last stop - Tuscany

This was our last stop - Tuscany - and from all that I had heard I was prepared for stunning beauty. We took a tour to a small village and a vineyard - but I have seen other more beautiful landscapes in the Mediterranean. It was a typical mountaintop village but it overlooked an industrial valley. The vineyard had high tension wires running through it. We have beautiful vineyards in Nova Scotia. We saw the Leaning Tower of Pisa in the distance from the highway and then it began to pour rain. It is either over rated or there must be more to it all, but we were not to find out because we flew back to Canada the next day.

It had been a glorious trip, even thouigh Italy washed out, we still had a whale of a time.

Monaco etc.

Here's some photos I took when we walked around Monaco, the most heavily populated country in the world - and it was just garden after garden in a country built on the edge of a cliff.

I'm in Nova Scotia for three days. I have crossed over the mountain and am in an "Internet Cafe" in Bridgetown. I helped myself to coffee and dropped coins in a dish. This is a used book store. As soon as I publish this, I am going to check out the stock.

always learning

Least anyone think that my time on board the ship was total slothfulness, I did go to the towel folding demonstration. As I have a guest for a few days, I made up the hide-a-bed and sculpted a towel. This is a duck, in case you were wondering.

Barcelona

We caught the local bus to Las Ramblas and strolled down the boulevard on a Sunday morning. We walked all over the city searching out Gaudi's buildings. Here's three of them. They are quite astonishing. You can see how he took the local style and stretched it. They are still building his church. There was a long line to get buy a ticket and get in. But this was Sunday morning and we went around the side and joined the faithful going into mass. The interior columns are like palm trees and the windows that are in are amazing. On our way back we walked over Joan Miro's mural. My big accomplishment was buying two futbol (soccer) jersys for my grandchildren who were cat sitting. I had been given instructions for a Real Madrid shirt, because they are such a good team. The second shirt was Barcelona colours, and this team is doing very well this year. So one each for the up and coming soccer stars.

life at sea

Okay, so what was it like? My cruise partner just sent me these two pictures. I am in the hot tub and we are at Happy Hour for the Two for One specials. Girls just want to have fun.

Palma de Mallorca

Then we sailed to the Balearic Isles. We began the day in light rain, so we sat in a small bar with chocolate and churros. Then we explored the town, finishing in the sunshine. Here's some photos from along our way.

Cadiz

Computer glitches led to my being unable to blog yesterday - so here I am at the office trying to make up.
I just loved Cadiz. We wandered around, had tapas in an open air cafe, and just enjoyed.
An old man we talked to in the plaza outside the cathedral told us about how the citizens watched the Battle of Trafalgar from their roof tops. That was when war was a spectator sport.
(Some ancestor is said to have been shipwrecked during the battle and walked home to Scotland. This may be an exaggeration. I presume that he got a lift across the Channel.)
We sailed through the Straits of Gibraltar well after midnight, but some of us were up for the experience. The rock loomed in the darkness. Africa was very close. Then just before dawn we entered the Eastern Hemisphere. I was asleep for that major event.

Lisbon

On my second day in Portuguese I was able to purchase tapestry wool in a colour that I needed, but which is now out of production - a real find! This is our Lisbon, from our walking through the city. We stopped for little cups of coffee and a sweet roll, and later on we ate in a street cafe. We had taken the public bus into the city, but we walked back along the sea to our ship. We're in shape! I loved the city colours.

Funchal, Madeira

Today was dull and raining and my thoughts turned to Funchal in Madeira: an archipelago which is part of Portugal, craggy volcanic mountains, flowers and sunshine, and, of course, wine. Have some madeira, my dear. It was our first landfall after the Bahamas. Utter loveliness. So we walked into the city, just snapping pictures of green and flowers and buildings and then to the market. We walked around lovely gardens and finished the afternoon in a park buying ice cream.

I purchased our cones in some sort of foreign language. It worked, but the vendor replied in English, laughing that I was speaking half Spanish and half Portuguese. But this was my first day ever in Portuguese, so I didn't think that I had done half bad. Of course, it wasn't half good, either.

Then we tottered back to the ship, which by then we were calling home.

sailing in circles

I am back in Sussex. Now it is all a dream. I loved the days at sea. I could have sailed in circles on the Atlantic. I had booked a passage. It marked leaving one part of my life and entering another. There turned out to be more to it than I ever imagined. it became a dream passage to the next stage of my living.

veg day

Yesterday my internal clock readjusted itself. My luggage caught up to me and I made myself a cup of coffee and sat out on my son's deck. Today it was back in the air again, from Montreal to Toronto and from Toronto to Halifax. Tomorrow it will be back to Sussex and back to work.

first stop

First stop is Halifax to drop off the cats so they can spend their vacation with Lola. I was taking a picture of the luggage when Lola ingratiated herself into the picture. The cats are hiding.
I was packing yesterday; putting stuff into my deceased dad's thirty year old suit case and the back pack that has made its way to Indonesia, Vietnam, Ghana and darkest Colorado. I began to think that they would not make the grade. So I extravagrantly went and bought a new case: plaid so I could recognize it easily on the luggage carousel. So here it is with my back pack on top, packed and on the road.

last day

Escape - I'm going away: first night: Halifax, second night: Montreal, third night: at sea. Of course I am often at sea, but this will be on the briny deep. If and when I find a computer I'll check in.

This is a window at the church where I work.