At Sea - October 5

The weather was cloudy and overcast and it even rained a bit. But since we had no port or sightseeing it did not interfere with any plans. My father had a reflexology massage, I watched the fencing lesson and the four of us played cards in one of the lounges to pass the time.

Tami and I spent some time in the Internet Center checking emails and I worked on this blog. That is when I got the email from Ken to "call home no matter what."
It was seven am Arizona time, five pm my time - a ten hour difference. I tried using the ship's phone several times and got no answer (at five dollars a minute). In desperation I tried my cell phone and found that it worked on the ship whenever we were not in port.
Robert had been in an accident and was in ICU. He had run into the road and was struck by two cars. He had a head injury with possible brain damage, a broken fifth vertebrae in his neck and lots of road rash. The doctors placed him in a comma and sewed and stapled up his head, and did a cat scan. Then they had to determine how to fix the broken neck. Jeff insisted that the injuries were not considered life threatening and that I was not to rush home. He said there was nothing I could do and Robert was unconscious. I had a very hard time sleeping and was desperate for information from home every day. Jeff spent everyday at the hopsital and updated me as often as he could.
As it turns out Robert spent seven days in ICU. They did surgery on the vertebrae and he has a neck brace to help it heal. He didn't actually "wake up" until yesterday (October 16). I got home on the fifteenth and spent all day the sixteenth at the hospital. Jeff says that this was the first day he was in fact alert enough to communicate for more than a few minutes and he ate a meal. The nurses were amazed at his progress. I believe that he will be okay, but it will take a while for a full recovery. Please keep him in your prayers for us.

Izmir, Turkey - October 4

After an hour bus ride through the Turkish countryside we walked through Ancient Ephesus. The ruins were amazing. Ephesus had people living in the area as far back as 6000BC. It was a port at one time and the ruins we saw were from the city founded by a general of Alexander the Great in 300BC. There was a population of 200,000 people with mosaic sidewalks for the nobles, running water, public baths and a large library and hillside amphitheater. When the river silted up and the people got malaria they finally moved away and abandoned the city. Marc Anthony and Cleopatra had liaisons there many times and the Apostle Paul was imprisoned there for two years. That is where he wrote the letters that are in the Bible. My Dad did an amazing job of walking through the ruins. There were some stairs but it was mostly uneven stones and ground to walk on. He used his cane and my sister held his arm the whole time while she assigned me to run around and take the photos. We were back on board the ship for lunch and an afternoon of rest.

The tall building is the library.

The hillside amphitheater.

Santorini, Greece - October 3

Santorini is an amazing place. I must say, now that the trip is over, it was one of my favorite stops. The crescent shaped island is the edge of the largest volcanic caldera in the world. The eruption that formed the island took place 3600 years ago. The small picturesque villages cling to the tops of the high steep cliffs. We took a bus tour to the two largest villages, Fira and Oia (pronounced /ee/ /ya/).

The buildings were just like all the quaint photos of Greece that you have seen of white stucco homes with blue roofs, shutters and doors. The white and blue Greek flag is very applicable. The bus left us off in Fira and we had to choose how to get to the bottom of the cliff to take the tender back to the ship - walk down, ride a donkey or take a cable car. We took the cable car but had to stand in line for two hours to get on. There were two other large cruise ships in the harbor today. Thank goodness for the wonderful breeze. I have some great photos to post later.

Naples, Italy - October 1

We took a tour that went past Mount Vesuvius, around the Sorrento peninsula, on the Amalfi Drive and through Pompeii. It was an eight hour tour with very long rides in between stops. The scenery was wonderful, however. We stopped and did a bit of shopping and had a nice lunch in Sorrento. The part of the drive from Sorrento to Amalfi was very interesting. The road was very narrow and winding with large drops to the sea on the right side. Buses are only allowed to drive in the northerly direction along the road because two buses could not pass each other on many parts of the road. Many times the bus had to stop to let traffic by because the road was so narrow. They actually have police directing traffic at some of the turns in the road. At one point a small SUV pulling an empty boat trailer actually hit the front fender of the bus; the trailer did not make the turn tight enough.

Narrow road!


Mount Vesuvius

We celebrated my birthday at dinner with a special cake.

Queen Victoria - September 30

Our suite is amazing. We have an area with a couch, TV, bar and desk. Another area with the beds, another TV, dressing table and a walk in closet. The bath has two parts. One part has the sink and toilet; the other part has a separate Jacuzzi tub and shower. We are in the Queens Grill for dining and the menu is endless.

Separate shower and jacuzzi tub.
Dad in the living room area.
The bar and desk area.

We all agree that the Victoria is not a beautifully appointed as the Queen Mary II. It is smaller but there are other differences. On the QM2 the stairwells each have a different color wood paneling and here they just have a different color carpeting. The Grill restaurants are pretty and there is a outdoor patio in between them on this ship, but the QM2 Grills were pretty also.

Rome, Italy - September 27-30

We were all exhausted after the flight from Tucson to Rome. I had a window seat and could see the lights of both London and Paris as we flew high above them. The taxi ride to the hotel was scary; even though it was early on a Sunday morning the traffic was terrible and the driver was crazy. He drove way over (140-150kph) the posted speed limit (100kph), changed lanes frequently, and talked and texted on his phone almost the entire drive. We arrived at 7:30am and waited in the hotel lobby for our rooms to be ready. We were too tired to do much more than explore the street (Via Veneto) that afternoon. The hotel, The Ambasciatori Palace, is very old but rated as a five star hotel. I think the Italian idea of five star is very different from a US five star.

So on Monday we took an open top bus tour around the city. We walked to the Spanish Steps and went to the Trevi Fountain after dinner. But none of us threw coins in this trip. Dad, Aunt Nannette and I had been to Rome before and Tami saw what she wanted to see so we are not keen on returning. The city doesn't change much. I will have to add photos when I get home, I have been taking lots. We walked to an Internet Point at 9:30 on the last day but as usual for Rome the hours posted were 9am -4pm and the shop was not open.

Trevi Fountain

The Queen Victoria's computers have very restricted access; you can't open attachments or add photos to blogs on these machines. If I travel again I want to get my own laptop so I am not restricted to others rules.

Fourth of July

Once again the Inn of the Mountain Gods in Ruidoso gave a super fireworks show. We sat on the top deck of the cabin and had the best view in the valley!

Then Aunt Nannette and I spent three days painting and decorating a bedroom. It was fun but lots of hard work!