Its the day before we leave and I think we've got everything together. However, I am trying to do the on-line check in to print off our boarding passes and the website won't cooperate! It sits trying to load a page until it tells me that I have timed out! I guess I will try from home and if that doesn't work, I can check in at the airport. Its just that I like to have everything organized and not having my board pass makes me un-organized!
So far, we have packed as we intended. One checked bag and one carry on bag. We still have a couple of things to put in but I think we can do this. It will be way better than hauling around 4 bags like we did last time.
Hope the next time I blog, we are in Philadelphia waiting to fly to Frankfort and on to Barcelona!
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Ramon and Violet in Italy
We fly to Barcelona on Sept 1, 2011 (my birthday) and spend a couple of days there before embarking on the Norwegian Cruise ship "Epic" and visiting Florence, Rome, Naple and Palma before returning to Barcelona. That's the Reader's Digest version with the full novel to follow over the next couple of weeks. Today, we are starting the packing with the idea in mind that we will go light! We'll see what we end up with......
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Istanbul - Chapter 2
November 2, 2009 Monday - 7:05 am
Well, we are sitting in the café eating breakfast while I use up the last of the minutes I purchased on this ship. I want my money’s worth!!! Having had a good night’s sleep, we have decided to give Istanbul another chance and we will enjoy our tour today. Then on to the Hilton to sleep before getting up at 3:00 in the morning to catch our 6:45 am flight.
If I can upload one more time before we leave, I will hopefully have some good pictures of Istanbul.
If I can't upload again, I am counting on Brandi to pick us up at the airport. I'll send an email shortly to remind of the pickup time.
Hasta la Vista, Baby!
Well, we are sitting in the café eating breakfast while I use up the last of the minutes I purchased on this ship. I want my money’s worth!!! Having had a good night’s sleep, we have decided to give Istanbul another chance and we will enjoy our tour today. Then on to the Hilton to sleep before getting up at 3:00 in the morning to catch our 6:45 am flight.
If I can upload one more time before we leave, I will hopefully have some good pictures of Istanbul.
If I can't upload again, I am counting on Brandi to pick us up at the airport. I'll send an email shortly to remind of the pickup time.
Hasta la Vista, Baby!
Istanbul - Chapter 1
Sunday 10:10 pm
Well, we have finished packing everything up and put the suitcases outside the door. In the morning, we just put on the clothes we left out and pack up the morning ‘get ready’ stuff and walk off the ship. Mike and I are ready to come home!
We decided Istanbul was like a teenager….., just enough trouble that you are glad when you finally get rid of the. Really, it is too bad as I am sure this is a fantastic city. We’ve heard a lot about it and of course, there is the history but our day today was just not what we wanted at all. We were ready for the miserable weather and it never did actually rain, so it wasn’t that bad. The problem was our tour and tour guide. He gave us little earphone/receiver sets and struck off saying to follow him and just listen as he ‘guided the tour.’ Two problems with this……, the receiver’s didn’t work so instead of hearing all about what we were seeing, we heard a lot of static and a few intermittent words. The other problem was that he walked so fast that we couldn’t keep up and were constantly straining to keep our eyes on him way ahead of us and didn’t even get to look around. We technically toured the Blue Mosque and Topkapi Palace but we won’t be bringing home any wonderful memories of either! Which really is a shame. We do have one more chance tomorrow as we have another tour booked which will take us on a cruise of the Bosphorus and also sightseeing of some landmarks. Hope we get a better guide and one who actually talks to us instead of using the little radio thingy. Maybe then, Istanbul will still be like a teenager except now, you are glad they grew up and are your friend! We would like to come home with some good memories of Istanbul, but one way or another, we are coming home!
Should be back in KC Tuesday night. This is the hard part of the trip……..It has been great, it has been what we dreamed of for years and totally lived up to the expectations (except Istanbul!)
Well, we have finished packing everything up and put the suitcases outside the door. In the morning, we just put on the clothes we left out and pack up the morning ‘get ready’ stuff and walk off the ship. Mike and I are ready to come home!
We decided Istanbul was like a teenager….., just enough trouble that you are glad when you finally get rid of the. Really, it is too bad as I am sure this is a fantastic city. We’ve heard a lot about it and of course, there is the history but our day today was just not what we wanted at all. We were ready for the miserable weather and it never did actually rain, so it wasn’t that bad. The problem was our tour and tour guide. He gave us little earphone/receiver sets and struck off saying to follow him and just listen as he ‘guided the tour.’ Two problems with this……, the receiver’s didn’t work so instead of hearing all about what we were seeing, we heard a lot of static and a few intermittent words. The other problem was that he walked so fast that we couldn’t keep up and were constantly straining to keep our eyes on him way ahead of us and didn’t even get to look around. We technically toured the Blue Mosque and Topkapi Palace but we won’t be bringing home any wonderful memories of either! Which really is a shame. We do have one more chance tomorrow as we have another tour booked which will take us on a cruise of the Bosphorus and also sightseeing of some landmarks. Hope we get a better guide and one who actually talks to us instead of using the little radio thingy. Maybe then, Istanbul will still be like a teenager except now, you are glad they grew up and are your friend! We would like to come home with some good memories of Istanbul, but one way or another, we are coming home!
Should be back in KC Tuesday night. This is the hard part of the trip……..It has been great, it has been what we dreamed of for years and totally lived up to the expectations (except Istanbul!)
Not quite to Istanbul!
November 1, 2009 - Sunday 10:00 am
We stayed for the second show last night after Smokey Joe’s Café as it was the crew doing skits, singing and dancing. It was actually a very good show. In between shows, I ran out to the photo shop to be there for a raffle drawing. We had bought one of the pictures taken on the cruise and that entitled us to be in the drawing. Surely, by this point, you know that I won or I wouldn’t have droned on and on about it! The first prize was 5 8 x 10 photos worth $100.00 . Actually, I didn’t have any picture that I wanted 5 copies of and certainly didn’t have 5 pictures total that I wanted (Mike and I can’t figure out why all the photos of us make us look old and fat…… defective equipment, no doubt!) I finally settled on 5 more copies of the one picture that we did get and now all the kids can have one, whether they want it or not!
The weather has turned distinctively bad! The wind is terrific and the ship tossed all night long and continues to do so. We will be docking in Istanbul in about 2 hours and I sure hope it is not as cold and windy at that point. We will definitely freeze to death today. We knew we risked bad weather here and we will enjoy this day come rain, sleet, snow or earthquakes!
Bingo time now so I’m going to play the free card they gave us and then go get ready to dock in Istanbul. More later, maybe……….after the tour.
We stayed for the second show last night after Smokey Joe’s Café as it was the crew doing skits, singing and dancing. It was actually a very good show. In between shows, I ran out to the photo shop to be there for a raffle drawing. We had bought one of the pictures taken on the cruise and that entitled us to be in the drawing. Surely, by this point, you know that I won or I wouldn’t have droned on and on about it! The first prize was 5 8 x 10 photos worth $100.00 . Actually, I didn’t have any picture that I wanted 5 copies of and certainly didn’t have 5 pictures total that I wanted (Mike and I can’t figure out why all the photos of us make us look old and fat…… defective equipment, no doubt!) I finally settled on 5 more copies of the one picture that we did get and now all the kids can have one, whether they want it or not!
The weather has turned distinctively bad! The wind is terrific and the ship tossed all night long and continues to do so. We will be docking in Istanbul in about 2 hours and I sure hope it is not as cold and windy at that point. We will definitely freeze to death today. We knew we risked bad weather here and we will enjoy this day come rain, sleet, snow or earthquakes!
Bingo time now so I’m going to play the free card they gave us and then go get ready to dock in Istanbul. More later, maybe……….after the tour.
Hanging out on the ship
October 31, 2009 = Saturday 5:1`0 pm
We stayed on board today to get ready for the whirlwind coming up (Istanbul for 2 days and then flying home.) It was a very lazy and pleasant day except for my Scrabble experience! One of the events was a Scrabble game at 4:00 this afternoon and of course, I was right there ready to play. My opponent was a very nice lady up to the point I made my first play. After that, she got more and more sullen and said ‘this isn’t the way we play at home….., I wouldn’t let my kids play words like ‘ax’ when everyone knows that it is spelled ‘axe’, and I never heard of the word ‘nu’….. etc., etc., etc. It took a lot of the fun out for me and I was just glad when it was over! And, yes, I did win!
We’re going to see Smokey Joe’s Café again tonight as we enjoyed it so much last night and they are doing an encore performance. Off to dinner and then the show. Will upload if I get time later tonight.
We stayed on board today to get ready for the whirlwind coming up (Istanbul for 2 days and then flying home.) It was a very lazy and pleasant day except for my Scrabble experience! One of the events was a Scrabble game at 4:00 this afternoon and of course, I was right there ready to play. My opponent was a very nice lady up to the point I made my first play. After that, she got more and more sullen and said ‘this isn’t the way we play at home….., I wouldn’t let my kids play words like ‘ax’ when everyone knows that it is spelled ‘axe’, and I never heard of the word ‘nu’….. etc., etc., etc. It took a lot of the fun out for me and I was just glad when it was over! And, yes, I did win!
We’re going to see Smokey Joe’s Café again tonight as we enjoyed it so much last night and they are doing an encore performance. Off to dinner and then the show. Will upload if I get time later tonight.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Mykonos - Delos
October 30,2009 - Friday (I think!) 8:45 pm
Another absolutely beautiful day that we going to call “Bad Hair Day at Delos.” I think they said it was blowing at about 22 mph and all I know is that my hair was standing on end the whole day, whipping back and forth giving me an even more unattractive hair style than usual. We braved 7 - 12 foot swells on the ocean to go from Mykonos to Delos. That is only about 6 miles away but took us almost an hour. Thank goodness I had taken my seasick pills or I would have been done in for sure.
The tour was called Magnificent Delos and that is actually an understatement. This place was amazing. We thoroughly enjoyed the whole tour. No one lives on this island and it has been declared a world heritage site. Amazing ruins to wander through and none of them restored. This site has had no reconstruction.
We had lunch when we returned and were going to just sit on the balcony and read for awhile and eat some of the Pistachios that we bought in Santorini; but sleep overtook us immediately! On the one hand, I hate to sleep away any hours that could be dedicated to seeing more of Greece and on the other hand, we have never been so relaxed!
Woke up, got cleaned up and went to dinner. I’m catching this up waiting for the 9:30 show tonight. They are doing Smokey Joe’s Café, which is one of my favorites so we don’t want to miss it. We aren’t touring tomorrow so we will be well rested for arrival in Istanbul on Sunday. I haven’t quit having fun and enjoying this immensely, but I am starting to look forward to coming home. We have been gone a long time!
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