Monday - Valletta, Malta

Good Morning/Afternoon from Valetta, Malta and Happy Birthday Dad!!!! We arrived in Malta this morning around 7:30. We went out on the veranda to take in the sites and I opened my computer to do a little typing. I then realized that there was an internet signal – and yes, free wifi! I am the happiest person in the world right now. I am typing this while I am trying to upload photos to past posts. All of a sudden Dad came on line and it was only 3:14 am there. We were a little worried, but he had just heard something on the computer and came on in there. We talked on IM for a bit and then we called on Skype and sang Happy Birthday to him. It was great to talk to him again. I will see what I’m able to do on the internet here and then will probably go into town and/or lay out in the sun a bit. It’s just great to have calm seas, a sunny day, and wifi on my balcony!

So that excitement was short lived, I do have some wifi, but for some reason cannot upload pictures. I even went into town, with no luck. I think it may be something to do with the Blogger site. Today was an eventful day. After having breakfast in our room we decided to venture out. We got off of the ship and walked over to the shops and saw a bus stop where everyone had been waiting. After a few short moments a bus pulled up and we decided to hop on.

Mom even hit me with the cane and started running! The buses here are something else – I can’t wait to post the pictures and video. Evidently Malta is known for their buses. It took us all the way into the downtown area of Valletta.

There is a heavy British influence including driving on the left and they have the red telephone booths here. The language is a mix of Italian and Arabic, but everyone also speaks English. We spent a few hours walking around the town, and looking in various shops. They are known for their glass and their silver filigree work. The island is small, but almost every inch has something built on it. The walled fortifications are everywhere. We did a lot of walking and decided it was time to return to the ship. We had a wait a long time for the return bus, since they apparently do not hold to a schedule. The ride back included a near miss with a truck due to the streets being so narrow. Hey, what can you expect for 1 euro roundtrip! Once safely onboard we managed to make it up for a quick bite of lunch. I decided to go back in town to try and upload pictures, without success. We did manage to buy an additional suitcase for travelling back.

We are now sitting on the verandah watching the sun go down. Sunset is very early here, 17:31 today. We will soon be setting sail for Greece. Tomorrow we will be at sea all day and will arrive in Santorini on Wednesday. Tonight we have reservations in Toscana, their specialty Italian restaurant. We thought that was appropriate in order to celebrate Dad’s birthday.

We hope the weather is nice tomorrow so that we may spend it by the pool. The temperatures here are just perfect! Wish I could share the photos and video, but it will have to wait for another day. (That day has arrived!!!)

Taormina, Sicily

We woke up this morning to a dense fog which quickly turned into solid rain. We did have breakfast up on Deck 9, outside, but we quickly realized how rough the weather was. There were whitecaps on the Mediterranean, never a good sign, and the tenders were struggling to go ashore. It was then I decided not to head into Sicily. After breakfast we went up to Deck 10 where there is a gorgeous look out and we addressed postcards, a bunch of them. It's the first really rotten day we've had. However it was during this time that I began to turn green again. I guess it was the ship rocking and me trying to write. I ended up seasick again. I took the pills I bought on the QM2, and pretty much slept the rest of the day away. What else could you do with that kind of weather? We had dinner reservations at 18:30 in the Polo Grill with Margaret. Mom had to finally wake me up around 17:00 so I could start getting ready. Dinner was wonderful. I guess I felt better and the food up there is terrific. We had the fillet again and it was just as good as before and we had the truffle mashed potatoes to go with. They served us these orange and strawberry jelly squares that Mom fell in love with, so we asked our waiter if we could have the rest in a to go box, and of course he obliged. After dinner we went down and listened to the quartet and then went on into a show. There was a guy by the name of Chris Shafer who was performing a lot of Sinatra and some other oldies. We had left port by this time and you could tell we were on fairly rough seas. We headed back to our room and went to bed hoping for a better day on Monday.

Sorrento/Pompeii (Saturday)

Oh what a day! Today began with us getting up oh so early at 6:45. We managed to dress and go up to the Terrace for a light breakfast. After my tendering experience of yesterday, we didn’t want to eat too heavily. We went down to our meeting point and found Margaret, our new found travelling buddy. She took over since she has done an excursion every day since we left Rome. It was nice to have someone who knew the procedures. We had our boarding ticket and we were in Group 6. Later we realized there were 12 other groups that went to Pompeii from our ship. Once our number was called we headed down to board the tender. Mom handled it like a pro! We had to get on land and then take a shuttle to our awaiting bus. I swear I don’t know how people survive driving here. The shuttle ride was harrowing in itself. We then boarded a motor coach for the 35 minute trip to the site. The trip consisted of numerous hairpin turns and one lane streets that weren’t quite as wide as the bus. In fact, we had people passing us where there was no room and on hairpin turns. It was fun to see the open fish markets with the fresh catch all along the streets. The drive was beautiful even when I was cringing as vehicles passed us. We went around the Bay of Sorrento and the Bay of Napoli. Mount Vesuvius soon came into view.

We both agree that it seemed much smaller and less conical than expected, but nevertheless, still impressive. We arrived at the archaeological site and began the tour. The site is much more vast than we had thought, and the terrain much more difficult to navigate. This was by far the most difficult venture that Mom has tried this entire trip. I must say she couldn’t have done this three weeks ago, she has made great strides – literally.

It is hard to explain how this place feels. I walked around with my mouth hanging open half of the time. We were able to walk up and touch walls and columns that have been buried for almost 2000 years. The frescos are truly a sight to behold. The colors are so vibrant and the artistry quite refined.

We toured the “spas”, a traditional home (which was very large with many rooms), the various shops, and a fish market. There was even a bakery complete with oven that is perfectly preserved!

We also had the opportunity to see the ash entombed bodies. One particular one on display was that of a slave, which you could tell due to the belt that was apparent, and you could see the bones of his skull and even his teeth. I have a picture which I will post at a later time so that you can appreciate the level of preservation.

Many of the streets were once tiled in marble, some of which still exist. Others are covered in very large flat stones, but still very uneven. You can see the grooves from where carts and chariots would have passed through the city streets. At the time of the eruption 15,000 peopled lived in Pompeii. I still need to look up how many survived. They are still excavating much of the site, so I look forward to coming back again and spending more time. By the end, Mom was about give out – that’s the only way I can put it.

The heat contributed to her exhaustion as it was in the 80s and we were in the direct sun. Once we were finished with the official tour, we had about 30 minutes of free time. Instead of walking around anymore we chose a cool spot in the shade and had a glass of lemon granite, a nice frozen refreshing drink. We made it back to the bus after about another ½ mile walk. It was time to go back to the town of Sorrento. We were taken to a place where they make various types of wood inlay furniture, boxes, trays, etc. It is really a fascinating and tedious craft. Mom was ready to go back to the ship as was Margaret – after all it was 13:30 and we had not eaten since breakfast. Margaret offered to help Mom back to the ship while I stayed in town. Here is my confession – they had a ton of internet spots, but I opted to shop. I do have a ton of photos to post, but I only had a few hours in Sorrento.

I ran into one of our waiters from the ship who was kind enough to help orient me to the area so that I would not get lost. I really appreciated that. I did buy some souvenirs and other mementos from the town. It was now getting on to 14:20 and I needed to catch the shuttle back to the tender. I think that portion was the most terrifying and I nearly suffered from motion sickness, again. I’m not used to all of this crazy driving. The tendering was painless, and I was back in our stateroom. I found Mom out on the verandah taking in the sites and the setting sun. The sister ship Insignia was also in port anchored nearby. After enjoying the sunset we headed up for dinner. Mom had napped and skipped lunch, and I was too busy shopping, so we were both famished. We went up to the casual restaurant where we met Margaret for dinner. We had some roasted oysters and a Caesar salad for appetizers and Mom had the yummy pasta while I had the stir fried lamb. We enjoyed dessert, some butter pecan gelato for Mom and a piece of chocolate mousse cake for me. We also had some hot tea. It was time for the string quartet up in the Hall, so we adjourned to listen to some music. As always, it was most enjoyable. We are both pretty exhausted, so we are now back in our room, probably heading to bed soon. We did receive notice that we “fall back” this evening. I think it’s earlier than in the States. We should be moving forward an hour in another day or two. It gets really confusing. Tomorrow we are in Taormina, Sicily. No excursions planned, so we’ll see what the day holds for us.

Friday - Amalfi

We woke up rather early this morning, before 8:00 am. We were still cruising the Mediterranean as an island appeared. We’re still not sure which one it was. It was such a gorgeous morning, much to our surprise. Last evening they had said we would be in store of more of the same as yesterday – cool with clouds. At 9:15 sharp our breakfast arrived, with an added treat – champagne! I had a smoked salmon omelet while Mom had her eggs over medium with sausage and toast. I left to go and listen to the destination briefing for Greece. They give a whole PowerPoint presentation on the ports of call so you can decide whether or not to book an excursion. I made it back to the room just in time to get Mom to go to the art auction. This is something that we saw on the QM2, but didn’t participate in at that point, but it seemed like a good idea. We received raffle tickets as we went in and we were supposed to go around and tag any works that we wanted to bid on. I had tagged 2 pieces, one for each of us. The process of the auction was interesting to watch. Some pieces were very expensive while others were more in our price range. I almost bid on one, but chickened out at the last minute. About half way through they were ready to do the raffle, a piece by Krasnyansky, very pretty. Next thing I knew they were calling out my number! I couldn’t believe it, nor could Mom. I’m not sure where I’m going to put it, but it was fun to win! After all of that excitement, we had arrived in Amalfi. Most of the tours were heading out and we headed up to the sun deck. It was so sunny and warm, hard to resist. We sunbathed for a few hours and went to the grill to get a bite of lunch. I decided I would head into Amalfi to see what town was like, but Mom opted to stay back. Today we are anchored so we had to be tendered into town. I managed to get on board, but we waited there a while for others to board. I started to get a little green as we bounced up and down in the sea. I was able to keep it together. The town was very cute with a ton of little shops and gelaterias, but some of the narrowest streets that were also used for driving and not just pedestrians. I spent about 2 ½ hours in town and wandered from shop to shop.

Every other store had Limoncella (mix of lemon juice, sugar, and water), and of course the ubiquitous pottery from this area. I tried without success to find internet. I am continually amazed at how scarce it is over here. I braved the tender again and made it back on board ship.

Mom and I called Dad and talked a good long while. We also just sat there and enjoyed the gorgeous view as the sun went down. Mom had to fill me in on all she accomplished while I was out and I had to fill her in on the town of Amalfi. I did bring back some candied oranges dipped in chocolate especially for her. She was so excited. We had to decide what to do for dinner, and neither of us were too excited about going to a big dinner, so we opted for Tapas on the Terrace. We had the sushi again and then Mom had the Chicken Chow Mein while I had the pasta with marinara sauce. The marinara sauce over here is so different from home – it is much much sweeter and not acidic at all. I really enjoy it. We finished it off with gelato and hot tea. Mom had the pina colada and I had the bonoffee (banana and caramel). Mine was the best I’ve had since being on board. We are now sitting down in the Upper Hall listening to our favorite string quartet who is featuring Mozart tonight. I have to meet with the art gallery at 21:00 to arrange to get my artwork home. We will then probably call it an early evening as tomorrow we are going to Pompeii!!!! I am truly excited about this; most of you know that I am an archaeology buff, so this is right up my alley. Mom is also going, even though it is rated as “strenuous”. I wish I could post photos and video, but that will have to wait at least until tomorrow. I may have internet in Sorrento, not sure. I wanted to at least get the text posted from the past 2 days so it doesn’t go from “Where is L” to “What Happened to L”!

Good evening to all…

Thursday - Livorno

Today we were in Livorno. It was rather gloomy out. Most had taken the 1 ½ - 2 hour trip to Florence. We were fine with staying on the ship and having a relaxing day. We started out with breakfast in our room. I actually just had cereal today, and it tasted great! We spent a while in the library as I tried to just post text, but to no avail. Much to our surprise, I received an instant message saying “Bonjourno” from my Dad. It was only 5:15 am at home, so I immediately became worried, however, he was just fine. He says he now goes to bed when he’s tired and gets up when he wakes. What a new pattern! It was good to “chat” with him for a bit. After some time in the library we decided to grab some lunch. It was still early, but we were a little hungry. We opted for the outside grill where we had a salad and split a burger. We were docked directly across from the sister ship, so we had a bird’s eye view of them loading the various sundries that are needed to run a cruise ship such as this. The really surprising part was that the chef was out there inspecting everything that came in, even as far as cutting a hole in the side of the box to inspect the produce. It was quite the operation. I would not want to get in the way of that fork lift operator! After watching this process for about an hour we went back to our stateroom. We were both so sleepy all of a sudden, and with the cool cloudy day out we decided to take a nap. Well a short nap turned into 2 ½ hours!! We couldn’t believe the time when we woke up and thought we should go and have tea for some caffeine. The ship was quite empty as most went on excursions, so tea was quiet as well. Nonetheless, we enjoyed our afternoon tea. Tea time moves straight into cocktail hour, so we went back to our room. I was a good girl and went up to the gym. It was so great to work out, and they have such a nice facility. I was able to look out and see all that was going on including the red carpet they laid out for the returning passengers, and even the crew had lined up to greet everyone. After showering it was time to eat dinner. We weren’t quite up for the five course dinner in the grand dining room, so we opted for Tapas on the Terrace, the more casual dinner option. Margret, the woman we met the first evening was up there, and she asked us to join her. We had some wonderful sushi – the first we’ve had since we left. We basically just grazed, but had to finish off with gelato. Mom had the tropical fruit sorbet and I had the rum raisin gelato. We left the restaurant to go and listen to the string quartet, but they weren’t playing. There was a special musical performance at 21:45, so we went to that instead. They had a wide array of music and singers that ranged from Van Morrison to Evita, to Mozart. At this point it was getting late, so we retired to our stateroom for the evening. We had our chocolate covered strawberries left over from earlier – that was our bedtime snack. Even with a nap I think I was sound asleep before my head hit the pillow.

Wednesday Afternoon (Monaco)

I came back to the ship and Mom had decided to come in from the sun deck as it had cooled off considerably. At this point it was close to 13:45 and time to get a quick bite of lunch. We went up to the Terrace Café and had a light lunch. We have gotten into the habit of just getting one item and splitting it – that way we can try more things! After lunch we went up to the library and I got on internet for just a minute to try and find a car service in Athens. Dad was up and we tried to use Skype, but no real luck. Not to mention my computer was in need of charging and it died right in the middle of talking with dad. We then went back to the room and watched part two of Gone With the Wind. We were both getting a little sleepy and opted to pause the movie to go up for tea. Tea time is from 16:00 – 17:00 at the front of the ship. The view was magnificent. We had our selection of teas and they came around with the tea cart which had all types of sweets, including scones with clotted cream and jam; of course we had them. We enjoyed the sights for about an hour and then went back to finish the movie. We had dinner reservations at the Polo Grill, which is a specialty restaurant onboard that specializes in aged Angus beef and seafood. It was time to get ready for that experience. It’s hard to imagine that food could be any better than in the main dining room, but I dare say it was. We started with the oysters Rockefeller (it was a tough choice because they also had escargot – that will be next time), then mom had the lobster bisque while I had the iceberg wedge with bacon, blue cheese and tomato, then for an entrée Mom was good and had the cob salad with seared tuna while I tacked a 10 oz filet mignon and haricot vert almandine – green beans. It was one of the best steaks I’ve ever eaten. We saved some room for dessert – Mom had the “brownie” and ice cream while I had the 7 layer Belgian chocolate cake. It had this unusual “fruit” on the side which we later found out was a piesilys (I have no idea how to spell it), it had an almost tart flavor, but was really good. By this point it was after nine so we missed our evening sitting with the quartet outside of the dining room. Mom had the idea to watch “To Catch a Thief” since we were in Monte Carlo. I went down to the reception desk and someone had just turned it back in. It was really funny watching the movie with Monte Carlo in the background. We finished that up about 11:30 and went to sleep.

Wednesday - Monte Carlo

I am now up to date on posts!!!

Today we are in Monte Carlo. We woke up to the most amazing view out of our window. Our breakfast was delivered shortly thereafter. Mom is feeling a little under the weather today, so I am not sure she will get off of the ship. I did get up and out to find out that we are actually docked in Monte Carlo and do not need a tender to get into town. I went out and about in the city. I have discovered that I am much more comfortable in cities where they speak French – even a little gets you a long way. I wandered around the city, saw the Prince’s palace, and managed to find a small café with Wifi. I have been here for over an hour uploading pictures and video from the past 3 or 4 days. Please do look below and there is more than just text. I have also posted from yesterday. There weren’t too many pictures taken since we sunbathed and slept most of the day! I guess I will head back to the ship in a bit. Unfortunately it is too early to try and talk to anyone at home. Hello to all of our friends and family and a special hello to Dad and Hunter - we miss you both!!!

Tomorrow we are in Livoro (Florence and Pisa).