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August 2nd 2009
August 2: We Leave the Summit Behind We left the Celebrity Summit bright and early in the morning. After shuttling, then taking the fabulous water taxi (vaporetto) to San Marco Square, we checked into the incredible Westin Europa. Off to the Ducale Palace. The pictures should provide some insight, but of course, cannot do it justice. Also gigantic, by the way. We also hit Murano - the island just out of Venice (Venezia in Italiano) where they craft Venezian glass. We were fortunate enough to see a demonstration that proved that the skill required to make these beautiful crafts is pretty substantial. We found a ton of things that we wanted to buy here, of course. I loved this place! Afterwards, Mark and I did exactly what I needed to do - wandered the city by ... read more
July 29th 2009
July 29: The Parthenon: Not Just Your Ordinary Temple! Our trip from teh port city of Piraeus to Athens, although short, did not bode well for those of us who love hearing about the history of these amazing works. I'm also pretty certain that we couldn't have been warned one more time about the prevalence of pick-pocketing - where are we, anyway? Although beautiful and intense, we found the Parthenon and its surrounding ruins to be a bit disappointing - I think our guide sullied our experience. I also think that part of the problem with this tour was the chaos that accompanies thousands of people attempting to fit themselves through a passageway that allows two people to stand abreast in either direction (up or down) into the ruins. aarrggghhh... Next, we stopped at the beautiful ... read more
July 28th 2009
Where the Blues are Bluer and the Scooter Mama Rulz the Island Mark has now fulfilled his commitment to take me to Greece. We landed in Santorini this morning to be greeted by post-card perfection and a choice between a 3--minute hike straight up the cliffside, a 4-minute train ride, or a no-money-back, not-completely-certain-the-donkey-won't-stop-halfway-up-the-mountain mule ride to the port city. We chose to fork over the funds for the tram to expedite our adventure on teh island. We discovered, through great advice from friends traveling before us, that renting a scooter (or a small four-wheeler) is the best way to traverse the island and so we did!! We went to every corner and every town on the map and saw famous landscapes, beautiful artwork and the front-end of a beautiful sunset in what has to be ... read more
July 25th 2009
July 25: Roma in a Day! Sure, it may note have been built in one day, but we got to see it in one. Actually, we went to Vatican City and viewed the Sistine Chapel with 300 of our closest friends. Sadly, our guide informed us that just this week the head of the security guard in the Chapel was terminated, so there was no proper control of the large crowd in the Chapel. The signs for silence and no photography were blatantly ignored. We found our own inner peace and still enjoyed the amazing frescoes, anyway. We were lucky enough to have a guide that also was an archaeologist at the Vatican excavating 29 meters below St Peter's Basilica, so we had a highly informed perspective about the Vatican from the religious to the architectural. ... read more
July 22nd 2009
July 22: Sea Day! Turns out we love this part of cruising! Lay by the pool until hunger/thirst causes you to move;-) It was our first formal night on the trip, so we got all dressed up and looked the part. Dinner was excellent, as usual, followed by a couple of hours cutting the rug in the Disco. Ended the night early because Nice was on the agenda bright and early the next day!... read more
July 21st 2009
July 21: The Great Sea Adventure Begins With heavy hearts, we packed up (again!) and with only a short stop at the Mercat (more ham!) and maybe just a lttle ice cream, we proceeded to the ship and the start of our first-ever cruise. Boarding was smooth until we reached the line of onboard "packages." Suddenly, things like "soda" and "wine" are packages#?!? Note to self: money-making scheme tip #12 on this trip. Captured audiences have limited choices, so are thus willing to pay exorbitant premiums for just about anything. Anywho, the trick is that you must elect to purchase a "package" to "save" money. Got it. At the same time, we signed up for our various excursions in the stops where we wanted to have a guided tour. These apparently fill up quickly, so "You ... read more
July 20th 2009
July 20: Not Just Your Everyday Meat Market We stopped in to the local "Mercat", but given that the Barcelonans don't go to bed until sometime between 3-5a.m., our 8:30 start time beat the crowds - and many of the vendors! After an exhaustive search and learning the intricasies of various slices of prosciuto - Tara and Mengu picked up about $60 of ham to feast upon for breakfast. We picked up some fruit and a fresh-baked sandwich for the road as we took a hop-on-off bus tour of the city. Segrada Familiar was the major stop which provided 3 hours of touring enjoyment before we continued around the city. We switched buses and grabbed a cheap pizza (spanish?) and Sangria which was sold in two LITER mugs (yes, I said two liters). Our waiter laughed ... read more
July 19th 2009
July 19: Farewell, Istanbul! Hello, Barcelona!! We were sad to say goodbye to Mengu's wonderful parents and begin the final leg of our trip - an early flight took us from Istanbul to Barcelona!! We explored the beauty of the city on foot (as it was truly meant to be explored) Bari Gothic is abslutely an amzing, amazing area of the city. We put on about 16,000 steps on the Tara-ped just walking La Ramblas and the Gothic areas - all the way to the Column of Columbus. Nearly got our pocket picked, but fortunately, my cat-like reflexes prevailed and disaster was averted. (altho disaster was me losing my iPod). Can't wait to continue exploring this fabulous city!!... read more
July 18th 2009
What We Learned In Turkey An interesting sidenote about this beautiful country, of which we've now seen about 1/16th, which absolutely qualifies us as experts. The Turkish are a very proud people, which manifests quite intentionally and obviously in their marketing and branding. For example, there are a number of common, everyday products that the average resident uses that has the 'Turkish' stamp of approval - and I'm not making these up. Turkcell - mobile phone service in Turkey Digiturk - cable television service in Turkey Turksat - Satellite owned by Turkey for allah-knows-what purposes ColaTurka - Turkish coca cola ...yeah, I know. I couldn't make this up if I tried. Turkish coffee - everyone who loves coffee knows what this is. They even call it Turkish coffee in Egypt, by the way. Just remember to ... read more
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