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!