http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Macjava/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Macjava en-us Sat, 22 Nov 2008 15:38:51 UTC Sat, 22 Nov 2008 15:38:51 UTC We were returning to California on Japan Airlines and our connection was in Japan. Because of the scheduling we found ourselves with a 10 hour layover in Narita. Rather than spending all that time at the airport with nothing to do we decided to see if we could pick up a one day tour of the area. We checked at the information desk and found no short tours available. Speaking only English we http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Japan/Chiba/Narita/blog-268051.html Again with Bransby and Jessica we left Singapore on a late flight and arrived in Darwin after midnight. We caught a cab to our hotel on the Esplanade checked in and right to bed. In our original plan we were going to rent a car and do our touring on our own. At the last minute we decided it might be better to join a commercial tour to see Kakadu Park. As I will explain later it turned out t http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/Northern-Territory/Kakadu-National-Park/Jabiru/blog-267112.html After a day in Singapore to do laundry and relax we left for our next side trip with Jessica and her husband Bransby to the beautiful Island of Bali. We had a late flight and arrived in Denpasar quite late. We were met by our driver gathered our luggage and headed for our hotel upcountry toward Ubud. After about a 40 minute drive we arrived at our destination the resort hotel Komaneka at Ta http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Indonesia/Bali/Ubud/blog-266800.html Our first side trip from Singapore was to visit Bangkok. We were met at the airport by our driver Mr. Boonya and our first stop was at the Grand Palace. The Grand Palace covers an area of about 60 acres. The palace compound can be divided into three sections the Outer Palace the Middle Palace and the Inner Palace. The Outer Palace includes the Royal Temple Wat Phra Kaeo and some administrat http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Thailand/Central/Bangkok/blog-263033.html Our Granddaughter and her husband had been living in Singapore for almost two years and we decided it would be nice to visit with them as our vacation trip for 2007. We were a little slow in making our decision and by the time we got our new passports and reservations we had to schedule our trip for March 2008. Leaving from San Francisco we arrived in Singapore via Hong Kong around midnight. http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Singapore/blog-261439.html We arrive in Civitavecchia and the end of our cruise. From here we go to Rome for a couple of days before heading home to California. The cruise line assigns disembarking time based on a variety of things. Making early flights takes priority and it goes on from there. We had signed up with Princess for a tour of Rome so we were assigned a fairly early time. Our bags were picked up around midn http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-97947.html Driving toward our destination we could see the city in the distance with the top of the tower rising above. Due to congestion in the city tour buses must park outside the city in a parking lot and the passengers then walk. When we pulled in there were more than 15 buses already parked with others coming behind us. The walk to the tower city is about one mile winding through city streets. I http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Pisa/blog-97875.html The ship docked at Livorno but our tour for today is a trip to Florence. As we headed east toward the hills of Tuscany the countryside along our drive was covered with many farms growing nursery stock. We could see rows and rows of shrubs formed into different shapes. Then there would be rows and rows of trees of different heights in containers. It was quite a different sight. Florence Itali http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-97446.html Today we anchored at Cannes and had to take a tender into the dock. Called ldquoCane Harborrdquo by the Romans because of the abundance of reeds in the nearby marshes Cannes today is the center of the French Riviera. We did a tour to Monaco and Monte Carlo. Although less than a square mile in size Monaco is a sovereign state. In 1308 Genoa sold this tiny principality to the Grimaldi fami http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/France/Provence-Alpes-C-te-d--Azur/Cannes/blog-96933.html Today we were in Barcelona Spain. What a neat city. Has a lot of old buildings and narrow streets like most places in Europe but they have also modernized and have some beautiful wide streets with walk areas in the middle and vendor stalls. Like most of the cities we have visited big mode of transportation is motor scooters. Actually with the narrow streets and lack of parking you can not b http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/Catalonia/Barcelona/blog-96790.html Today is our second and last full day at sea. Slept late and had a leisurely breakfast and decided if the laundermat is available we would wash up some things. Good thing because we are almost out of clean clothes. Latter we wandered down to the casino to try our luck not good and then found some time to check out the shops on the ship. http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/blog-96738.html We spent today at Gibraltar looking and acting like a tourist. We were blessed with another beautiful day 75F with a slight breeze. From the ship we can look north into Spain look right to Gibraltar and south to Africa. I never realized how narrow the straights really were about 9 miles. There was a slight haze so all we could see of Africa was the top of a mountain. First a tour of the http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Gibraltar/blog-96735.html Today we toured Casablanca and then motored up the coast to Rabat which is the capitol of Morocco. Interesting country very flat with interesting contrasts. Driving north to Rabat the right side of the highway lots of shacks and poverty. The left side of the road between the road and the coast very clean and affluent. Today being Sunday most everything is closed. It seems like every vacant http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/Grand-Casablanca/Casablanca/blog-96355.html Cadiz is our gateway to Southern Spain and the starting point for our tour of Seville. What an interesting city Seville is. Being from California when we talk about old this or that we are thinking in terms of 150 to 200 years back. Here I have to learn to deal with 12th century forward. My mind is having a hard time computing the input.Our first stop is the Royal Alcazars of Seville a royal http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Seville/blog-96318.html Today we are in Lisbon Portugal. When I stepped off the ship to go to our tour bus I had to stop and do a double take. For a minute I thought the Captain had made a mistake and docked in San Francisco. To my relief I found that the illusion was The 25th of April Bridge over the Tagus River. Our first stop for the day is a park along the river that has two spectacular monuments. The first is http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Portugal/Lisbon-and-Tagus-Valley/Lisbon/blog-96280.html Today we are at sea traveling between LaHavre France and Vigo Spain. Today is a day to sleep late have a leisurely breakfast visit the casino nap and generally relax. The one exception we have been away from home since the 2nd and are running out of clean clothes so today is laundry day also. This evening the Captain will hold a cocktail party before dinner and this will be our first form http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/blog-96047.html Our next stop was Vigo Spain which is on the coast and north of Portugal. While we were traveling we noticed that many of the houses along the road had a building in the yard that looked like a mausoleum that you would see in a cemetery except it was raised up from the ground. It turned out that these were granaries. The religious symbols are placed on the top to protect from evil spirits that http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/Galicia/Santiago-de-Compostela/blog-95895.html Our next stop after Rotterdam was Le Havre France. We were scheduled to tour the Landing Beaches of Normandy from this port. When we boarded the ship we were assigned a boarding card that identified us as passengers and is even cross referenced to our picture the wonders of digital photography. As we were in line to go to the bus the security people would not let Marci leave the ship. It see http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/France/Upper-Normandie/Le-Havre/blog-95891.html When we arrived in Rotterdam one of the first things we saw was a bridge. They call it the harp and you can see why. Our tour for today is the City of Amsterdam with a stop at a wooden shoe factory. They demonstrated the process starting with a hunk of wood shaping it with a machine into a shoe. Then using another machine they hollow the shoe out to a specific size. Then by hand the final http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-95871.html After leaving Southampton on Saturday evening we sailed north into the North Sea bound for the port of Zeebrugge Belgium. Our land tour for Sunday was a trip to Brugge. Brugge is a village a few miles inland from the coast and is one of Europe's best preserved medieval cities. The city received very minor damage during the war and as aresult contains many very old buildings. Brugge is probab http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Belgium/West-Flanders/Brugge/blog-95867.html