THE ETERNAL CITY

Rome was the only "Ship Excursion" that we took. Because Rome does not have a harbor, ships must dock about 60 miles inland in Civitivecchia. We were fearful of taking the train to Rome, getting lost and missing the boat ( quite literally) and we had quite a few "shipboard credits" with which to pay for this particular trip. We didn't do a tour, but just took the bus, with guide, that was provided to Rome. We were supposed to get there by 10:00 and meet for the return at 4:15. Clearly not a lot of time and we didn't get to St Peter's Square until after 11:00 because of horrible trafffic. The next 20 minutes were spent in line, with legs crossed, waiting for my turn at the, you guessed it, Ladies Room. I was in dire need and was most annoyed when the women in front of me twice let 4 women cut in line. Believe me, I was mumbling for sure. Of course there was no line for the men's room so Bob wandered off to start the photo journal. Our plans for today were to see St Peters Basilica and Piazza Navona. Anything else would just be icing on the cake. We spent a couple of hours in and around St Peters where Bob literally took hundreds of pictures and then wandered off to catch the Hop On Hop Off bus. I had purchased the tickets before I left home to make sure that I had them. Silly waste of time! There are several HO HO ( sounds like a bus of prostitutes or evil Santas, huh?...but HOHO is what they are refered to) bus lines in Rome. The problem is the traffic congestion. Once on, we only wanted to go two stops to the Piazza Navona for lunch and it took over 45 minutes. Any hopes of seeing P.N and then riding the bus to get an overview of the city were dashed. But that was OK, remember this was a stress free vacation. We had a pizza lunch ( again) , explored the Piazza and then wandered back to St Peters on some lovely side streets. Oh and we stopped for gelato and cappucino on the way. Day done, back to the bus in plenty of time to wait for 4 people who had to be found and brought back. Bet their day was not stress free although they showed no signs of humiliation when they finally got on the bus. I personally would have been mortified.

All pictures are in and around Piazza Navona and leaving St Peters.

Fountain at St Peter's Square ( Piazza St Pietro)

Leaving the square at the Vatican Gate

Bouganvilla (sp), just like SoCal

See what I mean, congested ( and very noisy city).

Perpendicular as well as parallel parking

Love these trees, I think I read that they are called Umbrella Pines

Beautiful apartment buildings near Castelo St Angelo

Castelo St Angelo

Ponte St Angelo

Love the chapeau.. how do you say "hat" in Italian?

My very favorite Rome picture

I had a wonderful tourist map of Rome. It didn't have every street on it, but it had small drawings and comments. We wandered the street which the map indicated "was a small, narrow street filled with antique shops". Beautiful!

That's it for Rome. Join me in a day or two for Pisa, leading up to the grand finale...Villefranche.

Later,
Janet

NAPLES AND CAPRI

Approaching the dock in Naples

View from the pier, large battlements from long, long ago

It is gritty and dirty and the cars do.not.stop. for pedestrians

Here is the ferry to Capri, 32 Euro per person, round trip. Seemed kind of steep (bad pun), but about 45 minutes and a gorgeous ride. We are up top ( of course) to enjoy the view and the sun.

The terrain should have been a clue!

Signs say "To the Center", I had heard it was a 10 minute walk.

We start walking; we may not be particularly young or terribly fit, but we have very strong legs.

One of many doorways we pass along the way, it's sunny and about 80 by this time.

Lemon trees in abundance. Limoncello( strong lemon liquer) is a favorite here.

Quaint signs along the way to designate addresses. Very charming, but after 7 or 8 minutes of trudging we come to a cross street which leads to more steps...

We finally reach a second cross street and Bob calls it quits. I balk and say it can't be much further. Yeah right! So we continue on a bit further, calves screaming. Then we give in to common sense.

We walk back down the hill/ cliff and buy a ticket for the funicular. We warn people along the way...they don't believe us...they are never seen again ;-(

Here I am at the top, calves are still clenching of their own accord. This is when I remember that my broker, who had been here a couple of weeks before, said it is all designer shops up here. Like a mini, high altitude Rodeo Drive!

A hotel for the Beautiful People, what am I not gorgeous?? I would have loved to sneak a peek at the menu, but I was so far out of my league..

It's not entirely flat, even up here

I need money, so I attempt an ATM here. I ask for English and then for 200Euro, I key in my pin. The ATM pauses, burps and then spits my card out, no money, no receipt, no explanation! We decided that waiting inside the bank was not such a good idea ( after 15 minutes with no movement in the line). Now, to find a bathroom. Let me warn you that public restrooms aka Toilettes in all of the Med, are hit or miss and I mean that quite literally. Sometimes you have to pay, sometimes there is TP and sometimes there are even seats...yeah, you read that right. This was a pay and wait, but had a seat and TP...worth the .50 Euro.

We have about an hour before our ferry leaves, so we settle in for our first Italian Pizza, followed by yummy gelato and this was the view. Pizza, bottled water and gelato $25 Euro (and the pizza was only 7 Euro!), the view PRICELESS!

We checked out the small beach before getting our ferry back to Naples. Yes, we took the funicular back down, in case you were wondering. The plan was to maybe get tickets for the Hop On Hop Off bus once back in Naples, but by the time we walked around a rather seedy area to find an ATM ( remember I didn't get any $$ in Capri), we decided we really didn't want to spend any more time there. Next time we go (and we will go again) we will plan to see Pompeii.

I will leave you with a view of a window, you knew there would be at least one window pic!

Later,
Janet

CHICKEN SALAD

image from Flickr

Do you love Chicken Salad? Are you picky about what is in it? I made my favorite this morning and can't wait to bite into it. I start with Rotisserie Chicken from the market ( or home roasted chicken, if I have some), always add celery for crunch, some fresh tarragon ( in season), mayonnaise and my favorite addition....dried cranberries. I don't bother to plump them, I like the chewy texture they add. Sometimes I add a very small amount of finely diced red onion and / or sliced almonds. Right now I just have Cocoa Roasted almonds and although they are delicious for a snack I don't think they would too compatible with chicken, lol. Maybe for dessert.

Now for the dilemma...a sandwich on a nice Salaio bread (which is some kind of rustic Italian type bread) or over some mixed greens?

Later,
Janet

FOR YOU, MY PRETTIES

I came across this beautiful French blog today and thought you might enjoy a visit. Heart in Provence is very pretty with lovely, romantic ideas, tres francaise, mais oui?

Later,
Janet

ON TO MALTA

First a little info about Malta. I have to admit that the only references I had to Malta were the Cross and the Falcon and quite honestly I don't think I have ever seen or even read The Maltese Falcon. I was not sure what to expect and would we need to take ship sponsored excursion or could we explore on our own?? Just a word here about ship sponsored excursions...they will try and sell you an excursion anywhere they think you might want to go, with the possible exception of the bathroom ( and in some places that would be helpful). So I sent an e-mail to the Valletta Malta Mayor's office and he sent me an e-mail back within an hour...how cool is that? He told me that we could easily explore on our own and that we could take a bus for one Euro as it is a bit of a climb to town. But I digress or get things out of order. Back to Malta background. Malta is an island republic and is virtually in the middle of the Mediterranean region about 288 KM from Africa and 90KM from Sicily. There are three occupied islands and Valletta is the capital. There is 7000 years of history and the islands have been occupied by most everyone in that time. The nationalities that have occupied the island have left a rich tapestry of styles and traditions.

So here is what you see as you approach the largest natural harbor in Europe

Really, the buildings look like something you would see in a French Foreign Legion movie. All the sandstone is like nothing I have ever imagined. And check out the color of the sky. It is really just the most magnificent blue you have ever seen.

Walk along here to get the bus to town. Everything is very organized and there are people to tell you the bus will be there in 8 minutes, 7 minutes...etc. Stop at the ATM at the National Bank of Valletta to get some Euros for the day. Really, they work just like at home with one exception that I will mumble about later in the trip.

This was not the bus, but they have a fleet of these funky buses with names that take you from the island of Malta to the two other inhabited islands. We opted to just hang in Valletta as we had a short timetable here.

Main Street of Valletta

I think this is the Palace of the Knights of St John. Edited: Silversewer tells me this is the Co-Cathedral. Sorry, and thank you silversewer! They played a huge role in the history of Malta, but honestly I didn't pay attention to that part of my research

Crowded streets. We are on our way to a WWII Museum...Bob's favorite thing in the whole world and he didn't even know about it until I mentioned it. Am I the best wife or what?

A view of the fort

Public gardens. Once again check out the sky

Goofy, I know

Waterfront shops and restaurants including the Hard Rock. Large bookshop with a good selection of mysteries. I was fearful that I had not brought enough reading material and the library on the ship had only one hour a day to check out books!!

Something to note about Europe; they sell what we would call Ice Cream Novelties everywhere despite the fact that there are Gelaterias everywhere with wonderful gelato. You never really see a lot of people eating ice cream, it just seems to be available everywhere. Just before we got to the Public Gardens I was getting hungry so we paid 2 Euros each for a Cornetta, you know the packaged ice cream cones with the chopped nuts on top. Not my favorite ice cream splurge, but usually adequate. These were soggy! How can a frozen ice cream cone be soggy while the ice cream is still frozen?? I'm just saying! So ultimately we were done with our jaunt around Valletta by about 1:30 and opted to go back on the ship to eat lunch. Nothing in the town had really appealed to me ( foodwise) in a big way and I am basically frugal. We had already paid for food on the ship and we were right there, so why not. We ate lunch and then relaxed while we cruised away from this very scenic locale. Tomorrow we will awake in Naples and get ready for the Isle of Capri.

Note to Life in Red Shoes: I haven't bought anything yet ( well, except a novel). Apparently I have a legacy from my late MIL and I am scared to buy anything unless I really, really want it lol. The time will come in Pisa and in France where I will part with a bit ( but not much) money! What a frugal Yankee I am.

Later,
Janet

BARCELONA DAY 2

click to enlarge any of Bob's excellent photos

Here are the rest of the photos I have selected to show you of Saturday evening and Sunday morning. When I look at these pictures I realize that they are random, but it makes me happy to remember these places. Nothing makes me happier than to just ramble about and see whatever I see. Sometimes you look up and find marvelous architecture overhead or peer down an alley and spot street musicians or beautiful orange trees and flowers. I didn't get any shots of the waterfront other than the craft fair, but the waterfront is vibrant with lots of restaurants and museums. Apparently Barcelona lived with its back to the sea until the 1992 Olympics. At that time they tore down a lot of the seedy warehouses and built part of the Olympic Village and rehabbed the whole waterfront district. You could spend a day just wandering this area and I believe that there are sights to be seen on the beaches, lol.

To answer the questions from yesterday...yes the beds were comfy, but we had been up 33 hours by then and a rock would have been comfy. We had heard that noise could be a factor and that trash is picked up at4AM. We had metal louvered shutters to shut out the noise and light and I believe I did hear the trash trucks, but they certainly didn't keep me awake. The food was good, I had chicken for dinner and I can't even remember what it came with, some vegetables I seem to recall. The wine was good and I had flan for dessert, but for some reason it had chocolate sauce on top. Perhaps the waiter thought Americans like chocolate sauce on things. I would have preferred it plain. Oh yeah, it was not really crowded, maybe because it was early May. There were lots of people about, but it never seemed congested like London or Rome.

After our long morning jaunt we went back to the hotel to get a cab to the port. The ride was short and the embarkation process was the smoothest we have ever had. We were on the boat within a half hour of leaving the hotel. Sorry that we didn't take a picture of the cabin before we unpacked, but once our cabin was ready and the luggage was there we just started to get everything put away and then thought of a picture. Please note the balcony!! We have never had a balcony before and this cabin was an upgrade after prices started to fall. It was on the 10th deck and was squeezed between the romance suites on the back of the ship. No wind whatsoever, just perfect. Now we are spoiled and will never cruise without a balcony again although we may not have such a nice placement again.

Apparently lots of people own boats

Great crafts fair down by the waterfront. Really nice jewelry and leather goods, some scarves. Excellent quality.

Statue of Columbus which also helps with orientation. You can see it from pretty far.

As you can see by the size of the humans, it is a large statue

Close up of just one of the many carvings

These next few pictures are inside the courtyard of the cathedral, don't the oranges look tasty?

Aaaaaflac

Click to enlarge and see the funky things sprouting from the side walls!

The Norwegian Gem Cabin #10168. The balcony was big enough for two lounge chairs and two regular chairs and two small tables.

We relaxed for the rest of Sunday and Monday was a cruise day. Beautiful weather and we sat on our balcony and read most of the day. Of course we ate several times and walked around the decks for exercise, but mostly enjoyed the balcony. We are not ones to use the pools or the hot tubs so the private balcony suited us just fine. Malta post in a day or two. Hope you are enjoying this little travelogue.

Later,
Janet

BARCELONA, DAY 1

I am really not sure how I want to go about telling you the story, so I will start at the very beginning...a very good place to start. After leaving home at 4:30 PM Friday afternoon for our trip to Logan Int Airport for an 8:00 Lufthansa flight to Munich and then a 2 hour layover and then a two hour flight to Barcelona and then a short taxi ride we arrived here...the Hotel Regencia Colon. It is now 2:30 Spain time and we have been up for 27 hours at this point and knew that if we so much as laid our heads down we would be dead to the world and our internal clocks would be screwed up for the entire 9 days...or was it eight days by this time? So, we got a map from the front desk and off we went. We were staying in the Gothic section of town aka the old part and once we saw the huge Cathedral in the square we knew that we would be able to use this landmark to find our way back. No bread crumbs required.

I have to say that I think Barcelona was my favorite, OK second favorite, place we visited. There is a lovely vibrancy about the city and a pleasant juxtaposition of the old, the austere and the new. We walked until 8:30 with a break for a dinner in the square where I unwound with 2 glasses of wine. I am such a floozy while on vacation, lol.

The next morning we got up about 8:30 and went out to find coffee for me. We found a cafe, which it turns out is a chain, but who cares, we are in Spain. The menus have pictures, no need to get that rusty High School Spanish out at this point, but the waitress spoke not a word of English. I had cappucino and a croissant with a cream filling. Quite tasty and I learned by much trial and error that the Spanish word for Sweet and Low is ...drum roll please...saccarina.

We went for another walk in a different direction and found that the Cathedral, which is under construction from the side you see from the Square, has a back entrance with an enormous courtyard. Very beautiful. My new banner is a picture from the courtyard...so very mossy and green. We have many pictures of the Cathedral, alas many Cathedrals throughout Europe, but this is not a travelogue about the great Cathedrals of Europe or the many tourist attractions one expects to see. This is the story of a middle aged couple experiencing the cities we visited in the most stree free way possible. We made a pact before we left that we would each choose something we wanted to see in each place and just relax. So most of the pictures I have chosen from the over 1,000 are of windows, doors and fun things that will always remind me of the trip. So, get the wine and sit back and enjoy Installment #1, aka Barcelona.

Apparently some kind of political statement

The cathedral

Entrance to the Boqueria...all things food

Wonderful bakeries all over the Mediterranean

One of our sons manages a Pizza Hut so we take pictures of them whenever we travel

I find these living statues a bit creepy, but apparently this street ( Las Ramblas( is known for them. Some are quite good and some are cheesy...you decide

That's all for tonight folks. I will finish Day1 in Barcelona tomorrow.

OOH LA LA

C'est tres jolie, n'est-ce pas? See what happens when a girl goes to France for a few hours...no the lamp is not from France, but from a local shop for $30. She just reminds me of France, aah the sea, the lavender, the croissants, the guy in the thong Speedo...oh no...get that image out of my head right now, lol.

Stroudsburg, PA

Here are a couple of pictures I took while ambling about Stroudsburg. Many of the houses are very different from what we have here although they are only 250 miles away. Some of the garden pictures are dark and I don't know how to lighten them with this new photo editing program and I know you are being patient waiting for the "Big Travelogue", so enjoy these few pictures for now and Bob has promised that he will copy some of his photos to one of my folders. Then I will just have to figure out to get them out, sort of like the Prince Albert in a can jokes of the old days!

I like the huge fern, the weeds near the pole, not so much

Isn't that Angel on the roof sweet?

I love the painted brick and the tidy look of this house. Hard to get a picture with the large tree in front

Many "half houses in the area. I believ that it may be a German influence

These three pictures are the same garden, very shady and very private. Not easy to get a sneaky photo. Really neat statuary ( not seen) and funky accents

That statue to the right of the colorful fairy is a frog holding an umbrella fountain...very cool!

Brick Gambrel with slate roof. Many slate roofs still in existence in this neighborhood.

That's it for now.

Janet

MAMAS, DON'T LET YOUR CHILDREN....

grow up to be Software Engineers! The new computer is great, but of course we don't run Windows. Heaven forbid we should use a system so trite. We were set up to use Kubuntu instead, but just when I thought I had figured out what I needed to know and had spent close to a week restoring a lot of things I had bookmarked....important things like....Rate My Space pix I was fond of or recipes etc, we changed to Ubuntu ( what the "K" was for I do. not. know). All my bookmarks got lost.....aaaargh. How odd that Bob didn't lose one bit/byte of his stuff and all mine went where???

Anyway, hoping to figure out how to get some house tours photos edited ( can't use Photoshop with Ubuntu) and Bob has started sorting through over 1500 photos from the trip. Your patience will be rewarded...sometime.

Later,
Janet

HOUSE TOUR

It is time for my favorite annual event..the Providence Preservation Society's Festival of Historic Houses this Saturday. Yippeee, I will bring my camera for the exteriors ( no interior photos allowed) for your viewing pleasure and maybe I will even take you to lunch at Andreas ( fine Greek food) on Thatcher Street if you are good.

Love,
Janet

SUSIE Q LOVE

How many of you know this dear, sweet Brian Dennehy obsessed woman? Seems she is feeling a bit down in the dumps and is contemplating giving up blogging. Can you even imagine a blogging world without her? I certainly can't; she has been one of my inspirations since I started my blog. So, do me a favor and run on over and just give her a hug. Find her at: Rabbit Run Cottage.

Thanks,
Janet

PS. The new computer is up and running, but Bob is away this week and next week he is away again and I will be going to Pennsylvania with him. I don't know when he will get to the trip pictures and the trip is fading fast. But, to paraphrase, we will always have Malta/Capri/Rome/Pisa/Villefranche/Barcelona. The question is...will you??