Last port of call

Pulled up this photo of the roof of the Acropolis by mistake...... roof is reassembled on the ground (marble tiles and wooden rafters)



Yesterday was Mikonos. White washed walls with blue trim, winding narrow little streets in the town.





After we spent a little time in the town we found a beach where we dipped into the sea - it's not really the Mediterranean here and don't have my map - but close enough. Soaked up some Grecian sun. As we found our way back to town we passed several scooter rentals..... so off we went for 12 euro for the day, not that we had a day. Fun to get out to see more than the town. This island is very arid and I think it has been the dry season for awhile. Hilly with hand built rock terraces all over the place.

Today is Katakolon where we did our only guided tour of the cruise. Quick run through the original Olympic games site and archeologic museum, had more time on our own to shop than to view the ruins! This is just one of many crumbled temples- used to house a statue that was one of the original 7 wonders of the ancient world. They built with limestone and this is a seismic zone - say no more.



I think we are getting a little weary of having things fairly scheduled, although the two couples we share a table with for dinner have not gotten off the boat at all at several ports.

Here's our dinner partners - formal night at the King and I Restaurant. Both couples are from Ireland and quite a hoot. Have had some good laughs over dinner.



Tomorrow we are at sea all day heading back to Venice where we catch the train to Rome.

gotta learn how to post photos in one blog!!

sorry, the posts go on forever as I don't know how to get more than one picture on a post... will try it out next time??

Venice from the cruise ship as we headed out

Stairs in the Duomo

Pitti Palace, one of many summer homes of the Medici

Medusus bit the dust

Just another pretty face

Front door of the same cathedral - a block from our hotel in Florence

Couple of tourists blocking the view from the top of the Duomo

Just one of the views from the farm house where we learned to make pasta

Stairs up to the top of the Duomo - 463 steps up - Florence (sorry bout the tilt - can't figure out how to rotate yet)

Big, white ugly statue as titled by the locals in piazza full of tourists (Florence)

Front of the main cathedral in Florence

Ponte Vecchio in Florence

A photo at last - Venice from the vaporetto - took us 300 yards to the parking lot for the cruise

Athens by Fire

Note to self! 1/2 day in Athens just does not cut it!! Spent most of our time at the Acropolis. Very, very impressive especially when you think about we are just seeing what is still standing after centuries. Makes you stop and think about what it was in its splendour and filled with ancient Grecian tourists! Had to walk 30 minutes (hoping we were going in the right direction) to the electric train into Athens. Up on the Acropolis you would think we were away from the cruise ship but all of sudden, "you are on the Splendour of the Seas? I will take your picture", the cruise photographers seem to be everywhere. So far I think they've gotten 3 pictures of us - we keep escaping them.

After the Acropolis and the first theater in the world, box seats and all, we walked through some shops in the Plaka. One shop had a glass floor where we walked over 300 BC excavations. Walking along another place it looked at first like just a vacant lot but with remains of ancient (3rd century BC?) temple.

Today is Wednesday so it must be Mykonos. We got off the boat by 'tender', small local boat that came out to our ship to bring us into shore. Local fisherman at the dock, small pickups lining the edge of the street by the bay with eggplant, peppers, eggs, flowers, onions. We are at a self-service internet. If you print anything you go to the bar next door to pick up!! Tried my card reader for pictures and can't get it to work. Really we are taking a few pix! So sorry, just a boring blog again.

Sun in Corfu is making up for the rain!

It's a cloudy day but quite warm and when the sun comes out the hats go on! Walked all over the old town of Corfu, up to the top of the old fortress. Today is World Tourism Day so entry to the sites has been free. Found a great Asian Art museum in the old palace here in town. Some statues were from 4-5th century.

Lunch: Greek salad with the most incredible feta, spinach/cheese pie (wrapped in phyllo dough of course) followed by cappacino and baklava.

Got 45 minutes til we have to back on the boat. Took us 15 minutes to walk this far but with full tummies we might not break our record going back. Dinner in 4 hours... formal night. My 'cocktail' dress for tonight is about as fancy as what other women have been wearing on causal night. My casual dress has been sandals, mountain hardware skirt and a nice top!! So far they have let me eat!

After dinner last night there was a band that did MoTown music - they were fantastic. Place was packed with a bunch of us oldies bopping and hopping to the music. Actually we are some of the younger oldies, even for those who are our age!!

Tomorrow is Athens but we don't arrive until noon so I think we will set the alarm for 11:00 am. Our interior box, oh stateroom, is very dark (unless we turn on the lights) so will be good for sleeping in.

pouring rain in Split, Croatia

Best laid plans for touring Venice fell apart. Got a little worried about getting to the boat and actuallz (OK the keyboard is z where i am used to y) thought we might drop off our bags and then tour..... well long line for vaporetto (water bus) tickets before we found out could buz at magayine shop (oh it is y at the z kez. then found out we were probablz a 1/4 mile to the bus parking for the shuttle to the boat. anz waz it was quite a hassle, no signs, long waits and bz the time we were checked in there was not enough time to go back. Did cruise along the outer canal and had awesome views of Venice as we headed out to sea.

So far on the cruise it is sales pitches and food and then more food. Had a great dinner, eating at 8 pm with 2 couples from Ireland - thez will be our dinner companions for the week. Thought thez were quite stuffed shirts at first but turned out to be quite talkative.

Woke up to a torrential downpour in the port of Split and hung out on the boat waiting for it to abate. Gave up and dashed the 3/4 mile to the ancient Roman palace. Incredible scenerz, once again could just take photos everz 20 feet, 360 degrees. trzing to keep the cameras drz!!

Bancomat for 200 krohn, hesistated long enough (how much to get??) til machine was going to cancel us out! had to get krohn for Croatian pastrz (a bit heavz) and now internet cafe. Will head down a side street and trz to find a place with food whose names we can't pronounce. no english on the signs but some broken english in the shops so we are getting along OK!

PS to Florence

We have only been to this one sketchy internet place where I haven't been brave enough to down load photos. But photos we do have so if you are interested keep watching, might be October before they are up but..... sorry Kevin won't be too many of AMS and CDG!

Firenze, Italia

It's our last night in Florence. We have wandered and toured quite a bit of the city. First day was crammed, based on our neighbor's recommendation. We were wiped out but it was good in a way. Got a good feel for the general history and layout as well as some of the art. There are art museums everywhere and even a palace tour starts with room after room of special exhibits and then paintings on every wall. Glad we had a guide in the first museum (art historian) to give us the highlights! Stood and gauked at THE David. Pretty impressive chunk of marble!

Yesterday we walked to the old wall of the city and then found our way to a little park, where we weren't real sure we were in the right place, to meet Jessi from Phoenix, Arizona for our Italian cooking school! Took us out in the country about 30 minutes to the top of a gorgious hilltop with a very, very old farmhouse (800 years old) where we made pasta from special pasta flour, one egg and mix just so, knead, let it rest and then start running it through the handturned pasta machine. We made spinach ravioli with awesome ricotta and fresh nutmeg and also made flat noodles (tagliatelli). Christiani, the owner the house, was busy cooking up eggplant lasagna, zucchini frittata and pizza which we ate before OUR pasta. Ravioli cooked in 3 minutes and then served with sage butter and fresh parmesan- wow!The tagliatelli was cooked in 2 minutes with a very light tomato sauce over it. Finiti sin Christiani's tiramisu (translation: finished with). Stuffed pigs we were. In fact that is the name of the game here.

We went to the Central Market and thought we were ordering a small salad, an eggplant/egg dish, a pork roll thing and a cornmeal something and ended up with 3 huge plates. They told us what it was as we pointed but the names escape me. So guess we will have only gelato for dinner tonight! Actually we did climb the 463 steps to the top of the Duomo for great view of the city. Could almost see into our hotel room from there, just a block away! Coming down was a trick, tight space with people coming up and then around and around and around.

Hope to sleep well tonight but that is questionable - sleep has been not so great. The studenti party most of the notte and chose our window to hang out and hoot and holler at midnight. Plus, the little hotel is great but we question the foundation.... every truck, and these are small trucks, that rumbles by makes our floor shake!

Tomorrow we head for the train station (less than 15 minutes away) to go to Venice and our cruise. We missed a bunch of stuff here so we just may have to come back. While walking along a street I noticed a group on a cruise tour and asked how long it took to get to Florence as we are not on the coast. Over 1 1/2 hour bus ride, stopped in Pisa first and then Florence. Well they got the quick gloss over and guided by one individual for probably about 30 people. Glad we are not trying to get so far from the boat and doing most of our stops on our own!! ONLY down fall so far is there are sooo many tourists!

First Stab @ Blogging

Sitting here trying to figure out why I am doing this - guess I am thinking this would be a fun way to keep anyone who might interested up to date (well as up to date I keep this blog) on my wanderings and my musing about such wanderings. Disclaimer: there may be a post here and there about my staying puts as well.


Side bar but related: I just finished reading "Still Alice" a story (fiction) about a very brilliant woman who has early onset alzheimers so now I wonder about the title of my blog.... but not all who wander are lost. By the way the book was great - a bit unsettling and reduced me to tears occasionally but a good read.

As I write this I am fully packed and ready to fly to Portland (once I water a few plants and take my good friend out for breakfast who is taking me to the Redmond airport). I will spend the weekend getting some Tabor time, granpasan joins us on Sunday afternoon. Oh, and we'll spend time with Tabor's mommy and daddy - Corey and Danica!

On Monday morning Gordon and I will head to PDX and fly to FLR via AMS and CDG. Translation: we fly from Portland to Florence, Italy via Amsterdam and Paris. AMS and CDG are only brief layovers - only sightseeing will be in the airports there.

We start in Florence, take a train to Venice where we embark on a 7 day cruise with a stop in Croatia and stops in Greece, back to Venice. From Venice we are back on the train but go to Rome where we will stay for a week prior to heading back over the pond. So, with any luck I hope to get the hang of posting in internet cafes here and there. With lots of luck I will get the hang of uploading photos. I am sure the pictures will be the main attraction here!