New York, New York

With the entire world closed, it looks like it may be awhile before I can do any traveling. With that in mind, I’m re-posting from my original blog. I created the blog to keep family informed while I took my mom on a cruise to Greece.

Day 15:

Last full day of the vacation. This morning I got up and headed downtown to the tks ticket window to buy tickets for a Broadway show. Got there early so I wandered around the dock area. I got tickets to see Finnigan's Rainbow, didn't know much about the story, but it mom and I had seen most of the other options.

The Pier at the Battery, I walked down here to get tickets at the 1/2 price ticket window

About 1:30 we left for Radio City and the Rocketts Christmas Special. We had tickets in the upper mezzanine. Good seats, but right after the show started the people in front of us showed up. Two women and two kids. The kids were fine, but the woman in front of mom kept moving around and her oversized melon blocked about half the stage from mom's view. I offered to switch seats, but mom was worried it would bother the folks behind us. Mom had to keep shifting because every few minutes melon head would take another picture and she had to move around until she got the perfect shot. The show was great, mom said it was very different from the Rocketts show she saw in California. She really seemed to enjoy it.

Radio City home to the Rocketts.

We walked from Radio City to Times Square, where we had dinner at TGIFridays. Then we walked to the theater to see Finnigan's. I told mom I did not think we were going to have as good of seats as we had at the earlier show. I was wrong. We were in front row seats one and two of the center section. The show was really good.

After the show we walked back to the hotel.

Tomorrow, we are going to try to go to one of the museums in Central Park before we head to JFK and our flight home.

Back in the US

With the entire world closed, it looks like it may be awhile before I can do any traveling. With that in mind, I’m re-posting from my original blog. I created the blog to keep family informed while I took my mom on a cruise to Greece.

Day 14:


Photos from the last day in Venice. Mom was tired after getting up early to leave the ship. It was foggy/misty, so I went into Venice myself. Took the buss to Plazza Roma and walked to St. Marks Square. 

Not too easy to find in a city of winding roads and canals. Took several hours, but was worth the time. Walked back with two college kids from Texas, one is working as an English teacher in Southern France and the other is going to school about a mile and a half from Venice.

Today we got back to New York at about 2:40 pm. We are both a little beat after the nine hour flight, so I went to a deli and picked up dinner and we're going to crash. Tomorrow it's off the the 1/2 price ticket window to get evening show ticket, and we already have tickets for Radio City at 2pm.

Nice to be back in the good ol USA home of the free internet.

Dubrovnik

With the entire world closed, it looks like it may be awhile before I can do any traveling. With that in mind, I’m re-posting from my original blog. I created the blog to keep family informed while I took my mom on a cruise to Greece.

Day 12:

Today was our last stop before heading back to Venice. Dubrovnik, Croatia is one of the more interesting places we have been. We had to tender to shore again, the old sea port was never meant to accept a ship as large as ours.

The old city is completely surrounded by fortifications, I really hate to say it, but it looks just like the sea-port on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland, minus the pirates and loose ladies (no pigs, but cats a plenty and even a drunk or two). There was even an ugly old hag hanging out the third floor window, watching the tourists on the street below with obvious disapproval.

The ground floor on many of the buildings at least on the main streets, are occupied by shops, almost all bear a striking resemblance to a 10 x 10 prison cell. They have the most unusual entrance, a small door and a arched opening that must have had a purpose, but I can’t figure it out.

Off the main street, the side streets are so narrow, you could probably reach out and shake hands with the neighbor across the street from the balcony. And every where you look, there is a miss-mash of power lines, TV cables and laundry hanging on clothes lines.

The open piazzas are full of pigeons. We watched a little boy start to feed the birds, soon there were hundreds of pigeons surrounding him. Finally someone scared them off, and for a moment the air was full of flapping wings. They flew off for a second, and came right back.

The day was mostly uneventful, save for one brief Marco sighting. One moment he was on the street, but before mom could look he dashed off, probably into the ice cream shop.

A Stop at Rhodes

With the entire world closed, it looks like it may be awhile before I can do any traveling. With that in mind, I’m re-posting from my original blog. I created the blog to keep family informed while I took my mom on a cruise to Greece.

Day 11:

Yesterday we arrived in Rhodes. After breakfast mom and I headed to the docks. As we walked away from the ship, there were several taxi drivers trying to convince passengers to allow them to take them on tours of the city.

 With moms limited mobility, this seemed like a really good idea. Our German friends had done it at Olympia, and suggested we try to negotiate any prices, they had saved several euro on their trip.

We agreed to pay for a trip around the city, stopping at all the usual tourist stops. The driver (who asked to be called Stan), was really pushing us to take a longer tour and go to Lindos on the other side of the Island.

By the second stop mom (or mom-ma as Stan referred to her) had talked Stan into what sounded to us like a good deal, so we agreed to go to Lindos.

Stan was a great tour guide, however, he speaks in a bizarre combination of Greek, English and Italian. Fortunately I was able to make out enough of the English and Italian to explain to mom what he was saying.

On the way we made several stops, the first at a jewelry mart. Really nice stuff, all made on site. Saw a couple of things I would have liked to buy for Pauline, but at 4000 euro, she’ll have to do without.

The next stop was a pottery maker. Mom bought a few things, I got one small item. We checked on having them shipped home, and the shop owner kind of got irate with us. Seems he only wants to ship large items, every thing we got was small. So rather than spend 150 euro on shipping, we will try to carry them with us.

We finally got to Lindos, and it was worth the trip. Beautiful place, and not too many tourists. We only had a short time there, and we were back off to Rhodes.

After dropping mom at the ship, I wandered around the old city for about an hour.

Marco

With the entire world closed, it looks like it may be awhile before I can do any traveling. With that in mind, I’m re-posting from my original blog. I created the blog to keep family informed while I took my mom on a cruise to Greece.

Day 10:

Yesterday morning we arrived in Rhodes. The ship entered the port at about 7:45 am. Mom and I watched from the balcony as we passed the fortified entrance to the harbor. We went and had breakfast while the ship docked.

Entering the Harbor at Rhodes

We have learned something about Italian people. They have to be first in line, even is the line is to get into another line and wait for the next line to form. It’s amazing. They will push and shove and do whatever it takes to get in front of you, however, if you say something, they will apologize profusely and wait with you. You don’t have to be angry, just look at them and say “scussi” and that usually gets them to back off.

The buffet is a prime example, we have been avoiding the buffet line and eating in the restaurant because of the carnage of the buffet. The exception to the buffet rule is when the ship is in port. All the Italians are pushing and shoving to get to the front of the line to get in the line to disembark, so the buffet is delightfully empty.

Such was the case yesterday morning. Because the buffet was pretty empty, we had the chance to observe Marco.

Marco is a young Italian boy. He looks to be about seven and is more than a little overweight. Thinking about it later, we remembered seeing him several times over the last few days, but really didn’t take note. The first time I remember seeing him, he was spinning around on a bar stool in the Grand Bar. Yesterday morning, he was getting food while I was getting mom a plate. A few minutes later, as I was getting breakfast for myself, Marco was refilling his plate. It was kind of funny, I could understand what he was asking for, but the server at the buffet could not.

When I went to sit down, Marco and his family were at the next table. There were four adults and a handful of kids. The exact number of kids is hard to determine, because they were running around everywhere. Marco however, was totally absorbed at the task at hand, eating. He wasn’t getting a lot of food each time he went to the line, just two pieces of sausage, bacon and some scrambled eggs. He would then go and sit with the family, eat, and repeat.

Most of Marco’s family had completed their breakfast, and the adults were beginning to get fidgety, I believe they could sense that there was a line forming in the lower decks of the ship and their natural instincts were telling them they had to get there. At one point everyone got up and left. Within seconds, Marco ran back to the table, took a bite out of the bacon still on his plate and ran after the family. He came back again and sat down and tried to finish his eggs. His father came back and was trying to get him to hurry up. Then another adult came over to talk to the father, I think he was Marco’s uncle. From what it sounded like he was telling Marco’s dad to leave him so they could get in line. Finally Marco was hustled off to join the family.

Later in the day, we were looking over the photographs that the crew has taken looking to see if there were any good ones of mom and I. The pictures from the first day were stored in bins on a table. When we got up to the table the first picture I saw was of a smiling Marco dressed as a pirate, complete with painted-on scar and rubber cutlass. I pointed it out to mom and we both laughed.

That night, after dinner and the evening show, mom and I went to the bar. Now I’m not saying we have spent some time in the bar, but our waiter knows us by name and doesn’t have to ask what we want to drink. Because it’s one of the few wi-fi hot spots, every evening we have gone into the Grand Bar with our computer to check e-mail and post to the blog.

Now, just about every cruise ship has a program for the kids. Costa calls the crewmembers who run the kids programs “animators,” I have no idea why. The animators work really hard to keep the kids entertained throughout the day. Even so, it was kind of a surprise when at 10:30 at night, the animators burst into the Grand Bar followed by a parade of kids, dressed in costumes. As they loudly paraded thru the room, near the middle of the group, was the “Dread Pirate Marco” who appeared to be having the time of his life. (Note: tonight Marco led the parade of cowboy’s and Indians thru the ship shouting their best war cries).

Mom had been talking with our waiter, Ryan, about the Philippines (he is from there) when the kids came into the room. Mom and I spotted Marco about the same time, looked at each other and laughed “Marco!” The waiter looked at us with surprise and said, “you know Marco?”

Turns out Marco’s parents have been stopping in the Grand Bar every day for a quick drink. Right down the hallway is the arcade area for the kids. Apparently Marco isn’t much for video games, so he kept sneaking into the bar. The staff took a liking to him right away. So even though he is not allowed to come into the bar with his parents, the staff lets him spin around on the bar stools near the entrance.

It’s funny how you start to notice certain people when you are in a limited community. We have several folks we have given nicknames to. Like Mr. Happy, an American who may be the most impatient person ever, who loudly voices his complaints, especially when it concerns the speed of the elevators. There are others, some stand out because of their personal mannerisms like “swinger,” a really big guy who swings his arms very oddly when he walks. The majority of those who stand out are for negative behavior. There are some who always seem to be complaining, they just refuse to be happy.

I think it was Abraham Lincoln who said, “we are just about as happy as we make up our minds to be.” I’ve always believed that. It’s sad that some others refuse to enjoy themselves no matter how good life is. And then there are those like Marco, who just always seems to be happy, and spreads smiles wherever he goes. Makes me want to grab a couple pieces of bacon and head down to the Grand Bar. Maybe Marco will let me spin on the bar stools too.

Santorini

With the entire world closed, it looks like it may be awhile before I can do any traveling. With that in mind, I’m re-posting from my original blog. I created the blog to keep family informed while I took my mom on a cruise to Greece.

Day 9:

Last night was a formal dinner. Now if you read the dress code on the internet, “formal” means just that, black tie for the men, formal for the ladies. Apparently once at sea, “formal” means please don’t wear your jeans, well ok, as long as they’re clean, ok, just not too torn and dirty, if you wouldn’t mind. Ok, maybe it wasn’t that bad, but had I worn my tux, I had better grab a tray and learn to speak French real fast.

The sea was really rough last night, I went to the customer service desk and most of the people there were getting sea sickness pills. Mom and I did pretty well, we have patches, but haven’t used them yet. During dinner we hit a bump, no other way to describe it, the ship suddenly jumped like we had hit a speed bump. Everyone in the dining room stopped talking for a second. One of out table mates, a German, leaned over and asked mom, was that the iceberg? It was kind of funny. The waiters were having a little trouble moving around, but with one exception, they managed to stay on their feet. We didn’t see the dishes fall, but we heard them.

Our dinner partners were talking about how wonderful the entertainment was the night prior (after the great mime incident, we skipped the next nights show), so we thought we would take a chance and go see the show. It was a singer from South Africa, who sang a mix of American classics like Tom Jones, James Brown, and some international songs. What a great voice. Mom and I both enjoyed the show.

This morning we arrived at Santorini. Right after breakfast we headed to the theater to get our tickets for the tender ride from the ship to the dock (the harbor is not deep enough so tender ships ferry passengers to the shore). Once we got to the theater, the crew saw moms walker and told us to go with the Italian speaking passengers, because the trip would be easier. They gave us a number and told us we would have to listen carefully, because none of the announcements would be in English. The guy making the announcements must have had a heart, because he did make them in Italian, French, German and English.

Ships tender approaching the dock at Santorini

I have to admit, I was a little concerned about mom jumping between two boats that are pitching back and forth. When we got to the boarding point, there were two crewmembers helping people board the ship. What you had to do was stand on a box and wait for the two ships to be at about the same height and step quickly from one to the other. With the help mom just stepped on board. The crewmember on the tender wanted her to sit on a bench right at the back of the ship, mom also wanted to sit at a bench on the back of the ship. Unfortunately they weren’t the same bench. In his best English the Greek crewmember kept saying, “Madam, please sit down”, mom was trying to get to the bench she thought she was supposed to be at. She got a little flustered and finally said “I’m trying” and that seemed good enough. About then another passenger just about landed on his face when the ship pitched. He managed to very ungracefully stay on his feet, jumped up and yelled “Oppah.”

Once you arrive at the dock in Santorini, you have three choices. You can walk up hundreds of steps to get to the city, you can ride a donkey, or you can take a very steep tram ride. We went for the tram.

The view from the tram

Turns out the tram ticket office is one of the few places that has a lift for handicapped people, however after that you still have stairs to climb to get to the tram. The city is built into a cliff, it really is quite beautiful. We did not have much time, just enough for mom to make one shopkeeper pretty happy.

Katakolon/Olympia

With the entire world closed, it looks like it may be awhile before I can do any traveling. With that in mind, I’m re-posting from my original blog. I created the blog to keep family informed while I took my mom on a cruise to Greece.

Day 8:

Today we are headed into Katakolon. Last night we sailed through a storm. Not too bad, but enough the lightening and thunder kept me awake. Woke up several times, didn’t realize my watch had stopped until about 10 am, which was the start time of the cocktail reception we were invited to. Oops.

The Port at Katakolon

We had dinner in the dining room for the first time last night. Usually they seat people of like nationality at the same table, so naturally we were sitting with a couple from Austria and one from Germany. Turns out they all speak English so we were able to talk . Very nice people.

Most of the passengers on the ship seem to be Italian. The next largest group appears to be the French, followed by the Germans. English speaking passengers are few, which makes anyone from the UK an instant friend. Only met a couple of folks from the US, interestingly one gentleman was stationed at George AFB in the 60’s. He deployed to Vietnam from George and his wife moved out of the area, They now live in Oklahoma City.

The View Looking Aft on the Ship

At Sea

With the entire world closed, it looks like it may be awhile before I can do any traveling. With that in mind, I’m re-posting from my original blog. I created the blog to keep family informed while I took my mom on a cruise to Greece.

Day 6:

Here is a shot of mom at the Grand Canal in Venice on Saturday.

We had breakfast at the hotel, good ol fashioned American breakfast with eggs, sausage, bacon, gooey pastries and some fruit to make mom happy. After Sunday dinner, it was a pleasant change.

We went to the port at 12:30, and along with 2500 others waited to board the ship. Not too bad, you might think they do this all the time.

As soon as we got on board, they opened the buffet. Not bad, I had a little this and that. The mahi-mahi was very good.

We departed Venice at 6 pm and headed to sea. Leaving port the view was nice. We sat on the balcony and watched as we went past Venice. It was a little cold, Mom wrapped herself in a blanket and we had champagne and hor’devores as we sailed past. Mom wouldn’t touch the caviar so more for me.

Went to the evening show, it sucked. Mime is a lost art, it should stay that way.

Rainy Days and Mondays

With the entire world closed, it looks like it may be awhile before I can do any traveling. With that in mind, I’m re-posting from my original blog. I created the blog to keep family informed while I took my mom on a cruise to Greece.

Day 5:

Well its Monday and this afternoon we start the cruise. Rained all day yesterday and it's still raining off and on today.

Found out the everything is closed on Sundays. Couldn't find anywhere to eat, so we snacked and watched tv.

TV in Venice is interesting at best. The programming says there are four English channels. One is a never ending infomercial for a ultra sound home device, that, as advertised, will make your butt look firm and smooth, as well as solving a diverse list of problems. A second channel is EuroSport, which is not in English, has nothing to do with anything remotely English. Which leaves BBC (and not BBC America which has redeeming qualities) and CNN.

Which leads me to proclaim, Mr. Bean is actually funny in Italian. Really.

Venice

With the entire world closed, it looks like it may be awhile before I can do any traveling. With that in mind, I’m re-posting from my original blog. I created the blog to keep family informed while I took my mom on a cruise to Greece.

Day 4:

Well we made it to the plane without any problems. The flight from NYC to Venice took just over nine hours. Got to the hotel with out any incidents.

After Checking in, we got on the bus and headed into town. Mom had a little trouble getting on the bus, the step was really high, But we made it to the Grand Canal. Walked around a little, poked around in some shops, then headed back to the hotel.

Had dinner in the hotel, really good. crashed about 10 pm.

This morning, the phone rang. Housekeeping wanted to know if we needed anything. I looked at my watch and it was after 1pm. Looked outside and it was raining. So much for day number two.

There should be some real nice pictures included in this post, cept for one little thing. Can't charge the computer.

OK, added a picture from the canal after we got a new plug for the computer

Important lesson, you need to have a power converter not just a plug adapter when you travel. Mom brought her plug adapter but it doesn't convert the voltage. There is one 120v plug in the room in the bathroom, (in fact, this blog was going to be called "bloggin from the bidet" which would have been much funnier), but it did not charge the computer overnight. I'll work on it.

Tomorrow we head over to the dock and board the ship, hopefully the rain will stop.