semi-random flotsam
Our meeting for the morning isn’t until 9:15am. Such luxury!
I slept most of the previous 14 hours (S got up at some point to eat and read). We both sound like death warmed over. I can’t decide if I have a new cold or if I’ve relapsed. S thinks it’s something she (we) caught on the plane.
In any case… Continue reading “Cruise Day 7: Genoa”
S and I are both slow moving this morning. It was a rough night. But we have breakfast, medicate, and go to join our excursion to Marseille and Aix-en-Provence.
Which gets a delayed start because there’s a strike in France. Continue reading “Cruise Day 6: Marseille”
Our stop is for Barcelona, but our tour is for Barcelona, Montserrat and Wine Tasting.
Naturally they take us for the wine tasting first. Continue reading “Cruise Day 5: Barcelona”
It was S’s turn not to sleep well last night.
It’s the only At-Sea day for this cruise. For the most part, on board activities are pretty much the same as any other day. So, not a lot that’s holding our attention.
They do have a behind the scenes tour. S did this when she went to Alaska with Princess last year. We sign up. Continue reading “Cruise Day 4: At Sea”
I don’t sleep well, but no matter. It’s an early morning (breakfast in our room again) so we can make it to our tour in Malta.
We start with a harbor cruise, seeing the fortifications of this city.
There are two harbors in Valletta, and to get from one to the other we have to go out into rougher seas. S and I think it’s great fun, but there are some stressed people on the tour!
After the harbor tour, we visit a glassworks shop and then stroll down the waterfront to sample the local flavors — appetizers and wine.
Then we are back toward the ship, getting on board for a more substantial lunch, a good book, and a view of the port.
Summary: I really like the feel of Malta.
Also a call made to wish happy birthday to my Sweet Pea (IRL)
A good book gives way to a good nap.
Leisurely afternoon on board. Dinner just a nibble. Cirque de Soleil tickets acquired for our final night on board.
Then a quiet(ish) corner of the ship to read and watch the world go by.
S is up in the small hours and creeps out to read for a while. I wait it out and go back to sleep.
The breakfast we ordered in arrives 30 minutes early. No worries, our jammies are company- friendly.
We can feel the ship making small adjustments for the docking procedure. Over coffee & hot chocolate we grin that of course they’d be extra careful – they hit a dock here a few weeks ago. The rear of the ship bears the signs of the repair.
It’s a long trek back to Rome today, so we’re up early.
Actually, we’re up earlier, because we’re off time, but who’s counting.
So anyway. Up early. Cleaned up, packed up, checked out, and on the road. Italy goes by out the window. Toscana, Umbria, Lazio. Vineyards and cypress trees. Continue reading “Rome and Board (Cruise Day 1)”
After we arrive at our hotel in Florence, we both get the obligatory shower (airports & airplanes – ugh) then change to go out for a while. We had debated a nap – even without any significant traffic, the drive felt like eternity – but by this time it’s after 4pm and we realize a nap now will mean we don’t sleep at night.
So we pull ourselves together and explore the area nearby. We find the local tram station and ride down into the center of Florence, seeing the Duomo at night and strolling down cobblestone streets and having hot chocolate (warming the hands and the belly).
We only walk around for about an hour though, before we head back to the hotel and have dinner, and make our plan for tomorrow: Florence by day and a train ride to Pisa in the afternoon.
Back in our room, we settle in and are both out cold by a few minutes after 10:30pm local time.
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I stir at 7:30am. I could get up. Maybe.
I don’t.
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At 9:30, we both stir. Check the train schedules. Get ourselves ready.
A little after 11am we are training into Florence. We head for the Galleria Academia to see the David. We stop for our respective forms of morning caffeine, while we walk. Continue reading “Tuscany: Florence & Pisa”
Welcome to what I hope, going in, will be the low point of the trip. 😄
(Narrator voiceover: it wouldn’t be.)
I remember midday to check in for my morning flight, and that’s when I discover my flight has changed. Gee AA, maybe I’d have wanted to know that?
But actually, the later flight, in this case, will mean smoother, less traffic-heavy airport trips (thanks Dad). It will also mean my ridiculous layover in JFK will be … every so slightly shorter. No, still ridiculous. But no time stress is a good thing.
I’d only been back for 2 weeks before I would be leaving again.
One trip to unpack; a new one to pack.
Summer on the equator for one trip; winter in the Mediterranean for the other.
All this while I try to get my legs under me at work, and my cold keeps trying to knock me down.
Evidence that I’m not in a good mental state as I pack?
I take the SeaBands out of my bag as I unpack Asia, and I actually think to myself, ok I won’t need these for Europe.
They are for motion sickness. I wear them around the clock while on board, just to be safe.
I realize only in the small hours before I leave that I am forgetting something I absolutely do want to have with me.
So yeah. I have them now.
And thank you, Lord, for reminding me. A few hours til I go… anything else You wanna remind me of?
That You are good, and You are everywhere. That there is nowhere I can go that You won’t be there before me.
That is always a good thing to remember!
