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!

Santorini

October 29, 2009 – Thursday 4:30 pm
I’ll start by finishing off yesterday. We did go to the Spanish ballet and it was really good. 3 women and one man doing beautiful dancing in spectacular costumes. Very worthwhile!
But on to today…. This was truly the best day of the trip. Santorini has been a place that we have wanted to go for years. The fact that it is truly beautiful is only enhanced by the fact that it is the rim of a volcano and anyone who knows me knows that I love volcanos. We left the ship early and met our tour at the base of the sheer cliffs. We rode up a narrow, winding road to the village of Oia which is probably the village that most people see when the Travel Channel goes to Santorini. Hillsides covered in white villas and white churches with blue roofs. I just re-read those words which are absolutely true and accurate and still do not convey in any fashion how incredible the site is. We had about an hour and a half to wander the steep and winding streets and go in and out of shops. We chose to stop in a little café overlooking the caldera and enjoyed baklava and coffee. Those moments were exactly what we have envisioned for years. To sit on the rim of a volcano and look out over the beautiful ocean below. No pictures will do this honor but we took some anyway. I bought postcards because they take much better photographs than I do.
We then left Oia and drove along the coastline to Fira, which is the capital of Santorini. There we went to a Winery and had lunch and watch traditional Greek dancing. That, too, was great. We were surprised that we enjoyed it so much. I think when you have the Travel Channel and go everyplace in the world and see the sights filmed professionally, you think you’ve actually seen the real thing. I’ll still keep watching the Travel Channel, but now I will know that nothing replaces the actual experience!
After the fiesta, we were turned loose to wander the town. Again, windy, twisty, narrow streets going uphill and down with shops and cafes galore. There really wasn’t anything we wanted to buy and we weren’t hungry so we started back to the dock. To get to the dock, one either took a donkey down, walked about 600 stair steps down or took the cable. We opted for the cable but that had a huge line. Mike and I took turns standing in line and about an hour later, we finally got down to the dock and back on the ship. Looking back at how steep the descent was, we were still glad we chose the cable although, the whole donkey thing sounds like a fun thing to do!
We’re in for the evening but plan to sit on our deck and watch the sunset. I’ve really had my share of camera troubles this trip. Not only did my good camera give out days ago, but today, the little camera’s battery ran down before the fiesta was over so I am missing lots of pictures that I could have had. I’m charging it now to try to get some of the sunset. I’ll upload what I have this evening.
Tomorrow is Mykonos. Then Ephesus and then Istanbul. Hard to believe the trip is almost over. It has been everything we wanted it to be and it was only yesterday that we wondered if Sassy missed us……

Iraklion (Crete)

October 28, 2009 – Wednesday 8:00 am
We just finished breakfast and are getting ready to go on our tour of Knossos and the minotaur ruins. It is our first gray, rainy day but we have our umbrella so feel we will be just fine tromping around on this island.
2:10 pm - We’re back from our tour, another one we enjoyed a lot. The gray, rainy day turned into a sunny, humid day and then back again but we never opened the umbrella.
The palace ruins were very interesting. They date from around 1700 BC. I’m uploading some pictures of them and have plenty more in the camera. We then went to a very quaint village built in the hillside of a mountain. Lots of steep steps and winding narrow alleys with the shops in them. Beautiful arbors, cats and kittens everywhere and very friendly people. Mike and I have already agreed that the Greek people are a warm and hospitable people. The Crete people are even nicer than the mainland Greeks who seem quite bent on getting as much of your money as they can. Of course, they can’t hold a candle to the Egyptians!
More rest and relaxation. We are sure doing a lot of that. Of course, when I realize how much we are walking every day and on the rocky, steep terrain, its no wonder that we are so tired. My highest pedometer reading for a day was over 22,000 steps and I haven’t had one under 10,000 since we left the US. Even on the ship when we are having a day at sea, we are walking a lot. Wish they would just take the food off the ship and then all this exercise would actually do us some good.
All my electronics have taken their turn at being recharged. We are ready for Santorini tomorrow!
All for now, I’m going to the hotspot and upload to the blog (if all goes well), then we’ll go to dinner later and on to the show tonight which is a Spanish ballet. Sounds good!

A Day at sea

October 27, 2009 Still Tuesday - 10:50 PM – We ate dinner (nothing special, just the buffet) and then sat in one of the bars listening to big band music and watching people doing ball room dancing. We were just killing some time before going to the evening show but I really enjoyed it. It reminded me that Mike and I actually took ballroom dancing lessons years ago. He’s not comfortable trying it now; so, we just enjoyed listening to the music. The show was mediocre by my standards but still fun to watch. Some guy and his wife (Justino and Daniella) doing some magic tricks, juggling, etc.. Plenty of glitz and glitter but not much substance!
After the show, we went out on the deck to walk around (I’m wearing my pedometer and I hadn’t hit 10,000 steps today) and also to watch us dock in Crete at the city of Iraklion. We were docking early due to some unexplained emergency and we watched as an ambulance pulled onto the dock and waited for someone to be off-loaded. The person was alive and in a wheelchair coming off the boat and we still don’t know what the problem was. We weren’t actually scheduled to arrive here until tomorrow morning and they stepped up the speed quite a bit to get us here early.

October 27, 2009 – Tuesday
We just finished breakfast and yes, we are now quite rested but still looking forward to the day at sea. We are taking books up to the top deck and will sit in the sun and read. I’m finally breaking down and paying the exorbitant fee to upload the Ramon and Violet epic. I really can’t believe how hard it is to find the hot spots in Europe and Egypt and if I don’t get this up, I’ll be home and everyone will have to hear me drone on for hours about how much we loved this. I realize as I read this that I am not a good writer as all I have done is bullet point the days and have not really painted the picture that is in my mind of all we have seen. But,,,,, it’s the best I can do, so here it is.

p.s Here's the picture of the Wyeth sign that I forgot to publish earlier. Seen on the way to Cairo.

October 26, 2009 – Monday 5:10 pm
I’ve decided that no one will get the Reader’s Digest version of Sunday. I shall relate that day in all of its glory in person. Anyone who wants to hear it can ask me about it!
I know it is Monday because yesterday was Sunday but all of the days are running together and I have no point of reference at all. We stayed in Alexandria today and toured all over the city. I think most of the pictures I took were just to remember later how really dirty this beautiful city is. Traffic is horrendous. We were told that it is not as bad as Cairo, but I think we just didn’t drive as much in Cairo. Cars don’t care that there are marked lanes; drivers just go where they want and when they want. I don’t know how the population has stayed so high here; they should all be dead in traffic accidents by now! We did go to the National Museum, the site of the Lighthouse of Alexandria (one of the seven ancient wonders of the world,) a mosque, King Farouk’s palace, and the Catacombs. Our guide was also very informative on the whole Muslim culture and we learned a lot from her. I enjoyed seeing the people living their lives in this city. Most are very poor and live in conditions that I had not previously imagined. Even the fact that the street vendors are very ‘in your face’ with their wares and really want to make their sales was of interest to me. They count on us to be here. Our guide told us Egypt has four treasures. Oil, Cotton, and tourism. That’s just three, I know; but I must be too tired to remember the other one!
All very interesting and all worth seeing but, we are so tired! Thank goodness that tomorrow is a day at sea so we can rest up before going to Iraklion.
I’m showered and cleaned up from the hot, humid day and Mike is cleaning up now. We will have a relaxing evening and get a head start on the whole resting up thing!
We ended this day sitting on our balcony with a glass of wine and staring at the ocean glistening with moonlight, stars filling the sky. These moments are why we are here!

Egypt!

October 25, 2009 – Sunday – 9:45 pm
I can’t even think where to begin and I am so tired, I probably wouldn’t make sense anyway. I am going to jot down a few words so that I can go back and fill in the details. Alexandria, bus ride, Cairo, Papyrus Institute, Cartouches, Pyramids, haggling, yelling, picture on camel, hot, dusty, lots of people, charging for bathrooms, vendors everywhere. Lunch on the Nile, mosque, long bus ride back. Silver service….. I'll put some pictures up and talk later. By the way, I saw a Wyeth sign on a billboard!

Day at Sea - I'm a winner!

October 24, 2009 – Saturday – 1:50.
What fun! I won at Bingo last night and had a lot of fun playing as well as winning! It would have been better if I hadn’t had to split the pot 5 ways; but it still paid for the fun I had. Dinner was very good and we just came back to our room without even checking out the show. There was a storm blowing and we found it much more entertaining to sit on our balcony and watch the wild waves and blowing wind. It is always fun to be in a protected environment during a storm and the balcony was totally calm and dry.
It is a day at sea on our way to Alexandria, Egypt so we took our books up to Deck 13 and read for awhile. Another Bingo session at 11:15 found me ready to play and gave Mike a good napping opportunity. We really are quite good at the relaxation thing! I did not win at Bingo but one of the goodies that comes with the bingo package are some tear off tabs, a little like scratch off lottery tickets. I pulled off all of mine and was quite un-inhibited about doing the little victory dance as I uncovered a $500.00 prize! That really more than made up for not winning at bingo and puts me pretty far ahead on my investment!
We’re back from lunch now and Mike is sitting on our balcony reading while I do this update. I think that my winnings might just entitle me to pop for the very expensive internet café so I can actually get this blog going again. Nah……, I just can’t do it. I’ll wait to see if there is an internet café in Alexandria. We’ll be there tomorrow morning.

Olympia - Katakolon

October 23, 2009 – Friday 3:50.
Late in blogging today. We did take a tour of Katakolon, so up at 6:15 to get ready and eat in time to start the tour. This island is actually in the Ionian Sea. The tour we took was to the ‘Birthplace of the Olympics’ and I have to say it was quite worth the time and money spent to do this. Both Mike and I enjoyed this. The countryside on this island is beautiful but getting to Olympia and seeing the ruins of the home of the Olympics is incredible. It is very nicely preserved and easier to see where all of the building and temples were. Standing in the stadium was great but standing before the altar to Hera where the Olympic flame was first lit thousands of years ago and where it is lit now each 4 years to travel to whatever site is hosting the Olympics was by far the most awe inspiring site. I think even more amazing than the Parthenon. Not in size or architecture but just for the history and symbolism that is has. A wonderful trip!
Back to the dock so we could have lunch in another wonderful seaside café. I just can’t stay away from the stuffed tomatoes and stuffed peppers! Mike went back to the ship to lie down but I wandered the streets looking for ‘inexpensive’ (dare I say cheap!) souvenirs for the grandkids. I want to bring them something, but nothing is cheap here! Even if I am thinking in dollars instead of Euros, the prices seem high. Hope they will be content with a ‘small’ memento!
There were 2 internet cafes on the waterfront but I couldn’t get on at either one. There was a man sitting at one of them with his computer and he said the signal came and went. He had been there quite awhile and hadn’t accomplished much. I would have tried longer but decided just to do the blogging in word again. Things are already starting to meld together in my mind and it is only day 2 of the cruise. If I don’t get it all down on the day it happened, I may not be able to keep it clear. Even in the blur, it is a wonderful vacation so far and Mike and I are still marveling that we are here.
Observation: I started noticing this in Madrid and continue to observe this so decided to say it out loud. Europeans like to wear black…., sometimes, they add gray and sometimes, they add white but that’s about it for color. They like to dye their hair black and the variation I have seen on that is to have burgundy highlights in their black hair. They smoke too much and all over the public areas. They pick their noses in public (UGH!) They are in a hurry and mostly annoyed at the tourists. But, lucky for me, they still have ‘big hair’! In southern Europe where we are, I don’t think they have much choice. They all have a lot of hair and most of it curly. I fit right in!!!
Well, I’m off to play bingo which, I believe, is expected of the plump, elderly women on a cruise. I must live up to the image. We’re eating Italian tonight and will see how we feel about going to the show after dinner.

Nafplion our first Greek Island

October 22, 2009 – Thursday – 3:50 pm
We slept long and soundly last night. It was lucky that we had no tours planned for today or we would surely have missed it. We had breakfast and set out to explore Nafplion by ourselves. The tender took us over and we proceeded to walk a thousand miles through the narrow streets. It is a beautiful day and it was very pleasant to do this but, actually, I was thinking that it was too much like Sausalito. Very upscale shops, I really think that part of town catered solely to the tourists. We did take a trolley ride through town and saw more of the real part of town. We had lunch in one of the many waterfront cafes. I love the fact that at the door to each one is a man who ‘sells’ his establishment. As soon as you are within earshot, he starts extolling the virtues of his café and tries to guide you to a seat. We read each of the menus displayed in front of the cafes and then chose one for both charm and the fact that they had the stuffed peppers and stuffed tomatoes that are our new favorite meal. They put bread on the table but they then add that to the ticket. Now I know that if I don’t want to pay for it, I need to wave it away. Same with water…, they bring a bottle of water and if you open it, you bought it.
After all of that, we were exhausted so we caught the next tender back to the ship and immediately crashed. I never nap and yet, I apparently did today! Mike is now sitting on the balcony and I am catching up on the blog. I can’t see the screen well enough outside so am sitting inside. I think sitting on the balcony is more important than this document so, I’m outta here…..
Back again…………..Dinner was a quick affair at the buffet. We just weren’t hungry enough to go to one of the restaurants and you can just pick at what you like off the buffet. After dinner, we explored the ship some more and saw there was a show at 9:30 that I thought would be good. I like music reviews more than Mike does, but he came along and thought it wasn’t bad. It was pretty much a ‘British invasion in the ‘60’s’ sort of thing. Back to bed to crash again. Vacations are sooooooo exhausting!

October 21, 2009 – Wednesday 6:50 pm
I’m sitting on the balcony off our stateroom catching us up on the blog. You can’t know how hard it is for Mike and me to realize that we are really here! We are cruising away from Athens, leaving it in the glow of a beautiful sunset. The lights are coming on and the city is beautiful, sprawled along the coastline.
So, to go back to the beginning of the day….., we got up very early as we needed to get cleaned up, dressed, packed, checked out and breakfast eaten before 8:00 am as that is when our tour for today began. We were picked up at the hotel and drove around Athens looking at several interesting and historic sites. We stopped at the huge Olympic stadium. Then we stopped at the Temple of Zeus which is actually quite close to our hotel. They have built a park around it and it also has Hadrian’s arch as an entrance to the area. After touring that, we drove past several spectacular buildings, including the Parliament building that Mike and I saw yesterday. We didn’t stop again, however, until we got to the Acropolis. The Acropolis and Parthenon were really the reason we took the tour in the first place. Anything else we saw was just a bonus. This was a real test of Mike’s endurance and the new brace and walking shoes that he got to help his stability. This climb would be a test of anyone’s strength so for Mike and me both, (old, out of shape people) it was amazing that we did it. It is certainly worth it. To stand on that ancient site and contemplate the history and appreciate the accomplishment of the structure is one thing; but to then see the incredible view from that vantage point lends a whole new element of wonder.
I don’t think any pictures that we took would begin to do it justice so I just plopped down the 1 Euro for a string of postcards. Much better pictures!
After hiking back down (which is another amazing feat since the marble is so slick to walk on) we went back to the Plaka area and explored several streets we hadn’t been on before. We ate lunch at another outdoor cafe but took no pictures this time as I told Mike that it was beginning to look like all we did was eat! Since there is no picture, I will just have to blog the fact that we both had the stuffed peppers for lunch. So far, I have not found any Greek food that I haven’t liked!
We were so exhausted after walking back to the hotel that we just collapsed on the couch in the lobby and stared blankly out the window waiting for our taxi to take us to the ship. He arrived right on time and off we went to meet up with the Norwegian Jade. We have only been gone from home since Sunday and this whole thing was originally just about the cruise so the days spent in Athens are just a bonus!
No problems getting to the ship and getting on board. Norwegian Cruise Lines is a well oiled machine and they processed us through and got us and our luggage to our cabin in very good time. We are all unpacked and have spent time sitting on our balcony watching the coastline recede.
8:35 pm We are back in our room after going up to the top deck to enjoy the departure party and accompanying barbeque buffet. We really did want anything on that buffet so went to get something to eat in another restaurant. I stopped by the internet café on the way back to the room and was going to pop for a ‘plan.’ 250 minutes for $100! That seemed really high but I thought at least I could blog everyday and stay in touch. Then I found out it is dial up speed!! I just rolled my eyes and said ‘no way!’ I’ll go back to hunting down hotspots and just hope I have better luck. There may be a dry spell before you see several days’ worth of entries.
I’m typing away listening to the ocean through the open door of the balcony. Time to pay more attention to the night sky!

Last night in Athens

October 20, 2009 – Tuesday night 9:45
Back from dinner. It was good but very expensive. I had Moussaka which it now turns out, is what I was calling Greek lasagna. I told Mike it is just an expensive and exotic version of shepherds’ pie. Mashed potatoes layered with lamb and eggplant. Nonetheless, very good.
We’re packing now so we can check out in the morning, go on our tour of the Acropolis and then head for the ship to board our 12 day cruise.
I’m going to pay the &^!)$%^# fee to the hotel to get on the internet and get this blog going! Who knows when I will break down and pay again. There may be days of journaling before then!
p.s. It appears that it is not a battery problem but my camera is broken. Three sets of batteries aren’t making it come on again. Thank goodness for my 10 year anniversary camera that I just got from Wyeth!!

More sightseeing in Athens

October 20, 2009 – Tuesday – 7:20

We just got back from the tour to Sounion (pronounced Sue yun or Sue yeo, I heard it both ways) and it was well worth the time, money and effort. We drove along the coast line to the southernmost point of Greece (or so our guide told us) and that drive was worth it even if there hadn’t been Poseidon’s temple to view. This country is so old with so much history.
The batteries in my camera went dead so we switched to Mike’s and took lots of pictures. We brought extra batteries but of course they were in my suitcase and not on me. I am observing that we are ruled by our electronic dev ices and the need to keep them charged. Mike brought along his Garmin and had bought maps to view our progress through Greece but he forgot to bring the charger so he is hoarding power (for what, I do not know…) The front desk gave me a converter that works with the ITouch and the computer and we are alternating keeping Mike’s camera, the I touch and the computer charged. Just wish we could do the same for his Garmin. He was really looking forward to that. I did watch us ‘drive’ through Athens today on our tour but he didn’t want to waste what little battery he had left so we turned it off. I think I’ll ask as the front desk if anyone has a charger here that would let us use it for awhile.
We’re off to have dinner in the hotel restaurant that has the magnificent view of the Acropolis. If the food is good that will be a bonus!

Sight Seeing on foot

October 20, 2009 Tuesday 1:45 pm
We walked up to the Parliament building and watched the changing of the guard. Very elaborate and impressive. The we continued walking around to experience just how crowded Athens is and how narrow the streets are. Athens is an old, dirty, crowded, smelly city and absolutely beautiful. I love that it is so different than our vanilla flavored country. The people are so kind and friendly. I’m sure they are lying with every breath they take trying to get me to buy something; but, I love that, too! They are so charming.
We had lunch at a different restaurant in the Plaka today. Mike had calamari and I had dolmas. A light lunch but just right for us. We are now back at the hotel and resting a few minutes before our tour guide comes to pick us up for our trip to Sounion. I’m sure we will be exhausted when we get back this evening but we intend to get our money’s worth!

October 20, 2009 - Tuesday – 10:40 am

I just got a converter to charge the computer so I am catching up on our trip. Turns out the converter we brought is only good for Class 2 electronics and not my computer of ITouch.
We arrived in Athens with no problems at all. Still no free WiFi. I may just have to break down and pay the stupid 8,00 Euros for an hour to upload this!
We had a wonderful dinner last night. We were so exhausted that we came very close to just going to bed but we looked at each other and decided we had not come all this way just to sleep. We took showers, got dressed and hit the streets. You go out the hotel door and walk down the street about 2 blocks to the Plaka. I know that is just a big tourist trap but it is a wonderful tourist trap. Several blocks worth of cute shops. You can just amble down the street and see everything! We stopped at a little restaurant and ate in the open air part and had the most wonderful food. Mike had snapper and I had a ‘mixed grill’ plate which mostly vegetables. I don’t know the Greek names for everything I had but there was a stuffed red pepper, some grilled potatoes, grilled eggplant and something resembling lasagna but it appeared to be layers of cheese, meat and potatoes. Whatever it was, it was great. I had decided that we would not eat any salads due to warnings on the internet that raw vegetables were the most likely to cause stomach problems but when I saw the greek salad, that went right out of my head! It was wonderful. The whole atmosphere was enhanced by our waiter who was very excited to have visitors from MISSOURI! Which he announced to all in the restaurant! If I figure out how to add the pictures, you should see a picture of my plate before I ate and another one after I ate and then one of Mike and I with Salvatore (our waiter.)
There actually is a restaurant right on our floor that has a spectacular view of the Acropolis all lit up at night but they were full last night. We have a reservation for tonight and are looking forward to dining on the terrace with that view.
Unfortunately, after we got up and got ready to go down for breakfast this morning, Mike got clammy, flushed and wobbly and then proceeded to be sick (I refuse to blame the snapper!) He is laying down right now while I am typing away. He thinks he feels better now and we are going walking a few blocks away to see Parliament and more. We need to be back by 2:00 to go on our tour to Sounion, which is on the coast, to see the temple of Poseidon overlooking the Aegean Sea.
I still can’t believe we are really here! I’m going to get Mike up now and we’re heading out for some sightseeing. Hope he really is OK!

In Greece - Finally!

October 19, Monday 6:45 PM

I am sitting in the Electra Palace hotel waiting for Mike to finish his shower so I can have one. We both feel horribly grubby. Getting to Madrid was uneventful except I think it would be way better to go first class. So cramped for such a long trip.Madrid airport had an ‘official’ WiFi spot but no matter how hard I tried, I simply couldn’t connect. It would say it was connected but no internet page would load so here I am again, working in Word . The Madrid airport is pretty spectacular. Huge and very modern. We took a train from one terminal to another to catch our flight to Athens. Again, nothing complicated but just lots of red tape. We were a little late taking off but actually not a problem. We got to Athens and the taxitaxi was waiting for us with the big Mike Plunkett sign. Planning ahead is a good thing!

October 18, 2009 = Sunday - 2:15 pm
So, David picked us up to take us to the airport and other than the hassle of heavy luggage all went well until we came to scanning my passport. Thank goodness, the agent continued to try different terminals because 2 of the 3 she worked on rejected my passport. I could just imagine that Mike was going to Greece and I was going home to stay with Sassy. Finally, it took it and we went to Starbucks for a cup of coffee and relaxation. That lasted about 10 minutes before we saw the long line forming to get into our gate area so we raced over to be part of the effort to get through security.
Even with all of the warnings from Brandi on items that could and could not get through security, they tried to take away my toothpaste cause it was 4.6 ounces. I just failed to think about toothpaste! However, the guy felt sorry for me and decided that the toothpaste was for 2 people so he let me keep it. They also got my mousse because I didn’t think about it being aerosol.
The flight to Chicago was uneventful but I had a hassle trying to connect to the wifi….. why is everything so hard?!?!? Turns out it isn’t hard, its just expensive….
We’re waiting for 4:00 to take off to Madrid but we are here and organized so the stress level is low. Posting time on this will be wrong cause I’m not on the internet here. It isn’t free and I’m not paying……

Today's the day

It's Sunday morning and I'm enjoying coffee while Mike throws away all the food from the refrigerator. We should have thought of that one earlier! There is really nothing left to do except close the suitcases and wait for our ride to the airport. Our 'people' are taking care of Sassy and my mom, the bills are paid, the bank has been notified that there will be charges coming in from strange places. With a little bit of luck, our house will even be clean when we get back (Whitney????)

Surely, now, there really is nothing left on the list.

I think I will be able to upload some photos while we are gone if I can figure out how to! Keep the world safe while we are gone (I'm not here to run things :)! )

vacation eve....

Twas the night before vacation and all through the house, the scurrying of feet up and down the stairs......

We leave tomorrow and I think we are truly packed. If the luggage gets lost, both of us will have to go out and buy all new clothes when we get back as I think everything we own is going with us. I've notified all family members of our itinerary and hope there is no reason for anyone to contact us. We're going to bed early tonight and probably will have nothing more to report until we are in our hotel in Athens. We're excited!

2009 Vacation

I can't believe that it has been over a year ago that I pushed the button committing us to this trip of a lifetime. Mike and I have been wanting to go to Greece for over 30 years and in less than two weeks, we will be on an airplane to Athens.



So many lists compiled, so many lines checked off..... we are down to a very few (unless I think of more things to add.) We've had suitcases in the spare bedroom for almost 2 weeks and run things down to them as soon as we think of them. I'm sure that even with all of this preparation, we will forget something; but hopefully, it will be something easy to buy on vacation.



The cruise is booked, the flight is confirmed, we will be met at the airport and taken to the reserved hotel. Tours of Athens have been booked, tours for each day that we are on the cruise have been booked. Tours in Istanbul have been booked. Surely there is nothing left to do but to go!