long-run. Rick's trying to figure out what "formal" attire he has that will work; I'm thinking it's time for the Casablanca jacket to come out of the mothballs. Sounds like a plan. You'll see, though... I'll be blogging and posting all the way there and back, so stay tuned. And don't forget to say your prayers today! It's important to talk to the One Who gave you a voice. Blessings on the trail.....Barbara