Travels and Exploits of the Lamb and the Wolf

We had fortunately changed our departure time to 8:00. Originally we’d been scheduled off the boat at 7:15! We got up, showered, packed the remainder of our clothes and toiletries and headed up for breakfast. It seemed hard to believe that this was all coming to an end. I was glad our trip was almost over but part of me wanted to stay and do it all over again! Getting off the boat was really very easy and we didn’t have any trouble getting a cab. We did have to wait a few minutes because there were four of us and we had a great pile of luggage. I think Rick took a picture of all our bags actually stuffed into that little minivan. I couldn’t believe it. We drove in to the Axel Hotel in about fifteen minutes. After getting our bags into the lobby and out of the way (stuffed in a corner for the remainder of the morning till our rooms were ready) we headed out to see what the city held in store. For us it would be a stop at the Jamaica Coffee Shop ( www.jamaicacoffeeshop.es ) – a place wi...

Today was a bit strange and different. We would not be reaching Barcelona until around 2PM and we had to at least start packing our bags so they could be left outside our room no later than 11PM. Steve took about 90 minutes to pack… I think it took me three hours J. We had gotten in the habit over the course of the last week of having breakfast delivered to our room between 8:00 and 8:30. We both thought this a most civilized practice and enjoyed it mightily. The air outside at sea was very humid and warm. It was a bit foggy all the way into Barcelona. The first thing we saw were several container ships waiting for berth space in the harbor, then we saw what looked like a refinery and finally the city itself. It was very hazy and/or foggy as we came in to the pier, so there was no point in trying to take many pictures. We headed upstairs for a quick bite (along with almost everyone else on board) and waited for the notice on the ship’s public address system that we were cleared to leav...

…I went to Nice and all I got was carbon monoxide poisoning… I had no idea what to expect from our stop here on the French Riviera. I was looking forward to getting a car and driving around between Nice and Monaco, but had no preconceptions at all. We were tendered off the ship and walked a short distance to the train station. The weather once again was fabulous – of course. We waited for the train and I snapped a few pics of the environs and other folks that were waiting. The train arrived and we hopped on for our short (two stops) ride into Nice. Nice is a large but beautiful city, full of interesting buildings from the Art Nouveau period. It reminded me a bit of Paris but was obviously warmer as there were palm trees everywhere. We walked around the corner to the Hertz office to pick up our car – a strange sort of little minivan that just barely held the four of us and our backpacks in the back. Once Steve figured out how to start the car (same as his Camry hybrid – step on the brak...

This was to be a very special day for some in our group (as only Florence/Rome/Venice can be) and not so special for some. Tim, Rick, and several others in our group were off to Florence to see the highlights of the city with a tour guide who specialized in "Gay Florence". Apparently he was really a hoot, but their time with him was cut short due to a faux pax on the cruise line's part having to do with an unannounced stop at a leather factory outside Florence that went on way too long. Steve and I were on our way to the Cinque Terre: a group of five small villages perched on craggy rocks by the sea on the northwestern coast of Italy. This was the only excursion that we booked through the cruise line so we weren’t really sure what to expect. It turned out to be a very enjoyable day – if a bit exhausting, but not terribly memorable. Not at all the spectacular day we had on the Amalfi Coast (I know, I know – I’ll finish writing it up when I have more time :-). We had our ne...

After yesterday’s hectic and exhausting pace, we were looking forward to a slightly less intense, though just as manic, visit to Rome. I (Steve) must admit that I was so excited to return to Rome that I woke up early enough to see our ship dock in Civitavecchia (pronounced chee-vee-tah-veh-kee-yah), the port about 35 miles northwest of Rome. The Millennium, like most modern cruise ships, is remarkably maneuverable on its own, thanks to bow thrusters and other such devices. So, no tugs are necessary to park this puppy. And the ship that arrived immediately after us was the aforementioned Voyager of the Seas! After eating breakfast in our stateroom, we headed out for our day’s adventure. While others we’re enduring the 1.5 - 2 hour bus ride into the city (nasty traffic), we walked ten minutes from the port gate to the train station, where we boarded the 9:22 to Rome. The ride was relaxing and afforded us the opportunity to work on postcards (yes, just like this blog, we are horribly behi...

This was our first “up and out early” day. We met our driver Eugenio at the pier in Naples at 7:45 to begin our grand tour starting with a rather hair- raising drive from Naples to Sorrento. The people in Naples drive like madmen – worse than Rome. We were blessed with yet another beautiful day with highs approaching 80 degrees later on, and the drive was magnificent (except for the pall of haze over the Naples area). It was really hard for me to believe that just a few short miles outside of Naples towers this sleeping monster – Mt. Vesuvius. I’ve always been fascinated by volcanology and by Vesuvius and Pompeii in particular. This day was going to be one of the major highlights of the trip for me – no doubt about it. Our first stop today was at an overlook outside Naples looking north back into the city and Vesuvius above it – spectacular yes, but then we had no idea yet what was in store for us later in the day. We took lots of photos and then it was back on the road and off toward ...

This was to be our day to re-energize before the last half of the cruise which would prove to be a whirlwind of activity for us all. Steve and I got up late and sort of lounged around the ship, took some pictures of the boat and the passengers. It was a beautiful day with highs around 75 degrees outside, so we walked around a bit on deck and just had a very nice relaxed day. Not really much else to tell. We both spent a fair amount of time working on the blog and got it caught up to that day. I spent some time playing cards with Sandra and Denise, our fellows from Nova Scotia, which was very pleasant. This was our second formal night for dinner, so Rick and I swapped tuxedos. Rick looked very dashing in the Lavan tux that Richard lent me and we had a very nice evening. About halfway through dinner we all got up from the table to go outside and watch the ship traverse the Strait of Messina: a very narrow channel between Sicily and Italy that has been the stuff of myths for ages (google ...

We awoke this morning to see our ship surrounded by towering cliffs whose tops were shrouded in fog. Welcome to Santorini, the fabled island that used to contain a giant volcano that blew apart 3,600 years ago. Imagine that the water the ship was floating in was in the middle of that volcano, and that after the top blew off, all that was left was 2/3 of the sides. Place tiny little towns atop those sides, and you begin to get an idea of what we were witnessing. Since Santorini has no pier big enough for our ship, we had to tender in. It’s always fun to see your ship while floating right next to it, the sides looming above you. A few short minutes later and we debarked at a pier hundreds of feet below the town of Fira (pronounced fee-rah). There are several methods for getting up to the town: walk up, ride a donkey, or take the tramway. Walking up 500 stairs covered with donkey piss didn’t sound appealing, sitting astride some poor animal even less so, so we did the modern thing and too...

I was very excited this morning when I woke up and realized we were in Athens (actually Piraeus – the port for Athens). When I looked out the window I have to admit – I was a bit crestfallen. Athens is the most extreme example of unchecked urban sprawl I have ever seen. It is overall the ugliest city I have ever seen… with the possible exception of Butte Montana. I was somewhat horrified. I had been told that Athens was ugly, dirty, and not worth the bother, but really! This place… it was like the Borg had decided to overbuild in 1950’s and 60’s shi**y urban nightmare style – all tacky, uninspired apartments/condos and utilitarian buildings. Il Duce’s designs in Italy were more inspired than this. I could only hope that seeing the Acropolis would make up for this vision of dystopian horror… Fortunately, my expectations for the remnants of the cradle of Western civilization were met and possibly exceeded. The Acropolis is a breathtaking and awe inspiring sight – a monument to the ingenu...

(Written by Steve W.) After the previous five exhausting days, it was nice to have a day to do absolutely nothing. The Adriatic seas were smooth, the weather pleasant, and the mood relaxed. We started the day with breakfast delivered to our stateroom, which was a treat (although it’s an option available every day to us). A moment to write about the ship. Millennium made its maiden voyage, appropriately enough, in June of 2000. It’s 965 feet long and approximately 91,000 tons. For those of you who think the glorious days of ocean liners are long past, think again. This ship is as big as the old Queen Mary or Queen Elizabeth, if a few feet shorter. I don’t think most modern-day travelers would be as happy with the cabins on those ships as the ones they enjoy today. You were lucky to have a porthole in your cabin, let alone a window. Private balconies were the enclave of the super rich (the Normandie’s two super-deluxe suites, named Deauville and Trouville, had private decks, but that w...

(This entry was written by Steve W.) We awoke this morning to be greeted by views of the rugged Dalmatian coast. More grey than green, and quite mountainous. We slid past some smaller, outlying islands, on our way into the port of Dubrovnik. There is a spectacular new cable-stay bridge that towers over the harbor. After being cleared by the local port authority, we were among the first passengers off the ship and onto the shuttle bus that would take us from the newer part of the city to the old part. The sea was amazingly azure and clear, and the sun was strong. No wonder this part of Europe is becoming the new hotspot for sunseekers! The shuttle bus left us at the Pile gate of the old walled city. If you think of a giant fortress, with two corners overlooking the sea and the other two corners high and tucked into the sides of the steep hill. Upon entering the gate, it was like turning back the hands of time hundreds of years. No cars or motorized vehicles, the streets covered in polis...

There was much to do today and a limited amount of time to do it in. We wanted to go to the Peggy Guggenheim Museum of Modern Art – my (Allan’s) favorite museum with the possible exception of the Orsay in Paris, and still needed to return to Bevilacqua for the “pillow quest”. We boarded the shuttle from the boat fairly early and went directly to Bevilacqua to find my pillow… The store was open when we arrived and I did not find the pillow I remembered seeing before but did find another, equally beautiful one to buy (there will be pictures uploaded later of this and many other goodies found along the way – animal, mineral, and vegetable :-) ). Once we were finished there we dashed off to the Accademia Bridge and on to the Guggenheim. I have to break for a moment here to say something: Venice is one of the most magical places I’ve ever seen. It is a romantic’s dream come true. Around every bend and turn is a tableau that will make your heart sing. If I had any yearnings to paint I would ...

After we checked in and freshened up a bit we met downstairs to go explore. We walked over to Piazza San Marco to drink in the glory of Venice. The weather was perfect: seventy degrees and clear blue skies. There were thousands of pigeons in the square as is usual, but not nearly as many tourists as the last time Steve and I were here in early November of 2004 with Hal and Mike. I had two missions while we were in Venice. The first was to find the fine paper store where I bought lovely “peacock” and “marbled” paper the last time we were here and the second was to find again the incredible textile shop where Hal and Mike bought a beautiful table runner. I had seen and taken a picture of an exquisite small pillow that had been displayed in the window of this shop and was hoping to go back and purchase said pillow if it was still available (or something similar). On our afternoon stroll from San Marco to the Rialto Bridge we happened upon both of these shops and several others that Steve ...

We wandered around the Amsterdam airport for awhile before settling on a lovely little cafeteria style place for breakfast where we all had espresso and nibbles of one sort or another. I had a yummy ham and cheese croissant and some orange juice with my caffe ristretto (delicious!). We didn’t have a whole lot of time before our connecting flight to Venice on KLM so after breakfast we headed for the gate. Steve and I both love Schipol Airport. It’s the nicest airport I’ve ever seen, filled with lots of light and big open spaces. If I never see Heathrow Airport again it will be too soon :P… When we boarded our plane to Venice Steve started to feel queasy and by the time we took off he was full blown nauseous. He had to make several trips to the head on the flight and did not really recover until well after we were on the ship – in Dubrovnik I think (he’s sleeping now behind me on the couch in our stateroom as I write this). We almost had a repeat of the no-show passenger on this flight a...

Our departure for this year’s trip began very smoothly. Steve and I both finished our packing well ahead of time which allowed us to go out for dinner with friends on Saturday night (10/14). We both slept well that night and got up around 7:00 on Sunday ready to finish our last minute chores and items from our travel readiness checklists. Hal and Mike picked us up at 10:00 and we were off to Sea-Tac. We said our goodbyes and encouraged them to check our blog regularly for updates on our trip… Here I must stop and interject: as I’m writing this entry for upload it is Fiday 10/20/06. We are on our first day “at sea” after spending the day in the spectacularly beautiful city of Dubrovnik, Croatia yesterday. I tried to upload a quick note yesterday to the blog using the ship’s wireless internet access but after waiting 15 minutes for the Blogspot logon page to open – at 50 cents a minute – I finally gave up. We purchased a 500 minute package which I am now seriously reconsidering. I’m writ...