Nov 29

Why didn’t anybody mention to us that during the winter the Mediterranean Sea is very rough???? Last night was so wavy. It was dress up night also so women in high heels and men in tuxedos stumbling all over the ship. It was bad. We did have a great dinner though so it made it a little better.
Today was great!!! It was in the running of being our favorite stop. We stopped in Dubrovnik, Croatia. There was so much to see. We ported in the new harbor so when we got off the ship we took a bus to the city of Dubrovnik. It was about a 15 minute scenic route. The old city is within fortress walls. We paid 15 Euro to walk the perimeter of the wall (on top of it). It was roughly two miles with 300 steps. Then after that we went down to the old port and had great fish. It consisted of squid, octopus, john dory, and shrimp. It was the best fish we have had on the trip.
This city was in war starting in 1991 and getting attacked until late 1995 by the Serbians. We went to a few memorials for the people that died during that time. It was really grounding to see something that happened so recently.
We are back on the ship now heading to Venice and ready for a 7 hour drive home tomorrow. We just played a few rounds of trivia, with the announcer repeating everything in 4 different languages. There are probably only 200 English speaking guests on the ship. Our cruise director said that one cruise they had 40 different nations represented on the ship. With that being said the staff is all multi-lingual. It is hard to imagine how long it took them to get fluent in so many languages.
Next is the “Love Boat Quiz”. Its where couples answer questions about each other. Nate and I so have this one!!!
Write y’all tomorrow when we get back to Stuttgart, Germany.

Nov 27 + 28

Thursday night we were in the Mykonos for a short stop in the evening. We found a restaurant that looked decent with good prices. Well the fish platter we orders wasn’t that good at all. I think I got slight food poisoning or something. All of the shops/restaurants were closing for the rest of the season after the cruise ship that we were on left. So I think they might have lowered their standards a wee bit. So with that being said Friday stop wasn’t the most pleasant for me. We weren’t able to leave the ship to see Rhodes, Greece. We did get some good pictures though from the ship. The city of Rhodes was surrounded by a huge brick wall and in the middle of it was a huge castle. It would have been great to see.
Today is a day at sea. We woke up around 7:30 since we were going through a canal with islands on our left and the Peloponnesian coast on the right. It was breath taking. We are currently heading to Katakolon (which was our second stop of the trip) due to a medical emergency. They said it won’t affect our arrival in Croatia tomorrow. Hopefully the person will be ok. Well we have a pretty busy day ahead. We just played BINGO and lost of course. Nate has a little bit of homework to do and then we are going to learn how salsa up by the pool but shhh don’t tell Nate, he doesn’t know yet. Then it is Gala night where everybody dresses up for dinner.
Later this afternoon we are going to be sailing through the strait of Itaca, which separates Cefalonia from Itaca, famous for being the homeland of Ulysses in the poem written by Homero “The Odyssey”.

Nov 26

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!
This morning we woke up at the butt crack of dawn to catch a ferry to land from the port in Santorini. When we got there we took a 30 minute bus ride to Oia Village. Which is known for its sunsets and blue roofs with white wash walls. The reason the roofs are circular is to safe their rain. They have such a shortage of water that they sometimes need to import water from other islands. The volcano you see in one of the pictures was once connected with the islands surrounding it. When it erupted 10,000 yrs ago it whipped out all of that land. Some archeologists even attribute the parting of the red sea to that eruption. It is still a very active volcano. In the 50’s they had a devastating earthquake (7.8) that destroyed 80% of Oia Village, which, probably contributed to the volcanic eruption a few years after.
We also found out how much the Greeks like their animals. Every other corner we turned there were more dogs and cats. They aren’t strays as you would think, they had collars on and trimmed toe nails.
Since departing from Santorini we’ve been steadily passing islands. I even got to layout in the sun for awhile today. The weather has been beautiful since we left Italy. Its been in the high 60's without a cloud in the sky. I think we are 2 ½ hours out from the Mykonos. There we stop for evening stroll and dinner on the beach.

25 Nov

Woke up late, we thought, and realized we lost an hour. Oh well we still got breakfast in bed. Today we actually paid for a guided tour. A bus took us from the port in Katakolon to the ruins of Olympia. We learned quite a bit from her. First, was that gymnasium in Greek means toning of the naked body. Second, every two years they light the torch using the sun with a mirror. Lastly, when the Romans took over what is now known as Greece they added metal to their boxing gloves for increased brutality (boxings just not fun without blood, right?).
We were able to spend an hour in the Katakolon port at the shops and restaurants. We ate some really good calamari and gyros. Nate also got a bronze Leonidas (Spartan) helmet.
Now we are on the ship about to get ready for the Captain’s dinner. I brought a nice dress and Nate has some rags he can throw on. The ship is currently heading southeast to Santorini and after that stop in the morning we have a stop in the Mykonois for the evening. So it will be a busy day.

Dad- Sorry I couldn't bring back any bolders from the Zues Temple ruins. The cruise wouldn't allow it....

23 + 24 Nov

Yesterday we woke up early to go to Venice and of course it was still raining out. So we decided to still go early just to make sure we make it to the ship on time. We arrived at the parking garage and two hours later we were on the ship! it was an extremely easy process.
Our room is really small but we dont spend much time in there so we dont mind all that much. The dinners here are 7 COURSES!!!! The we figured out you dont have to pick something from every course:). We would gain like 20 pounds if we had too do so.
Unfortunately I got a little sea sick last night. The funny thing is was I was worried Nate would be the one to get sick. They had out free sea sick pills at the front desk so that saved my behind for the rest of the trip.

We had our first stop today in the city of Bari, Italy. I was a bit apprehensive of going out on town with out a tour because we might not be able to get back on time before the all aboard call. And of course all turned out "A" ok and it was alot of fun not having to follow somebody around.
We stumbled upon some really cool churches and even a castle. The castle was having a Darwin Exhibit and all of the signs with info were in English.
Finally we found a nice restaurant called Mama Mia's and got to experience real Italian food. I got spaghetti cabanara and Nate got a shell fish pasta. After ordering an Italian coffee, expecting a cup of coffee, they brought me out an extremely Strong shot of espresso. Whoa!!
Now we are back on the ship about to perform a fake evacuation drill where we get our life jackets and all meet up at the "muster location" (by our life boats). Exactly what I wanted to do on my vacation, how did they know. After that is dinner and the we are going to one of the bars to enjoy some Beatles music performed by a duo.
I cant wait to see what tomorrow brings in Greece!!!

Mom- I got you and myself a scarf with the whole in the middle!! For cheap to, I am learning how to bargain down the prices.