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July 4^th

The Med Cruise was wonderful.  Blue water, nice weather.  Florence was the most wonderful place.  Such old buildings and architecture.  Did some touring and wine tasting.  Cannes and Nice are beautiful with their beaches. 

We are in South Hampton for the day.  We pick up the Holland cruise tomorrow and heading home.  A relaxing cruise with no ports of call sounds relaxing after 2 weeks of sightseeing everyday.  We should be home on July 12^th.

Many thanks to our travel agent¸Bobbie Murphy, who worked out a lot of problems and glitches on this trip long distance.  Cudos to you.

Rome

June 25^th.

Rome.

Rome is wonderful.  Busy and noisy, but wonderful.  Went to the Vatican yesterday.  Breathtaking.  I was overwhelmed by the artwork and frescos painted on the ceilings, walls, everywhere.  It was hard to take it all in.  Our hotel is great.  Nice room, with balcony and table and chairs overlooking the street below. Plants and trees on the balcony.  We had breakfast out there and Tom was working on his computer there.  Weather is nice.  Hot in the afternoon, but not that bad after Cinti weather.    Had spaghetti, pizza and chocolate gelato.  Tom is happy, covered the three major foods we wanted to taste.

We could stay here longer if we could.  Leaving today for Palma, Majorca.  One day there and then on to the cruise.

London Pictures

Another day, another adventure

We checked in to the hotel about 5:00 PM last night. The place is beautiful. Really high tech place…you put your key card in a receptacle in the room, which operates the lights, so you can’t leave the lights on when you leave. But the internet was another story…took forever to get logged on. 

Today we left at 7:00 for a tour of London on an open top bus.  It was a good way to see everything in one day. There are SO many tour buses, plus the regular buses and cars on the road that it felt like NYC.  I can’t believe there were no accidents.  They just weave in and out and change lanes;  big buses passing by each other. I think their mirrors were just inches apart.  Kind of nerve-racking.  Then our bus broke down.  And we had to wait for about an hour for another one to come and take us to the next place.   

We went to Harrod’s for lunch.  Very posh.  Thought about buying something there, but there prices are ridiculous.  $250.00 for a scarf.  .  And people carrying shopping bags full of merchandise!! 

After lunch we were going to go to the Tower of London.  So we headed down to the subway.  Now that is an adventure.  Subways are not for people who have trouble walking.  Down and up and again and again.  Then to find that they decided to close that line that you were going to take. Up again to find a new line and then down.  By now we have spent 1½   hours trying to just get to the Tower of London.  I looked at Tom and said "we need to find a cab".

By the time we got to there, it was too late to go into the Tower, so we just walked around it and took some pictures.  Typical of London, we had rain a good part of the day.

All in all it was a good day, just some bumps in the road. Saw a lot, so that was good.

When we got back to the hotel, we Skyped with Bridget, Chris, and the kids.  That was nice

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Tomorrow we head off to Paris. We are taking the Chunnel. We have to keep all of our bags with us, so wish us luck.

Hi everyone,

Well, things got off to a rocky start, but it seems to be settling down now.

We left the house about 2:00 PM on Thursday for a 5:40 PM flight to New York, where we would stay overnight, get up in the morning, have a leisurely breakfast then head over to the pier around 1:00 PM.

Yeah, that didn’t work!!

After delaying our flight 3 different times, American Airlines quietly cancelled the flight. I only found out when I went to check the board to see if the 3^rd delayed departure would actually start boarding. The board now read Miami!!! WHAT?? After finally tracking down an agent, I found out that the flight had been CANCELLED!! We headed for the ticketing counter, where we found a loooong line. While standing in line, I overheard an agent telling another stranded passenger, that, not only would there be no more flights to New York that day, but all flights to any New York airport on Friday were fully booked and that they could not get us there until Saturday. Uhhhh, I have to meet a ship on FRIDAY and there is NO 2^nd port to catch up with it.

I called AA and they offered a flight out of Lexington, connecting thru Chicago at 7:00 AM. I took it, then we had 2^nd thoughts…what if we made it, but our luggage didn’t. At the same  time, Rita called Bridget, and, lo & behold, she found a direct Delta flight leaving Friday out of Cincinnati @ 7:30 AM. (Thanks, Bridget…we can always count on you J) So, breathing a lot easier, and now with 2 reservations, I got back in line to try to get AA to pay for the REALLY expensive Delta tickets and refund the AA tickets that had already been paid for. Guess what?? They wouldn’t do it. All that they said they could do was to refund the AA tickets. And to top it off, they (the professional travel people) couldn’t see the Delta flight that my daughter found in 15 minutes on the internet. So, we got our AA money back but still needed a place to stay overnight. Tiff had already taken the car. But even if we had a way home, we would have to be back at the airport by 5:00 AM. The only option was to stay at a hotel very near the airport. Now, don’t you think that AA would have at the very least, paid for the room. Ha! Not a chance. All they would give us was a voucher that got us 10% off. Big whoop!!

The next morning, things went as smooth as could be. We were in a cab, on our way to the pier, by 12:00 PM. Boarding was a piece of cake…(we had asked for assistance getting Rita on & off the ship, so a Cunard employee met us with a wheel chair and we went right to the head of the line.

So far, the cruise is nice, but not overwhelming. The food is on par with other cruises we have taken. The staff is cordial, but not friendly. By this time on another cruise, the waiters & stewards would have begun to build a rapport. Maybe it’s just a British thing.

On a more positive note,  the afternoon tea is a delight. This is one the British traditions we should have held onto.

We are in the 4^th day of the cruise and are beginning to find our way around. We should have it down pat by the time we reach Southampton.

This morning, Rita and I took a beginners class on Macs. It showed us some tips and tricks that I didn’t know the Mac could do…maybe with a little practice, I could actually provide some tech support when the Mac freezes up (and not always have to call Tiff J).

Well, we’re off to yet another meal. I am really going to need to do some walking around this ship or else I’ll gain 10 more pounds by the time we disembark.

Bye for now…I’ll post again soon.

5 days & counting

Wow!!! I can't believe that we're leaving in 5 days...Seems like we just started talking about this trip a couple of weeks ago. So many details to work out :)

Our itineray

Leave on QM2 06/10

Arrive Southampton 06/17

Transfer to London...2 days in London

Take the chunnel to Paris 06/19

3 days in Paris...the girls gave Rita a cooking class in Paris for our anniversary & Mothers Day!!

Take an overnight train to Rome on 06/22

2 days in Rome

Fly to Palma de Majorca on 06/25. I was in Palma in '68 when I was in the Navy and I've been trying to get back ever since.

Stay overnight and board Royal Carribean's Grandeur of the Seas for a 7 day Mediteranean cruise. We will be stopping in Cannes, Florence, Rome, Palermo and back to Palma. The girl's also gave me a tour to Tuscany for a wine tasting for our anniversary and my 65th birthday (that just can't be right). I can't wait!!

We fly back to London on 06/03 and will transfer to Southampton. We will be in Southampton for the 4th of July.

We board the ms Rotterdam on 07/05 and arrive back in the States on 07/12.

As far as bucket list items...this ranks right up there :)


Check back for pictures...I will try to update every couple of days