Monthly Archives: May 2015

2nd Day at Sea

Today was another travel day for the ship.  Too much food and plenty to do.  I am friendly with a family from India and we give each other’s tips on what to see in different ports.  The trip into Turkey is beautiful.  Going through the Marmara Straight is amazing.  The views from the ship are spectacular!!! I watched the pilot come aboard and then leave again.  Thank goodness the seas were calm. The pilot boat pulls alongside the ship and the pilot grabs a rope ladder and climbs up the side of the ship.  To disembark he does the reverse.  Traveling at night was also beautiful. I’ll tell you I had beef cheeks for dinner-yummy.

I also forgot that when we were getting on the tender in Santorini they too us through the crew’s quarters.  Much nicer than I expected.

Traveling

Today is the 18th and we need to make our way to the Crown Plaza Hotel past St Peters to catch the bus to the port.  I checked public transportation but it would still be a 6km walk.  We decided to take cab from our hotel. It was a wise decision.  We are now sitting in the lobby and as you can tell there is a much better wifi connection.  Will continue when we are on board.

We boarded the bus provided by the cruise line and headed for the port.  Everything went well.  The ship is beautiful.  We have a balcony room and it is very spacious to me.  Even the bathroom seems large.  We toured the ship, got settled in and then went to dinner.  I had a roasted beet and feta appetizer and Shirley had shrimp cocktail.  Shirley had salmon and I ordered the end cut of prime rib.  They brought me a cow!  As you all know cruise food is great and plentiful.  We are headed to Santorini and have a day at sea tomorrow.  No wifi on board do I’ll send the postings as soon as I can.

Rome – Day 3

We set out to see the remaining sites by foot.  By the end of the day we can truthfully say we have seen all of Rome.  We started out in the wrong direction but eventually got on the right track.  We were by the Circus Maximus where there was a Run for the Cure for cancer.  Many of the streets were closed which made walking easy, but traffic was a nightmare again.  After walking several hours and nearing the Pantheon we stopped for an Aperol spritzer at a sidewalk cafe.

 After our break we set out for the Pantheon.  We went inside for a look and continued walking.

 By this time we were heading back to our hotel.  We had seen most of the plazas and sights and would continue to see them as we walked.  As I said we saw most if not all of the Roman sights.  Upon our return we sat in the courtyard with our wine and shared experiences with the other guests.  We just had a light dinner and had fun talking to the guests at our hotel.