I was up early as I had two excursions scheduled for today. Margaret was also up to meet her daughter-n-law for the day, so we went to the dining room for breakfast. I ordered one scrambled egg and then visited the muesli bar for a bowl of fruit muesli with plain yogurt and other fresh fruits. Yummy and filling.
My excursion left at 8:15 am and was entitled Panoramic Naples. This was mostly a bus tour with excellent commentary and a few hop off spots for photos. We passed the Castle Nuova, Piazza de Boursa, the Galleria Umberto, the Piazza Plebiscito, several Royal Palaces, the San Carlo Opera House, the Church of St Francis, Posilipo Hill with a view of both Naples bay and Posilipo Bay, the Merelina port where we stopped for gelato (and caught a view of Mt. Vesuvious), and the Castle of the Egg in Santa Lucia before returning to the ship. I wanted an overview of Naples and got what I hoped, lots of suggestions for when I return – especially the archeology museum where most of the artifacts from Pompeii are housed.
Our stop at Pompeii was preceded by a visit to a cameo factory, which did not interest me as much as the clean toilets available in the building. However there was no paper, so I'm happy I was prepared. The group was given bottled water and we entered Pompeii. Our entrance was not as had been described to me and I discovered later that we did not go into the city the traditional way, as most groups were diverted due to the collapse and possible death of an earlier tourist. Audrey and Dana and their group moved past the man who was receiving CPR as medical personnel were arriving.
Pompeii was very different from those ruins I've seen in Cyprus. The city was both boring and exciting. The story of the discovery and excavations was interesting, but there was not much variety in most of the areas we explored. We did see a few rooms where the interior decorations had survived, but must of the man-made parts of this ancient city either did not survive the violent explosions and fire from Mt. Vesuvius, or have been moved to the Archaeological Museum in Naples. We also saw the brothel, a popular stop on all tours because of the recovered wall paintings which advertise the 'services' provided. There were some partial temples still visible in the forum, or political center, of the city, and a couple of theaters.
The city was very crowded with tourists which made photo-taking difficulty without unknown people in your pictures, not always a bad thing, but when the crowds form so quickly that your photo subject is hidden, well, that is frustrating. We did end our visit with an area which was a grain storage facility and now stores the amphora discovered in Pompeii plus several of the plaster casts make of cavities found that later and providing replicas of people killed in the ash cloud and poisonous gases. We left Pompeii by a long steep staircase, which has not been mentioned in any literature I had looked at as I prepared for the trip.
Jim had sent me off on this adventure telling me that “I could look for the places and sites that would interest him when we returned together.” I don't think we will return to Pompeii because of the quality and variety of early ruins we have seen in Cyprus when we have visited my 'sister' Liz. (I will want to visit the Archeology Museum and Jim had said that he will probably want to go there instead as well.)
Back to the ship in time for dinner and sailing, and then to my room to begin working on these entries for the blog. I have not explored the cost of Internet minutes, but have been told that the connections are very slow, so I'm thinking that these daily documents will be uploaded, but the photos will be added after I return home, where I can work with a really fast connection. (I found that the ship's Internet connection was so slow and costly, that nothing was uploaded during the trip. Those of you who have been waiting patiently since May, I'm really working on this now, and apologize for the delay. You'd think that someone who is retired could find time to finish what she promised!)
May 20, 2010
Jim was supposed to have a doctor's appointment today, so I hope he made it.
Today is a day at sea, so I slept in until after 10 am. Margaret was ready to leave for breakfast, and I planned to meet her. I went up to the Windjammer which is the ship's buffet and met Glennor. We sat and talked for about 90 minutes – we had not had so much time together in a long time. It was a great time!
wifi account for my little netbook, but did not activate it as the netbook was still in the room, and I had not begun to get caught up with my blog.
Because I ate breakfast so late, I skipped lunch – they were actually beginning to serve lunch as Glennor and I left. Dinner is at 6 pm for all of us, and we received word from our head waiter that because all of us are in the same group, we will be permitted to move between the three adjacent tables assigned to us. That will make it easier for us to get to know everyone. They have asked that we all sign up for the automatic gratuity program which I completed soon after boarding.
After dinner while most went on to the Broadway type revue with songs from popular musicals, I went to the casino. I was not quite as lucky as I had been a couple of day prior, as I was trying several games that looked interesting but I could not figure out what was a good screen and what was a non-paying screen. So, as of today I'm down, but not empty. I save money for cruise casino nights, knowing that is is probable that I will lose my money. I have fun with the machines that have a type of story – guess it appeals to the librarian in me.
Up to the room for bed around 10 because we both need to be up relatively early to catch our tour of Athens and the Acropolis. We tried leaving the heavy curtains open so we could see the darkness of the sea at night, but I finally got up sometime in the middle of the night to close them. Our neighbor did not turn off his balcony light.
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