Our Mediterranean Cruise - Day 7 - PALERMO (SICILY)

Today we slept in until about 8:30 am, had breakfast in the Windjammer Cafe and headed out to explore Palermo, Sicily. We docked right at the pier and could walk off with shops and street vendors everywhere. This is the perfect atmosphere to negotiate for the best price. Zena is becoming quite good at this and even has perfected the art of "The Walk Away". We feel we have gotten some good deal thru this final technique. John even thinks we should employ one more technique after that by then saying, "No, now we offer 4 (one less than 5) for the bracelet!"

We have not gotten run over or hit by scooters or cars (yet) today. It is always a possibility yet as we are still many blocks from the ship. It has almost become a game to try to cross the road unscathed. Kind of like that Frogger game ;-)

Also, we have not been or seen anyone get pickpocketed yet, although we feel we were a definite target this morning as Zena noticed one guy following close by us, alone and turned the corner when we did. We ducked in to a coffee shop and enjoyed an espress and cappuccino for only 2.30 EURO and noticed him still hanging around outside. He was indeed stalking us. After a bit, he came in to the coffee shop. We decided to duck out and dash around a corner to loose our tail. It worked! To our good fortune it brought it right into a beautiful little shopping piazza. Ahhh, a chance to spend some more EUROs!

We strolled along for a little longer and came upon this internet cafe and decided to provide our update. More later, please check back.

Our Mediterranean Cruise - Day 6 - NAPLES

Today, we slept in until 7 or 8 am. Had a casual breakfast and wrote postcard to family. We brought them to the pursers desk to be mailed today.

We got off the ship and walked around Naples for a little while before our afternoon tour to Herculaneum.

Herculaneum ... the city buried by mud from Mount Vesuvius in 79AD at the same time as Pompeii got buried by ash. This was a little different, though, the people became decomposed and nothing was left but the bones. In Pompeii, the remains were hollowed out and filled with plaster showing their positions as they were when they suddenly died. About 300 bodies were found down by where the sea was when they were trying to escape the mud spewing thru the air and flowing down the mountain. What we saw was considered to be only one fifth of what the city size actually was. Around the excavation there is apartment buildings and other dwellings where people live now and refuse to move. The government is having a hard time acquiring this land to continue excavating the village. This was quite and exhausting tour as we climbed up and down on pebbly streets in and out ducking here and there thru passageways as we explored the dwellings made of stone and plaster.

Of course, the tour stopped along the way at a Cameo factory where we could see them being carved from shells by an old man as he artistically created cameo figures in the shells. Then, there was the shop to buy cameos.

Today is also our 15th Anniversary and we are going to bed at 9 pm!

Gotta run ... we will update when we get another chance...probably at the airport though, as the ships internet service is slower than 300 baud dial up! Ugh! Or, slower than molasses...

Stay tuned... tomorrow we will be in Sicily. Maybe we will even see some mafio as they are still quite active there.

Our Mediterranean Cruise - Day 5 - ROME

Marcio was our tour guide to see Rome in a luxurious 9 passenger van. We saw the Colisseum and toured inside. It was very cool. Then we went to see the Trevy(sp) Fountain and thru our coins in to make a wish. We saw the Spanish Steps and the Forum. We had lunch at a great restaurant that Marcio arranged for. Zena had authentic Italian Fettucini Alfredo and John had something with clams and pasta. Marcio bought us all a Lemoncello, hard lemony flavored Italian alcohol drink. It as fantastic and quite strong!

For the afternoon, we went on to the Vatican and toured it with a private tour guide. Our tour was for 2 hours and with 6 of us we were able to move in and out of the rooms easily without getting lost in the thousands who were there. We saw the Sistene Chapel, John prayed in a private chapel area, we saw the largest canvas oil painting in the world. We saw where the Pope lives but we did not get to go inside. As we left the St. Marks Cathedral, we walked right behind a Cardinal who was doing a press conference. All the mikes and cameras were on him. Zena told John to wave as maybe his mom would see him on tv behind the Cardinal. Unfortunately, mom and dad dont have cable, so they would get the POPE channel!

We saw the Swiss Guard outside and they were dressed rather like Jesters. They are not allowed to get married and have to be citizens of Switzerland. It is really prestigious to be a guard. Our guide told us that even though everyone who is a citizen of the Vatican City is quite religious, they all go out to the bars at night and whoop it up.

After dinner with our Canadian friends, we met up at the Pig & Whistle Pub again where John sang karoake twice! Everyone was tired and ready to go to bed to get ready for the next days activities.

We rushed back to the ship ... tomorrow ... Naples, Italy!

Our Mediterranean Cruise - Day 4 - FLORENCE, Italy

Today we went to Florence. We bought a bus ticket to get to the train station. From there we boarded our train to Florence. It was an hour and a half ride from the port. We just happened to bump in to our friends from Canada on the same car that we were sitting in. We met them on cruisecritic.com.

We booked a pass for the HOHO (hop on hop off) bus and took the blue route. We sat on top and used ear buds to listen to narration of the areas we drove in. We saw Duomo and town of Fiesole waaaaayyy up in the hills. We talked to a couple from Alaska who invited us up to visit and stay in his bed and breakfast. We talked politics, specifically Governor Palin. We also saw a little of the Palazzio Vecchio, Ponte Vecchio and the Porta S. Frediano. On the bus, Zena happened to mention, "what would be the chances of us seeing our new friends from Canada walking on the street below us as we cruised around." Not 2 minutes later as we slowed down, we glanced down and there they were at the same time the spotted us and called up to us! Crazy, twice in one day and we were pretty far away from the train terminal and they walked there. I guess it was karma.

We hopped off the bus at stop 3 and walked toward the terminal, stop 4. Along the way, we decided to enjoy a little lunch at a sidewalk cafe. We enjoyed cheese pizza, quarter bottle of vino, and Zena had a Coca Light. Then John mentioned, it would be completely awesome for us to meet us with our friends from Canada again. It would be like winning the lottery. I said that it would be a pretty slim chance that it would happen again! And then ... two minutes later up they all four walk right by our table eating gelatos. CRAZY KARMA! We agreed to meet back at the McDonalds in the train terminal to ride back to the bus station together.

John and I waited and waited for them to show up. We kept track of our train track number by watching the board and watching the clock. They did not show up so we decided to go without them and headed toward the train just minutes before it took off. We actually had to RUN FAST to catch the train as it started pulling out. We would have missed our train and the ship as it takes an hour and half to get back to from Florence!

In the evening, we crashed dinner at the early seating to meet up with Mo, Brian, Dave and Pat. After dinner, Zena and I went to the Welcome Back party for people who have cruised Royal Caribbean before. Once guy in the group has cruised RC more than 25 times! We danced some and drink free flowing champagne.

After champagne, we met the Canadians at the Pig & Whistle Pub, had another drink and called it a day at 10 pm. Tomorrow, Rome.

Our Mediterranean Cruise - Day 3 - FRANCE & MONACO

PORT: Villefranche, France
Nice, Eze, Monte Carlo, Monaco

Today we drove up to Eze, the oldest little town in the Med highest up overlooking everything for miles around. Im fussing on a keyboard that is very different than our own. Will fix errors later. We drove up to the Eagles Nest castle and had authentic French crepes in outdoor patio and had to climb many, many stone steps to get to it. We used the bathroom inside the cave area and to run water to wash your hands you had to step on a button on the floor. The room was so tiny, you had to slowly turn your body to maneuver around. It was very hard to just find the bathroom in the little room, the door was disguised and flush against the back wall. John walked out and noticed on the big screen they were playing Starsky & Hutch in French.

We walked along the French Riviera along the pebbly beach area. Many people were walking here with their dogs. Then we explored the local Market Place and tasted olives and salsa and saw many interesting wares.

We then drove on to Monaco and saw the castle where Princess Grace lived with Prince Rainier and also where she lay to rest. We saw the two homes side by side that her daughters own. Then we drove to the casino of the rich and famous, in Monte Carlo. We got to sneak past all the people waiting in a long line to get in because our guide got us a short cut. This casino wasnt all that interesting though because you had to be quiet the whole time. You are not allowed to shout out or get loud.

After the casino, we drove along the Grand Prix Racetrack area of the highway. They were doing some sort of Grand Prix race with scooters when we were there.

Our Mediterranean Cruise - Day 2 - Sat, Oct 11th, BARCELONA

We settled in to our cabin (6291 on the Promenade) and then we went to meet our http://www.cruisecritic.com/ people. For our official Meet & Mingle was in the High Note Bar, overlooking Barcelona. The group was a wild one. Everyone was in great spirits and so excited to meet each other and put a face and name to the usernames we were used to. They are a fun group. Royal Caribbean treated us well with gifts and drawings for our group.

We at dinner at the Windjammer buffet and had a dessert at the Cafe' in the Promenade and went to bed early, around 9:00 pm. We prepped our backpack and personal items so we could be ready to go early the next day. We were excited to be joining our group and going to Villefranche (France) and Monoco. Touring the Casino in Monte Carlo holds a bit of excitement, as well.

John woke early (around 2:00 am this time thinking it was time to get up). Zena had quite a bit of convincing to do get him to settle down and sleep some more. I guess he was still on Central Time!

Our Mediterranean Cruise - Day 1 - Fri, Oct 10th, THE FLIGHT

The flight over to Amsterdam didn't seem like 8 hours. We left Minneapolis around 3:15 pm, Friday. We had our own little monitor on the back of the seat in front of us to watch movies, play games, watch maps to see where we were in the route and more. John only got two hours of sleep during the 8 hour flight. Zena didn't get any. She intended to and felt she'd have no problem falling asleep - however she watched 3 movies, read and played games. She was WIDE AWAKE (I guess she and WE didn't have to worry about her snoring!).

Amsterdam airport was very easy to navigate. English signs were posted everywhere. There were a good number of restaurants and shops. The urinals in the mens bathroom even looked like a bowl. When Zena went to look at shops, she got lost and had to figure her way out to where I was waiting. The whole place had more of a feel of an American airport or a high-end mall.

Most of the people in the airport looked like they were dressed for an eclectic coffee shop. It was supposed to be only 2 1/2 hours in-between flights in Amsterdam to Barcelona, but we ended waiting another hour because the captains seat was not working correctly and they were waiting for a part to come in to fix it.

Arriving in Barcelona around 6:10 am (Saturday morning), we it was easy find our Royal Carribean representatives, even though most signs were only in Spanish (thank God for the study lessons in Spanish on CD)! We didn't have to go to baggage claim -- because, indeed, we did travel light. We each had only a carry-on and personal tote that we brought right on the plane. It's very nice not having to wait for baggage!