Well, here we are at the Dreamland hotel in Paris, compliments of Delta. We were up at 4AM to get ready and leave Barcelona on an early flight to Paris. All that went well. We had 3 hours layover so even having to stand in line for our boarding passes was not too bad. We all got on board and settled in and we taxied out on the runway and the pilot came on and said there was a warning light on and they were going to go back in and let the mechanice take a look at it-please do!! So they worked on it and said we were ready to take off and just had one more thing to do to check first-and that did not work either so by the time they did this (a total of 4 1/4 hours on the tarmac) they sent buses out to get us and our luggage and cancelled the flight. So after many more lines, we are in the hotel here at DIsney Land Paris and had a nice dinner on the house. We leave at 6AM to get back to the airport to stand in more lines and check our bags again and try again! SO hopefully, we will get home tomorrow.
More later.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Montserrat
Today we started out with a nice breakfast here at the hotel and decided to go on our own to Montserrat. It was a wonderful choice and we had such a fun day. We went to the train station that is near the hotel but it is not the one that the train leaves from, so we took the metro over to the one where we caught the other train. It was easy and a pleasant ride out to the base of the mountains. From there, we took the cogwheel railroad up to Montserrat. Those things are amazing! These looked to be fairly new and were in great condition and the view going up and down was beautiful. Montserrat is the monastary built into the side of the mountain and houses the Black Madonna. We went inside and enjoyed some of the service but unfortunately, the boy's choir that was supposed to perform at noon was out of town. We would have loved to have heard them. The day was warm in the 70s and sunny. We wandered around and then took the furnicular up to the higher place where most of the trails start for hikers and mountain climbers. We walked on one trail and enjoyed the views and enjoyed being out in God's gorgeous scenery. We went back down on the furnicular and wandered around the shops and back into the cathedral. It was just a lovely day and was such a pretty place that it was just fun to be a part of it. The train ride back to Barcelona was pretty as well-the scenery is very different than any part of Spain we have been in. We retraced our steps getting back to our hotel by the cog trains, train, metro and on foot. We are now finishing up our packing and we have checked in with our flights and are ready to head home early early in the morning. It has been a great trip but we are ready to be back with our family and friends! I will put photos on here from Montserrat and Barcelona when I get home-too tired to download tonight.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Sorrento
I did not have a blog account of our day in Sorrento so since things are out of order anyway, I will just add it here. Our port of call was Naples and the hydrofoil dock was right next to the cruise ship. So it was very convenient for us to take one over to Sorrento for a nice jaunt around town. We had been to Pompeii and to Capri and to Sorrento , as well as Herculeneum and we climbed to the top of Mt Vesuvius so we really did not need to go back to several of those places. But Sorrento won my heart several years ago when we spent a week in Sorrento and when we ate meals at our hotel, we looked out over the Bay of Naples at Mt Vesuvius and it was just absolutely breathtaking. We enjoyed going back over for several hours and wandering the streets and shops and eating a good pizza. We ate at the cafe that looks out at the little church like building where all the older gentlemen gather to play cards and talk. It is a pretty site. We saw the little lady that I bought several smocked dresses from when the girls were little. She is still there and still has beautiful things, but alas they are all too small now. We walked back down to the dock and caught the boat back to Naples and back to the ship. However, in the morning, the first boat did not go for over an hour so we went and checked out the fortress that is right there in the harbor area. Naples can be a very seedy place so we were not interested in going very far from the area, but that much was fun. It was a toss up whether we would go to Capri or Sorrento but in the end, Sorrento won out. There are so many memories there and we thought of our friends that we shared it with as we sat in the lemon groves that were full of lemons.
The ship offered an excursion to Pompeii, Sorrento and Capri-I really wonder how much you can see and enjoy in that short a span of time. Just my opinion.
Back at the ship, we ate and enjoyed sitting on the deck and watching the sunset over Vesuvius. Ahhh, it doesn't get better than this.
The ship offered an excursion to Pompeii, Sorrento and Capri-I really wonder how much you can see and enjoy in that short a span of time. Just my opinion.
Back at the ship, we ate and enjoyed sitting on the deck and watching the sunset over Vesuvius. Ahhh, it doesn't get better than this.
Barcelona
We disembarked the ship this morning and except for the ordeal of waiting to identify our luggage, it went very smoothly. Since GCT has 318 or so people on this trip, we had a lot of buses to load and luggage to deal with. We are staying in a nice hotel in Barcelona and are enjoying the free wifi. We piled onto buses at the dock and went on a city tour which was very interesting. Barcelona is a beautiful city and the weather today is perfect. We saw all the important areas and places. When we stopped for lunch at the Olympic area, I heard parakeets or parrots flying overhead. Sure enough, there was a big flock of them eating the berries in the trees. I was able to get some good shots of them which I will post when I download them. Tomorrow is a free day to do what we want. Jim is down at the train station now exploring our options. There are some optional tours offered, but the one we'd like to do also spends time at a winery and since that does not interest us, we are trying to figure what we can do on our own.
I still feel the world is rocking a bit and think it will take several days for that feeling to go away. There were sevcral times that we were rocked to sleep at night with rough seas, despite the stablizers! Fortunately, it seems we left the rainy cold weather behind us.
I still feel the world is rocking a bit and think it will take several days for that feeling to go away. There were sevcral times that we were rocked to sleep at night with rough seas, despite the stablizers! Fortunately, it seems we left the rainy cold weather behind us.
Tarquenia
Our cruise is coming to an end. Today is our last day at sea and we have to have our bags outside our doors at 10 pm tonight. Today is a beautiful sunny day with mild temperatures. As Jim said, the northerners all have on shorts and tshirts and the southerners have on our long sleeves and vests. This has been a delightful cruise and the staff has been excellent. We have gotten our suitcases out and have most everything packed at this point. We had our GCT disembarkation meeting a little while ago so we know what to do tomorrow. All the Inner Circle members of GCT are at the same hotel. Our group is one of the last groups off the ship at 8:45 in the morning. Meanwhile we eat and knit and eat and rest and relax. Do you see a pattern here!
Yesterday was one of the highlights of the trip for Jim and me. We went on our own to see Tarquinia, which has a large burial tomb area of the Etruscans. We took the shuttle from the boat to the edge of the dock area since no one can walk on the docks here. Then we walked the 4 blocks to get to the train station. We were there pretty early so there was not much line. Later it had a huge line backed up with people probably going to Rome on their own. For Tarquinia, we waited for abour half an hour for a bus that took us there and then we took the train back to Citavecchia. The ticket that we bought at the rail station was for both train and bus travel. It costs us 2 euro each for the round trip. When we got to Tarquinia, we went to the tourist info office and got maps and found out where to go. It is such a beautiful medieval town and very walkable. We walked out to the tombs which close at 2 so we were advised to so there first. I was amazed. These tombs were so well preserved and I thought they rivaled the ones in Egypt. The murals and all were just wonderful. We went down in about 12 of the tombs. You went through the door and down the steps and at the bottom of the steps there was a button you pushed for the light to come on. They had a plastic or glass barrier there but it was so well done where you could see the paintings and the ways each tomb was carved out differently. Amazing. We walked back into the main part of town and found an internet café but somehow my little computer has gotten messed up and will not work unless it is wifi. I believe the settings were changed at that one internet that we had trouble for. I hope I am able to get on when we get to the hotel tomorrow. I worked on it last night but won’t know if it worked til I try to get on again. So I had to use their computers and could not transfer any of my journals. The trees are beginning to turn here as well and it is just a lovely time to be touring. After checking email, we went to a little café and had a margarita pizza which was SO good. Then we wandered around town looking at the old city walls and churches and the narrow lanes-just so pretty and quaint. We came back to the place to catch the bus to the rail station and caught the train back near the ship. It was a 12 minute train ride! Getting into the ruins was free for us since we are senior citizens! So our day was very inexpensive but oh so much fun. We have hopes of taking a similar trip in Barcelona if all goes well. It is fun to strike off on our own like that-especially when we are successful! On our way back to the ship, we stopped for some gelato, which is still the best ice cream anywhere. Yum.
The last two nights we have been very lucky at the main restaurant on the ship and have gotten seats by the window so we could watch the ship pull out and leave the harbor.
What a beautiful sight. We are going to have to adjust back to normal life after having people wait on us hand and foot It has been a great cruise.
Yesterday was one of the highlights of the trip for Jim and me. We went on our own to see Tarquinia, which has a large burial tomb area of the Etruscans. We took the shuttle from the boat to the edge of the dock area since no one can walk on the docks here. Then we walked the 4 blocks to get to the train station. We were there pretty early so there was not much line. Later it had a huge line backed up with people probably going to Rome on their own. For Tarquinia, we waited for abour half an hour for a bus that took us there and then we took the train back to Citavecchia. The ticket that we bought at the rail station was for both train and bus travel. It costs us 2 euro each for the round trip. When we got to Tarquinia, we went to the tourist info office and got maps and found out where to go. It is such a beautiful medieval town and very walkable. We walked out to the tombs which close at 2 so we were advised to so there first. I was amazed. These tombs were so well preserved and I thought they rivaled the ones in Egypt. The murals and all were just wonderful. We went down in about 12 of the tombs. You went through the door and down the steps and at the bottom of the steps there was a button you pushed for the light to come on. They had a plastic or glass barrier there but it was so well done where you could see the paintings and the ways each tomb was carved out differently. Amazing. We walked back into the main part of town and found an internet café but somehow my little computer has gotten messed up and will not work unless it is wifi. I believe the settings were changed at that one internet that we had trouble for. I hope I am able to get on when we get to the hotel tomorrow. I worked on it last night but won’t know if it worked til I try to get on again. So I had to use their computers and could not transfer any of my journals. The trees are beginning to turn here as well and it is just a lovely time to be touring. After checking email, we went to a little café and had a margarita pizza which was SO good. Then we wandered around town looking at the old city walls and churches and the narrow lanes-just so pretty and quaint. We came back to the place to catch the bus to the rail station and caught the train back near the ship. It was a 12 minute train ride! Getting into the ruins was free for us since we are senior citizens! So our day was very inexpensive but oh so much fun. We have hopes of taking a similar trip in Barcelona if all goes well. It is fun to strike off on our own like that-especially when we are successful! On our way back to the ship, we stopped for some gelato, which is still the best ice cream anywhere. Yum.
The last two nights we have been very lucky at the main restaurant on the ship and have gotten seats by the window so we could watch the ship pull out and leave the harbor.
What a beautiful sight. We are going to have to adjust back to normal life after having people wait on us hand and foot It has been a great cruise.
Venice and thoughts on the cruise
Some of this may be repeating things I’ve said in an earlier post, but since I can’t see the blog when I am offline, I wanted to put say some things for my own memory of the trip before I forget. We had a great day today on our trip out to Burano and Murano. We did an extension with the ship and I was glad we did. It seemed rather expensive but since we had to be back onboard by 1:30, we were assured that they would not leave us. I did not realize how far out the islands are-or at least that the boats cannot go very fast so it takes an hour from where we were to get to Burano and then about half an hour to get back to Murano and then 40 minutes back to the ship. We went to Burano first and I was so surprised at how pretty it was and what a neat place it was to visit. It is small so we could wander around and we had an hour to do just that. It was plenty of time and we enjoyed looking at the lacemaking process and all the beautiful things they had for sale. There was an older lady who was showing us how it is done and it is a dying art. They said that not many young people were wanting to learn how to do it. With Jim’s mom tatting so much, we could really appreciate the time spent and how special the work is.
The boat we were on to go to the islands had an upper deck. It was cold and sprinkled rain at times, but the views were wonderful. At one point, there was a complete rainbow across the sky and then later, there was a double rainbow! What a sight to see. Driving by St Marks square was much better today than yesterday.When we got to St Mark’s yesterday, it was actually lovely, but of course, the rain and high water were what we were remembering the most when we passed by this morning. The sun looked much better! After Burano, we went to Murano and watched one of the glass masters make a couple of pieces of the famous glass. What an art it is. He made a vase and then he made one of the glass horses and I thought of Delaney and Emily-we almost bought them one but they were so fragile and one of the men told us that they were extremely hard to get home without breaking. I just don’t think there is any way we could do it. But they surely were pretty to see.
We made it back on the ship in plenty of time and it was good to be warm and dry again as it started raining as we boarded the boat on Murano.
This cruise has people from so many countries. I don’t know if it is because of where we are cruising or what, but there are many languages being spoken. To clarify some of what we have said earlier, the main restaurants on the Jade are wonderful. They are as good as any we have eaten at and we have had no trouble getting in any time we want. But the garden café buffet is less enjoyable than it has been in the past. And starting today, the burgers have garlic in the meat. Great-NOT.
We went to the show this evening after dinner and it was very good. It was a flaminco group from Spain and they were excellent. Other shows we have enjoyed were a tenor who was just excellent and a show based on “Shout”. I decided tonight that the flaminco dancers must have restless leg syndrome. Or maybe I just need to take it up when I have problems with mine-that is what it feels like I need to do when it acts up!
Instead of fish on the carpet which lead you to the front of the ship, the Jade has seashells but there are dolphins on the edge that lead the way. We’d be lost without those dolphins! In Venice, we have to go through security on the outside near the dock. It was not much fun to stand in the rain and go through that yesterday. Today it was not raining so it was not a big deal. We ate lunch with a couple from Vancouver, Canada today and they got lost this morning in Venice and almost didn’t make it back to the ship’s last shuttle. It sounded like something we’d do. It made me glad we did things in the order that we did.
This may seem like a bad time of year to do the cruise and it definitely has more rain, I think ,that other times. But I cannot imagine Venice in the summer time with the crowds and the smells. And I think it is neat to have been here and walk on the planks because of the water. It can vary at least 4” they said because of the tides and I am sure that is part of it yesterday when even the inside of the cathedral was flooded. In the morning, we walked in St Mark’s square, only having to watch to avoid certain puddled areas. But by late afternoon, there was 8” or more of rain and puddles in places. It was like walking a maze to figure how to get into the cathedral to see it. I kept being afraid that someone would push me accidently and I would lose my balance and fall in the water. Some people refused to walk single file and it was impossible to keep walking when that happened. It is a beautiful city.
The boat we were on to go to the islands had an upper deck. It was cold and sprinkled rain at times, but the views were wonderful. At one point, there was a complete rainbow across the sky and then later, there was a double rainbow! What a sight to see. Driving by St Marks square was much better today than yesterday.When we got to St Mark’s yesterday, it was actually lovely, but of course, the rain and high water were what we were remembering the most when we passed by this morning. The sun looked much better! After Burano, we went to Murano and watched one of the glass masters make a couple of pieces of the famous glass. What an art it is. He made a vase and then he made one of the glass horses and I thought of Delaney and Emily-we almost bought them one but they were so fragile and one of the men told us that they were extremely hard to get home without breaking. I just don’t think there is any way we could do it. But they surely were pretty to see.
We made it back on the ship in plenty of time and it was good to be warm and dry again as it started raining as we boarded the boat on Murano.
This cruise has people from so many countries. I don’t know if it is because of where we are cruising or what, but there are many languages being spoken. To clarify some of what we have said earlier, the main restaurants on the Jade are wonderful. They are as good as any we have eaten at and we have had no trouble getting in any time we want. But the garden café buffet is less enjoyable than it has been in the past. And starting today, the burgers have garlic in the meat. Great-NOT.
We went to the show this evening after dinner and it was very good. It was a flaminco group from Spain and they were excellent. Other shows we have enjoyed were a tenor who was just excellent and a show based on “Shout”. I decided tonight that the flaminco dancers must have restless leg syndrome. Or maybe I just need to take it up when I have problems with mine-that is what it feels like I need to do when it acts up!
Instead of fish on the carpet which lead you to the front of the ship, the Jade has seashells but there are dolphins on the edge that lead the way. We’d be lost without those dolphins! In Venice, we have to go through security on the outside near the dock. It was not much fun to stand in the rain and go through that yesterday. Today it was not raining so it was not a big deal. We ate lunch with a couple from Vancouver, Canada today and they got lost this morning in Venice and almost didn’t make it back to the ship’s last shuttle. It sounded like something we’d do. It made me glad we did things in the order that we did.
This may seem like a bad time of year to do the cruise and it definitely has more rain, I think ,that other times. But I cannot imagine Venice in the summer time with the crowds and the smells. And I think it is neat to have been here and walk on the planks because of the water. It can vary at least 4” they said because of the tides and I am sure that is part of it yesterday when even the inside of the cathedral was flooded. In the morning, we walked in St Mark’s square, only having to watch to avoid certain puddled areas. But by late afternoon, there was 8” or more of rain and puddles in places. It was like walking a maze to figure how to get into the cathedral to see it. I kept being afraid that someone would push me accidently and I would lose my balance and fall in the water. Some people refused to walk single file and it was impossible to keep walking when that happened. It is a beautiful city.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Tarquinia, Italy
Today is a gorgeous sunny day and just warm and nice. We went to the train station where the ship docked and got our tickets to come to Tarquinia for the day. It was a bus ride up here and we hope to catch the train back-you know how we love trains. There are wonderful Etruscan ruins and tombs here and it was so much fun just doing this on our own. It is one of our favorite days. My laptop is not working in these internet cafes so photos will have to wait for Barcelona where we can really catch up. Tarquinia is a lovely medievel town and is just wonderful to wander in.It has towers like San Giammoni(sp?). We are heading to eat pizza and then to catch the train back to Civitavecchia and to the ship. Missing you all. We will post a lot of photos when we get home!
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Ahhh Sorrento
I just love Sorrento and we are spending the day here after taking the hydrofoil from Naples. We did not bring the netbook so are just using an internet cafe. We had a nice, relaxing day yesterday as we had a day at sea. we enjoyed coming through the Straits of Messina last night. It was very pretty but no Mt Etna eruption like we saw that night in Sicily. Vesuvius is smoking for us today.
Will post more when we get the netbook somewhere that I can download. the weather is much better which helps everything!
Will post more when we get the netbook somewhere that I can download. the weather is much better which helps everything!
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Venice in the Rain
The day started out cold but dry as we pulled into port in Venice. It was a pretty scene to come in from the water that way. We took a water shuttle from the ship to St Marks square and began our adventure. We toured the Doges Palace and it was something else. It was smart to do it first thing as I am sure it has gotten more crowded as the day has gone on and especially with it so wet. We got our Senior discount which saved us some euros, which was nice. Then we rode the Vaporetta down the Grand canal to the Rialto bridge and got off and meandered throught the shops and the rain began to get serious. We enjoyed looking at all the little shops and grabbed a pizza that was pretty poor but will keep us going until we are back on the ship. We are in an internet cafe not far from St Marks and we are going to go to the cathedral when we finish here. Tomorrow we are going to Murano and Burano to see the glass and the lace they are famous for. The following day we are at sea so it may be several days til we post again. We are having a grand time and this is a fabulous itinerary.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Dubrovnik from Jim's camera
Again we can't download from mine til I am back on the ship, but here are some we took this AM with Jim's camera.
Saturday in Dubrovnik
We had a fun day at sea yesterday. I did not expect it to be as warm as it is here. I came armed with many layers and don't need them for the most part. The first two days in Turkey gave us a false sense of the weather.
The shows have been enjoyable and we just had a nice relaxing day yesterday.
Now today we are in Dubrovnik which is as pretty as we have always heard it was. The tile roofs and the shoreline and the walled city are just wonderful. We got here on the first shuttle bus before most things opened and it was quiet and we had the city to ourselves. It was so neat. The city wall opened up at 9 so we enjoyed the walk all around the city for the next hour. It was sunny early and then the rain started. We took refuge in part of one of the forts for a short time and then it cleared again and we continued our walk. Surely going up and down all these steps will make up for SOME of the sundaes we've eaten!
We are missing everyone back home and look forward to catching up when we see you. It is hard to keep up with what day it is even.
The shows have been enjoyable and we just had a nice relaxing day yesterday.
Now today we are in Dubrovnik which is as pretty as we have always heard it was. The tile roofs and the shoreline and the walled city are just wonderful. We got here on the first shuttle bus before most things opened and it was quiet and we had the city to ourselves. It was so neat. The city wall opened up at 9 so we enjoyed the walk all around the city for the next hour. It was sunny early and then the rain started. We took refuge in part of one of the forts for a short time and then it cleared again and we continued our walk. Surely going up and down all these steps will make up for SOME of the sundaes we've eaten!
We are missing everyone back home and look forward to catching up when we see you. It is hard to keep up with what day it is even.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Photos from Athens
I can only post several from Jim's camera as my card reader is back on the ship for my camera.
Athens
Ok the last two days blogs are in reverse order so hope you can figure them out. Today we spent in Athens and it is sunny and gorgeous-hot. We watched at the Parliament building as some dignitaries arrived and viewed the troops and placed a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. They closed off the sidewalk in front of the Parliament and we watched from across the 4 lanes of traffic. We had our cheese pie-yum-and wandered the Plaka, went into the Agora and wandered around, enjoyed just sitting on benches and enjoying the views of the Parthenon and the Temple of Hesphestus(Vulcan). We found shoeslaces! Granted, they are tan and may be an interesting combination on the shoes, but hey, we found them! Jim does have two pair of shoes so it has not been like he has been barefooted, but it is nice to have both pair where he can wear them again. We took the metro back to Pireaus and are at McDonalds using the internet. I think the same song has been playing the whole time but it is probably just me-they all sound alike when it is something I don't like. We will be at sea tomorrow so I will not be able to post to the blog until the next day when we should be at Dubrovnik, Croatia. We have already bought shuttle tickets into town so that makes it nice for us to be able to wander on our own. We have really enjoyed the day today just doing our own thing and remembering our last time here and seeing if we could remember how to get from one place to another.
Last Day in Istanbul
Farewell to Istanbul. We had such a nice morning today as we left the ship and just walked along the street that was beside the dock. It was not like most areas where ships dock-it had a nice park along the waterfront one way and we found the lovely little café that we wrote from this morning also. We continued down the street in the opposite direction and there was quite a lot to see in that area. There was a mosque that dated from the 1500s and another lovely one from the 1800s. It was very scenic and the weather was perfect for a morning walk. We really enjoyed the sunshine today and it warmed up nicely as well. We found our one of our needed items that we forgot, however, I don’t believe here they wear shoes with laces as no one seemed to know where we could buy any! The nice lady at the tourist counter in the terminal looked like it was th first time she had ever been asked that and knowing us, it probably was! We found a store that seemed promising and had all sorts of sundry items, but no shoe laces. Alas, Jim is resorting to changing laces if he has to wear those shoes! But we enjoyed ourselves and the beautiful day in a fabulous city. I am still amazed at Istanbul. It is so pretty and clean and we have really enjoyed our visit here. We went back on the ship for lunch and relaxed and read and walked the decks. When we set sail, it was really a pretty site as the minarets and towers dot the skyline. We sailed around beside the Blue Mosque and palace and other of the most famous spots as we left the port-so we got one final look. So now it is on to Izmir. We have been to Ephesus and had such a great tour there already, that we decided to go with our one shore excursion to Pergamon instead. We should have time to explore Izmir a bit too on our own -who knows, maybe they sell shoe laces there! We hope at least to find an internet spot so we can send this note. It is pretty easy to write these at night and upload them when I get to a place with internet. We missed the mandatory life drill this AM when we were on shore, as did many others, so they had a make up drill for us at mid afternoon. Then we had a GCT get together later in the afternoon and I enjoyed exploring the shops onboard since they finally opened once we were out to sea. This ship is not as large as the Pearl and I do believe that it was the one we were on when we sailed around Hawaii. I had read it was totally redone and put in their regular fleet and that one was ready to be redone, as I recall. This one seems totally new but it is similar to the Pearl but it doesn’t have the bowling alley and the rock climbing wall. The shops are very different as well-more one big shop instead of several smaller ones. Of course, there are the usual jewelry shops that I don’t even look in! We ate in the restaurant that has the huge windows along the back and it was really nice. The food was good and the waitress was great about getting the food right for me. No telling how much we will gain on this cruise. It was so good!Well we have an early wake up call so will close for now.
Explanation
I have reversed these two days-the photos that follow in the next post are from our day yesterday in Izmir. It poured rain at one place and 20 minutes later it was sunny and gorgeous! The last photo shows what we WOULD have seen at the top of the hill if we could! We could see it from the second site.
Happy Birthday, Megan! We have thought about you all day and hope you had a good one! We love you.
Ismir is very different from Istanbul. It is the second largest port and is bigger than Montgomery, which I was just not expecting. It is more industrial or something and feels more grubby than Istanbul. Of course, we are saying this from our perspective of driving through on a bus, on a day when it has rained more on than off. The port is a good distance from the center of town so we were glad we had chosen this day to take our shore excursion, which was to Pergamon. We started the day by eating breakfast out on the deck in the back of the ship as it was docking in Izmir. It was quite pleasant and comfortable with just a light sweater, if that. Then we got our stuff and headed out to our shore excursion. The buses were parked a good way away from where we got off the ship, but they did a good job of directing us all to the proper bus and tour. We got on the bus and promptly, the rain began. It was a nice steady rain all the way to Pergamon which was an hour and half’s drive from the ship. When we arrived, we huddled under the sheds and tents of the few vendors that were set up there. Then we climbed the steps for our tour and enjoyed the wonderful view of the few feet in front of us as the fog was so bad that we could not see one thing! It would rain and then stop and rain and stop, but the fog was so thick that we could not see much, as you will see from our photos. We really thought the day was a total washout, pun intended. When we got back on the bus,it momentarily cleared and we were able to get out and take at least a few photos of the area. Then we drove to the Greek health center Asclepion. You would not have thought it was the same day as the sun came out, the fog cleared and it was gorgeous and warm. From this site, we could see Pergamon in all its glory and see the amphitheatre on the side of the hill. Asclepion also had an anphitheater, but not as grand as the one at Pergamon. By the time we enjoyed our visit there and headed back to the bus, it had clouded over again and another shower followed. I think this place invented the joke about if you don’t like the weather, wait a few minutes and it will change! We had box lunches that they gave us on the ship, and we ate that as we drove to the mandatory rug factory tour. Turkish rugs are gorgeous and the workmanship is beautiful, but after rug tours in several countries, our interest in seeing another one was dimming fast. The tea and coffee just are not enough of a reward for sitting through it again! Then we headed back to the ship, another hour and half drive. We got back with less than an hour before we had to be back on the ship. There were some shops in this dock area but we have come to the conclusion that there is nothing here that really beckons to us in the shopping dept and that says a lot. It could be we were just very tired and the rain had started again too! But the ship was looking mighty good to us. We thought we saw an internet café on the inside of the port building and we were planning to go there and upload our blog from last night, but it turned out, you could only access it by entering that area and we had already just handed in our Turkey entry pass and so we just opted to keep on going back onboard.
Comparing the Jade to the other NCL ships we have been on,it reminds us of the Hawaii cruise the most on several levels. The food in the nice restaurants are very good, but the garden café does not compare to the one on the Pearl this summer. However, it goes without saying that we are managing to gain the normal amount of cruise weight, I am sure!
Ismir is very different from Istanbul. It is the second largest port and is bigger than Montgomery, which I was just not expecting. It is more industrial or something and feels more grubby than Istanbul. Of course, we are saying this from our perspective of driving through on a bus, on a day when it has rained more on than off. The port is a good distance from the center of town so we were glad we had chosen this day to take our shore excursion, which was to Pergamon. We started the day by eating breakfast out on the deck in the back of the ship as it was docking in Izmir. It was quite pleasant and comfortable with just a light sweater, if that. Then we got our stuff and headed out to our shore excursion. The buses were parked a good way away from where we got off the ship, but they did a good job of directing us all to the proper bus and tour. We got on the bus and promptly, the rain began. It was a nice steady rain all the way to Pergamon which was an hour and half’s drive from the ship. When we arrived, we huddled under the sheds and tents of the few vendors that were set up there. Then we climbed the steps for our tour and enjoyed the wonderful view of the few feet in front of us as the fog was so bad that we could not see one thing! It would rain and then stop and rain and stop, but the fog was so thick that we could not see much, as you will see from our photos. We really thought the day was a total washout, pun intended. When we got back on the bus,it momentarily cleared and we were able to get out and take at least a few photos of the area. Then we drove to the Greek health center Asclepion. You would not have thought it was the same day as the sun came out, the fog cleared and it was gorgeous and warm. From this site, we could see Pergamon in all its glory and see the amphitheatre on the side of the hill. Asclepion also had an anphitheater, but not as grand as the one at Pergamon. By the time we enjoyed our visit there and headed back to the bus, it had clouded over again and another shower followed. I think this place invented the joke about if you don’t like the weather, wait a few minutes and it will change! We had box lunches that they gave us on the ship, and we ate that as we drove to the mandatory rug factory tour. Turkish rugs are gorgeous and the workmanship is beautiful, but after rug tours in several countries, our interest in seeing another one was dimming fast. The tea and coffee just are not enough of a reward for sitting through it again! Then we headed back to the ship, another hour and half drive. We got back with less than an hour before we had to be back on the ship. There were some shops in this dock area but we have come to the conclusion that there is nothing here that really beckons to us in the shopping dept and that says a lot. It could be we were just very tired and the rain had started again too! But the ship was looking mighty good to us. We thought we saw an internet café on the inside of the port building and we were planning to go there and upload our blog from last night, but it turned out, you could only access it by entering that area and we had already just handed in our Turkey entry pass and so we just opted to keep on going back onboard.
Comparing the Jade to the other NCL ships we have been on,it reminds us of the Hawaii cruise the most on several levels. The food in the nice restaurants are very good, but the garden café does not compare to the one on the Pearl this summer. However, it goes without saying that we are managing to gain the normal amount of cruise weight, I am sure!
Athens-Thursday
I have two posts ready to put on here for the last two days but this internet cafe will not let me use my computer so I will get them on when I can find a wi-fi place. We are having a beautiful sunny warm day to enjoy Athens. We walked all the way around the harbor and took the metro at rush hour to get to the city center. We are on our way to enjoy a cheese pie at the pastry shop we enjoyed last time. More later.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Tuesday morning in Istanbul
Beautiful sunny weather here in Istanbul this morning. We are all settled in on the ship and came ashore to see if we could find shoelaces, which we are finding are impossible to find. We are at a coffee shop internet cafe and enjoying the morning. We set sail this afternoon and are looking forward to the Sea of Marmara and the Dardenelles and other beautiful sights.
I did not download photos last night as I didn't expect to be coming to an internet cafe today as I had not seen one on the way to the port. Surprise!
I did not download photos last night as I didn't expect to be coming to an internet cafe today as I had not seen one on the way to the port. Surprise!
Monday Istanbul
Istanbul is a beautiful city. Today was a pretty day weather-wise but showers were around. At one time you could see it raining on the Asian side of the water and sunny on the European side. It showered several times when we were in restaurants,etc but when we were out and about, it was really nice. We started off by going to a church that had some of the most beautiful mosaics I have ever seen. They were damaged in places when the church was turned into a mosque and the mosaics were whitewashed to cover them up. But despite the places that were damaged, they were just so remarkable and beautiful. All the scenes of Jesus’ life were depicted and the detail was clear.
From there we went to take a boat ride on the Bosperus which was so much fun. Asia was on one side and Europe on the other. People live on one continent and travel each day to work on the other. The bridges and ancient buildings along the banks were interesting and Istanbul looked so different from the water. On the way to the boat ride, we passed the ancient wall and were amazed at how much remains and how beautiful it was. What a history this city has. I have been surprised at Istanbul-I was not expecting it to be modern and well kept and clean and it is all of these things. They preserve the past but it is a very vibrant city and we have enjoyed it. After our cruise, we walked down the shoreline to the restaurant where we ate lunch. Then we were back on the bus for the ride to the cruise ship. I think we were all ready to get onboard and get settled in! The Jade is similar to the other NCL ships we have cruised on. It is very new and well designed and so we pretty well knew our way around. I think the garden café area is the best arranged I have seen. It was easy to get around and not as crowded as some we have been on. We noticed immediately when we got to our room that we had two beach towels on our bed. So they have finally figured it out instead of making you put a deposit down and such like they did on the Alaska trip. Of course, we don’t plan to use the pool as it is way too cool for us for that, but we liked this way of doing things anyway. We hope we can find our way to our room-the carpet is different and instead of the fish swimming in one direction, it is a seashell design but if you look carefully, there are some dolphin swimming on the edges so hopefully that will help us keep oriented! We did like that GCT took our bags straight from the hotel to the ship and checked them in for us. That made check in a good bit easier. My bag was several hours later than Jim’s to arrive, so I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw it. Tomorrow we plan to go out a bit near the ship area in search of a couple of things we need. Who goes off and forgets their deodorant or who expects to break not one but two shoe laces on a trip! Last time Jim’s belt broke so this time he brought an extra one, but instead, he breaks the shoe laces.
Miss you all.
From there we went to take a boat ride on the Bosperus which was so much fun. Asia was on one side and Europe on the other. People live on one continent and travel each day to work on the other. The bridges and ancient buildings along the banks were interesting and Istanbul looked so different from the water. On the way to the boat ride, we passed the ancient wall and were amazed at how much remains and how beautiful it was. What a history this city has. I have been surprised at Istanbul-I was not expecting it to be modern and well kept and clean and it is all of these things. They preserve the past but it is a very vibrant city and we have enjoyed it. After our cruise, we walked down the shoreline to the restaurant where we ate lunch. Then we were back on the bus for the ride to the cruise ship. I think we were all ready to get onboard and get settled in! The Jade is similar to the other NCL ships we have cruised on. It is very new and well designed and so we pretty well knew our way around. I think the garden café area is the best arranged I have seen. It was easy to get around and not as crowded as some we have been on. We noticed immediately when we got to our room that we had two beach towels on our bed. So they have finally figured it out instead of making you put a deposit down and such like they did on the Alaska trip. Of course, we don’t plan to use the pool as it is way too cool for us for that, but we liked this way of doing things anyway. We hope we can find our way to our room-the carpet is different and instead of the fish swimming in one direction, it is a seashell design but if you look carefully, there are some dolphin swimming on the edges so hopefully that will help us keep oriented! We did like that GCT took our bags straight from the hotel to the ship and checked them in for us. That made check in a good bit easier. My bag was several hours later than Jim’s to arrive, so I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw it. Tomorrow we plan to go out a bit near the ship area in search of a couple of things we need. Who goes off and forgets their deodorant or who expects to break not one but two shoe laces on a trip! Last time Jim’s belt broke so this time he brought an extra one, but instead, he breaks the shoe laces.
Miss you all.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
ISTANBUL
Today was a long but wonderful day. We left the hotel at 8:30 this morning and got back to the hotel about 8:30 tonight. We saw most of the major sites of Istanbul and had time to wander around them, which we enjoy. Our photos do not do the place justice. It did not rain-yea!! BUt being cloudy meant it was hard to get good photos of some of the places. We started off the morning by going to the Blue Mosque. It is called that because of the pr3edominance of blue tiles inside. It was such a lovely place. We had to take off our shoes and put them in a plastic bag which they furnished, then we returned the bags at the end to be recycled. The ladies did not have to cover their heads, but since I had a scarf and forgot to bring my hat, the scarf felt good! After the Blue Mosque, we went to the Topkapi Palace which was so big and we got to just wander around and look at our own pace, once our guide explained everything to us. We also had time to eat lunch at the lovely cafe by the Bosphorus. As we were eating there, our cruise ship, The Jade, was arriving into town so that was neat. I might add that the meals here are just outrageously expensive. For lunch Jim had a sandwich and the guy told me there was nothing they had that did not have onions or garlic so I got a cake-like dessert and we each got a soft drink and it was the equivalent of $25. gulp. Most couples who each got a sandwich and all paid over $40 for the treat....
After the sticker shock of the lunch menu, we all went back to the bus and were taken to the mandatory carpet factory demonstration. The carpets truly are works of art with price tags accordingly. I admired a small wall hanging, about 12x14" at most and it was over $1200. As I said, I just admired it!! I don't know if anyone indulged or not, but it was a warm place to sit and the carpets really are pretty. From there we reboarded the bus and went to the Ayasofya. The Blue Mosque is much prettier to take photos of, but the Ayasofya was really pretty too and the mosaics were lovely. After we went there, we got back on the bus and went to the spice market. We were all disappointed that we did not get to go to the Grand Bazaar but the spice market is much the same thing but on a smaller scale and the Grand Bazaar is not open on Sunday. I have to say I am perfectly satisfied with the hour we spent today as we found a couple of gifts and got the idea and got us some turkish delights so take on the ship to snack on for a few days. We found all that sort of thing to be very expensive as well so that helped curb our temptations.
After the shopping time, the buses took us all-all 318 of us GCT travellers-to our included meal at a really nice restaurant that overlooked the Bosphorus. The food was good and the service was amazing considering the huge size of the group! GCT has done really well by this trip in handling this many people all at once.
Tomorrow we are going on an optional trip to another mosque and lunch and cruise on a small boat on the Bosphorus. It should be really pretty and from there they take us directly to the cruise ship. We will have a GCT person onboard the ship with us so it will be nice to have someone to ask questions of for the ports where we just want to wander on our own. We have met some great people and will for sure see familiar faces on the ship.
We were delighted to hear that Auburn won yesterday-we turned on the computer first thing this morning (it is free here in the room at the hotel) and got the good news.
We have finished packing up our suitcases for the transfer tomorrow. I am not sure how often I will update on the ship-hopefully pretty often as we hope to find internet cafes along the way that will not cost so much. But we will see. Meanwhile, here are a few photos of today's journey.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Istanbul -just a hop, skip and jump from Atlanta
Jim and I started off with a leisurely drive to Atlanta. Our plane didn't leave til late afternoon so we left in plenty of time to avoid the traffic jam from the construction and to get our boarding passes fixed for the Paris to Istanbul flight since we could not get those online.
The flight from Atlanta to Paris was fine and uneventful and even though we were not lucky enough to get bumped up to first class or anything, it was a pleasant flight. We arrived in Paris at breakfast time and had plenty of time to figure our way around the new terminals. They surely do not make it easy. Things were at least marked this time but it seems whoever designed it, made it is difficult as it could be. I feel for people who have disabilities that go through there. But we made it fine after going up and down several flights of stairs and going outside and getting on a bus that drove all around the parking lot and got us to the terminal that was directly next to the one we arrived in..... We all were sitting in the nice waiting area and suddenly, an Air France guy came over and said that the plane had changed gates and we needed to come now. It was still almost an hour before flight time so that kind of seemed rushed. Again we got to go through and give our boarding passes and go down steps and get on a bus that drove us out in the tarmac-but literally, the bus driver was not sure exactly which plane was ours! Someone ran in and made sure it was the right one and we filed off and went back up another set of steps to get on the plane. Well that is all just part of the thrill of traveling and the sense of satisfaction when you actually are able to hump all the hoops and make it on your plane. We settled in for a four hour ride from Paris to Istanbul. I have to say that this Air France plane had the least leg room I think I have ever seen in a plane of this size, but the good thing was, no one was seated in the 3rd seat so Jim and I could spread out just a bit. We doze a bit, eat a bit, read a bit and before we know it, we are approaching the Istanbul airport. It is cloudy and the wind is gusting and the plane is waving back and forth as it comes in over the ocean toward the runway. At the very last minute, the pilot pulled the plane back up and took off back up in the sky. He came on and announced that the wind was too bad and he was going to try again. It took about 10 min for him to get back in position and we all held our breath and prayed! We were bobbling around and he did seem to come in slower and when he touched down, he only bounced about 5-10 ' off the ground and then came back down and was able to stop the plane just fine. We all clapped. whew. That was not a fun experience.
Our hotel is lovely-the Crowne Plaza in old town. Tomorrow we go on our tour if Istanbul that is included and we are looking forward to that. Amazingly, most of the signs and all are in English. We signed up for the optional tour the next day as well -they will take us to the places we don't go to tomorrow an then they take us to the ship at the right time.
We are tired and heading to bed. Hope all is well back in Tiger land.
The flight from Atlanta to Paris was fine and uneventful and even though we were not lucky enough to get bumped up to first class or anything, it was a pleasant flight. We arrived in Paris at breakfast time and had plenty of time to figure our way around the new terminals. They surely do not make it easy. Things were at least marked this time but it seems whoever designed it, made it is difficult as it could be. I feel for people who have disabilities that go through there. But we made it fine after going up and down several flights of stairs and going outside and getting on a bus that drove all around the parking lot and got us to the terminal that was directly next to the one we arrived in..... We all were sitting in the nice waiting area and suddenly, an Air France guy came over and said that the plane had changed gates and we needed to come now. It was still almost an hour before flight time so that kind of seemed rushed. Again we got to go through and give our boarding passes and go down steps and get on a bus that drove us out in the tarmac-but literally, the bus driver was not sure exactly which plane was ours! Someone ran in and made sure it was the right one and we filed off and went back up another set of steps to get on the plane. Well that is all just part of the thrill of traveling and the sense of satisfaction when you actually are able to hump all the hoops and make it on your plane. We settled in for a four hour ride from Paris to Istanbul. I have to say that this Air France plane had the least leg room I think I have ever seen in a plane of this size, but the good thing was, no one was seated in the 3rd seat so Jim and I could spread out just a bit. We doze a bit, eat a bit, read a bit and before we know it, we are approaching the Istanbul airport. It is cloudy and the wind is gusting and the plane is waving back and forth as it comes in over the ocean toward the runway. At the very last minute, the pilot pulled the plane back up and took off back up in the sky. He came on and announced that the wind was too bad and he was going to try again. It took about 10 min for him to get back in position and we all held our breath and prayed! We were bobbling around and he did seem to come in slower and when he touched down, he only bounced about 5-10 ' off the ground and then came back down and was able to stop the plane just fine. We all clapped. whew. That was not a fun experience.
Our hotel is lovely-the Crowne Plaza in old town. Tomorrow we go on our tour if Istanbul that is included and we are looking forward to that. Amazingly, most of the signs and all are in English. We signed up for the optional tour the next day as well -they will take us to the places we don't go to tomorrow an then they take us to the ship at the right time.
We are tired and heading to bed. Hope all is well back in Tiger land.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Off On Another Adventure!
Tomorrow we are leaving for another adventure. We are flying from Atlanta to Paris to Istanbul where we will spend two nights and tour some before we get on our NCL cruise ship, the Jade, for a 12 night mediterranean cruise. We end up in Barcelona where we will spend two nights and tour there as well, before flying home. So stay tuned for our blogs along the way.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Heading home
We will be leaving for the airport after lunch for our long trek home. It has been a great trip and we´ve loved Iceland but we are looking forward to being back home. Funny how you feel that way as a trip ends!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Blue Lagoon
One thing not to be missed in Iceland is the Blue Lagoon. What a wonderful way to wind up our trip here. We rode out to the Blue Lagoon on our little bus and 9 of us went. It was all most interesting and just a great fun, relaxing and neat time. The water is thermal and sooo warm and it felt so good. We wore bracelets that let us in and out of the facility and we could get something to drink or eat ,etc all on our bracelet and then pay when we left. We took towels from the hotel so we didn't have to pay for one. There was the special silica paste that we could plaster on our faces and we all agreed we were much more beautiful when we left. It was just a very relaxing time.
Tonight is our farewell dinner together. There are five of us that head home tomorrow and the others head on to Greenland for a week. I am sure they will have a great time but I am glad we are heading home. This has been a very active trip and we are ready to rest and catch up at home! We fly tomorrow afternoon to NYC. We will spend the night at the Hilton there and fly to Atlanta early Saturday morning in time to be home for the game.
Today we took the hotel shuttle to the nearby mall and did our souvenir shopping and then walked back to the hotel. Iceland is such a gorgeous country but souvenirs are not that easy to spot for our tastes, which is just as well. I was going to bring back some of the Blue Lagoon hand cream etc but the smallest size tube was the size of the hotel shampoo and were about $25....hmmm. No handcream is that good!
Tonight is our farewell dinner together. There are five of us that head home tomorrow and the others head on to Greenland for a week. I am sure they will have a great time but I am glad we are heading home. This has been a very active trip and we are ready to rest and catch up at home! We fly tomorrow afternoon to NYC. We will spend the night at the Hilton there and fly to Atlanta early Saturday morning in time to be home for the game.
Today we took the hotel shuttle to the nearby mall and did our souvenir shopping and then walked back to the hotel. Iceland is such a gorgeous country but souvenirs are not that easy to spot for our tastes, which is just as well. I was going to bring back some of the Blue Lagoon hand cream etc but the smallest size tube was the size of the hotel shampoo and were about $25....hmmm. No handcream is that good!
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Wetsuits and River Rafts
Today we went river rafting on the glacial river. Can we say “cold water?” It was quite an experience but so much fun! First, before we got to the river rafting place, we stopped at a crater formed by a big volcanic explosion and now is filled with water. There have been concerts from boats out in the middle as people sat around on the slopes. It was very interesting. The banks were very steep and it just surprised me that someone would think of it as a theatre to perform in!
When we arrived at the river rafting place, we went in and the staff assigned us each a wetsuit, wetshoe/socks, a waterproof jacket and we headed to the dressing rooms. One thing we are learning is that there is no privacy in Iceland. They do separate by gender but we are all one big happy family now as we changed into our bathing suits to wear under the wetsuits. Just getting the wetsuits on was an experience. It was like putting on a second skin. Too bad people couldn’t video us as I suspect we might win the world’s funniest video! We had a lot of laughs but we managed to all get dressed and ready. You can wear polartec or wool under the jacket, on top of the wetsuit, or wool socks. But if you wear anything cotton, you will be colder than not having anything. We all got life jackets, helmets and paddles. We were all set! We could not take our cameras as they would get ruined, but Jim put his little one in a ziplock bag as it is on its last leg anyway and we are near the end of the trip. He got some good photos of me. I bought one of the waterproof cameras that they sold at the place-exactly twice what we would have paid at Target for one, but then we’d have had to bring it through all the xray machines. I doubt I got any decent photos on it, but I tried. The company missed an economic opportunity not to take photos from the shore along the way-we’d have all paid! Regardless, it was hilarious and fun. I wound up in the floor of the boat twice when we hit a big stretch. One across the raft from me would have gone in if our guide had not grabbed her. Julie, if this was a 2*+ rapid ride, ours must have been about a .50. Our worst rapid was about the lightest one today. We did get soaked and our toes got numb from the cold. The scenery was beautiful and I am so glad we did it. Would I do it again if we came back? Nope, been there, done that. Now the one in Costa Rica? In a heartbeat! (notice the heart reference). This one brought back family memories of a river raft trip on the Snake River…. It was a lot of work paddling and maneuvering and just staying in the raft, but we did have fun. We rafted for about 1 ½ hours and then came back to change clothes and eat our warm soup for lunch. They had a hot tub outside you could use and a sauna too but for me, by the time I got the wetsuit off, I just wanted to be dressed and it was not worth the effort to go out in the cold to the hot tub!
Later we stopped by a beautiful little church that had lovely stained glass windows-abstract designs. There have been 11 buildings on this site and the first one was built in 1057. They are doing archeological digs beside the church to see if they can find the bishop’s house that was supposed to have stood there.
Before the river rafting, we stopped at one of the largest flower growers in Iceland. His greenhouses were amazing and he was growing gerbera daisies and mums and roses and other cut flowers and he makes bouquets that are sold in supermarkets , like our Kroger. It was really interesting because his property is on one of the geothermal areas and he heats and grows them using the water from this.
After our visit to the church in the afternoon, we went to the geothermal power plant near Reykjavik. It is very modern and they explained how they use the thermal features to make power for their country. Very resourceful.
Jim and I went next door to Pizza Hut for supper as we are too tired to go the downtown to search out a restaurant. Our room here at the Hilton is lovely and we have a great view over the water and mountains. It has been a great day.
When we arrived at the river rafting place, we went in and the staff assigned us each a wetsuit, wetshoe/socks, a waterproof jacket and we headed to the dressing rooms. One thing we are learning is that there is no privacy in Iceland. They do separate by gender but we are all one big happy family now as we changed into our bathing suits to wear under the wetsuits. Just getting the wetsuits on was an experience. It was like putting on a second skin. Too bad people couldn’t video us as I suspect we might win the world’s funniest video! We had a lot of laughs but we managed to all get dressed and ready. You can wear polartec or wool under the jacket, on top of the wetsuit, or wool socks. But if you wear anything cotton, you will be colder than not having anything. We all got life jackets, helmets and paddles. We were all set! We could not take our cameras as they would get ruined, but Jim put his little one in a ziplock bag as it is on its last leg anyway and we are near the end of the trip. He got some good photos of me. I bought one of the waterproof cameras that they sold at the place-exactly twice what we would have paid at Target for one, but then we’d have had to bring it through all the xray machines. I doubt I got any decent photos on it, but I tried. The company missed an economic opportunity not to take photos from the shore along the way-we’d have all paid! Regardless, it was hilarious and fun. I wound up in the floor of the boat twice when we hit a big stretch. One across the raft from me would have gone in if our guide had not grabbed her. Julie, if this was a 2*+ rapid ride, ours must have been about a .50. Our worst rapid was about the lightest one today. We did get soaked and our toes got numb from the cold. The scenery was beautiful and I am so glad we did it. Would I do it again if we came back? Nope, been there, done that. Now the one in Costa Rica? In a heartbeat! (notice the heart reference). This one brought back family memories of a river raft trip on the Snake River…. It was a lot of work paddling and maneuvering and just staying in the raft, but we did have fun. We rafted for about 1 ½ hours and then came back to change clothes and eat our warm soup for lunch. They had a hot tub outside you could use and a sauna too but for me, by the time I got the wetsuit off, I just wanted to be dressed and it was not worth the effort to go out in the cold to the hot tub!
Later we stopped by a beautiful little church that had lovely stained glass windows-abstract designs. There have been 11 buildings on this site and the first one was built in 1057. They are doing archeological digs beside the church to see if they can find the bishop’s house that was supposed to have stood there.
Before the river rafting, we stopped at one of the largest flower growers in Iceland. His greenhouses were amazing and he was growing gerbera daisies and mums and roses and other cut flowers and he makes bouquets that are sold in supermarkets , like our Kroger. It was really interesting because his property is on one of the geothermal areas and he heats and grows them using the water from this.
After our visit to the church in the afternoon, we went to the geothermal power plant near Reykjavik. It is very modern and they explained how they use the thermal features to make power for their country. Very resourceful.
Jim and I went next door to Pizza Hut for supper as we are too tired to go the downtown to search out a restaurant. Our room here at the Hilton is lovely and we have a great view over the water and mountains. It has been a great day.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
photos from Tuesday's glacier adventure
having trouble getting photos to post. this is one of me at the glacier, with our gear and ready to go. Hope I can get some of the others to do because they are so funny
Waterfalls and Glaciers, adventures galore
Today was chocked full of adventures for us. The weather was wonderful and we took good advantage of it. We started off the day driving to a huge glacier. I could tell you the name but you probably wouldn't believe me if I wrote it down! Basically it is glacier of the sun. We were given our snow equipment-things that fit over our shoes that had big spikes all over them-we thought they were much like the roller skates that most of us had as kids where we had a key to make them fit. Our guide instructed us in how to put them on and checked us well when we were through. Let's just say without those contraptions, we would not have been able to do the glacier walk. We had walked on a glacier in the Canadian Rockies but this was very different. As with most glaciers, the ones here are melting fast. This one has some geothermal things under it that are increasing the melting from the underside. So there were holes and thin spots and crevices all over. We followed our guide carefully or most of us did. I was shocked at how muich work it was to walk up that very tall hill or mountain of ice! It took new muscles that we don't use much. My ankles are sore tonight-so guess our exercise on Tuesday where we exercise the ankles is not quite enough to get them up to speed for this kind of adventure. It was amazing to go up the glacier so far and to see the landscape all around from an upper vantage point. Going up made my back spasm-guess it was putting strain in a way that it was not used to. Coming down was much easier, though harder to control your speed and steps. We were on the glacier almost 2 hours though so it was quite a fun experience.
From there we went to eat lunch at a very neat restaurant on the top of a ridge with a pretty view. I was craving a Coke about that time and unfortunately, they were all out of soft drinks. oh well. After the refreshing lunch, we headed to the town of Vic. It is the southern most town in Iceland. We walked along the black sand beaches and enjoyed the beautiful views. We stopped by a woolen factory and enjoyed watching the workers sorting socks and packaging things.
Next we went to two museums that were side by side. One was an indoor/outdoor museum that was similar to the one we went to a couple of days ago but had many different features and was quite interesting. The other was a transportation museum. From my perspective, its chief attractiveness lay in its nice "technical stop."That is what our guide calls our restroom breaks.
From the museums, we went to our first big waterfall of the afternoon. It was a high one and spectacular because it fell so far. Then we drove for about half an hour to another big waterfall and got to walk behind this one. It involved climbing up rocks as steps and holding on for dear life for us less agile people!It was beautiful though and it was very neat to see it from both sides. We literally climbed up on our hands and knees at one point. Photos won't do that justice! Just imagine it.
We drove on back to Selfoss which is a wonderful little town. Our hotel is wonderful and more upscale than the one even in Reyhjavik. We have a beautiful view from our window overlooking the river and the pretty little town church. Jim and I went for a walk after dinner and it was just lovely. We visited with two pretty horses in the neighboring pasture and found a geothermal area down near the water.
Tomorrow we start off by river rafting....brrrr.. I am thankful for my experience with Julie on our mission trip. Our guide tells me this is a class 2 rapid, but that sometimes it is a class 2+. I think it will be great fun but we can plan to get wet. Look forward to some funny photos, I hope. Who knows if we can get any or not.
From there we went to eat lunch at a very neat restaurant on the top of a ridge with a pretty view. I was craving a Coke about that time and unfortunately, they were all out of soft drinks. oh well. After the refreshing lunch, we headed to the town of Vic. It is the southern most town in Iceland. We walked along the black sand beaches and enjoyed the beautiful views. We stopped by a woolen factory and enjoyed watching the workers sorting socks and packaging things.
Next we went to two museums that were side by side. One was an indoor/outdoor museum that was similar to the one we went to a couple of days ago but had many different features and was quite interesting. The other was a transportation museum. From my perspective, its chief attractiveness lay in its nice "technical stop."That is what our guide calls our restroom breaks.
From the museums, we went to our first big waterfall of the afternoon. It was a high one and spectacular because it fell so far. Then we drove for about half an hour to another big waterfall and got to walk behind this one. It involved climbing up rocks as steps and holding on for dear life for us less agile people!It was beautiful though and it was very neat to see it from both sides. We literally climbed up on our hands and knees at one point. Photos won't do that justice! Just imagine it.
We drove on back to Selfoss which is a wonderful little town. Our hotel is wonderful and more upscale than the one even in Reyhjavik. We have a beautiful view from our window overlooking the river and the pretty little town church. Jim and I went for a walk after dinner and it was just lovely. We visited with two pretty horses in the neighboring pasture and found a geothermal area down near the water.
Tomorrow we start off by river rafting....brrrr.. I am thankful for my experience with Julie on our mission trip. Our guide tells me this is a class 2 rapid, but that sometimes it is a class 2+. I think it will be great fun but we can plan to get wet. Look forward to some funny photos, I hope. Who knows if we can get any or not.
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