travelling home - Aug 9

Home today…like clockwork feelings of sadness and relief flood over us as we prepare to step back into reality and out of the fantasy that was our vacation.

I don’t know if Monte Carol is too small or has too many rich and famous people, but it doesn't have an airport. In order to begin our journey home we must get to Nice for the flight home. I'm not sure how far it is exactly, but the drive is about 90 minutes and costs about 90 euros by taxi. We considered renting one of the many, many Ferraris in Monte Carlo and driving ourselves, but opted for another maybe equally exciting option. A helicopter took us to Nice for twice the cost, a 10th of the time and infinitely more excitement than the taxi. It really was a lot of fun! It was a tiny helicopter (based on my limited helicopter experience). It held 9 or 10 passengers with a pilot. It was pretty much glass all the way around so the view was spectacular. The ride was relatively smooth other than a bit of swooping at the beginning and end of the flight which only added to the thrill.

Other than that the day was long and uneventful. Our flights were from Monte Carlo to Nice (via helicopter!!), Nice to London, London to Vancouver and Vancouver to Calgary. By the time we got home we had been up for a long, long time and were happy to be home – although I will certainly miss someone tidying my room twice a day.

We flew business again, which was terrific – I don’t know how we will be able to fly economy again. Really, other than the long flights to and from London business is no big deal. The shorter flights are basically the same seat (3 and 3 configuration) with no one in the middle seat. Nice extra room, but on a short flight that’s not nearly as big a deal as on the long flights across the ocean. The plane to Vancouver was a 747 which has an upper deck or floor which is where we were – seemed to have a lot more room, was quite and definitely the way to go. The Vancouver airport by the way is very nice. I don’t know if this is a new face lift for the Olympics, but it is very nice.

As usual we are ever so glad to be home, but will certainly miss the luxury of vacation – seeing, eating, experiencing and doing fantastic things. It was a terrific time that we will never forget. Thanks for following with us.

Monte Carlo, Monaco, August 8

Ahhhhh we are sleeping in today. I hate to say this vacation has sucked the life out of us, but it has been very ‘on-the-go’. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t fantastic, but it has been very active.

In the afternoon we end up at the palace. It is quite a climb to the palace - although pretty much everything has you climbing in Monte Carlo as it is on a mountain side. Often this climbing isn’t so bad as there are public elevators and escalators here and there, not so many that you never climb stairs or walk up a steep incline, but here and there. It is not as hot as it has been recently, but it very humid – wow! By the time we get to the palace we are drenched – even Chris is drenched and he pretty much never breaks a sweat. We decide we must stop for a road beer (a beer you drink while walking along the road). It’s still funny to me to be able to drink a beer while walking down the road. Thankfully it is ice cold and we stop in one of Monte Carlo’s many parks (pic.) Monte Carlo has many beautifully kept parks - pretty much this entire place is beautifully kept and very clean.

There seems to be some sort of medieval festival going on in the streets outside the palace. This makes the atmosphere lively and a fun place to be. When we stop for lunch every so often a band walks by about a foot from where we are eating (pics, video). Lunch for me is of moules et frites (mussels and fries) D-lish. These mussels are tiny compared to the ones I’ve eaten at home and are much better I think.

I haven’t mentioned that there are Ferraris all over the place here. I started noticing them at first, but they’ve almost become too numerous to notice.

On the way back to the hotel we stop at a Monaco soccer team shop where Chris buys a shirt and a few other souvenirs. The clerks at the shop suggest that he tries the shirt on first but there’s no room for that other than in the middle of the shop – I don’t know what would have happened if I wanted to try something on??

We spend the rest of the afternoon reading and napping. Each hotel room here has a balcony which is fantastic. Ours doesn’t face the sea, but does face a courtyard and the top of the casino can be seen also (pic). There is a shrub just next to our balcony with white flowers all other if that has attracted the tiniest hummingbirds – probably an inch or 2 long. The evening is spent at dinner and the casino.

All in all Monte Carlo has exceeded expectations. Not really sure what the expectations were, but it is a great place to spend a few days and probably less expensive than we expected. I’d be happy to spend more time here in the future.

Monte Carlo, Monaco, August 7

Today we say good bye to our ship that has been home for the last 15 days and hello to a hotel for the next 2.

The Monte Carol harbour is filled with yachts, yachts and more yachts – these are BIG boats. I’m pretty sure these aren’t even the really big ones and that they use a harbour elsewhere. It’s becoming pretty typical to find these kinds of boats in the harbours each time we visit one.

Although we are some of the last off of the boat as we don’t have a flight to catch we are still off and at our hotel before 10. We are staying at the Fairmont here. It’s a pretty spectacular place and although we are here well before check-in we get a room right away. After checking out the hotel and its roof-top pool we head out for a bit of lunch.

On the way back from lunch we wander over to ‘the’ casino. This is the one Casino Royale was filmed in – we don’t see 007 anywhere this time. Conveniently the casino is right next to out hotel. The building inside and out is beautiful (pic). At this point we don’t get too far inside as there is a 10 euro fee to enter areas other than the slots and men need a jacket and tie. We also thought you needed your passport, but a driver’s licence apparently is good enough.

On the way back to our room we also check out our hotel’s casino – not too much action in the afternoon, but no entrance fee.

In the evening after a late diner Chris suits up (with a jacket and tie) and we head back to the Casino Royale casino. This turns out to be a huge disappointment as I mentioned in the last blog post. We end up spending some time in the casino in our hotel at the end of it all – Chris playing craps. This is pretty interesting with French flying around and some pretty big rollers. I’m pretty sure they don’t pump oxygen in here like in Las Vegas as I get very sleepy and head to bed before Chris. One nice thing about Monte Carlo casinos is that they are non-smoking.

Monte Carlo, Monaco - Aug 7

WOW...just back from the Casino Royale casino in Monte Carlo and what a disappointment. 10 euros to get in which basically seem to be charged to keep the riff-raff out. Supposedly a jacket and tie were required (so said the sign) and Chris wore each, but there was no point. Most were in there in no jacket or tie. It was a beautiful building, but the substance of being a casino was less than impressive. Now we're off to try our hotel casino.

Rome and Vatican City, Italy, August 6

Today is the earliest morning yet. We’re on the road by 7 for the 90 min drive to Rome from where the ship is docked in Citivecchia. Citivecchia is the port for Rome and the 90 min drive is necessary if coming by ship. We chose this tour because it focused on the Vatican. When we were here last summer we saw many of the sights, but didn’t have time for the Vatican. Visiting the Vatican means sleeves and a longer skirt for me and pants for Chris. They seemed to allow shorts, but it’s a good thing I wore sleeves.

It’s a bit a bizarre visiting a place I’ve seen countless times – I felt this way about the Eiffel Tower a few years back. We don’t have time to see the 9 miles (as we are told) of the Vatican museum (which I didn’t really know existed), but what we did see of it with a terrific guide was impressive of course. Besides the art on the walls each ceiling is stunning (pic).

The highlight of the tour of course was the Sistine Chapel. There is no furniture in the room except for benches around the outside of the room. Again this is something I’ve seen again and again and was a bit bizarre to be seeing in person. It was stunning. It was also very crowded. There is no talking and no photos allowed. Of course many people ignore rules and talk and take photos anyway. Security guards are constantly clapping their hands to stop the photos and shushing the talking. Then every so often a loudspeaker message comes on to remind everyone in many languages not to talk or take photos.

Next was St. Peter’s Basilica. This place is truly enormous – also very crowded. It is a bit difficult to appreciate the size of it until we see mass going on in a side chapel. We spend a bit of time outside in St. Peter’s Square and see the Swiss Guards (pic) very cool. The whole place is very crowded (in the outside pic you can see how many people there are), but entirely worth it.

After the Vatican portion was a bus tour of Rome and time on our own. We spend the time on our own at lunch, having a gelato (pic) and hanging at the Trevi Fountain (pic).

This was the last day of our cruise, so the evening was very low key. – packing and early to bed.

Today I saw (Chris didn’t as it was in the Ladies’ Room) a physical fight between our guide and another tourist (not from our group. Basically a whole group of women cut into the ENOURMOUS line and our guide told her she couldn’t. At the end of it all our guide ripped the woman’s shirt and the other woman hit our guide! WOW.

Sorrento and Pompeii, Italy, August 5

One word to say about Sorrento is lovely. It is a small little town that reminded us of some of the towns we have visited on river cruises. It is very tourist friendly while not being trashy. It is built into a cliff (pic). It is certainly possible to walk (Chris and I did), but the cruise provided a shuttle. This would be a nice part of Italy to rent a house for a week or so and do days trips to many of the places near by (Pompeii, Positano, Capri, the beach etc.)

Our tour for the day was to Pompeii the site of a volcano eruption (79AD) that basically preserved an entire city under ash. Apparently the people died form asphyxiation due to gasses from the volcano, rather than being covered with lava or ash. I took a photo of one of the victims who died and was preserved with her hands over mouth and nose to help avoid the gasses (pic) – a bit creepy. The whole place is very well preserved considering. Pompeii was one of the best tours we have taken.

Getting to Pompeii was a whole other story. We started off as usual on a coach today with only 18 people which was very nice number for the group. Usually the group is around 30-35 and that gets a bit big. Anyway…the coach broke down and we had to get on the public transportation train. Luckily we broke down right outside of the train station (pic) so it was pretty easy. A cool experience with wouldn’t have had if all went according to plan.

After the tour we wandered the town and I bought a pair of shoes from a shoe shop (pic)where all of the shoes were being made right there by the woman we bought them from.

Then we has a pizza (very near the birthplace of the pizza), a caprese salad (looking at the island of Capri) and sampled limoncello (Italian lemon liquor.) There are lemon trees everywhere here with the HUGEST lemons I’ve ever seen - probably twice as big as regular lemons.

The evening was the same as every other night on the ship – a drink on the deck, another in the lounge, dinner, a bit of the show and the casino to end the night. The only thing different about tonight was what was in Chris’ hands at the end of the night. Take a look at the photo – it’s important to note that he started with much less than that.

Naxos, Italy, August 4

I don’t even know what to say about Mount Etna – how to begin. It was absolutely outrageous, incredible and unbelievable – these just touch the surface of what it was like. Mount Etna is 10,000 feet high and is active. It last erupted in 2002.

When we got off of the tender this morning (8 am) it was as it has been everyday for the past 2 weeks – HOT. When we arrived at the base of the Mount Etna a 90 minute drive from the sea it was about 20 degrees and breezy. We thought “this is terrific…ah…getting off a bus and not melting.” Then we got on a cable car to about half way up the mountain and it was a bit cooler and then onto people movers (pic) each handling about 30 people. By the time we were as high as people could get (200 feet from the summit) the winds were extremely strong – at one point the guide said she thought they might have been about 100 mile/hr. I looked it up and these are category 2 hurricane winds. It wasn’t all that cold, but the winds were incredible! At certain points I couldn’t breath, stand on my own or walk. As we walked uphill at certain points all we needed to do was lift one foot and the wind pushed us up! I really wish I had taken as video, as the photos don’t really show how it was, but I could hardly get the stills taken.

As soon as we got off the shuttles tiny pieces of lava (like sand) were whipped against us with painful force. We could barely walk or breathe due to these incredible winds. There were some kids with us that had to hang onto adults for fear of blowing over. Our guide had her entire face wrapped (pic) and stayed like this for the entire way on the mountain. By the time we were done – about 45 minutes, our entire bodies were covered in grit - grit was in every possible place, crevice etc. Even after we returned to the ship for a shower grit remained. Sleep in our eyes was gritty. This doesn’t even begin to mention how messed up my hair was - a serious rat’s nest. Although I had it up, the wind pulled bits of it out only to tangle it into a mess that was brutal to brush out. Once we got down they shut down the cable cars and therefore the top of the mountain – ‘lucky’ we got up when we did. Once we were down Chris and I just started laughing about how absolutely outrageous that was. WILD! We’re glad we did it, it was a terrific experience, but did we enjoy it – we’d say no. It was definitely one of the craziest things I have ever experienced.

The rest of the day was relatively uneventful spent relaxing and recovering from the morning.

In the evening we sailed between Sicily and the mainland and passed Stromboli island which has an active volcano. Very cool. We could see red at the top of it. Pictures of it were hard to get.

Corfu, Greece – August 3

No tours today for us…we stopped in Corfu last week as an alternate when Albania was abandoned, so we are at our own leisure today.

We set out in search of an olive wood bowl. I’ve had my eye on one of these since last year and we saw them last week when we were here. I figure this is a souvenir I will actually use. We found a beautiful one made from the root of an olive tree, a bit rustic and not perfectly round.

We abandoned our first place recommended by the local rep of lunch at the old fortress (pic) as it wasn't exactly Greek - more international. it was a great view thought and tons of yachts. We had our last Greek lunch at a place with a fair amount of locals – chicken souvlaki, Greek salad and Mythos (Greek beer). I like the way they serve the Greek salads here – taste exactly the same, but the feta comes in 2 large slabs.

The walk back to the boat is a bit of a hike but is mostly in shade (everyone here looks for shade locals and tourists.) The last part of the walk is through the ferry terminal (pic) with there is a lot of action coming and going from many Greek islands.

There seems to be a problem with the hot water situation on the boat, while a problem this morning not a problem at all this afternoon when we came back after a day in the Greek heat.

While writing this we ordered room service of 2 Coronas and chips and salsa…how will I ever adjust to home??? What am I thinking…Chris will bring the snacks and beverages – same ol’, same ol’!

Kotor and Budvar, Montenegro - August 2

First impressions are that this place is stunning! The ship is docked in a cove (which I am told is a volcanic fjord.) There are mountains all around this small cove and it’s hard to see how we ever got in here – I tried to make a video, but I don’t know how well it worked. When we wake up it is still early enough that the sun hasn’t made its way over the mountain and everywhere is that calm, still, quiet that mornings can have before the day has really started.

Our first stop today is a small resort town called Budvar about 30 minutes from Kotor. Things are pretty cheep here (between 1 and 2 Euros for a beer) and it’s all about the beech. Maybe it’s the low prices that help people afford the giant yachts (pic) all over the harbor here. Apparently Montenegro doesn’t have its own currency and just uses the Euro. I figure it has to have something of its own, but not that we are told – how do people get paid for example? This certainly makes it easy for the tourist. We end with a walking tour of Kotor, a pizza and back to the ship for a siesta.

The whole way out of this fjord is filled with spectacular scenery – the mountains dotted with houses here and there, beeches and boats all over the water. We even see the Starclippers sailboat (pic) we were on a few years ago. I don’t think big cruise ships could make it in here – power lines cross from one side to the other that we barely clear. Every so often there are houses so far up the slopes with no sign of a road that it seem like they were just dropped there. There is also a fortress (pic) way, way up that would have been interesting to visit. We end the day with room-service the luxury of room service.

Split, Croatia – August 1

Split`s archaeological museum began today`s tour. It seems as though every stop we make or have made in this part of the world has an archaeological museum which makes me realize just old this part of the world is.

Next we toured Split and its old palace on foot with our guide. Lastly we stopped at a taverna for a `typical Croatian snack` of cheese (like gouda), meat (like prosciutto), bread, olives and an apple struddle-like dessert. This was all accompanied by wine from the region.

It is very noticeable that Split attracts a lot of young travelers; much more than any of our other stops – there are 18-25 year olds EVERYWHERE. This place is also VERY crowded.

It is also very hot. This trip has been incredibly hot. Not that you expect southern Europe to be cool in the summer, but when locals telling you it is hot – its hot! It’s more the absence of any breeze at all that really sucks the life out of you. Before we head back to the ship we do our best to spend what remains of our Croatian money at a cafe. Some of the cafes we have seen in our travels this year have the misters that cool the air, but Split doesn’t seem to have these so beer (other side from there we took the 2 pics) will have to do the job of cooling us on its own.