Transatlantic Cruise - April 2010

This is the first of two blog entries I'm posting today. This entry includes our Transatlantic Cruise from April 19, 2010 until May 3, 2010. We crossed the Atlantic then visited the Azores - Lisbon, Portugal - Cadiz, Spain - Barcelona, Spain and Nice, France. We ended the cruise in Rome, which is included in the subsequent post. I hope you enjoy the photos.



Day 1 of the cruise - leaving Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. No more land for a while.

Day 2 of the cruise - somewhere in the Atlantic.

Day 3 of the cruise - somewhere in the Atlantic.

Day 4 of the cruise - somewhere in the Atlantic.

Day 5 of the cruise - somewhere in the Atlantic.

Day 6 of the cruise - somewhere in the Atlantic.

Day 8 (note that I have two pictures out of order) - Our first port of call was in the Azores, but unfortunately the weather was horrible and the seas too rough to dock, so we spent another day at sea.

Day 7 of the cruise - another day at sea somewhere in the Atlantic.

Day 9 - Our final day at sea until we reach Lisbon, Portugal.

Hurrah, we finally could step on land after over a week at sea. This is the first time I've visited Portugal, so I get to add country number 64. We left the ship and headed for the center of the city. I had recorded an audio tour, so we listened as we walked.

As usual, I can't pass a train station. The main station in Lisbon was small, but had the typical European look.

This tower - the Elevador da Santa Justa - was designed by one of Eiffel's students.

The trolleys were so cute. I have no idea what the sign on the side means.

This was part of the Royal Palace, now government buildings.

Our final stop was the Castelo de Sao Jorge. We climbed a steep cobblestone hill to reach the castle. Somewhere along the way I hurt my knee, which still hasn't healed. We headed down the hill for a long walk back to the ship.

We did stop at this store to replenish our liquor supply on board. You need to come up with ways to smuggle the liquor on board, since the cruise line would rather sell overpriced drinks. But that's what empty water bottles are for. The walk to the ship was much longer than we expected, and we made it back fifteen minutes before sailing. Luckily some of the cruise ship's tours were running late, otherwise we would have had to find a way to our next port of call.

Here we are in Cadiz, Spain. That's the Celebrity Equinox - our home for two weeks. Thank you cousin Sara for the recommendation. Last night we passed the Rock of Gibraltar at 1:00 am. Sorry, no picture.

A sculpture along the beach.

This is the Cathedral.

When we first passed this spot on our Hop On - Hop Off bus, all the boats were on dry land. On our second loop, about an hour later, the tide had risen a few feet.

Here's my lunch, five huge prawns. Eric had fried squid, but they were whole and he didn't know how to eat them.

We continued walking along the beach front to the botanical gardens.

Someone has a lot of free time to trim the trees.

After the bus ride we walked through the residential and commercial areas of Cadiz. Of course we were not able to locate an ATM machine.

Here's our last day at sea.

Next stop - Barcelona, Spain. This is the second time we've been to Barcelona, and on the same date - May 1, or May Day. Everything was closed. This is Gaudi's famous cathedral. Over a hundred years building it and no end in sight. New towers rise every few years.

Okay, here's the challenge. What do you think this is? The person with the best answer will win a prize. This was taken outside the Gaudi Cathedral.

A gargoyle outside the Barcelona Cathedral.

One of the many beautiful buildings in Barcelona.

Our final port of call was Villefranche sur Mer, outside of Nice, France. After taking this photo, I'm now inspired to paint again. Wish me luck.

Another one of my favorite shots - balconies with flowers. Get the paints and easel ready.

We climbed a hill, and went right over the train station. A five minute walk took us over half an hour. We took the train to Nice for the morning.

There is nothing better than fresh French bread. And believe me, I had plenty.

Here's the beach at Nice.

And some shops in Nice.

Another possible painting.

And here's the final shot of the cruise, before leaving for Rome.

It was a fantastic two weeks, and I look forward to another transatlantic voyage.

Italy Rome and Florence - May 2010

This is the follow up posting to the Transatlantic Cruise posting. We left the ship at Civitavecchia, Italy - the closest port to Rome. We left the ship at 9:30 am, one of the last groups. We took the bus to the entrance of the port and then found the train station. It was an hour and a half ride to Rome Termini Station. We got there at 11:00 am, but could not check into our apartment until 3:30 pm. So we walked to the Spanish Steps and had a nice long, long, long lunch. We asked the waiter where our apartment was, and luckily it was only a few blocks away. The agent showed up at 4:00 pm, no surprise. The apartment was fine, one bedroom, tiny kitchen (smaller than Rachel's), living room, and most important a washing machine. But there was no dryer, so we hung our clothes throughout the apartment for days.



Here are the Spanish Steps.

And the Colosseum.

It was funny seeing this gladiator with his gym bag. We've been watching the Starz Spartacus series, and were hoping to see him at the Colosseum.

We took a tour of the Colosseum and learned some interesting facts and fiction.

Even though we didn't make it to Pisa, I did find a leaning tower.

The second half of the tour was in the Palatino. We then visited the Forum by ourselves.

Here's the Vittorio Emanuele Monument, which we saw after leaving the Forum.

This panoramic picture was taken in the Trastevere section of Rome. We stopped for some wine and olives.

The next day we went to the Vatican - and guess who made an appearance - the Pope himself. I was about 10 feet away when his Pope-mobile passed by. We were planning to visit the museum, but nothing was open that morning. We got great seats, but then it started to rain, so we tried to leave - no luck, all the aisles were barricaded. So we stood there and waited until the Pope drove by. Finally, three hours after we arrived we were able to get out, but it was exciting see the Pope.

We each made a wish at the Trevi Fountain. Well I made three wishes and hope at least one comes through.

Here's the original floor of the Pantheon. Over 2000 years old.

Sorry this picture is on its side. But there must be 1000 of these Panini carts in Rome, and every one was run by Indians - like from India. When they decide to take something over, they do it in a big way.

We visited the Borghese Gardens, and here's a view from the top.

My grandfather had Harry's Tavern - this is the closest I could find in Rome.

You ask why I took this photo - Well the first words I learned in Spanish 101 were "Donde esta la biblioteca?" So we look for one in every city.

On or next to last day in Italy, we took a train to Florence. I wish we had fast trains like this in the USA. Here's the Duomo.

These four large bottles of wine were on the sidewalk outside a wine shop.

This is the smallest car I've ever seen. All the Smart cars park like this, backing into the curb.

This is the second leaning tower I've seen, but not Pisa.

The line to see the David was too long, so we settled for the reproduction outside.

The famous Ponto Vecchio spanning the Arno River.

What is Italy without Gelato? My favorites are pistachio and chocolate.

A final gelato shot.