Naples and Capri

We spent this morning in the ruins of Pompeii. Outstanding! This is a town that was covered in ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79AD. They have excavated it and found whole bodies in place and bread still in the ovens. We were able to walk through the houses and down the streets.

On the drive back to the port we stopped at a cameo factory and watched while an artist was working on a cameo. They use local sea shells and carve down through three layers of color to create the art. Of course he fell in love with Maria and was showing her everything. I picked out a very pretty cameo ring. Thanks honey!

This afternoon was a different story. This was the plan: take a hydrofoil next to the pier to the Island of Capri. (I think ok public transportation a couple euros each) then once in Capri we wanted to find a local operator to hire a boat to take us to see the Blue Grotto, a cave with minerals that cast a blue light on everything. (when I read this I thought small boat for just us quick trip)

Here is what really happened: We find the hydrofoil company and purchase tickets, they were actually 38 euros total. That’s ok they’re probably round-trip…right?...WRONG!

Then we get to Capri and find a beautiful island – hope is still alive!


At the tour company we find out that tour actually lasts around two hours. Sadly we risk missing the all aboard if we attempt the trip to the Blue Grotto. So we wander the streets and drop 14 euros for ice cream.

After playing by the ocean, we catch the next hydrofoil back to Capri. For some reason the price is 40 euros for the return trip.

As we are entering the harbor Steve is looking out at the harbor with this puzzled look on his face. I ask him what’s wrong and he comments that he can’t see our ship. WHAT!?! Our boat is bigger that the buildings. As we are walking off the boat I pull out the two sets of cancelled tickets and sure enough there are at least two piers in Capri and we are on the wrong one!

So we are forced to take a taxi to our port and find the Voyager sitting grandly in the port waiting for us.

Since Maria and I both napped on the hydrofoil, Steve commented that he just dropped around $120 USD for a nap and three small ice creams. Talk about poor use of money!

Rome - A walk through history

I am in love with Rome! Most people who know me realize that I have a fascination with columns. So today everywhere I looked it was a column. I took right at 80 pictures. The tour we went on lasted 10 hours. It was a long day but we all agreed it was fantastic.

Our first stop was Trevi Fountain. The tradition is to toss in a coin to ensure you return to Rome. Maria tossed one in and I made her promise to bring me with her when she comes! There are sculptures features the Ancient gods of the Sea.

Then we walked to the Roman Forum. As we wandered aroung the ruins I was just amazed and the history we were walking through. We could see where the market was held, the courts and temples.

After the Forum we walked on to the Colosseum. Wow! It seemed surreal to be seeing it in person with my own eyes.


From the Colosseum we reboarded our bus and went to lunch at a nice hotel. After lunch we went to the St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. This Basilica is the largest church in the world.

I think the pictures speak for themselves!

Villefranche, France

The show last night was great. There was an acrobatic duet from Russia and Italy that performed various moves of strength and flexibility. Next was a woman from Russia that did a routine with multiple hoops. Maria and I are convinced that she was a one time a rhythmic gymnast. The last act was a juggler from Switzerland. He was phenomenal! He juggled hat, balls and boxes. It was choreographed to the music. We voted and he was the best (although I tied him with the hoop lady).

We are dropping anchor in Villefranche this morning. This is the view from our balcony!

Another oddity…as Steve was coming in from getting another cup of coffee this morning he was speaking in Romanian. I looked up expecting to see our waitress but it was our room stewardess. She is Romanian as well. She asked Steve if he grew up in Romania before moving to the US. She was stunned that he has been in Romania for only 8 months. His Romanian is very good!

We took a tender, smaller boat, to the port. The first stop was a soap factory, La Savonnerie de Villefranche, where the lady showed us how they make the soap. Between her small English and the French Steve remembers from high school we got along fine. We also bought quite a bit of soap! It smelled great and is very natural.

Then we went into The Chapelle St. Pierre. I love the architecture in the churches in Europe.


As we were making our way back to the ship we wandered on the streets. Everywhere you looked there was a picture to be made. Here is a sampling of them.

Once on board again we headed up to the rock wall so Maria and Steve could climb. Maria went way up in the air. She actually attracted quite a few on-lookers. She looked so petite way up on that wall. Strangers were making her picture!

Boarding the Ship

We boarded our ship, Voyager of the Seas, right after lunch today. We got to our room and unpacked our carry-ons then set out to explore the ship.

Steve and Maria found the basketball court and shot some hoops and went back to the room to post to the blog and unpack the bags that had been delivered to the room.

Next we headed back out to get a snack since our “early” seating for dinner is at 7pm. As you can tell Maria and I had a small frozen yogurt and Steve had fried chicken and bread.

Of course for those that know us well you can probably guess our next stop…that’s right the library. With English books!!! Yahoo! We all checked out two to get us started for the week. Then Steve went to get us coffee, “because it’s free!”.

At 5:30pm we had the mandatory Muster Drill. Everyone on board has to put on their lifejackets and go to their assigned stations. They have gotten this down to clockwork on Royal Caribbean. We were gone from our stateroom for 30 minutes. Very fast!


Dinner was outstanding. We think that Royal Caribbean did some research because two of the gentlemen seated with us work with airplanes. One worked for Boeing and is a computer engineer and the other is retired and builds kit airplanes. All three of them had a great time talking. There is also an adorable 3 year old sitting at our table that was very well behaved despite coming all the way from NY yesterday. The other crazy thing was that our head waitress was from Romania. When Steve noticed the flag and country on her nametag he started talking to her in Romanian. The look on her face was priceless! I doubt she hears her heart language very often.

Tonight the show is an acrobatic gymnastic group and the promo poster also shows a girl doing hoop. So we’ll be going to a late show and hopefully sleeping a little later in the morning.

Barcelona on Friday

We took a kayak trip along the coast of Barcelona starting in Palamos. The coast here is great with super views of the mountains right along the waterfront. The beaches are more pebbly than in SC and the water was VERY cold. The pictures above are the beach were we started. Our guide, Eric, was originally from San Diego. He had been here in Barcelona for three years. There was one other couple with us on the trip. A young couple from Canada. The funny thing was the man is going next week on a business trip to Duncan, SC. Small world!

The pictures below are the beach were we ate lunch and the view from the top of the cliff. You can go to Steve's running blog to view photos of the other beach dwellers. I wasn't brave enough to take their pictures so I'm not going to post them either.



This is the entire group that we spent the day with kayaking and exploring!

Barcelona Again - Day 1

We arrived in Barcelona late last night and made our way to our apartment. When the lady met us to give us the keys and went in and it looked great! Very clean and roomy. While Steve was filling in the paperwork with the lady I started checking out the apartment and unpacking.

I found the coffee pot and had to ask directions on how to use it. Evidently it is an Italian style pot. The water goes in the base with coffee in a metal filter. After it brews the coffee ends up in the upper carafe.

So first thing this morning we headed out to Las Ramblas to look for something to cook for breakfast and some milk to weaken what we were sure would be very strong coffee. Thankfully we found that the farmer’s market was already open.

We wandered around until we found the “egg stand”. She had at least 8 different kinds of eggs, all at different prices. I stood there a little overwhelmed. Were they different species of eggs or different sizes or what???? We finally settled on a generic pre-bagged dozen of eggs. Next we looked for milk – no luck! We ended up getting fresh pineapple and strawberries to round out our breakfast.

On the way out we saw a stand that was fresh squeezing all kinds of juice. We each picked one to try. Pineapple was good and no super sweet, mango was yummy and I picked payaya, it was a pink juice and very good, although there were a few small edible seeds in mine.

Once back at the apartment I cooked breakfast. It was good – you can't go wrong with scrambled eggs and fresh fruit.

Steve set to work with the coffee pot. We were a little leery of the pot but the coffee that came from it was great! A little strong but the cups were small!

After breakfast Steve went for a run and Maria and I walked some on Las Ramblas and bought some postcards!

We then took the train inland to Montserrat to see the Monastery. There is a boys choir that sings two songs everyday at 1pm. We thought we had plenty of time to catch the train for the hour long trip but when we arrived at the station we found out the train only runs every hour not every 5 minutes like the metro! So we had to wait at the station for about 45 minutes. That gave us plenty of time to eat the lunch we had bought along the way but sadly we missed hearing the choir.

We took a cable car up to the top of the mountain and the view was great! We also went inside the Basilica and the stained glass and architecture was beautiful. Construction began in the 16th century, and the status of basilica was conferred by Pope Leo XIII in 1881. The present façade dates of 1901, whilst the interior was restored after being damaged by Napoleonic troops in 1811.

This is the look up while waiting for the cable car.

This was the view on the way up in the cable car.

This was the view from the top!

This was inside the Basilica:

After coming back to the apartment we headed to the beach for a little sun and surf. I was a little stunned by the “freedom” expressed on the beach but it is Europe afterall! Not many pictures here, some things are best left to the imagination.