Venice & Adriatic Cruise

Boston to Rome then Venice; Tuesday - Wednesday, October 25-26, 2016

Our flight to Rome was at 10:45pm today so we pretty much had the entire day. We took the dogs for our usual morning walk and did odds and ends till around 2pm. I felt really bad leaving the dogs for almost 3 weeks again and it affected my mood a lot. Heart heavy, as if leaving my kids .... We took them to the kennel around 4. The folks at Southboro Kennel were quite nice to them. But when they led them away, Djuna uttered a loud scream, and Iubi was trembling .... I wanted to cry ..... And I did not feel any joy about traveling again....

We were flying Alitalia. The folks at the checkin counter at Logan seemed to be trainees, slow and did not quite know what they were doing. But being late at night, the airport was not as crowded. We rested in the Business Lounge for more than an hour before we boarded the plane.

Seats were nice. We had 3C and 3E, the two adjacent seats in the middle. Seat laid flat. Bob slept most of the 8+ hours. I got about 2 or 3 hours. The business class was less than half full.

We arrived in Rome local time shortly after 12pm. Flight was ahead of schedule. It was drizzling/raining in Rome, and quite foggy. We had to take the shuttle train from the terminal where we landed to terminal B and had to walk for quite some distance. But we had about 2 hours to kill. Our flight to Venice was at 2:30pm and we had to be bused to the plane, no gangway for that flight.

We were on our way!

Venice; Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Our flight from Rome arrived in Venice before 4pm. It seemed to have been delayed a little bit at take-off but the flight was only about 1 hour. And the flight was not full. We sat in row 10 which was an exit row and had ample leg room. No complaint!

We went through passport control at Rome airport so it was simple at Venice. The only thing was we needed to find out how to get a private water taxi. But it turned out to be simple. The information counter found out our hotel's address and told us where to go get the private water taxi, and we did. We paid at the counter and were told (and given a card) to go to pier 15 for taxi number 10. We had to drag our suitcases and walked for less than 10 minutes, then easily found our #10 water taxi. It was quite a nice boat! Rather new. And it could seat at least 10 people. The driver, however, was not that friendly at all. But he was not rude either. He just helped us take the luggage onto the boat, then we sat down, off we went. Boy! On the open water it was quite bumpy! I was worried if Bob would get seasick. Thank goodness Venice and the hotel were not too far. Within half an hour, we arrived at our hotel. He tied the boat on the pole outside the hotel, put our suitcases on shore, then he left.

It turned out that where he dropped us off was the side of the Locanda Vivaldi hotel. We walked into the courtyard of the hotel and a porter came out to welcome us (he did not wait or help at the boat, as I thought he would....). 

Our room was on the 2nd floor, #203, facing the lagoon, as I requested. Not a bad room at all and the hotel's location was quite good. When I opened our floor-to-ceiling window, we looked right at the lagoon and the crowds of tourists below. The only thing I did not quite like was the fact that the AC did not work because they already turned on heat. But the room was quite warm. We opened the window to let in fresh air, but I am concerned of mosquitos ....

After we settled in, connected to the wifi, we decided to take a stroll before it got dark. Piazza San Marco was just a few minutes walk away. We walked by the water and to the Piazza. We asked our hotel front desk for recommendations of restaurants. He suggested a couple, both nearby. After we walked around the piazza, it was already dark. The restaurants usually open at 7. So we tried to walk to one of the two the hotel suggested. Even though it was not far, but it was indeed a challenge to find it! The narrow winding alleys, the bridges across waters everywhere, plus the fact we did not really have a detailed map, it took us a few asks to finally find the place. It was called Al Giardinetto. Supposedly it was good for seafood and other things. We ordered a capresse appetizer, a spaghetti carbonara, a gnocchi, a baked sea bass to share and a side order of mixed vegetable. Everything was fine, but definitely not a repeat. 

We finished dinner and walked back to the hotel before 9pm. It seemed that the restaurant was really quite close to the hotel and it was much easier walking back.

We will call it a night soon. Not much sleep last night and we're both exhausted. Tomorrow we will explore and I will not try any photos. Things we must do:

- Cover the major attractions and orient ourselves before attempting any photos;

- Need to walk along the grand canal

- want to take a gondola ride, preferably around sunset.

- Go to the few islands nearby.

- Explore the city.

Venice Day 2; Thursday, October 27, 2016

Perhaps it was because of the jet lag, I did not sleep well last night even though I was exhausted. We went to bed around 10pm and I fell asleep soon, but woke up around 1:30 and that was it. I could not fall back to sleep again and I finally gave up and read stuff on my iPad for about an hour. Then I guess I fell asleep around 5. Next thing I knew was I woke up around 9:15! We quickly got up and went down to have breakfast.

Breakfast was included and it was okay, nothing to be excited but okay. We then left the hotel after 10. Our plan was to walk to the Realto Bridge then to the "beginning" of the Grand Canal, then take the public water bus back. Then we would explore the "left" side of the hotel, according to the photography tips I got online. And that's what we did.

Walking to the Realto Bridge was not too hard. But the bridge was under construction on one side and it was very crowded. It reminded me of the Charles Bridge in Prague, full of tourists, even in this low season. BTW I was very thankful this was not the high season since the weather was quite temperate, in the mid 60s. I was hot with even a blouse, especially under the sun. In the shades we had to put on our wind breaker.

After the Realto Bridge, we wanted to walk to the "beginning" of the grand canal, from the San Polo side of the canal. It involved going through many small alleys and bridges, a lot of stopping to struggle with the map, asking people for directions, and getting lost again and again. We stopped at a little cafe for lunch and had gnocchi and pasta carbonara, both of which were OK. Now I think I've had enough of the Italian pasta stuff. We saw one Chinese restaurant but did not go in since we were not hungry at the time. I do crave for some Oriental food now, but I don't think we would have any luck finding any here.

We were looking for Piazzale Roma and finally bumped into it. We bought a 3-day boat pass and then took the boat bus back to S Marco, through the grand canal. After we got off the boat bus, we walked past our hotel to explore the "left" side but did not really find anything too interesting. And somehow even though we did not walk as long as we did everyday at home, we both felt much more tired. Plus the sun was beating on us, so we came back to the hotel around 4 and took a break.

Wandering around Venice through the various alleys and bridges was quite interesting! This place had too many tourists like us. I would have really liked this place if there were less people. I will see if we could get up early one day to enjoy the place without too many people!

Around 5pm after we rested for a while, we went out again, hoping to take a gondola ride during the sunset hours to take some good photos. It turned out to be very disappointing. We did the gondola ride which was about 30 minutes and it took us through just a few small canals and we came back before we realized it. For $80 euros, it was absolutely a rip-off! Oh well ....

We came back to the hotel when it was almost dark. We decided to go up to the 3rd floor, the hotel restaurant/bar on the terrace. We had a voucher for a couple of drinks and then we had dinner there. The view from the terrace was not bad, one level higher than our room, same angle of views. The food was okay, No pasta tonight. Had lamb ribs and chicken.

After dinner, we went out for a walk and to San Marco square again then back through the winding small alleys. Bumped into another Chinese restaurant called "Ocean City", quite close to our hotel. I guess that's where we will go for dinner tomorrow :-)

Back to the hotel shortly after 9. Will again try to go to sleep early and plan to be up early. Tomorrow we will first go across the lagoon to San Giorgio and hope to get a good view of Venice in the morning light. Then we would like to head for the Burano island where there are supposed to be very colorful houses. We will see.

Giorgio Maggiore, Burano & Murano; Friday, October 28, 2016

Today we DID get up early and caught the sunrise! And I slept better, only woke up a couple of times and was able to sleep till the alarm woke us up at 6:30am. The sunrise was at 7:44 so we were up before the day broke and we were out of the hotel before 7:15. We got to the water bus stop and caught the 7:15 bus to San Georgio island. Aside from anybody who lived on the island, we were probably the only two there. We met a local who was going to Venice. He was very kind and spoke very good English. We found out that the church did not open until 9:30 and the only reason people came to the island was to go on the tower to get a good view of Venice. And the only way to get to the tower was to go through the church. I took a few photos and then we took the water bus back. On the bus back, we saw the big orange sun rising just above the water. Nice! The light on the Santa Maria church was beautiful!

We came back to the hotel, went up to the terrace and took a few photos, then to breakfast. Then we set out for the Burano island. To get there, there was a direct water bus but it was not until almost an hour later, so we took the #14 water bus, after 2 stops, we changed to bus #12. Altogether it took a little more than an hour and we got to Burano shortly after 11. Burano was known for its colorful buildings and for making lace. The little island town was like a mini Venice, with canals and boats and bridges all over town. We walked the main street which was lined with shops and a few other side streets, enjoyed the colorful buildings and waterways. Unfortunately I did not find any specific spots for unique photos. Even though it was not as crowded as Venice, it was much much smaller and there were enough tourists.

We decided to go to Murano after Burano, so we took #12 bus again and got to Murano after 3 stops. Murano was known for making glass products and its main streets were full of shops selling beautiful glass products - vases, jewlery, decorating stuff, etc. The main street was also along a canal which had bridges that connected one side of the street to the other. Almost all the shops sold glass products. I did not find anything too photographic. After exploring the street, we stopped in a restaurant and had pizza for lunch. It was already after 2pm. The pizza was fine, but the service was very slow. And it took us 3 asks before we finally stood up to go asking them for the check. I guess we should have just walked out without paying, which would have served them well.

At lunch, the couple sitting next to us was from Britain. We started chatting. It turned out that Oceania was also the favorite cruise line of the wife's. We had a pleasant chat.

We left Murano after lunch and took water bus #7 back to Venice. It was after 4pm. We then walked through San Marco square to a small bookstore (recommended by Rick Steves in his Venice book) behind the San Marco Basilica and bought a good map before coming back to the hotel.

We did not get onto either the Giorgio Maggiore tower or the San Marco square tower as we would have liked. The Giorgio Maggiore tower was not open when we were there, and the San Marco square tower had too long a line when we walked by. I guess we will have to do it on Monday, after the weekend crowds.

We walked out of the hotel after 6:30, towards the Chinese restaurant we discovered last night - the "Ocean City". We had dinner there. It was not bad, better than I expected. But the portions were very small - we ordered 4 dishes plus my soup and a pan fried dumpling appetizer. The bill came to less than $70 USD. More expensive than in the US for sure, but we're glad to have some Chinese food for a change.

Back to the hotel around 8:30. Will go to bed early and be up at 7. Plan to get on the train to Bassano tomorrow.

Bassano; Saturday, October 29, 2016

I guess I am not able to get two nights' sleep in a row - woke up at 1am and did not go back to sleep till 2 or 3 hours later last night :-( And we were up at 7.

Being so close to the water bus station (literally a few steps from our hotel's entrance) sure was convenient. We went out of the hotel before 8:30 and caught the #2 water bus leaving in a few minutes! The bus took us to a few stops (including one across the lagoon at Giorgio Maggiore island then took us out of the lagoon to the entrance of the grand canal, where the train station was. We got to the train station shortly after 9. $24 Euro round trip for the two of us, and an hour+ very comfortable train ride, we got to Bassano, shortly after 11.

My friend told me Bassano was a little quiet town, but it was not so today, Saturday. In the old town center's squares there was some sort of a fair going on where various vendors were selling all sorts of stuff and it was quite crowded. The walk from the train station to the old town squares was very easy. The first thing we did was to the information office, to get a map and some information. This town had quite a bit of history but I did not have the time to read up on it yet. It was also the place where Grappa was originated. I googled it and found out what grappa was, and we bought a small gift sample pkg from one of the two original grappa places that made grappa. The other thing that's famous was the "old bridge" where the houses at the 2 ends of the covered bridge were colorful and made a nice photo under the right light. We first walked to the old bridge and poked into a few shops along the way. Then, past noon time, we decided to have lunch at one of the trip adviser recommended restaurants. It was not easy to find. We first found the one "Osteria Alla Caneva" which was right in the town center, but it was full and the owner would not take us :-( We walked back to the information center to ask for directions to the 2nd tripaviser recommended restaurant "Osteria Trinita". It turned out to be quite a bit out of town and took us 20 minutes to walk there. It was warm and our legs were quite tired. But we made it and found the restaurant! It was good homy food. We shared a macaroni dish (delicious with crumbled prosciutto bits, and main dish with pork belly, spicy beans, and polenta. It was just right. By the time we finished lunch, it was after 2. We then walked back to the train station and took the train around 3:30pm back to Venice.

Being in Venice for the last 3 days, we had been going everywhere either on foot or by boat, I did not realize that there were NO CARs in Venice, until we got to Bassano! It was actually such a joy to not be walking and struggling with cars!! For the next two days, we will be right here in Venice and not going anywhere else. We will walk the winding streets, hoping to see some museums, etc.

After the train dropped us off at the Venice S. Lucia station, we decided to walk back to the hotel. With even two maps, we were royally lost! But we finally made it back to the hotel by around 6:30. Phew! My right foot was killing me and my legs were so tired and heavy!

We rested in the room for a short while then went out looking for dinner. Now I wanted some protein, not pasta! We walked into a restaurant that looked nice and had a decent dinner. I don't know what the name of the restaurant was, but the waiter was very nice and it was near the Chinese restaurant "Ocean City". After dinner, we strolled along the lagoon for a short while then back to the hotel.

All in all, a good day! 

Walking around Venice with the Weekend Crowd; Sunday, October 30, 2016

Last night we had to turn the clock back by an hour, so 7pm became 6pm, etc.

I got up feeling very tired. Woke up at 3am and did not fall back to sleep again until probably 6-ish. Ugh! Painful!

We went down to breakfast after 8am, which was 9am if we had not turned the clock back. After breakfast, we went out for our exploration of Venice again.

We first took the #2 water bus across the lagoon, to S. Giorgio, then bought the tickets and got on the tower. It was quite crowded at the top because it was such a small place. But we got a good birdseye view of Venice and its surroundings! There really was nothing else to do on that island, and the inside of the church itself was nothing too special. We took the #2 bus again after the church to get on the "big" island facing Venice, della Giudecca. We walked along the water from one bus stop to the next. There really was nothing much to see there, aside from getting a good view of Venice. So #2 bus took us back to Venice, and we started exploring the Dorsoduro district of Venice towards the Santa Maria church. The church was free to enter and we walked in. It was a pretty nice church! But I think the outside was even more beautiful than the inside. Afterwards, we walked around it and hoping to find a bathroom. The museum of contemporary art was right next to the church. We went in. For seniors, the ticket was $10 Euro/person. We decided to go in, to at least use the bathroom. Of course we walked through the museum and its exhibits. But we were really not sophisticated enough to appreciate those contemporary arts, so the biggest value of this visit was the use of its bathrooms :-)

After the museum visit, we decided to go to the Realto bridge area, to look around the shopping area mentioned in Rich Steve's book, and to look for the Chinese restaurant I though we saw last time we were in that area. We hopped on the water bus again and got off near the Realto Bridge, on the east side. We walked to a few spots to take some photos, then across the bridge to the west side. Oh Boy! It was so crowded around there! I think it can rival with the Great Wall in BJ during holiday season. Ugh!! Shopping was nothing too interesting, but we did find a Chinese restaurant, not the one I saw last time, but one called "Tian Jin". We were so tired and were happy to find a place to sit down and rest. The restaurant was dark, rather big, and smelt stuffy. We did not care. It was passably clean. The food was okay, at the same level as the Ocean City. Salty, small portion, tasty, but nothing like the dishes' names suggested. Oh well! .... On the way back, we walked around that area hoping to find the other Chinese restaurant I saw before, "Jade Garden" which was rated #1 on trip adviser among Chinese restaurants in Venice. Guess what, we actually found it! We will go there tomorrow.

Now we wanted to go back to the hotel to rest, and we did so by fighting the crowds all the way. We got back shortly before 4 and rested till after 6, before we set out again to look for dinner. Again we headed towards the area near the hotel where the Chinese restaurant Ocean City and the restaurant we went to last night located - we got so familiar with that area and could easily get to and out of it, and it was full of restaurants. Tonight we picked one around the corner by a canal. Forgot its name, but it looked decent. It turned out the food was just okay. We both ordered pasta carbonara which did not have the right kind of bacon. But we had a prosciutto appetizer and I had a salad which was fine. After dinner we walked around S Marco square before settling back to the hotel for the night.

Tomorrow will be our last full day in Venice, before we board the ship on the first. We will explore more Venice on foot.

Last Day in Venice before the Ship; Monday, October 31, 2016

It seemed that we had wandered through enough of Venice without poking inside any of the important places, so today we told ourselves that we ought to go inside some of the places, most importantly, the Doge's Palace.

We got up before 9 and set out after breakfast. The Doge's Palace was a few minutes walk from us, but the line to enter was already a mile long, so we decided to try it in the afternoon. We walked past the San Marco square and through the streets near it where there were all those high end designer stores. Not too crowded, so a pleasant walk. Then we walked towards the Realto Bridge - we wanted to see the only department store in Venice, Coin. After zigzagging through small squares and alleys, we got there. Even though it was not the weekend, the streets around the Realto Bridge was still very very crowded. Boy this year we sure have been tourists at some of the forever crowded places - Barcelona, Budapest, Prague, and now Venice. I think I can do without crowds for a LONG time! I miss places like Longyearbyen!!

At Coin, we took the elevator to its highest floor and then walked down through each floor in between, It really was a small department store and there was not too much to get excited about. A few things that caught my eyes were so expensive. Good thing was we got to use its WC.

After Coin, we walked across the Realto bridge to the west side of the grand canal. Our goal was to have lunch at the Chinese restaurant, Jake Garden. It indeed was the best among the three we tried in Venice. The portion was the same, quite small by the US standard. But it was decently prepared and the environment was pleasant. The flavor of the dishes, though tasty, was hardly what I would expect for those names. We had a pleasant lunch.

By around 3, we were back at the Doge's Palace. The line was still rather long. I should have read the Rick Steves book back home and bought the "Secret Itinerary" tour was long sold out until next week. We decided to come back before 5 and hope by that time the line would be shorter.

Back at the hotel around 3 and rested for a while. We were talking about how to get to the cruise terminal tomorrow. The economical way would be to take the blue line B and it would involve dragging our luggage across one bridge an a few hundred meters. I worry about the crowds and the dragging luggage across the cobblestone ground... The expensive way is to get a private taxi which would cost $80 Euro, vs $15. We will need to decide.

We went out again before 4:30 to try the Doge's Palace. This time the line was much shorter and we got in within 15 minutes. The entrance fee was not cheap - for the 2 of us seniors it cost $24 Euro. We did not get the audio guide and just followed the signs to walk around the place. It was an impressive palace, elaborate ceilings and paintings, grand rooms, scary prison cells, etc. By the time we walked out, it was already dark. If we had read Rick's book earlier, we would have bought the secret itinerary tour and probably go earlier in the day, and probably read a little bit about the Doges. I bought a book from the bookstore. Maybe I will read it on the ship.

We came out of the palace museum after 6 and came back to the hotel. After a little rest, we went to the nearby area for dinner. We were debating Chinese and pizza. Pizza won. We shared a pizza and each had a salad in a restaurant that was quite pleasant. Back to the hotel around 8.

Started packing. Will leave the hotel around 11am. I think we will take a private taxi to make things easier.

So, how do I like Venice? I like it! But wish it were not so crowded with so many tourists! I think it will take being here a few times to really get a feeling and know where to go for the most enjoyable walks and for the best photo spots. But I am not sure if we will be back again - too many other places to go that we have not been to. This has been a rather unique experience! The most important thing is: there are NO CARS here! You go everywhere on foot, or on the water! Because of the crowds here, I did not realize that until we went to Bassano and saw the cars and traffic. I like the old buildings, winding alleys and canals and bridges and squares.  What I dislike the most was people smoking while walking! Very annoying and unpleasant! Thankfully inside the restaurants and hotels, it was all non smoking! I've noticed that there are many women smokers, as many if not more than men! And many very young women. Ugh!! Very ugly!

Boarded the Ship; Tuesday, November 1, 2016

It was halloween night last night and I was thinking of SS and Caleb - hoping they had a good time and Caleb did not eat too much candy .... Got a picture of Caleb from B, from this morning's parade at school. I could not tell exactly what he was supposed to be because his face was covered in that mirror like mask. But as far as he was happy, I am happy.

I was a bit worried so I did not sleep well at all. And screamed in a nightmare which woke up Bob and me. I was tired when we woke up after 7 and then got up. We decided to get a private taxi instead of taking the public water bus to the cruise terminal - too much unknowns that worried me so we would splurge :-( I think this turned out to be the better decision.

Our taxi came at 11am and the hotel porter got our luggage on the boat. The boat ride to the cruise terminal was short but it was quite bumpy - could not avoid it as there were too many boats, big and small, fast and slow, in the lagoon. We watched the nice Venice shoreline go by and it was beautiful. But everywhere you could see the black crowds ....

The boat driver asked us which ship we would be on and we told him. As the boat approached the cruise terminal, we saw Marina. We felt excited and some sort of comforting feeling. Our taxi took us to the pier where the Oceania staff was waiting. They took our luggage directly out of the taxi onto the conveyer belt, and we got off the boat and walked to the Marina embarkation building. Very smooth! And if we did not want to walk, there was a shuttle. It was not a long distance and we were happy to get more steps in.

The embarkation process was easy and smooth and we were on the ship before noon. Our room would not be ready until 1pm, so we went up to deck 14 to rest and to get some drinks/food. We also went to deck 12 and confirmed our restaurant reservations, plus making a reservation at our favorite restaurant Red Ginger for tonight, which did not count towards the 4 we were "allowed". We also went to deck 5 to find out how our 4 complimentary excursions worked, etc. We decided that for Koper tomorrow, we would not book anything, but will explore the town on our own and then go to Piran - I read on Cruisecritc that Piran was a beautiful UNESCO village. We could easily take a bus there.

Our room was ready around 1pm and we got in. Dear old Marina PH3, #10012. We really liked Marina and the room!

We pretty much did nothing the whole afternoon - we took a mile walk on deck 15, 10 laps around that track. Then after our luggage was delivered before 4, I unpacked everything. Even though I still overpacked, I did better than the last cruise. The walk-in closet was really nice and convenient. And we had so much storage space! Then we did our laundry - we were told that self laundry was not open today, but Bob found out it was open so we did our dirty laundry for the past week. Super! Then at 5:15 we did the security drill - the part I disliked the most but it's mandatory and necessary I guess ....

Our reservation at Red Ginger was at 6:30 and we were there right on time. We were so happy to be there again and we missed it! We had our duck with watermelon salad, the sea bass, and the lobster pad tai. Stuffed! No dessert for tonight. And we went up to the track to take another mile walk.

It was extremely foggy! We could hardly see the ships next to us, not to say any light or sign from remote Venice! The ship was supposed to set sail at 9pm. Then at 9:10pm, the cruise director spoke on the broadcast - due to the weather we were not allowed to sail until further notice. It is almost 10pm now. The fog seemed to have lifted a little bit, but we are still here. We can see the ship next to us now. Maybe we will sail soon ....

Koper, Piran, Slovenia; Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Our ship finally sailed last night between 11 and 11:30 and docked this morning around 7am at Koper, Slovenia. 

The bed and beddings were really comfortable, but I still did not sleep through the night. I think I am really having some sleeping problems .... We set our alarm for 6:30am and got up before 7. After breakfast, we got off the ship after 8, to explore on our own.

It was a heavily overcast day today and everything seemed to be shrouded in fog. Walking off the ship, there was an elevator (an steps) that would take us to the level of the Koper town level. We walked through the town when nothing was open (there really was not much to open....), and walked through perhaps the only attraction, the old palace square where there was a tall tower. We walked to the bus station and wanted to take the bus to Piran, another UNESCO town that I read about on cruise critic where I read that there was really nothing in Koper but Piran was nice. It was a little bit of an adventure to take the public bus because we did not know which bus would take us to Piran even though there was a schedule at the bus stop. But the young lady at the stand by the bus stop was very kind to tell us when the next bus to Piran was, and the other lady waiting at the bus was also very nice and told us which bus was the one we were waiting for. For only $6.20 Euro for the 2 of us, the bus would take us to Piran. Once on the bus, we really had no idea which stop would be Piran - the driver did not announce and there was no sign at the bus stop. Luckily the last stop was Piran where everyone got off.

Piran was another town by the ocean, with a church and a castle on the top of the hill/mountain. We climbed to both. We were going to climb to the top of the church tower, but it was not open (even though it said open from 10am and it was almost 10:30). Then we hiked to the castle on the opposite side, which involved a rather long walk with a steep incline, all on cobble stoned road. But we did it! The castle cost $2 Euro each. We climbed on the narrow steps to all the towers and got really good views of the entire town! Unfortunately it was foggy and cloudy so nothing could be too clear.

It was past noon time when we got down to the bus station and took the bus back to the ship. By the time we got back to the ship, it was around 1:30. We stopped at the dining desk and got another reservation at Red Ginger tonight for 6:30. Very happy!:-)

For lunch, I had a burger from the Waves, and Bob had the buffet - Mexican food themed. Then we came back to the room and took a nap. I had the TV on and we listened to the news, mostly about the election. I am worried ....

Before 4:30, we went down to the Marina lounge on deck 5, waiting to hear Terry Bishop's talk about the history of Yugoslavia - we're so glad that Terry was on this cruise!! We both loved his talks and music performance from the South America cruise! I guess he's on the Oceania world cruise, and what we're on is just a small segment of it.

Dinner at Red Ginger, on a table shared with a couple, Dean and Diana, and Bobbie. We had a very pleasant dinner and a great chat! Hope we would meet them again some other nights!

We did not walk out of Red Ginger till after 9. After changing into walking clothes, Bob and I walked a mile on deck 12 and finally felt a little better in the stomach! Again I stuffed myself :-(

It's almost 10:40pm now. Bob went to "work" and I am relaxing in the room. Will watch some TV and read some more. Tomorrow we will dock at Zadar, Croatia. We will again do it on our own and Bob has already reserved a car. We will drive to Split.

Zadar, Croatia; Thursday, November 3, 2016

The ship docked at Zadar around 7:30. We were up around 7. Looking out of the slider, it was very much overcast. The dark clouds threatened rain. And while we were at breakfast, it poured, but then it stopped. By the time we walked off the ship, it was no longer raining, but the sky was quite dark.

While Bob was at "work" last night, I tried to read online about Zadar. Our original plan of renting a car and driving to Split did not seem very plausible. It would take about 2 hours each way, on the highway. And, according to one of the travel bloggers, Split might be overrated. And according to her, Zadar was under rated and was very nice. So we decided to tour it on our own.

Around 8:30am, we got on the shuttle bus that Oceania provided to the old town. BTW the old town was not really within easy walking distance so a shuttle was necessary. We got off the bus at the spot by the ocean, within easy walk to the 2 famous things - the sea organ and the sun salutation. Both were very unique. I was extremely fascinated by the sea organ - I am not sure where exactly the organ was, but it must be somewhere beneath the sea water. They built some nice steps around that area. Today there were no huge waves. But with the normal flow of the water, the organ made these soothing sound. In the early morning with a heavily overcast sky, there were not many people there. It was so tranquil and relaxing!

We then walked into the old town. And the drizzle became heavier. As we walked on the main street in the old town, the drizzle became rain, and it started raining harder and harder. Bob and I ended up buying 2 cheap umbrellas. But as soon as we got the umbrellas, the rain eased off and later stopped. The best thing we did this morning, aside from seeing the sea organ and the sun salutation, was climbing onto the top of the tower of the church in town. We got such fantastic views!! The climbing was a bit scary. Even though I was not that scared of heights, I was quite apprehensive. But it was well worth it!!

We spent about 3 hours in the old town and came back to the ship, via the shuttle, before 1. Had lunch on deck 14 at the buffet - they had short ribs and I had more than I should. After coming back to the room, we both took a nap. Then we did some laundry and I read some. At 4:45 we went to Terry Bishop's enrichment lecture on one of the Roman emperors. Always good to hear him talking history!

Tonight we had dinner at the Italian restaurant Toscana. Our reservation was at 7:30, later than we'd like. Before dinner, we went to deck 5 to sign up for the excursions in Naples and in Sicily. Then Bob went to "work" for a short while before we went to dinner. Dinner lasted too long - we did not get out until 9:30. Food was fine, but nothing too exciting. I really felt tired of eating .... and tired period! We went for a walk after dinner, but the deck 15 track was again closed and it was very windy, so we came back.

Tomorrow we will be at Kotor. The dock was right near the town so we will again go on our own. The Destination service lady (who was from Romania) suggested to us some day we should come back to Croatia because this area was truly beautiful. We probably will do that. We also found out that there is another Oceania cruise we would like to do. It's from Lisbon to Bilbao. Unfortunately the schedule does not work for us for 2017. Hope to try 2018.

Kotor, Montenegro; Friday, November 4, 2016

Today the ship did not dock until around 10am. Terry Bishop had told us that the sail into Kotor was very beautiful, like a Norway fjord, and that we should be up early. I set my alarm to 6:45 but we did not get up till 7-ish. I had a fretful night and my stomach did not agree with me. The first thing I did when getting up was to take a zantac, then I threw up. And I was deadly tired.

Our plan today was to wander around Kotor old town on our own, and climb up to the castle and get a good view. But I was not in any shape and form to do that. We could see from the ship how high the castle was, and we were told it would take 45 minutes, all incline, to get there. Forget about it!

Around noon, I dragged myself up from lying in the sofa and we decided to walk through the old town a little bit. And we're back in an hour or so. I was totally listless and could hardly move my legs. The old town of Kotor was lovely - clean slate or cobble stones streets, many small alleys. Unfortunately we did not see too much :-(

We were back at the ship after 1pm, and I lay on the sofa for the entire afternoon. Took another zantac, and did not have any lunch (or breakfast or course). We rested till 4:30, then we went down to deck 5. Jack Peppin's book signing was from 5-6. I did not want to buy another book, but I did get to see Jack!

At 5:30 we went to the Marina lounge to listen to Terry Bishop's music. As always, we really enjoyed it! He did tell the same joke about the old couple sharing their fake teeth :-)

Around 7, I went to deck 12 with Bob to see if I could get some food in my stomach. I got a bowl of steamed white rice, and put a little soy sauce and pickled ginger there. But towards the end, I threw up again - had to rush to the public bathroom. Sigh .... Don't know what's wrong with me. I know it's indigestion, too much rich food. The tomato sauce on the lobster last night did me in! Never again!

Tomorrow we will be at Bari Italy. We will take the shuttle to go in the old town. I hope I would feel a little better then.

Bari then Alberobello, Puglia, Italy; Saturday, November 5, 2016

I was feeling slightly better today, after going to bed early and got plenty of rest. I managed to eat a little breakfast - they actually had some congee at the buffet! But I did not feel that good after eating. And I was afraid of throwing up while in the taxi ....

Reading Oceania's "Currents" for Bari, I found out that a visit to the town Alberobello might be interesting, which was a UNESCO site. So we went to the information desk on deck 5 and found out we could get a taxi for $130 Euro, 1 hour there, 1 hour back, and 1 hour in Alberobello. We did that. 1 hour in that town was a bit short, we did not want to ask the taxi driver to extend the time (and pay more) since the driver did not speak English. It was really interesting that he used an application on his iPhone to communicate with us :-) And it actually worked. The Unesco site was mainly about its massive "cone shaped" houses, quite interesting! We would have explored more of the small streets if we had more time. On the way back to town, the driver took us to the St Nicholas basilica and we got a quick glimpse of it. We got back to the ship before 1. 

After resting for a few minutes, enough for Bob to grab a bite, we took the ship's shuttle back into Bari town. Bari was situated right by the ocean. We wanted to explore the old town a bit, but without a map, we really did not know where to go. We wandered around a few cobble stoned streets, saw a few churches and squares, then took the shuttle back before 3. I was still not up to walking too long.

We rested in the room till almost 5, then went down to deck 5 for Terry Bishop's enrichment lecture on Troy. The talk was interrupted for a few minutes by the broadcast of the captain's message - I guess some people were sick on the ship due to some stomach bug and the captain urged people to pay extra attention to wash hands. BTW we also noticed that there was a sign posted outside the laundry room saying it was closed till further notice due to "code red". Now I wonder if my stomach problem was really due to indigestion or if I caught some bug ....

We had our dinner reservation at Jacques at 6:30. We were going to change it to some other night but were not able to, so we decided to go and I would eat less. By now my stomach was better though still not really well. I was being very careful eating - had only the broth of an union soup, and mainly the rice part of the prawn entree. My stomach did not protest. Hopefully I am beyond the worst and back on the road of recovery!

Did not do much after dinner - back in the room, read my book on the iPad/kindle while the MSNBC TV was on, about the election. Tonight we will need to turn the clock one hour ahead, so we will lose an hour. Tomorrow we will be at Corfu. We booked an excursion with the ship and will see how it goes.

Corfu Town, Ionian Islands, Greece; Sunday, November 6, 2016

Last night we turned the clock one hour forward, so we "lost" an hour, back to what we were before we last turned the clock. Back home folks would be turning the clock back an hour, so we now are 7 hours ahead of home. All rather confusing ....

We were up at 7, but I was awake an hour before that. Our excursion started at 8:45 so we went down to deck 5 before 8:30. The excursion really did not excite us. We were first bused to the outside of the old town and our guide took us through a short tour of the town - literally just walked a couple of streets, and we were given more than half an hour on our own. It was Sunday today and Corfu was having its annual one of the four celebrations - walking band, etc. So the old town was blocked off. Also we were a bit early for all the shops to open. The old town was not really that interesting to us and we were back to the bus meeting place way before the due time.

After the old town, our next destination was the Achilleion Palace which was 10+ km away. On the way there, we stopped and had 10 minutes to get on a view point to take some quick pictures of the 2 famous little islands off Corfu (sorry I did not remember the history of it). Then we went on to the palace. It was an interesting palace - Terry Bishop already told us a little bit about it yesterday. The palace was built by princess/empress Sisi - we first heard of her while we visited the Schonnbraun Palace. All these countries were somehow interconnected in the past. There were some nice statues in the courtyard of the palace. Quite nice. We walked through the palace and its garden and came out to the bus before the meeting time. The bus took us back to the ship after 1pm.

Somehow we were both tired. My legs felt very heavy - definitely had no strength climbing up the stairs on the ship! We had buffet lunch on deck 12. I started to get my appetite back and could retain food in me now. But I was careful to have smaller amount and easy to digest stuff - rice, vegetable, etc. The dining area was seriously guarded - no placemat, no tableware, no salt and pepper or anything on the table. Every single food item must be handled by the server - even the counter was covered by plastic wraps. The servers would hand us tableware wrapped in napkins. We're actually glad they were this way. The stomach virus was no joke!

After lunch, we came back to the room and rested. But I really did not want to vege out in the room the entire afternoon and I was interested in the Corfu museum where there were 10 thousand pieces of Asian art being displayed. So we took the 4pm shuttle back into old town. Unfortunately the museum closed at 4pm today. We missed it:-( We purposelessly wandered around the old town where everything was closing or closed, then took the 5pm shuttle back to the ship.

We were not able to get a seating in Red Ginger for tonight as we had hoped, so we will probably eat in the main dining room or the buffet.

It was a rather eventless day and nothing too exciting. Tomorrow we will be in Zakinthos, Greece, another Ionian islands of Greece. And we will have to be tendered in. We don't plan to take any excursions. Will get on shore and explore the town and maybe take a taxi somewhere. We will see....

Zakynthos Town, Ionian Islands, Greece; Monday, November 7, 2016

This port was the only one we had to tender on shore, so far, this cruise. It was a gloomy day - I heard from the people there saying it had been sunny and beautiful all the way until today. I guess it was just our luck :-) But we really did not miss anything.

We got up rather late, almost 8am, when the ship already anchored and people started going on shore. We decided to just take it leisurely and tender on shore and wander on our own. Looking from the ship to town, it was another of those little towns nestled at the foot of mountains. There were a few steeples on the mountain, and some colored roofs along the shoreline.

We tendered on shore after 9. As we started walking along the shore, it started raining. By the time it started pouring we were walking on the town's main shopping street, under cover. There really was nothing much to see or buy. Somehow I'm still not feeling energetic and we did not feel like walking/climbing up or even taking the taxi up the mountain to see the couple of churches or whatever it was up there. As we were walking back towards the pier for the tender, we were stopped by the "toy" train which would take us around town for half an hour. We did it, for $6 each. And that was enough for this town. What made things less attractive was the fact that there were piles of trash/garbage all over the place and it turned out to be due to the strike of the workers. Oh well ....

This town was almost leveled by a bad earthquake in the 1950s, so almost everything here was rebuilt. There were one church and one school building remained, but there was nothing too special about them.

We were back on the ship around noon. Went to deck 12 for lunch, then back to the room, rest and listened to TV election talk, and read. 4pm I went down to deck 5 for the Q&A with Jacque Peppin. I had always wanted to listen to and see that man and enjoyed it. Then 5:15 we listened to Terry Bishop's talk on Malta, the island we will be going to tomorrow. 

I asked Terry while at Jacque's Q&A if he had been to Malta and if he would recommend any place. He said he had been there 3 times and he would just recommend walking around the town. It was a town with a long and interesting history. I think that's what we will do!

It was a short stay at Zakinthos - the ship sailed at 4pm. Hope tomorrow we will have better weather. Terry said we will dock around noon and sailing into Malta should get us some good views on the port side of the ship. I will make sure I go out that way.

We had dinner at Red Ginger again tonight - our third on this trip! Enjoyed the sea bass, tried not to order too much, but still left with a stuffed stomach! After coming back to the room and reading a while, we went up to deck 15 the Horizon lounge for Terry's music entertainment at 10:30. He truly was a multi talented entertainer! Great voice and guitar! And funny story telling :-)

Tonight we will be turning the clock back again for another hour because we're returning to the Italian side of the Adriatic, or Mediterranean - not sure exactly where Malta is. And it's supposed to be 72 degrees!

Valletta, Malta; Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Today was THE election day in the US - we have been watching TV whenever we're in our room and now we're eagerly waiting to see the result!  Hope Hillary will win in a landslide!!!

Today we did not get up until 8, while the ship was still sailing. The day looked heavily overcast and there was a strong wind, warm wind. I honestly totally forget, or did not realize, that the Mediterranean weather was so warm at this time and I brought all the wrong clothes :-( Today was short sleeve, and a pair of sandals would have been nice!

At 10:15am, I went to the Marina lounge on deck 5 and watched Jacque Peppin's cooking demonstration. Bob stayed in the room.

The ship docked before 12pm. As the ship slowly pulled in, everyone seemed to get on deck 12, on the starboard side, to look at the scenery of Malta. It was indeed a rather unique sight - the whole place seemed to be buildings of the sandstone color, and Valletta was enclosed in this sandstone colored ancient wall which was picturesque - wish I could get some pictures of the place under the right light, without the crowds ...

Our ship docked at the port where we had to take a water shuttle to get to the place near the Valletta town center. So we got off the ship shortly after noon time, walked down the pier, got on the water shuttle boat, waited, then 5 minutes later we were at the cruise port.

We walked off the cruise terminal towards the town. Then we saw a horse cart which would take us around the Valletta town then drop us off near town center. For $60 Euro, we did it. The driver was a very nice man. He stopped at a few places to let us take pictures. BTW as soon as we were off the water shuttle, the rain drops started - at first it was a few big drops here and there, then the drops became real rain, then it became drops again. We were lucky to have brought our jackets on top of our short sleeves.

After the buggy ride, we walked to the town center - the walk was climbing and descending. There was not much in town, aside from all the ancient old buildings which were nice to look at. We walked by a few historical sights but did not stop to learn about them. By 3 o'clock-ish, we were quite hungry and we wanted to go back to the ship. 

The town itself was actually quite a bit higher above the sea level. To get down to the cruise port, we needed to take a lift. Before we took the lift, we went into a restaurant nearby (that looked nice and clean), and shared a pizza which was quite nice. Then we took the lift, down to the shore level, walked back to the cruise port, took the water shuttle, and got back on ship, shortly after 4pm.

BTW, the formal language of Malta was Maltese - our horse cart driver told us. The Maltese was like Italian. But most people seemed to speak English also. Oh, I actually saw a Chinese restaurant in town! Unfortunately it was closed when we walked by, or I would have definitely had a meal there!

At 4pm, the sun started to set. After we came back on the ship, I walked to deck 15 hoping to take some pictures under the nice light. I'm not sure if I took any decent photos, but I sure enjoyed the scenery!

We had dinner at 6:30pm in the main dining room. Food was fine, nothing spectacular. I actually had a vegetarian dinner - vegetarian pad tai which was tasty but very salty. I seemed to have lost the craving for a lot of meats ....

The election result will not be available to us until tomorrow morning when we arrive in Sicily. And we have a long excursion, probably in the rain. Ugh .... The excursion will start at 8am so we needed to be up early. We will go to bed early.

Catania, Sicily, Italy; Wednesday, November 9, 2016

It was a sad day today because of the election result - we were deeply saddened and stunned! How could a scoundrel like Trump get elected to be the president of the US??!! What the fuck happened to the people who actually voted for him??!! ..... And what would happen to this country when someone like him becomes the leader of the country?? .....

We had the TV on the entire night, muted for some time, after we woke up and saw the intermediate result .... And we were up at 6, because our excursion would start at 8.

When the ship started approaching Catania, the scenery was nothing too spectacular. We went to the Marina lounge around 7:40 waiting for the excursion, but everything was delayed because the authority here was slow in "clearing" our ship. We did not get on our excursion until almost 9am.

Our first destination was the small town called Taormina which turned out to be a lovely small town. Like many of the Italian towns, Taormina had a rich history and there were ruins of a Roman Bath and an Ancient Greek theater, which was a beautiful ruin and was still used to this day as a theater during the warm seasons. Unfortunately we had very little time there because of the morning delay. From there, there were gorgeous views of the entire bay. I would really love to come back here on our own some day to spend more time!

This was our first time in Sicily and we learned quite a bit from our tour guide. Sicily was a very hilly island - only 7% of its land is flat. And Mt Etna was the highest volcano in Europe, which was our second stop, after lunch. Our bus took us about half an hour away from Taormina, to a small town towards the volcano/mt Etna (I did not catch the name of the town). The restaurant was very nice - very pleased with Oceania's arrangement! We were served a delicious lunch - salad, then two kinds of pasta (delicious!!), followed by some sort of an ice-cream. All very good, and I was especially in love with the pasta in some kind of red sauce and the ice-cream. Yummy!

After lunch, we were in the bus for another 40 minutes and got to the volcano/crater. The weather was drastically different - not sure if it had changed or because we were high up in the mountain, or both. When we got out of the bus, it was snowing and the wind was extremely strong - wind with snow/sleet. It was a short walk to the edge of the crater and very few of us had the courage to walk any further. Too cold! I felt the wind would blow me straight into the crater! So we all went into the small bar/souvinir store by the crater. We were supposed to have an hour there. There were 2 buses from Oceania there and they finally decided that if we all agreed, we would go back to Catania and walk in town for a few minutes. Everyone agreed.

The bus ride back to Catania was more than an hour. And the bus drove us through part of the town as much as it could, then dropped us off and our guide took us for a walk through the main street and the cathedral square. I would have loved to spend more time in the town. It was actually a university town and was a lively town, with many old beautiful historical buildings. But we had to rush back to the ship by 4:30 so we did not have much time at all. Finally we jumped on the bus and came back to the ship.

I went up to the high decks and tried to snap a few photos during the sunset, then came back to the room, turned on the TV .... Had to confirm the nightmare was actually true. Feeling very depressed! Hillary was a capable, classy, and decent human being and I really wanted her to be our president!!! Feeling very bad for her and for the country!!!

I started packing and finished packing up all the less casual clothing, the first suitcase. Tomorrow two more to go, after we come back from Pompei. The trip is almost coming to the end.

Dinner tonight was at Red Ginger again, for the last time this cruise. We got a very late seating, 8:30. After dinner we went to the show "Dancing Fool". It was okay.

We're back to the stateroom after 10:30. Would have loved to go to the upper deck for a walk, but the wind was really really strong, and the ship was rocking a bit. Sitting in the room I could hear the wind blowing outside. Hope tomorrow we will have a good day - we have a 7+ hour excursion to Pompei and Herculaneum, which were the famous historical sites we must see. Another early morning for us, a long day plus packing for disembarkation.

Naples, Campania, Italy; Thursday, November 10, 2016

It was a nice sunny day today and remained that way throughout!

We were again up at 6, but for the 8am-start excursion, we did not get on shore until almost 9. Again it took the Italians a long time to clear the ship.

Before we went to Pompei, our bus took an obligatory stop at a jewelry factory, which made those jewelries carved from sea shells. Very pretty, but not really my style. Not sure how many people actually bought anything. This reminded us of the tours in China in the older days ....

Pompei was only a short drive distance away. We got there around 10. I heard of Pompei a lot, but honestly did not expect to witness such a BIG place that was established more than 2000 years ago and later destroyed and buried by the ashes from Mt Vesuvius volcano eruption in 79AD. It was an absolutely amazing sight! It was a whole city! And many of the things from 2000 years ago were still there! The streets, the houses, the square, the magnificent columns that were still standing, just amazing!! And the details of the mosaic floors, wall paintings, and the location of the "red light" district together with its paintings ("menu") on top of the rooms, OMG! I did not expect to be so impressed!! And it was really nice we had a good guide. If we toured this place by ourselves, we would not have gotten this much out of it! And think of how people dug this vast city out from those ashes ....Just incredible!!

We spent 2+ hours at Pompei, then went to a restaurant 5 minutes drive away for lunch. It was a clean restaurant which mainly served tour groups, I guess. Food was definitely not as good as yesterday's, but not too bad. Everyone got a piece of pizza, then pasta, then some chicken, then a dessert.

After lunch, our bus brought us to Herculaneum which was about 10 or 15 minutes drive away. This was another famous ruin, of the same era as Pompei. It was also destroyed and buried by that volcano eruption, but not by ashes, by lava/mud instead. It was a smaller place than Pompei. Our guide told us that Pompei was a place people lived, and they came to Herculaneum for holidays. Again we saw what's left of the houses, church, art, streets from more than 2000 years ago. Just amazing! At that time, they already had a sewage system under the street surface! And we could see the ruins that used to be stores that sold lead pipes, fast food, etc.

Herculaneum was closer to the cruise port than Pompei. We left it shortly past 4 and got back to the ship just around 4:30. Back on the ship I started the final packing.

Dinner was at the main dining room - last dinner on ship for this trip. We enjoyed the trip but we are looking forward to going home! Tomorrow we will disembark around 9. I reserved a private taxi to the Hilton Rome airport hotel where we reserved one night. Saturday the day after tomorrow we will be home!

Rome; Friday, November 11, 2016

Again we got up at 6. When we went up to have breakfast, the place on deck 12 was really packed - I guess most people were up and ready to disembark. We were all supposed to vacate our staterooms by 8am. Even for people who stayed on for the next leg, they had to move out. The staff will be disinfect the whole ship, we were told.

Disembarkation was very smooth. Especially compared with our experience in April, at the same spot, but this time it was so much more pleasant! We were off the ship shortly after 8. Unfortunately I made the reservation for our taxi for 9:15, so we waited for a while. But the driver was here early and we got in the taxi before 9. Nice Mercedes car and smooth ride to Rome airport in an hour or so. We got to the hotel shortly after 9:30. But we could not checkin until 2pm, unless we pay an extra $75 Euro. Nah! So we stored our luggage and took the hotel shuttle bus to Rome city center.

It was definitely one of the advantages of this Rome airport Hilton hotel - it provided a free shuttle bus to/from the hotel to Rome. Nice! The bus was just like the excursion buses used, a nice one. We took the 10am shuttle and got into Rome 40 minutes later. The bus stopped at the place near the big piazza Venezia where we went onto the top when we were here in April. And it was close to the Colosseum. We were relative familiar with that area. We walked down Via Del Corso, almost to the "michael Jackson" square (our name, where we saw someone danced like MJ last time, hence the name). Then we went by the restaurant where we liked very much and ate at twice last time, La Buca Di Ripetta. We did not expect it to be open for lunch, but it was! It was open daily for lunch from 12pm to 3:30pm. We were 10 minutes early, so we sat on the bench outside the door and waited. We were the first ones to walk in today :-)

We had the appetizer of 5 different kinds of salami, followed by our favorite pasta carbonara. We were happy!

There was really nowhere specially we wanted to go in Rome, so we walked back to the bus stope after lunch, and caught the 3pm shuttle back to the hotel.

Back to the hotel, we got our room, #4073. After settling in, we walked to the airport, following the path we will be taking tomorrow, to check out things. It was a rather long walk, for dragging 3 suitcases. But manageable. Our flight is at 10:20am tomorrow, so we will have enough time to get there early.

Had dinner (pizza and spinach salad) at the hotel restaurant. Back to the room to have an early night. Looking forward to seeing our 4-footed kids tomorrow!!

Home; Saturday, November 12, 2016

We're home!

The flight from Rome was uneventful. The only disappointment was that we actually did not get the business class seats - Bob booked the flight a long time ago and he could not remember that he was not able to get the business class seats using the mileage. Oh well .... The econ seats were really quite tight. But the plane was not full so it was not that crowded. We survived the 9 hours.

Back at Logan, got to Avis rental and picked up our rental car, drove to Sheraton Framingham to return the rental and pick up our own car. Got a scare when our car would not start. Turned out to be that Bob's car key ran out of battery. He read the manual and was able to start the car. Then we drove to the kennel and picked up our two excited kids. We were just as excited as they were, seeing them! By 4pm, we were home!

While we were away for the past 3 weeks, two important events: the sad election and the good news that Mass pike got rid of all the tolls!! It was really refreshing driving on the pike without the toll booths!! Yeah!! I wondered if the rush hour traffic on the pike has become better.

Life was back to normal and it felt really good to be home!