Europe, 13-14 May 2012 - At Sea & Barcelona

Today, May 13, was our first "Sea Day" with little or nothing scheduled. It was, therefore, a relaxing day.

May 14, by contrast, was a full day of sightseeing in Barcelona. This was the first of four consecutive days of city visits.

La Sagrada Familia

Façade sculture

We took the Metro to reach our first goal. It was La Sagrada Familia, the unfinished church, originally designed by Antoni Gaudi. He is well known for his unusual building designs with few, if any, straight lines or walls. And the church is no exception. Gaudi died in 1926 after beginning the church in 1883 and spending his last years working full time on it and living on site. It is expected to be finished in about 2050.

The church has three main façades, each depicting a point in the life of Christ: birth, passion, and glory. Most of the building's exterior is covered in construction cranes and work. We chose not to go inside, which is also reportedly fantastic. By the time we were ready to move on, the line for admission was most of the way around the block.

Gaudi's Casa Mila

We returned toward our starting point on the Metro, stopping at an area known as "The Block of Discord" with buildings that all seem to try to outdo each other for unusual design. It includes a Gaudi building, Casa Batllo. The rest of the day we walked from place to place. The next stop was Gaudi's Casa Mila. There is obviously much of his work in Barcelona.

Barcelona Cathedral

La Boqueria Market

The huge main square, Placa de Cataluna, is at the top of the Ramblas, the main pedestrian walk through the center of the city. It is the center of Catalan life in Barcelona. We detoured from the Ramblas to visit the Cathedral. It is typical of large European medieval cathedrals, and quite beautiful.

Returning to the Ramblas, we then walked through La Boqueria Market, a huge area of stalls selling mostly food; vegetables, nuts, candies, meats, fish, etc. Beautiful displays of the food for sale.

Back on the Ramblas, we stopped for lunch at a Tapas Bar. We sampled several tapas with some good Spanish wine. For dessert we found Churros con Chocolate at La Pallaresa Granja-Xocolateria (in a small alley). The churros were very good and the drinking chocolate very thick and rich.

Chocolate & Churros

Place de Cataluna

Our time in Barcelona ended with finishing walking down the Ramblas and catching the shuttle back to the ship.

Europe, 12 May 2012 - Monaco

Best view on TV screen

Would you believe the Grande Prix de Monte Carlo? Talk about timing. When we landed in Monaco we discovered we were there on the second day of the three-day Grande Prix, one of the most famous car races in the world. Not that we could see very much of it, as all the streets around the race course were closed unless you had tickets. But there were a couple of places where we could see a little of the course.

As small as Monaco is, there are at least three distinct towns, which of course all run together. And the race also meant the cruise terminal was closed and we needed to tender in from off shore. Near where we anchored was what may be the largest yacht we had ever seen, a very large white boat of three or four decks and a garage for smaller boats to get around a port in.

The tender dock was in a marina area which we walked through to get into town. There were mostly very large yachts, and they were from around the world.

at the Palace

Monaco Palace

We walked through town and climbed the hill up to the palace. Although we didn't tour the palace, it is on an interesting hill top with government offices, shops, cafés, and the cathedral where Prince Rainier and Princess Grace were married. The hilltop has good views over the harbor.

best view we had of the Grand Prix

Walking down from the palace we got our best view of the race course. The policeman said we could go beyond that point only if we had tickets. So we watched a bit from above.

On a cliff above the water sits the Aquarium and museum. Word is Jaques Cousteu had something to do with the design of the display tanks. It was a very interesting aquarium with many colorful fish from around the world.

Night View as we left Monaco

We were told that the Casino was closed because of the race, so we didn't try to go there. Not that we would gamble much anyway. Waiting in line for the tender back to the ship we talked with some people who had gone to the casino, so it was open. Oh, well. And we were anchored there till about 11 pm. Not sure how many if any from the ship stayed that long. Late that evening we sailed south toward Spain.

Europe, 11 May 2012

Well, today it's off on a boat for the next 22 days. We'll see how we do with that. The longest we've been on a cruise before is seven days. At least there are lots of port calls and new cities to explore.

We walked from the hotel back to Termini pulling our suitcases to catch the train to the port terminal at Civitavecchia, Rome's seaport. Then from the train station, we walked pulling our suitcases to the ship terminal to board the MS Eurodam. The boarding process was fairly quick and smooth, and our cabin was even ready for us when we got on the ship. But the luggage came later.

The shipboard restaurants were open for lunch. Then we wandered the ship a bit, waiting for our luggage, which came during dinner. Dinner was our first night in the dining room at our assigned table. We weren't sure we would have an assigned table from the pre sailing information. But it is nice to have a regular place and regular servers.

After dinner we unpacked for the next three weeks, and watched the ship sale away into the Mediterranean. It was a good beginning to our cruise. Tomorrow we will be in Monaco. 

Europe, 10 May 2012

St Theresa in Ecstasy

Today was a full day in Rome to see some new things as well as repeat some we had seen on our previous trip here. One of our primary goals was Bernini's St Theresa in Ecstasy at Santa Maria della Vittoria, a very interesting sculpture from the Renaissance.

at Trevi Fountain

Spanish Steps

From there we headed to another new to us site, the Spanish Steps. This series of stairs goes down a hill for about a block from a church to another neighborhood. Next was a repeat visit to the Trevi Fountain in daylight which we had seen at night last time. It was not nearly as crowded when we first arrived, making it much easier to get good views and pictures. When we returned a bit later in the day it was much more crowded.

Of course there are many churches in Rome, and our next four stops were all churches. First was San Ignazio, the "Jesuit Church" where Gonzaga (as in Gonzaga University) is buried.

The Pantheon

The Pantheon is an amazing building that started as a Roman temple to all the gods. It is a very large concrete dome which gets thinner as it gets to the top, that dates from pre-Christian times. It is now a large round church with a beautiful mosaic floor.

Santa Maria sopra Minerva was the next church stop. Its claim to fame is a Michelangelo statue of Christ bearing the cross, one of the few Michelangelo statues in Rome. That was followed by Gesu Church, the Roman headquarters of the Jesuit order.

After all that culture it was time for some local refreshments. First came Tazza d'Oro Casa del Caffé for a granita di caffé con panna. It was interesting and good. That was followed by gelato at Gelateria Caffé Pasticceria Giolitti. It was then time for a return to our hotel for a short rest before heading out again.

We took the Metro across the Tiber River to Ottaviano, a short distance from the Vatican. On the way through the neighborhood we stopped for a pizza lunch at a small sidewalk café.

Since we had been to the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, and St Peter's on our first visit here, our goal this time was to climb the dome of St Peter's for its wonderful views of both the inside of the basilica and over Rome. There is an elevator to the base of the dome followed by about 350 steps up inside the dome to the copula. The views of the interior of the basilica from the dome are amazing as are the views of Rome from the copula. It was well worth the small cost and the exercise effort.

St Peter's Dome from above the nave

Looking down the nave from the dome

Once back at ground level, we went inside St Peter's Basilica, the largest church in the world. It also houses an amazing collection of art, the most famous of which is Michelangelo's Pieta. Unfortunately, due to vandalism, it is behind a wall of bullet proof glass. Still a beautiful piece of art. We also caught the end of a Mass in the Basilica, which included an organ postlude, filling the church with beautiful sounds.

Obelisk in St Peter's Square

Sunbeam in St Peter's Nave

Michelangelo's Pieta

From The Vatican we ventured into new area to us. We walked along the Tiber River into Trasteverve, an area not frequented as much by tourists. Of course, there are more churches. We visited Santa Maria Trastevere, another fine example of a Roman church, and one of the oldest having been made a Christian basilica in the 4th century. It's also interesting how many of the churches are Santa Maria Something.

Dinner at Da Lucia Dal in Trastevere

As we wandered the neighborhood, we found a ristorante on a side street with plenty of sidewalk seating (even if there was no sidewalk). All the outdoor tables were marked as "reserved" but we were seated there anyway. Our dinner at Trattoria da Lucia was, of course, excellent. This small restaurant has been operated by the same family sine the 1930's. Two ladies from Britain who were in Rome for a few days were seated next us and we had a good conversation.

After dinner we took a long walk back to the hotel through several neighborhoods. It was then time to repack for the train ride to the cruise port, including a good supply of Italian wine for the cruise.

Europe, 9 May 2012

Today was the finish of a long travel day. We landed at Schippol airport in Amsterdam only a few minutes late after leaving Houston almost an hour late. Schippol is a very large airport which even has a small branch of the Reikes Museum in it.

After lunch, we boarded a plane for a relatively quick flight to Rome. That is compared with the trans-Atlantic flight. A bit of the Alps showed through the cloud cover as we passed over Switzerland, and farm land was visible as we approached Rome.

After retrieving our luggage, we boarded the Leonardo Express (it's da Vinci airport) for the train ride into Rome. The train was a bit crowded, but we both found seats. Termini Station is the terminus of the train, and about a half-mile walk to Hotel Italia, our base for the next couple of days.

Victor Emanuel Memorial & Roman ruins

Since we had been up a long time, we took a brief rest before heading out to explore a bit of Rome. The goal was the Coliseum at dusk and dark, different from our view last time here.

Victor Emanuel Memorial

On the way we stopped at the Victor Emmanuel Memorial and walked through a bit of the old Roman ruins we had not seen before.  We arrived at the Coliseum just abut sunset, just as planned. A few pictures in the sunset and dusk along with some of Constantine's Arch.  As we walked around the Coliseum we came to several sidewalk cafes, and stopped at one to have dinner. It was a good prix fix six course Italian meal.

Constantine's Arch

Coliseum from the West

Coliseum East End

Our plan had been to take more pictures of the Coliseum after dark with lights on it, but about nine o'clock, the big lights went out. Some lights stayed on so we were able to take a few more pictures after dinner with some interesting effect.

On the walk back to the hotel, we did a bit of "Rick Steves" and took some wrong turns and saw more of some neighborhoods than planned. Tomorrow the plan is to revisit some sites, and head into a new neighborhood or two.  

Europe, 7-8 May 2012

Tacoma North End

Highline MaST

We are off on the next adventure. It started with a quick flight to SeaTac. On the way we flew over Tacoma and could see the area of Tim & Venessa's house and the Narrows Bridges. A little later we spotted the MaST, Highline's marine science site.

Taking off from Seattle we had spectacular views of the Cascades. Mt Rainier was on the other side of the plane, very close. As we made the turn to go east, there were great views of St Helens and Adams fairly close. We could also see the row of northern Oregon Cascades including Hood, Jefferson, Three Sisters, and Bachelor.

Oregon Cascades

Heading east along the Columbia River, we saw the John Day Dam and Arlington. Farther east passing over the Blue Mountains we saw Philips Lake and the area of The Land where we camp with the Christensens. The Burnt River valley was also clearly visible.

As we headed southeast toward Houston, the last recognizable site was (I think) Bear Lake in Utah. Then the clouds obscured the view all the way to Houston.

Bear Lake, Utah (?)

We are now in the Houston airport awaiting our flight to Rome by way of Amsterdam. We get to Rome tomorrow afternoon for about a day and a half before the cruise. 

Florida, February 27/28, 2012

The morning started again with our usual walk on the beach, going south again this time from pier to pier.

Unidentified sea creature remains

We saw a couple of washed up sea animals on the beach, a sponge and something unidentified.

Sponge on beach

When we arrived back at the beach in front of our hotel, Dick took a little dip in the water. For an Oregonian it was pretty warm. And I only got in up to my waist. 

After our light breakfast, we headed back up to Clearwater Beach for a little more shopping and lunch. We ate at a hotel café with great views of the beach. And lunch was very good.

Karen at lunch

The view from our table

Dick's shrimp skewer

Karen's salad

After lunch we walked out on the beach for a bit. We found the street that was probably the way Karen’s mom took her to the beach that first year.  

Then it was off to do a little more shopping for a Clearwater Beach memento. That accomplished, we headed back to the hotel. We needed to take advantage of the warm weather one more afternoon.

On the beach by the hotel, we sat in the sun or shade and did some reading. We had beach chairs someone had given us that morning since they couldn’t take them on the plane. After a while, Dick headed into the surf for a bit of body surfing. OK, not much surf, but still pretty good. Karen also took a dip a little later. When we decided it was time to go in and go to dinner, we found someone who could use the beach chairs, since they were going to be there for a week.

Karen testing the surf

 After getting cleaned up from our dip, we went back out to the beach to watch our last Florida sunset. It was a good one, even with a heron wandering on the beach. Of course, lots of pictures! Here are three views.

Heron on beach

Heron at sunset

Heron in surf

For dinner we headed a bit south to Conch Grille, an apparent transplant from Key West and the “Conch Republic.” For its namesake, we started with an appetizer of conch fritters. It was just like we had had several years ago in Key West. The whole dinner was good.

It was then time to head back to the hotel to pack for the trip home.

The next morning we took one last walk on the beach before breakfast. It was a bit windy and cooler, indicating time to head home. The drive to the airport and the flight home were good and uneventful.