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Still rocking, so I guess it's fitting to say Happy Halloween to all who celebrate. I'm wondering how long it will take to get my shore-legs back!
Sorry I missed some birthdays - Happy Birthday, Fleetie and JJ. Neemy, I understand. I've had pets since I was 4 years old. It's always tough to say good-bye.
The cruise: OMG, 2 continents! Europe and Asia. History buffs should take this cruise ... it was nearly overwhelming. BIG disappointment for me was the cancellation of Marseilles as a port of call due to the French planning a demonstration/strike/picketing of transportation between the port and Marseilles itself, so the cruiseline changed the port to Cannes - what a HUGE disappointment and mostly waste of time. Not quite a total waste of time as I learned why the streets are so narrow: it's because of the heat. The streets are mostly not even 1 car width and that's because the buildings shade everything that way. We did have lunch on a sidestreet cafe, right outside the store. Saw the Film Festival building and it doesn't look much different than any other civic center from sleepytown AR to NYC. Cannes itself is built on a steep - VERY steep - mountain about 2 blocks from the marinas which could be anywhere along the coast from Spain to Greece.
The rest of the trip was incredible as far as ports-of-call. Seeing the way the old towns developed -- as castles and walled communities and how that still exists today. The old architecture is amazing and, without preservation societies, the structures are still standing and being used. People still live in Pisa, although it is mostly tourist shops and workshops for tourist goods; Rome is incredible - but documentaries just don't do it justice - the number of people/tourists there makes it like Times Square on any busy day - jammed! and again, people - ordinary folks - live in the city as well as the areas surrounding Vatican City. While not every shop keeper speaks English, most have a rudimentary vocabulary - enough for communication with the average tourist. This was pretty much the norm no matter which country we were in.
The highlight of our trip was before the cruise - we stayed in a B&B in Barcelona. We walked, got lost and had to walk triple the distance to where we were heading, then it was climbing hills and steps. Gaudi was a nut - psycho - and I hope people will stop supporting the further construction of his hollywood type "church" that is totally unusable - and probably will remain so. So much time and money being spent on the outside of a building that belongs in a psychedelic dream.
Barcelona is a beautiful city - clean, friendly people, and the pride I saw there is unique - didn't see it anywhere else and not here in the states, either. People play ping pong in the streets - tables supplied by the city. Let me explain the streets - huge main streets with whole parks dividing the main driving areas - 2 lanes each way - from a single lane for local traffic. Trees, places to sit, meet the neighbors, or give directions to lost travellers. Friendly folks and my VERY basic Spanish was enough to get us by.
Oh, and the weather. From day 1 of the trip - Barcelona was PERFECT temperatures for exploring - high 60s/low 70s. Nasty storms at sea but overnight so that the daytime weather was perfect. I wore light cotton shirts almost everywhere and wished I'd packed a pair of shorts.
I also learned that people have it wrong: Carnival ships are, from my own experience, much more stable than Royal Caribbean. I was also extremely underwhelmed by the less than average food on RC and pretty darned annoyed by the penny-pinching, charge for everything that we never had on Carnival. Early morning room service was a separate, a la carte, charge! I do, however, give RC credit for the service. It was a notch above Carnival, but not enough to make up for the mediocre food.
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