Day 8 (Third day at Sea)

Day 8 (third day at sea)

First sight of Acropolis

At base of Acropolis

Mars Hill where Paul taught Athenians

Parthenon on Acropolis hill

More of Acropolis

Still more of Acropolis

Arrived in port at 5am. We left the ship at 8am for a tour of Ancient Athens and the Acropolis. We walked around the ruins of the Acropolis, which is just the name of the hill.  The ruins were all temples dedicated to pagan Gods, and government houses and it was fantastic. We saw Mars Hill where Paul taught. We walked around the many ruins and took several pictures. Then rode back to the ship and ate at Jonny Rockets.  Can you believe it? All you can eat of the best Onion Rings for a nominal fee.  The apple pie alamode was fantastic and was included in the cover charge.

Day 7 (Second day at sea)

Day 7 (Second day at sea)

On the water all day. Most of the day there was no land in sight. Saw some islands in the evening. We played miniature golf on deck.  We stopped keeping score because - why bother! Karl is dancing because the ball went in!  We then walked the ship. We enjoyed an ice dancing show in Studio B. Then ate again. Retired early because Martin had some dizziness.

Day 6 (First full day at sea)

Day 6 ( first day at sea)
Woke up as we came into port at Sicily (Messina). Took a bus ride to Taormina and saw Mt Etna with smoke still slowly billowing. Walked around village, took a side street, and had yummy pizza and calzone. Back to ship and off to sea. We played shuffleboard on deck.  Do you know how to play shuffleboard?  I always thought only rich people played so I wanted to learn how.  After grilling the inebriated family who was playing, asking them the rules and how do you win, we realized the rules were posted on the wall of the ship.  This was so fun, we played several times during the cruise.  Cherie and I were determined to beat the guys, but it was a dream unrealized.  We watched last half of "Trouble With the curve" in the little movie theater. We then were caught by the strains of some wonderful soul music.  There was a guy at the piano in one of the lounges and we were thoroughly entertained..

Taormina Cathedral

Strolling down streets of Taormina

Narrow Taormina alley

In Taormina with Mt. Etna smoking like it wants to erupt over Karl's shoulder

Day 5 - Getting on the Ship

Day 5
After enjoying the sites and sounds and gelato of Sorrento, early in the morning, we drove to Rome to embark the Navigator of the Seas for our cruise.  We got off the freeway to view the Rome, Italy LDS Temple in the building phase.  It was great to see and recognize the rounded sides from the pictures.  It's going to be a huge complex with offices and a mission home.

Rome LDS Temple site

Martin dropped us off at the ship and met us a few hours later after returning the car and taking a taxi to the dock.  The ship is HUGE.

Our floating Hotel - "Navigator of the Seas" Room 7226

Our room was lovely and it was fun seeing Karl and Cherie's reaction to it.  The rooms were larger and more comfortable than we expected.  We had balconies and enjoyed watching the land drift away as we went out to sea.

The biggest shock was the FOOD!  It is everywhere and constantly available, and it looks and tastes delicious.  We found our assigned table for dinner in the evening and met our table mates.  They were a wonderful group.  Perry, or PJ and Joan from Tennessee, and Julie and her mother, Edie, from Buffalo, New York. We were pleasantly surprised to find that coincidentally, none of the eight of us drink and only one, Joan, had coffee.  Our waiter, Juan,  and his assistant Naaman, were visibly disappointed.  NO TIPS for drinks.  JP owns several grocery stores and Julie is a Psychologist.  Julie and Edie are Jewish and are hilarious!  Joan is a proper Southern Belle.

Our Happy Dinner group

After dinner, we caught the end of a variety show in the theater with a juggler and two acrobats.  LOVED the acrobats.

Day 4 - Capri and Sorrento

View of Sorrento cliffs from Hotel Room

View of Amalfi Coast on way to Sorrento

Blue Grotto Lagoon from end of trail we hiked on Capri

 Day 4 - Capri and Sorrento
Sorrento is a lovely town situated on the edge of the sea.  We decide to take a jetboat to the Isle of Capri.  This involves a walk down many, many steps, with the thought that at the end of the day, when we are tired, we will have to walk back up.  It is distressing.

Capri is beautiful with steep, narrow roads and lovely stucco buildings.  Bougainvillia grows everywhere and some geraniums.   We peek into a small church or two.  The landing is crowded with tourists, but if you're willing to climb, it thins out as you go up.  The bottom picture is one we took at the highest point.  Cherie and I ventured off on a couple of paths, one of which was built and maintained by a Rotary Club!   I thought that was an American thing.  We climbed to a spot that is an overlook to the famous Blue Grotto.  There are no cars or motorbikes up here and we saw a couple of locals having to haul their groceries up. There are beautiful, well maintained, gardens up here with all kinds of vegetables and orange and lemon trees.  The lemons here are huge!  Some look like grapefruits.  We walked down to the tram and ate and then took the ride down to the dock.  After arriving at Sorrento, we found a bus that would take us up that steep cliff, that we dreaded, for only 1 Euro.  The best Euro we ever spent!  We napped and then took a walk around the town square.  Charming!  The middle picture is a view from our hotel.

Day 3 (Life Reclaimed)

Day 3 - So our romantic third day in Italy begins at the Naples Police Station.  We had a note the police had written at the scene last night to hand to the guy in charge in Naples so he would know what to do.  It must have said, "treat these guys like idiots and talk real loud and fast".  Well, good luck for once.....the nearby hospital hires an English interpreter every tourist season, so this Chief of Whatever calls and gets her to come over.  I think this picture is from the time she expressed shock that Cherie would pay $225.00 for a cigarette lighter!  Cigarette lighter?  Well how else would you interpret "Kindle Fire"?  I'm serious.

Working through a translator doing  the Police report

With all the people in the police station, this Chief's typing and another woman's loading the copy machine several times, this was the only actual work being done in the place. So.......with a police report in hand, we were ready to move on.  This time to the consulate for Cherie's new passport.  This involved actually driving in a large Italian City, where no one can drive a car larger than a VW because every inch of the road is packed.  NO ONE pays attention to marked lines on the road!  Ask anyone who has driven there!  Every car we saw, which was thousands, had dings and dents.  And you see them really well because they are two inches from your face!  Motorcyclists drive and weave across double yellow lines and will go anywhere....sidewalks, between parked cars, etc.

US Consulate in Naples

Cherie and Karl go in and Martin and I wonder what in the world to do because we knew this would be hours.  We can't find a parking space and it would cost us a small fortune if we did.  Luckily, we found a space kitty corner from the consulate, on the outside lane of a round about with some yellow stripes painted on the spot.  We know from experience that these don't mean anything to Italians.  Perfect!  We parked and waited.  Every once in awhile, we would take our life in our hands and drive around the block, just in case we missed seeing them come out.  Well, evidently, on one of those trips, they came out and looked for us.  We were nowhere in sight so they looked where we had parked previously.  A couple of hours later, Karl shows up at our car window.  Ah, finally.  Now we get something to eat at a cafe across from the consulate.  Food is good but expensive.  I get in a conversation with a couple that has a wife who speaks perfect English and a husband who can barely speak any.  They have been married 34 years.  She was from New York and went to Italy for fun, met this Italian guy, got married two days later.  Still Happy!  Just had first grandchild.

We go on and drive to Sorrento that night.  GPS doesn't work and we are lost.  We think we know where we are going, but the toll road we need to take is closed because it is Sunday we guess and they don't want to pay their tollworkers.  The drive involves wild guesses and alot of time.  Luckily, we call our Hotel and they are willing to wait for us.

Day 2

Day 2

Slept well on the plane!!!!  A first.  We arrived in Rome via Frankfort and met Karl and Cherie, who had been waiting for us for 7 hours!  Good Sports!  We rented our car and were off on our long-awaited, exciting adventure.

On the way from Rome to Naples, we decided were were hungry and stopped at a roadside Auto-grille. While driving up, we wondered about the mafia-looking men lounging in front who pointed at us as we drove by looking for a parking spot.  This was our first European meal of the trip and we were eager to taste that food!  It was okay.  This was just an Italian version of a gas station with a food mart.  The drama happened after we finished eating.  Karl and Martin went back to the car first and when Cherie and I finished up and went out to meet them, we wondered why they were both leaning against the trunk facing us.  Something was up!  

We had been robbed!

Everything not in the large suitcases was taken.  Cherie's purse, Karl's backpack, Martin's briefcase.  Gone were the cameras, passport, driver's license, money, laptop, iPad, iPod, etc.  AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!  We ran back into the store where NO ONE spoke English.  How do you mime to the store manager what just happened?  Well, he figured it out and called the police.  Do any of them speak English?  Of course not.  But we are able to describe somewhat the events previous.  It took hours.  They tell us, in very few words, to stop at the police station in the morning and search the ditches for our possibly discarded debris as we continue on our way down the freeway.