CRUISE - DAY ONE, TWO & THREE

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VENICE, ITALY

WATER OVERRUNS THE SQUARES

 

AT LEAST IT HAD NO POSTS TO BLOCK THE VIEW!

We had thought about strolling a couple of hours more in Venice, but the fog was so heavy that the ship in the next slip over kept disappearing in it. As Karin would say, “We were SO done with the wet weather in Venice!” So, instead, we had a much-needed quiet day of naps and exploring the ship. That evening, dinner was “formal,” but our waiter and table-mates had urged us to come even though we'd brought no dress-up clothes. Reluctantly, Bob agreed, and we had a good time. Steve, it turns out, is a high powered lawyer for Cisco, so we learned that the company saves about $250 million each year by holding conferences not in person, but through high def video. Steve, for example, can sit at home and chat on his 72” screen with his team of twenty lawyers in Paris. Cuts down a lot on travel and leaves him more time to be with his new bride, Sunshine! After dinner, we saw the ship's twelve singers and dancers do numbers based on the theme of traveling to cities around the world. We think it may well be the worst stage show either of us has ever seen. As Jeff Fox would say, the sound guy created a wall of sound so the voices were no different from the music. Stan Greenberg would scream about the equalizers! We simply suffered.

OLD TOWN

DUBROVNIK, CROATIA The ship arranged for shuttle buses to take passengers to the Old City for only 20 E (about $28) for two of us round trip, but having done the research, we went local. First we bought a hundred Kona at an ATM for about $18. Then we took the local bus in and back and had enough left over for an espresso, a couple of ice cream cones, a package of candied nuts, two sessions to catch up on our email at an internet cafe, and a post card to use up the last three coins with! Love it when we can beat the ship's rip-offs!

PEOPLE CLIMBING TO THE TOP OF THE WALL--NOT US!

The Old City is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It's small and enclosed by a huge thick wall that you can walk around the top of, but even though the day was sunny (!), we opted not to because of Bob's knee. The first stairway up to the top gives you some idea what might lie ahead. Instead, we just wandered snapping photos of narrow streets paved with marble stones. (We paused at one point to watch a couple of men repaving one area with stones that must have weighed 150 pounds each.)

The city was involved in war and trade for all of its long history, but the worst time was in 1667 when it was virtually demolished by an earthquake that killed over half its population. Then again, in 1991—only 19 years ago—it was heavily damaged during the civil war when Yugoslavia broke up. Now it's under siege from tourists off humungous cruise ships like ours.

I (Stew) have to admit, though, we do enjoy our upgraded penthouse balcony. In the afternoon, we read and dozed there, and the view of city by night was spectacular.

URGENT WORKS?

C0RFU, GREECE The City has two forts that remind one of its war-torn past. We wandered around the end of the island expecting beautifully landscaped gardens, but found trash, seedy buildings, and grass that had not been cut for months. We searched for the archeological museum, and eventually found it. Closed! I'd hoped to visit Mon Repos, but by then, we'd had enough aimless wandering and made our way back to the ship.