 |
: |
Our journey, which starts and ends in Los Angeles. has four major segments:
several days in Florida
a 20 day cruise on the Grand Princess from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA to Rome, Italy.
This cruise covers South America, Africa, and the western Mediterranean (Europe).
a 12 day cruise on the Grand Princess from Rome Italy, to Venice, Italy.
This cruise covers the eastern Mediterranean (Europe and the Middle East).
several days in Venice, Italy followed by a flight home with a stopover in
Dublin, Ireland.
|
Florida, USA
We flew to Orlando. The first day was spent at Disney's Magic Kingdom. It was very
similar to Disneyland in Anaheim, California, but we had to check that out for ourselves.
The next day, we took a Grayline Tour to Cape Canaveral. Kennedy Space Center
is an engineer's theme park, ranking right up there with the Panama Canal locks.
The third day we took Amtrak to Fort Lauderdale. It was a slow trip because there
was a malfunction with the signals. They defaulted to red, limiting the train to 15 mph
in the affected area.
The Florida alligators must have hexed our trip. First, Sandy's Canon S2 camera malfunctioned
when the imager went black. Then Sandy slid down some stairs at the hotel and sprained her
ankle. She is hobbling about slowly and avoiding stairs.
Disney's Magic Kingdom
|
|
Kennedy Space Center
 |
George is a train buff
 |
Dominica (not the Dominican Republic)
This beautiful island is where the second and third "Pirates of the Caribbean"
movies were filmed. It is beautiful, unspoiled paradise with a low crime rate. We
wandered the capital (Roseau) in the morning and took an aerial tram ride
through the rain forest in the afternoon.
Volcano in the Mist
|
|
Aerial Tram
 |
Fern from Above
 |
Our next scheduled stop was Devil's Island, French Guiana.
The seas were rough (8-13 feet) with heavy swells and a Force 6 wind. The tenders
were fighting for control in the turbulent, muddy water off this tropical, mist covered
isle. The captain decided to abort the landing.
Two days later, King Neptune jumped aboard the ship as we crossed the equator.
There was a party where the slimy polywogs
were promoted to trusty shellbacks. The ships crew slimed each other with whipped
creme and cherries, and played "keep away from the cow's liver". They jumped in
the pool to clean themselves off, which turned the pool a disgusting shade of pink
and brown. A fun time was had by all.
Fortaleza, Brazil
Fortaleza is a city of 3.2 million people in the state of Ceara, near the equator.
Brazil is known as the land of clothing optional beaches and party loving people.
Princess charted busses to take us to the handicraft market, which was situated in
an abandoned prision, with different vendors occupying each cell. From there, we walked
several blocks to the cathedral. Mass was being celebrated as we admired the gothic stone
exterior and the white airy interior with exquisite stained glass windows. Next door was
the 5 story high Mercado Central, which primarily featured clothing and other textiles.
The cathedral
|
|
5 story high Mercado Central
 |
Nearby sign
 |
Dakar, Senegal
Senegal is a small country with few natural resouces, located on the southern
boundary of the Sahara Desert. Dakar, its capital, is on the Atlantic coast.
The poverty of its 3 million people is sobering.
Our ship's tour was accompanied by lead and trailing motorcycle police, who
had lights and sirens blaring. This was the only way the bus could make it
through the traffic. The bus drive followed the police, driving us down the
wrong side of the street, through back alleyways to avoid traffic, and even
cross-country THROUGH traffic circles. It was Mr. Toads Wild Ride all over again.
We traveled out to the countryside, where we switched into 4 wheel drive trucks
for a thrilling ride across sand dunes. We visited a semi-nomadic village where
we bargained for souveniers. The language barrier was easily overcome. Once we
decided on US dollars (as opposed to Euros), we scratched numbers in the sand and
waved our fingers for "no-no".
My hard-won acquisitions were an 8 stringed musical instrument (with a gourd base
for built-in percussion), two sand paintings, and two wooden neckaces.
We saw people mining salt from the Pink Lake of Retba. A short distance later, we
admired the fantastic surf of the milky blue Atlantic against the pink sands. All
too soon, it was time to leave this magical world for the squalor of the city and
the safety of the ship. The lights and sirens of the police did not help us much
as we arrived at the ship about ten minutes after sailing time. Fortunately
they waited for us.
Dakar
|
|
Camel
 |
Sahara Desert
|
|
Semi-Nomadic Settlement (Sandy & Instrument)
 |
Casablanca and Marrakesh, Morocco
We did our homework for this port by watching Bogie and Bacall in
"Casablanca". The reality was not as romantic as
this classic movie. The landscape was similar to the Highway 99
farms in the central valley of California, except instead of ranch
houses there were walled adobe compounds.
We took an unairconditioned bus to Marrakesh, toured the souks in the marketplace,
listed to a spiel by the guide's cousin who wanted to sell us
$3000 rugs (cash now, merchandise delivered later to your door) along
with snake charmers, donkey carts, and orange juice stands. We toured
the palace of the Moroccan king. The architecture was breathtaking.
Back alleys
|
|
Marakkesh Souks
 |
King of Morocco's Palace
 |
Gibralter - Also known as The Rock or The Pillars of Hercules
Gibralter, a British colony with much sunnier weather than the motherland, welcomed us
back to the familiar world. We have been totally isolated, not knowing what
has been happening in the world. Yeah for CNN and BBC satellite
feeds!
We took a fantastic tour that recounted the military history of the
rock. There are more miles of tunnel under the rock than there are
roads in Gibralter! We walked through the tank-sized World War II tunnels, viewed the
Seige Tunnels from the 1700s, and saw the gun emplacements. Barbary
apes ran wild on the sides of the mountain. I saw them come up to a man and
bite him on the arm.
Mosque at the Rock
| |
World War II Tunnels
|
|
Barbary Ape
 |
Virtual Sea Days
George came down with symptoms of food poisoning. He is now officially confined to
the cabin. A HAZMAT team decends upon
us twice a day. They wear surgical masks, carry squirt bottles of antisceptic, and
seal everything removed from the room in plastic bags.
We stayed in the cabin while the ship docked at Cannes and Livorno.
I wrote, did needlepoint, fetched food/ice and watched PBS programs on Rome
while George suffered.
Most of the passengers will be getting off at Rome. We will be staying on as the
ship plies the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. For the second part of our trip,
follow this
link.
This is just a summary of our incredible holiday.
For George Schreyer's complete trip log, follow
this
link.
|
