Signing off

My career as a blogger has ended

I have written much more than intended

There's some things I can't shirk

So it's now back to work

And besides, all my money is spended!

This was my first summer in 2014.

http://flipagram.com/f/F4ONmmFx27

Enjoy!

Things we are looking forward to.

Den wants Green shakes for breakfast

Lou wants 3 ply toilet paper in normal sized toilets

We both want a place with no steps

Lou wants to kiss a horse that doesn't bite her

Den wants a day with no Voltaren

We both want to eat dinner before 9 pm

Lou wants her Southern Comfort and cola stubbies

Den wants her mango frapppes

We both want a big bowl of green salad

Lou wants her washing machine

Den wants to wear her jewellery again

We both want a big hug and to see family.

Three weeks later ........... Den wants to go away again!

Gaudi = Genius

When I was younger I was a huge Alan Parsons fan. He was famous for his concept prog rock albums and one I loved was about Antonio Gaudi, an architect from Barcelona. The music sparked a life long desire to visit La Sagrada Familia, so it's one if the reasons Steve and I came to Barcelona in 2010. We saw Gaudi's work: La Pedretta, Casa Batlo, but it was a public holiday in Spain and the queues were four deep around the church and we did not get inside.

Yesterday, I went inside.

Looks like I'm coming back to Barcelona again, because Steve will want to see the inside too. Like a forest, the pillars reach toward the light and what I loved was that whilst full of symbolism, it is a space where people from many religions could come and be at peace. I'll let the pictures tell thousands of words.

For those who haven't seen La Sagrada Familia, you must. For those who have, hope the photos bring the magic back.

Gaudi. 1852 - 1926

Packing Up and Shipping Out

There are lots of ways you pay when you are travelling. First you pay when you book your travel. That's the easiest and most painless part. You pay when there are no porters and you have to actually move your luggage yourself. For us, travelling by train was great but the beginning and end of the journey was especially tough because we had to get our bags on board and find a place to store them. Lou has muscles in places I'd forgotten about. She needed them too, because the wheels on her bag broke early in the trip so she was dragging her heaviest suitcase around as well as managing a fully packed carry on, a gigantic handbag and a backpack. She also helped me lift my suitcase on and off each day, so whilst my feet and knees paid, so did her back. 

You pay when you purchase your souvenirs (not only with money, but with the brain power needed to constantly convert Pounds to dollars, Euros to dollars, Lira to dollars and at the same time keep track of your credit card account balance which grows exponentially without you even trying.

But you really pay when you have to pack to come home. It hurts my triceps trying to roll my clothes into small cylinders, and the chunkier you are, the more you have to roll. It is stressful trying to stuff items into shoes, or down crevices between things and I know It shouldn't but a little part of me dies every time I place the Elsa and Anna dolls face down in the case and dump clothes on top of them. It's certainly no way for a Disney Princess to travel.

You pay when you have to ship ANOTHER box home because the stuff won't fit in your bag. So far between us we have sent over 28 kg home this trip plus a box from the Bruges Christmas shop and a platter the size of Lou's carry on from Lucca.

There is, however, a pay off that balances it out. All this pain means it's time to head home, to bore people with our constant travel stories and it means we get to see our family and friends again. 

 So put the kettle on or get the Southern out, Den and Lou are heading home today!

Top Ten Moments: Den

Not in any order of importance:

1)  seeing the London Shows, especially Matilda.

2)  high tea at the Ritz

3)  reaching the top of Mt Kitzsteinhorn on the cable car without panicking

4)  the library at Epheses, finally.

5)  the shop window displays, especially in London and Paris

6)  the view from the Eiffel Tower

7)  standing on the balcony at sail away time in each port

8)  Lucca 

9)  The stained glass windows at the Sacre Coer and at La Sagrada Familia

10) eating gelati in San Gimingnano

Narrowly missing the cut:

The Amalfi Coast

Finding Anna and Elsa

Bruges

The train trip between Salzburg and Venice

And of course, spending time with Lou.

Top Ten Moments: Lou

Not in order of importance.

1) tobogganing backwards down the slope at Mt Kitzsteinhorn

2) riding the merry go round in the Kensington Palace Gardens

3) catching up with Jessica in London

4) dipping my toes in the water at Mykonos

5) seeing 'Matilda' in London

6) everything about the Eiffel Tower

7) The duomos in Italy

8) Buckingham Palace, even in the rain

9) Schnitzel in Salzburg, actually EVERYTHING in Salzburg

10) Greenwich

And those unlucky to make the top ten

Everything else! (except for Pompeii)

Stranger than fiction...

Over the past month or so we have seen so many amazing things that we can't describe them all. But today, we saw something that has us dumbfounded. Who on earth has a body that fits this toilet seat?

BTW: it's neither of us!

Letter to Steve

Dear Steve,

I love you but when I get home you will have to lift your game. I have become accustomed to a few things in my time away. Make sure that when you go to bed you turn the covers down for me and put a chocolate on the pillow. You will need to drive me everywhere, and when I arrive home I expect a cool towel to be handed to me as I enter the house. When I leave each day, you need to wear a funny costume and take a photo with me. I need a bar fridge near the bed with a full ice bucket at all times ready for drinks. You need to constantly smile and ask me if there is anything I need. Of course, I expect gourmet meals or at the very least a buffet with a hibachi grill, soup station and dessert bar. Last but not least, as we head out of the driveway, you need to sing the theme to the Love Boat. If you can do all of this I promise to give you the same gratuity I paid the Princess Line for their service every day ($11.50 US). 

Still want me to come home next week?

Love

Den xx

PS. Costume advice below

Can you believe they sell this stuff?

Buying a truckload to bring home!

In love with Lucca

Lou asked me why Lucca was better than Sienna or San Gimingnano and my first answer was because it was flat. And at this point in my life, and at this point in our trip, that is a great reason to like a place. But I am selling Lucca short because it was quite magical. Encircled by huge walls, Lucca has beautiful churches, narrow, winding streets where around almost every corner there's a small square where you can sit in a cafe and watch the world go by. The shops are sensational and sell everything from high end fashion to locally produced silk scarves, leather bags to specialty gelati. The walls are 9 m thick and over the years have been planted with linden trees so they have become a park that locals cycle, jog or walk their dogs around. There was a baroque garden in one of the villas that was so beautiful I could have sat it in all morning. 

I never intended to go to Lucca but I am so lucky I did. 

Shore Excursions: the Final Frontier of Cruising

Shore excursions from the ship are great. Sometimes expensive, but always convenient, they are designed specifically to make sure you get a taste of what each port or location can offer. 

For each excursion you meet in a specific location where you are given a coloured sticker to identify you as part of the group. ( this also lets pickpockets and thieves in each place know that you are a tourist from a cruise ship as you walk around). Each group is sent off the ship  one at a time, which is when the race for the front seat of the bus starts. I have seen old people with walking sticks use them as shields as they run to get there first. To do this you have to also take out the two theme characters at the end of the gangplank in every port (pizza chefs in Naples, gladiators in Rome, goddesses in Athens etc) that you are expected to have your photo taken with as you leave the ship and then buy later. Lou is more into that than me. I just duck around the back of them and get going.

There is a hierarchy to the seats on the bus. Front seats are for the fastest (but are supposed to be for the people with mobility issues who have ignored the advice that the excursion is strenuous and have come along with their walking frames anyway). Next best are the seats near the side door, especially if they have a table. I can't work out why; there's no cabin service, but that's just how it is. Third are the seats with the biggest glass so you can take photos from the bus. These are the ones we try for. The back seat is what you get if you are not on the ball when the race begins. 

Once you arrive at you destination, you are asked to don lanyards with radios and ear phones so the guide can talk to you. There is always someone who can't get theirs to work, until another in the group shows them how to turn the volume up. Then, like sheep, you follow an object: a flower, a lollipop, or a bright umbrella, as a group. Most people group as close to the guide as they can, taking up all of the road or footpath, never looking around to see if someone else want to pass. The other day an old Italian gentleman on a bicycle approached at speed ringing his bell and I can't really be sure what he said but the word bastardos was used so I am pretty sure he was frustrated as he pushed through the group. (Is it mean that I thought it was funny to see the man with the walking stick jump out of the way?)

A few times we have stopped to take photos and been left behind. This is not a bad thing a long as you can remember where the meeting point to go home is. It is customary to tip the guide and the driver at the end of the tour (they share what is given). Some days those  drivers, who have parallel parked a tour bus in a parking bay the size of a ten cent piece, deserve all the tips they can get. Today, I tipped the guide for Lucca 5€ but only because she stopped singing Nessun  Dorma after the second chorus outside Puccini's old music school. She would have got 10€ if she had not sung at all.

I am sad that we are nearly at the end if our shore excursions. Not that I'll miss them, but because I finally had a great strategy to get to the bus first!

Bucket Lists

Today we went to Rome to make Lou's pilgrimage to the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. They are the final things on her bucket list. Of course the Spanish Steps were crowded and the Trevi Fountain was being renovated but she has done what she set out to do. So this is what was on the list:

1) go to London the visit the Queen

2) see snow 

3) climb the Eiffel Tower

4) climb the Spanish Steps

5) throw a coin in the Trevi Fountain

6) run over the hills singing songs from the Sound of Music.

7) go to Anne Frank House

So in the words of Phil from Amazing Race, after thirty four days and in twelve countries, congratulations on completing your Bucket List! 

But wait! There's more! Now there's a NEW Travel Bucket List!

1) visit the Bay of Isles in NZ

2) go back to Croatia with Tonch, Jay and Abbey

3) cruise through the Greek Islands

4) sit on a beach in Mauritius drinking cocktails

5) hit the New Year sales in London

And my bucket list?

1) cruise the Baltics and Russia

2) see a volcano in action 

3) Malta, Tunisia Sardinia Morrocco.

4) watch the Northern Lights

5) listen to jazz in a Cuban bar

6) take Maddie to Disneyland

7) take a dip in the hit pools in Iceland

We need to start saving!

When life gives you lemons, make Limoncello!

Today we careened around the Amalfi Coast Road, hanging on for grim death as the mini bus twisted and turned around hairpin bends. Luckily the scenery was so breathtaking that we forgot the danger we were in and spent our time trying to take that one good photo that would help us remember how beautiful it was. Positano is pressed into the side of a hill with winding alleys full of expensive shops. It's a place full of possibilities, but we only had one hour there so I walked down for 30 mins and then turned around and started  the climb back up to the bus! I want to go back, arrive by boat, enjoy looking at he village from the bottom of the hill where I can truly take it all without fearing I'll die of exhaustion trying to get home.

The lemons from Positano are thick skinned and need weeks to turn into the beautiful Limoncello we saw everywhere. The lemons from Sorrento, however, are thinner skinned and much more juicy. Mum and Dad, watch out. I'm coming home to have a go at making Limincello myself. Lemons were everywhere. Lemon gelato (deluxe!), lemon pasta, lemon lollies, lemon soap, lemons on dishes and tea towels, lemon cakes (a specialty of the region). I will forever remember the citrus candles burning as we meandered our way down the hill inviting you to buy. 

At Sea, Day we don't know and we don't care!

I did the bravest thing I've done on the ship today. Braver than walking the sky walk on Deck 17.

I went to the Spa ( tenderly known as the  Lotus Beauty and Wellness Centre) on an AT SEA day.

It was brave on a number of Levels.

1) it is on Deck 5, and there is a slight swell, so you feel the boat rock more than you do in the cabin. 

2). It is formal night tonight, so ladies were desperate to get their glam on today. Can't believe that people are actually wearing corsages!

3) Those who know me well know I rarely even wear makeup, so a spa is the final frontier as far as I am concerned.

I learned that I don't exfoliate enough. My eyes aren't just baggy from age- they are full of toxins. My cuticles should be 'oiled' every night. It's never too late to start fixing your flaws. 

But I had one beauty treatment (sort of) up my sleeve: nails that change colour when they are cold! No one in the spa had seen them and so my hand was paraded, viewed, admired and even envied. Just goes to show that if you are brave enough to venture into a new world, there will be things you have that others will learn from. 

Lou was braver still. She tackled the 50% off jewellery sale in the Plaza on Level 7. It was everyone for themselves, do or die, knock down drag em out fight to even get to the counter, and then she had to duck and weave to check out the items on display. Groups of women worked in teams to hold poll position at the front of the queue, but with ten minutes to go before closing Lou managed to hustle her way to the front (I think I might have been shouting directions and pushing from behind) and she was able to achieve her goal. Just goes to show that with determination and persistence, you can be successful against the odds. 

It's all Greek to me!

This is the cream I bought to replace Voltaren yesterday. Check out the box. Now I understand the saying "it's all Greek to me"! Opa!

Magical Mykonos

Shirley Valentine certainly had it right. Mykonos was delightful, and everything you expect of a Greek Island. From the limewashed houses with their blue doors and stairs to the crystal clear water and wooden fishing boats, Mykonos could have come straight off the cover of a glossy travel brochure. Lou wandered the streets, taking her time to explore Mykonos townsite and chat to locals and I took a bus tour that took me to towns, beaches and monasteries all over the island. Both took about the same time as it's only 20 mins from one end of the island to another. We spent time at the windmills and in Little Venice, where the streets are deliberately narrow and winding in order to trick pirates. I saw an amazing 15th century monastery, sanctified in 1797 when a nun found an icon floating in the harbour. The icons themselves were amazing. Lunch was garlic prawns by the shore of the Agean, although the restaurant next door tried to induce me to dine by hanging dead squid off a boat. I noticed it was the least packed of all the taverns. Maybe that was their way to tenderise their catch? 

Evidently the cheapest house currently for sale in Mykonos is €200 000, and the villas are celebrity status symbols costing millions. As I looked at the backpackers walking past the infinity pools at the 7 star hotel on the beachfront, it was easy to see that Mykonos has something for everyone. 

At the end of the day....

Mein Gott! My feet, I feel your pain 

I know I've asked too much again

To walk around with so much weight

I know was not your ideal fate

My knees, you creak in agony

But there's so much to so and see

You crave Voltaren every day 

to take the soreness right away

My back! My back! You hear me cry

I never meant to climb so high

But if you cope, then late at night

When sleeping, it will all be right.

Oh aged traveller! Solemn soul!

We hope you have achieved your goal

For you have grown quite old and slow, 

And now your body will not go!

The Love Boat

I have just realised that the Regal Princess plays the first bars from the Love Boat theme when it blows it's horn to announce our arrival or departure from port.

Who thought THAT was a good idea? Lou and I watched an old rerun of the Love Boat last night and it's even cornier now with it's contrived dialogue and canned laughter. But there are elements of the Princess Line operation you can still see in use today.

This boat (sorry Dad, ship) is a well oiled machine. It's quite amazing to think about the logistics and organisational structure of cruising with high numbers of passengers. Of course technology makes it easier. We have a card that is scanned for purchases or for getting on and off the ship and it evidently ensures we are not left behind if we sink. 

There is a TV studio that broadcasts each day, although "The Wake Show" is never gonna be a ratings winner. The same goes for the web cam. If you are bored of the sea view from you room, you can look at the sea from the front of the ship. Doesn't look any different to me. I do, however, always feel good when I am on water.

Nothing is too much trouble for anyone, from the bar staff to the stewards to the chefs to the ladies that look after the rooms. Of course there is a cost to all of this luxury and service. Drinks. Daily gratuities. Shore excursions. Shuttles to town locations on arrival. Designer shopping. All part of making your life wonderful. 

I could live on the Regal Princess and never get tired or old. I would , however, be smarter, fatter and poorer. All I need to do is reconcile myself to hearing that Love Boat theme in every port of call. Worth it, I reckon.

Important things we've missed while we've been away

Obviously family and friends. But as importantly:

1) The Eagles lost a captain and Melbourne beat Collingwood.

2) The Tasmanian couple got kicked off House Rules.

3) It actually rained in Perth

4) Kings Park made a list of the top 10 Parks in the World

5) Miley Cyrus is coming!

6)  Winter in June has almost come and gone

7) Peppa Pig survived the budget cuts at the ABC

8) Maddie now sleeps in a bed

9) birthdays and special events 

However, one thing has definitely stayed the same. Jon Snow still knows nothing!