So we go to ten ports in Europe and we never did find the right internet cafe. Some towns didn't have internet cafes. Others were closed, or we had too little time in port. The one time there was free internet at the port was Cadiz, where we left almost immediately after we got back from our tour to Seville.
So let me summarize each of the places we've been in one sentence, which will have to hold until we get back (it's 50 cents a minute to use the internet here, and they don't guarantee it will work--though they guarantee they'll charge you):
1. Vesuvius and Pompeii: Totally eye-opening, we had no idea you could see so much of either.
2. Florence: Too much for one day, but what we saw was completely fulfilling; Marjorie felt she was living her freshman course on the Renaissance.
3. Genoa: Not that exciting, but the cheese foccaccia was to die for.
4. Monaco: Like a town out of a fairy story, and a really lovely grocery store from which we stocked up on gifts.
5. Barcelona: Laid back, friendly, fun, with the best Christmas market we've ever seen; the Gaudi was as unreal as anything we've ever seen.
6. Elche: Closed on Sundays, but nice palm trees.
7. Seville: Hard to believe that after nine days (including the days in Rome) we could still have our socks knocked off by a place, but Seville was the biggest and best surprise of the trip.
8. Madeira: Lovely, friendly, hard-working, fun, and when our ship was delayed leaving port, the city lighting up with Christmas lights was an extra-added bonus.
We've had almost no news from the States, since the TV on the ship basically gives us CNN International, BBC International, Sky News and ESPN International (the all-soccer, all-the-time station). We know that there was a lot of snow in Seattle and then a lot of rain; we know there was a big scandal involving CIA tapes of interrogations, and we know Roger Clemens is accused of what we all knew Roger Clemens had done. That's about it.
We are eating quite healthy; the fresh vegetables, along with bread and soup, are the best things on the ship to eat, so we have big salads a lot. We are on a lovely normal sleep pattern, feeling very good and very relaxed. The weather has been good, mainly in the 50s and 60s with no rain.
Plus we get an extra hour's sleep every night as the ship moves to the Eastern Time Zone.
Love to all,
Rick & Marjorie
P.S. Anyone wants to write back, we'll be happy to read it when we get in. Really happy. This is a solicitation for news. You can comment on the blog, too.
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