Day 1 - December 30, 2009

The pictures are:
1. We made it.
2. The living room, bedroom to the left.
3. Walking to the beach.
4. Barb at waters edge.
5. A Disney ship leaving port.
6. Dinner – crab cakes and shrimp to start.

It wasn’t fun waking up at 3:30am to get to the airport for a 5:47am flight but we made it and arrived at the gate with 5 minutes to spare. The security lines were longer than we have ever seen, but they moved pretty well.

The AirTran flights were uneventful and we made it to Orlando by 12:30pm. We put in a call for the shuttle and the driver with a van was there in less than 10 minutes. It was about an hour drive to Cocoa Beach and then on to pick up our rental car. The clerk took one look at our luggage and said no way it would fit into the convertible. Well it fit; we just had to be careful going around any corners!

Fortunately, the hotel was close. We checked in and they gave us a king suite - two rooms with two balconies. We unpacked quickly and went down to the beach for a nice walk. The beach was nice and wide, the waves were beautiful and the water was cold but it was wonderful being down in the warm weather. It was about 65 degrees when we arrived.

For dinner, we went to Cape Canaveral and to the south side of the bay that the cruise ship travel and ate on the waters edge watching some cruise ships leaving for port. We are at Rusty’s Seafood and Oyster Bar and it was fun and the food was nice.

Then it was on to Wal-Mart to pick up soft drinks to take on the ship and then back to the Marriott where we are going to crash very early.

Ed is using his iPhone, his Christmas present from Barb, and it works great. He was able to check e-mails very easily in Atlanta and then on the ride over to the beach. What a time saver.

Tomorrow is the Space Center – neither of us has been there.

Our Next Trip - New Years - 2010

We leave after a wonderful Christmas on December 30, 2010 at 6:00am and fly AirTran to Orlando where we will go to Cocoa Beach for a couple of days.

At Coco Beach we will be staying at the Marriott Courtyard Cocoa Beach, Dec 30 – Jan 1

Saturday, Jan 02 Port Canaveral (Orlando), FL Departs 4:00pm

Sunday, Jan 03 Nassau, Bahamas 8:30am - 2:00pm

Monday, Jan 04 Fun Day At Sea

Tuesday, Jan 05 St. Thomas, USVI 10:00am - 8:00pm

Wednesday, Jan 06 St. Maarten, NA 8:00am - 6:00pm

Thursday, Jan 07 Fun Day At Sea

Friday, Jan 08 Fun Day At Sea

Saturday, Jan 09 Port Canaveral (Orlando), FL arrive 8:00am

We return to Bloomington on Saturday January 9 on AirTran at 6:14 pm.

From Barb – in her own words – Europe 2009

This is really difficult; first of all, my limited vocabulary has been reduced to one word: WOW!!!!! REALLY, that’s all I was able to utter between weeping!
Rome was wonderful, Greece better than before and Turkey I just love…there is NO way to explain Israel and Egypt, you have to experience it! You’re in the Holy Land, walking where Jesus walked, lived, preached, was crusified, and your overwhelmed just by being in these places, BUT the wars, the conflicts, the hatred, the mistrust, it’s indescribable.

And there’s the filth, the trash everywhere, the children begging, the little kids swimming in such conditions, actually in waters (the Nile) with dead horses right beside them. The streets of Cairo where there’s horses, camels, donkeys, buses and cars all side by side in streets that are so congested you think no one could ever get through and somehow it all
moves.

Guys this trip has been soooooooo special in so many ways, filled with such emotion I can’t really explain, and such sadness………everyone of us should experience these places and realize how lucky we truly are!

I am homesick, I miss you all sooooooo much, I can’t wait to catch up with everyone and hug you all real tight! Don’t misunderstand, this has been a GREAT cruise, the ship is probably the best ever, and the staff fabulous. Our tablemates are great and we are looking forward to sailing with then again as we have and will again with Bob and Shelia.

We have experienced places way beyond our wildest dreams! A trip of a lifetime, we are sooooooo blessed!

So, sweet dreams give each other hugs from us and know how much you are all loved and appreciated!

Love, Gram, Mom, Aunt Barb, me

Europe – 2009 – day 15

The pictures are:
1. Part of the engine control room
2. Packing

3. Our wait staff

4. The last sunset

Well since we were up until 4am last night, we slept in. Today has been a very relaxing one.

After Ed ate breakfast, and it was up on deck to lay out in the sun for a couple of hours. We came in at 12:30pm because we had a tour to go to.

This tour was on the engine control room – a lot of computers and very complicated instruments.

Then we went and picked up the pictures from last nights formal night, cashed in some chips at the casino and up to the room to pack.

We have to have everything but our carry-on bags outside the door tonight so the best thing is to pack is in the afternoon so after we eat and see the show we will have time to go to the casino for the last time.

Packing took almost two hours, there is a lot of trash and treasures that we have obtained from the last couple of weeks – but hopefully none of the suitcases are over 50 pounds, but I am sure they are close.

We had probably the best dinner of the cruise, said goodbye to the wait staff and our new friends and went to the casino for one last time. Barb broke even and Ed lost a little, but we are way ahead for the cruise.

We are ready to go home and it has been a great trip.
That is it from Europe – see everybody at home – we are on our way.

Europe – 2009 – day 14

The pictures are:
1. Second Officer on the side bridge.
2. The Captain.
3. The bridge.
4. Brunch
5. Into a storm

6. Ready for our last formal night.

Well we got up slowly as we had to get ready for a tour of the bridge at 11:00am.

First we went to the photo area to pick up and pictures that we had not gotten from the previous four days. They are really very low key about pictures and take very few compared to Carnival. Our photo bill will probably be ½ of what it has been in previous cruises.

Promptly at 11 a security guard checked our ID’s and took us to the bridge. We were met by a young second officer who gave us a tour and an explanation of the workings of the bridge – what a sight to see all the control systems, including the radar.

Then after we had been there of about a ½ hour all of a sudden the Captain walked up behind us and started talking. We then stood and listened to him talk about the ship and everything for quite a while – that was a real treat.

After the tour we went to the giant brunch that they were having in the main dining. On the way we meat doctor and his wife that we had met while playing blackjack so we went to lunch together. The doctor is from Canada and is a Muslim from Pakatistan and his wife is a Christian who is a nurse. We had a great time talking about our experiences both in Israel and in Egypt.

Next was the slot tournament where neither of us did any good. We were then going to lay out in the sun but it was overcast so we played a session in the casino. Ed had a good run and Barb had fun!!

Well as you can see from the picture, we sailed into a storm. The good news was that it didn’t rain hard but the ship started about 5pm rocking back and forth. It should be a fun even

ing!!

Dinner and then a really great show and on to the casino. It was an up and down evening and finally at 4am they closed the casino and ran us out. The net for the night was -$30 but we played a lot and had a lot of fun with friends and we are setting the alarm for 10am to enjoy our last day at sea.

Europe – 2009 – day 13

The pictures are:
1. The Roman Amphitheatre, the only example of a Roman Theatre to be found in Egypt.
2. Outside the Library
3, Read this about the Library.
4, King Farouk’s Palace. (Actually his summer palace only)
5, In the bazaar
6. Making paper

We went to bed fairly early because the casino does not open when the ship is in port.

We met out guide Soha and the same driver that we had yesterday at 9am and off we went to see the city of Alexandria which at 8 million people, is Egypt’s second-largest city and it largest seaport. We found out the Soha was a lawyer; however, she no longer practices because she doesn’t like all the conflicts with being an attorney. You can contact her at soha_guide@yahoo.com. She arranged for two wonderful days in Egypt.

We first went to the catacomb of the Romans when they controlled Egypt. An interesting place but certainly don’t want to be underground like that a lot! The catacombs were found when a donkey fell in a hole that caved into the catacombs and they had pictures of the donkey when it fell.

Next it was to the great library of Alexandria and this was an amazing place. Please look it up on the internet as it is one of the biggest maybe the most advanced library in the world. They have in their stacks approximately 800,000 books and in addition, they have 350 computer terminals that can access almost anything in the library. They have a huge area just for the blind as well as 8 separate museums in the building.

We went to the Roman Amphitheater to see the ruins there and back into the van for a drive through the city.

Then we had lunch in another Egyptian buffet with local food that really wasn’t that good. Just about the same as yesterday but it was filling anyway.

After lunch we drove up the coast to see King Farouk’s palace – great place if you could afford the help. It is currently used by the President, who really is a dictator. The election only has one person running and they are already grooming the son to take over.

We went to their market which is basically a large number of city streets that spiral out from a center round-a-bout. Each street specializes in certain products, like spices, clothing for women, leather, brass, etc. The bazaar has almost everything. Our guide said that she bought her washing machine at the bazaar. We went to buy another bottle of Kahlua; however, there are no liquor stores anywhere in the city. Our guide says that they are taught that liquor is a sin.

We then went to a papyrus “institution” where our guide demonstrated how paper was first made by the ancient Egyptians and that was fun. We bought an art piece to put on the wall made with hand-made paper from papyrus.

We finally said good-bye to our guide and driver at 5pm and walked onto the ship.

When we arrived at our room we were surprised by an invitation to tour the bridge tomorrow. A week ago Barb wrote a note to the Captain asking for a bridge tour and we hadn’t heard anything and today we received the invitation. This will be neat because they do not allow passenger to be on the bridge anymore. This will also be when we are actually at sea so we will see everything in operations.

Snacks on the deck followed by a nap and we were ready for the evening.

Barb has caught my cold and has been miserable for the last two days – hopefully a day at sea tomorrow will help her.

Dinner was fun as always and afterwards we all went to the theater for the evening entertainment. When we arrived, we were told that the entertainer had gotten detained in Cairo customs and missed the ship so the show was cancelled.

We all went to one of the lounges and had drinks and sat around talking till about midnight. Our ship friends from England and Scotland are some of the best tablemates we have ever had. If Bob and Shelia from Florida were with the table it would be perfect – maybe next time.

Not good in the casino so it is time for bed and some much needed sleep for Barb.

Night - Night

Europe – 2009 – day 12

The pictures are:
1. Our guide for today on the right and our guide for tomorrow in the middle.
2. A Pyramid
3. Our camels
4. At the Sphinx
5. Our sailboat ride.
6. A store at the market.

We had hoped for a fun day and WOW – did we ever have fun. We walked to the gate of the port and were met by our guide for the day. Her name was Miral and she was a young college grad and fluent in 3 languages. What a wonderful guide she was.

After meeting her, she called the driver and we rode 3 hours to the complex of Giza, just outside Cairo where we saw 9 pyramids. I don’t know if our pictures can really describe what they look like up close, but are they big. Not only are they tall, they are really wide. We went in one small pyramid and saw a burial chamber and set of rooms.

After that, we rode camels for about 10 minutes out into the desert and back. You don’t realize how tall they are until you are up on one. What else can I say – they were fun.

Next we visited the Sphinx and it was beautiful. We were told it was formed out of a solid block of granite that was left over from the building of a pyramid.

We then drove a little ways and had lunch at a local buffet. Thank goodness we had our guide to explain the food and it was really good.

Then we rode into the city of Cairo, a city of 23 million people, thousands of cabs and a lot of donkeys pulling carts wherever they wanted to go. We drove to the River Nile and the three of us boarded a small sailboat for about a ½ hour sail on the Nile.

After that we went to the main city bazaar and all the shops and restaurants that you could imagine.

Because this is the Ramadan period, Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking from dawn to dusk and so at exactly dusk, about 6pm, almost everything stopped so that the people could eat. It was an amazing sight to see a shop with four to eight people on the floor or on small tables. Several people eating invited us to eat with them but we said no.

After the bazaar, it was time to get back in our van and head for Alexandria and our ship. We made if back in 3 hours and immediately went upstairs to find food, including pizza since we hadn’t eaten since 2:00 pm.

Tomorrow we meet a new guide and driver for a tour of the Alexandria.

Europe – 2009 – day 11

The pictures are:
1. Our guide and the first handoff outside Bethlehem.
2. The security wall between the Palestine side and the Israeli side.
3. The old city of Bethlehem.
4. Lunch.
5. The Wailing Wall.

When we looked out from our deck in the morning we saw 52 large tour busses parked at the side of the ship ready to take tour passengers on their tours. Were we glad we had booked a private tour. Being on a bus with 50 other tourists is not so bad, but it is when you get off and try to hear the guide and try to stay together, that is when it is not fun and somebody always take too much time in the bathroom!!

Anyway, the port of Ashford is Israel’s largest and is one of the oldest cities in the world.

Our guide for today was a former State Policeman for Israel and had also been a tour guide for 30 years.

We had only booked a tour of Jerusalem and asked our guide if he would take us to Bethlehem and cut out the shopping time in Jerusalem. He said he had to make some calls to set it up and if he could connect with everyone we could go to Bethlehem first.

Calls were made and we changed directions to go to Bethlehem. The problem that he had to solve was he was not allowed into Bethlehem because he was a citizen of Israel. So we stopped at the top of a hill at a really bad hotel and waited 15 minutes for this car to arrive fast and a great big guy got out and said that he would take us thru the Palestinian check-points and into Bethlehem.

Right at this point it looked like we were the central characters in a really bad movie and we were more than a little nervous but it all worked out. He took us to a gift shop where we transferred to a mini-bus with some more tourists and drove to the Church of the Nativity. The driver handed us off to another guide we took us into the Church. There was a 2 hour wait for the tour bus people but our new guide talked at length to a policeman and got us in the back way!

The Church is build like a citadel over the cave where it’s believed that Jesus was born and it is one of the world’s oldest working churches. We were able to go down into the grotto to see the cave – what an experience.

We then got back on another mini-bus and back to the gift shop where we had been told earlier we needed to buy about $30 or more in souvenirs as it was the gift shop owner who our original guide talked to that enabled us to get into Bethlehem. We bought “stuff” and were taken in another car back out of the Palestinian area across the checkpoints and to our original guide. All told, there were 5 different “guides” who got us in and out of Bethlehem.

Yesterday the Syrian, Jordan border with barbed wire and landmines and then today with people showing up and saying get in the car, driving like crazy and being transferred from an Israelite to a Palestinian citizen, we are ready to just ride camels tomorrow!!

We drove to the Mount of Olives and then traveled along the Kidron Valley to view the Garden of Gethsemane and the walls of the city.

We entered the 500 year old city and parked the car. For the next three hours we walked the city. First we went to the site of the crucifixion, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It is actually the headquarters of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, while control of the building is shared between several Christian churches and secular entities in complicated arrangements. Google the Church to read all about it – it was an absolute maze of rooms and churches within a church.

Then we went into the bazaar to a local place to eat. They only served one dish and had about 10 seats in the “restaurant”. The dish was chickpea humus. They had taken the chickpeas and pureed them and mixed some spices and gave us bread to go along with it. My words to describe it – “interesting”.

We then walked the Stations of the Cross and ended up at the Wailing Wall – what a site. Barb and I each placed prayers into the wall. We then walked back to the car through the Jewish section of the old city.

After getting into the car we went to the Children’s Holocaust display and I cannot describe it to you in writing but suffice to say it was moving, very moving.

Back to the car and 1 ½ hours later we were back at the port and watched a lot of the busses unload their exhausted passengers.

We had to wait for 1 hour to leave the port because one entire tour bus was late. If you take a ship’s tour and it is late, they will hold the ship; however, if you take a tour on your own like we do and you are late, they leave and you have to make your own way to the next port – we have only been close once, in Venice.

Anyway, dinner was fun and we all sat around at our table talking after dinner because they did not have a show tonight. Finally we all left and we went to the casino and for the first night, we were both winners and left the casino before midnight.

Tomorrow we arrive in Alexandria, Egypt and we stay at that port for two days before setting sail for Rome and our final two days. Egypt should be fun and not as emotional as our last two days in Israel.

Night

Europe – 2009 – day 10

The pictures are:
1. Barb with our tour guide – Avi.
2. Behind the alter is the cave at Nazareth where Mary, Joseph and Jesus lived.
3. The Jorden River where Jesus was baptized.
4. Two fences with landmines inside!!
5. Samples at lunch

6. The main course

We took over 200 hunderd pictures, wish you could see them all.

After a very short night we woke up in Haifa, Israel. Haifa is Israel’s largest port and industrial city and is located on the slopes of Mount Carmel, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.

Neither words nor pictures will be able to describe the sights that we saw and the emotions that we felt. It was truly one of the most memorable, if not the most memorable days we have ever had in a foreign country.

We were met at the port entrance at 8:30am by our tour guide, Avi Avinoam. He has lived in Haifa all his life and also is a war veteran who was wounded in one of the wars. His parents escaped Nazi Germany; however, his grandparents were killed in the concentration camp – what a guide to have.

We started off by driving for about an hour from Haifa to visit Nazareth and the visit to the Basilica of the Annunciation, where the Angel announced to Mary that she would be the mother of the Messiah.

Following Nazareth, we visited the Jordan River and where

Then we drove to the Sea of Galilee and then onto the Golan Heights. We took a long drive around the Golan Heights and stopped at the border of Israel and Jordan and then saw the border of Syria. The border looked very plain at first, just a tall fence with barbed wire on top. Then Avi told us that the fence was electrified. Then he showed us the second fence inside the first and then he told us that the space between the fences was mined!! We then drove by a number of outposts for Israel, Jordan and Syria. We were actually in the exact place where the Syrian’s would send bombs down on the Israel people in the valley below. We drove by Syrian pillboxes and other fortifications. The Six Year War drove the Syrians off the top of the Golan Heights and the area has been relative peaceful ever since.

We then ate at a local restaurant in a Kibbutz (commune) where we had a fish called St. Peters Fish because it came from the Sea of Galilee – it was Tilapia. We also told Avi to order for us and not only did he order the fish, but he ordered samples of 14 local dishes – what an experience we had eating lunch. Yes, Ed tasted everything and loved most and really liked the fish!!

After lunch we drove back around the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum, where the miracle of the fishes and bread took place and then onto the site of the Sermon on the Mount.

Then it was a one hour drive back to Haifa and a tour of the new city and back to the ship.

Just an indescribable day – I hope that I have conveyed some of the wonders to you.

Europe – 2009 – day 9

The pictures are:
1. Winning the blackjack tournament.
2. On the deck.
3. Going to dinner
4. Our table at dinner

This was our second sea day and we needed it to rest from the trip so far. Also, Ed has a cold or something. Benadryl tablets seem to be helping. Since we stayed up so late last night, we slept till almost 10am and it felt good.

Nothing much happened except walking around the ship visiting and talking to people and then at 2pm we went to the blackjack tournament. Barb also played in the tournament for only her second blackjack tournament and we both qualified for the finals.

In the finals, Ed won first and Barb won second!!! Wow was that fun. We won $500 and a genuine 100% 24 caret gold plastic trophy. The pictures is of Barb and Ed just after winning with Helen, our casino host.

It is a formal night so we dressed and were out of the room by 7:30pm so we could have pictures taken and then we just people watched.

Then we went to a marvelous dinner, saw a great show with the music of Broadway and onto the casino. We have had lots of people come up and say congratulation for our success in the blackjack the tournament.

Went to sleep about 2am and onto Israel.

Europe – 2009 – day 8

The pictures are
1. Bazaar
2. More Bazaar
3. Lunch
4. The beach
5. The Equinox at dockside

On to Turkey and we woke up in Kusadasi which is one of the most beautiful cities on the Aegean Sea. Situated on Turkey’s west coast, it is one of the country’s main vacation destinations. It is also the gateway to Ephesus. We went to Ephesus two years ago from the city of Izmir, so today we stayed in Kusadasi.

There are really only three major things to do in this city if you don’t want to go to Ephesus and they are shopping, eating and going to the beach and we did all three.

We spent the morning shopping in the bazaars of Kusadasi and we had a lot of fun. They said that there were over 1000 shops in the Grand Bazaar and I think that we went into them all. Barb bought a beautiful leather jacket, so maybe it is the year of the leather jacket, I just don’t know.

The weather was 89 at noon and it was really hot so it was time to head to the beach.

We found a lovely little sidewalk restaurant on the promenade above the beach and had a platter of beef, chicken, lamb, sausage and some other food that I didn’t quite know what it was but it was all good.

We stayed at the beach until 3 and then rode the local bus back to town and shopped some more. Shopping in the bazaars of Turkey is quite an experience. They get right in your face, grab your arm and almost pull you into their shop if you even look at something on display, but it was all fun.

Back on board we set sail for Haifa, Israel and will arrive there after a day at sea and rest tomorrow. Hope everyone back home is having a great weekend – we are.

It was a wonderful evening with dinner, a show and a great time in the casino. We left the casino at 2:30am very tired but tomorrow is a day at sea and we can catch up on our sleep and energy.