Whatcha been doing lately?

I want to thank all of you who paid attention to our trip blog and especially those of you who let us know how much you enjoyed it; we enjoyed it too. So much so that we thought we would post back here every now and then and let you know what else has been going on around our household.

Well, the first thing that happened is that we both came down with colds. But in the last few days we have both been feeling better and we have a couple projects we have been working on. You may all not know it, but one of Cheryl's secret loves and guilty pleasures is working custom-made wooden jigsaw puzzles.  Not the nice puzzles you get for $20 down at the Hallmark store.  These are handcut, wooden puzzles with custom pieces and special tricks.

She first started collecting these about 20 years ago when she discovered Stave Puzzles (www.stavepuzzles.com) and while she does not get a new puzzle every year she would like to!  Her most recent puzzle required a 2 1/2 year waiting list before she came to the front of the line. It 'only' took a week to cut and she just received it last week. This puzzle was made by Custom Puzzle Craft, aka Mr. John Stokes III.  If you want to see more on how John creates these, check out his website, www.custompuzzlecraft.com and scroll down and click on his Journal.

Here are some photos of his amazing work, cut with a jigsaw blade about the size of a human hair:

The Puzzle in the box as I received it, all 650 teensy weensy pieces.

The puzzle on my working table, with the first section put together.  I asked John to cut this puzzle into six sections following a set of cutting 'rules' he developed called a Golden Ratio Compulsory.  Then he cut each section using a unique cutting style.  This section was the Angular style section.  The cutting lines don't show up very well here, but I have a better photo to add later.

This section (below) is cut in the Long Round style.  It is the largest section in the puzzle.  The edges of this section show you what the Compulsory cutting looked like when John did the initial six-pieces of the puzzle. If you look at the swirls in the reddish section on the bottom left below, (they sort of resemble the tail of a cat, or the hind leg of an animal) can you see where those pieces fit into the reddish section the green bush on the right in the section above?

You can see two sections here, the Knob style pieces on the left and a bit of the Earlet section on the right.  See how the round circle end of the Earlet section will fit into the round hole of the Knob section?

This is a shot of the full Earlet style section

I will have to add some shots of individual pieces and something for scale in my next post.  The Creative Style pieces are just amazing swirls and wiggles and angles.  Each piece is a work of art in itself.  And yes, I will show you the completed puzzle shortly.  And then, do stay tuned for Tom's Big Project, which is nearing completion.

HAPPY 12/12/12 Everyone!

Post Script

Just to let you all know that yes, we are back home safely in Corrales.  The first 2 (of 6) loads of laundry have been completed, we managed about 7 hours of sleep last night, despite our body clock thinking we were going to bed at 8 am and waking up at 2 in the afternoon.  All is well at home, Hercules remembered us and moved right back into his routine.  (We are fortunate to have had a terrific house/dog sitter!)

Thanks for following along....
      Cheryl and Tom

Re-Entry

Well folks, after 32 days, 7 airports, 1 ship, 14 cities, 9 churches, 20 museums and monuments, and a lifetime of experiences big and small, we have arrived back in the USA.  We are currently in Chicago, having spent the last 23 hours on the road, with 4 more hours to go.  The slightly crazed looks in this last photo are no doubt due in large part to travel weariness. 

Thanks for traveling along with us...and to answer that first question posed at the beginning of this adventure, our Thanksgiving meal in Rome was...Pizza!

Coming home

Hi all, wow what a trip we have had! We are thankful we were able to do it and hope for many more. We have an 0805 flight which translates to a 0430 wake up in order to make it to the airport and have our three hours prior to takeoff.....
Today we took it very easy, late lunch from the local supermarket of bread and cheese, some will also be for breakfast. We went to the Borghese gallery, remarkable place with some super art. No matter what it will be a long day flying home tomorrow. While we hate ending our trip it will spark new places we can visit and we always feel we can return. It is always good to come home. Will post when we are back Corrales. The first is one of the museum with us again. The second is Cheryl from our hotel window and then one of a fountain close to us, one of many throughout Rome.

La Dolce Vita and the Caesar Shuffle

This morning we slept in, ate a leisurely breakfast at the hotel, and then walked over to the Colosseum for a pre-booked tour including the newly restored Underground area. Yeah, where they kept the gladiators and lions and props before the actual spectacle. A few interesting facts:
-Colosseum held 50,000 spectators and could empty all of them in less than 15 minutes. (are you listening Mesa Del Sol amphitheater?) A feat like that meant the area outside the arena was called the vomitorium, meaning the stadium could disgorge quickly. Yeah, that's where we get the modern word vomit from.
-The cheap wood seats at the top (women and plebiscites) had the best view of the action and the most shade from the tent cover, but the greatest prestige was down at the marble seats in the front. With your name inscribed on the marble.
-The Roman Forum is, well, underwhelming after seeing the Acropolis and Ephesus. Sorry, but the best Roman ruins are in Greece and Turkey. And the best Greek ruins are in the British Museum. (And the best Turkey ruins are going to be on your dinner tables tomorrow afternoon. It's hard for us to believe tomorrow is Thanksgiving! )

In the afternoon we started at Piazza Navonna and meandered our way back across central Rome visiting the Four Rivers Fountain, Pantheon, Giolitti's, Trevi Fountain, and then returned for a late afternoon nap before dinner.

Off to Rome and the Vatican

Yesterday, (11/20) after 24 days of being pampered on the ship we had to schlep our selves and our bags to Rome. Here we are waiting with our friends for the train in Civitavecchia, feeling sorry to be off the ship and a little jealous of the folks on the inbound train going TO the ship.

But we managed to re-enter normal tourist life, find our hotel, and take the metro to the Vatican Museum, where we promptly ran into half a dozen of our ship friends doing the same thing. We had forgotten how MUCH is contained within the Vatican Museum, and after two hours we had seen so much and hiked so far that we really did not have the energy to appreciate the art by the time we came to the modern section, which by any other standards would be a do-not-miss collection. Our camera reflects this, we have a shot-a-minute of the first rooms at the Pinicoteca, two or three shots in each of the Etruscan and Egyptian rooms, one shot of each of the Raphael rooms, and maybe one shot of the quarter mile long hallway leading to the Sistine. Which is included below, along with a couple at St. Peter's. Sorry, Matisse.

After an early dinner, we packed ourselves off to bed for a good night's rest. It seems Tom is coming down with a cold and while we have the NyQuil and DayQuil, rest and fluids still are needed.

Pictures from Pompeii and Naples

As promised a couple of days ago here are some shots from the titled places. It was an overcast, slightly drizzly morning, but cleared for a while and then poured after we returned to the ship. We have been blessed with fantastic weather for nearly the entire month of travel; a fact which we are realizing is almost as amazing as the trip itself.

The photos below, again in something of a random order, show:
-Mt. Vesuvius-the culprit on Aug. 24, 79 Around noon.
-Frescoes and mosaics that remain in the buildings
-Original lead pipes that moved water around town, including daily street washing.
-The original fast-food dining counter, the holes held large clay containers of burgers and fries. OK, maybe not that fast food, but the ancient equivalent.
-A typical one-chariot street with crossing stones in the distance. Conveniently spaced to allow a chariot's wheels to pass outside the stones. Chariot ruts are visible in the left foreground in the stones.
-A slightly blurred photo of the street in Naples just before we got totally confused and lost. And then after some confusion and terse moments finally found the really truly actual original Naples pizza joint (two kinds, Margherita or Marinara, take a numbered token, go in when your number is called and order, sit where they show you-not necessarily with the people you came with-and say you ate at Antica da Michele). Or you can go across the street and eat where Julia Roberts did in "Eat, Pray, Love". Or do as we did and sit at the place in the piazza across from both and watch the action while you eat. Great pizza, no lines, sit with your friends, probably cheaper, infinitely better entertainment. Would have taken pictures of the pizza but we were really hungry and ate it first.

Pompeii and Pizza

Will have to add pictures tomorrow, but the title says it all. In Naples today, birthplace of pizza, so had to eat that after seeing Pompeii. It's packing day and we leave the cruise ship in the morning.

Next post will come from Rome...see you then.

Santorini and the Sea

Yesterday found us meandering around the hilltop towns on the volcanic island of Santorini. Among the many shops we found this one, and treated ourselves to the Fish Spa. Tom only took a little persuading and it feels like little jacuzzi bubbles.

Today, Saturday, was a sea day. We both took advantage of this by sleeping in, eating breakfast, taking a nap, eating lunch, resting on the top deck, watching a movie and now, preparing for cocktails and our final formal night. We can hardly believe that our cruise will be over in just a few days, but reality is proven by the presence of Orange 2 luggage tags delivered by the stateroom steward.

Ephesus

Too much wind yesterday to dock at Mykonos, but we welcomed the chance to rest and relax, as today we had a seven hour tour of the ancient city of Ephesus. A well-preserved and relatively intact set of ruins marks this major stop on the Silk Road of Asia. Only 10% of the site is excavated, and much is still being worked on by archeologists at the site, but the mosaics and frescoes are amazingly intact.

We enjoyed seeing the method used to unwind silk from the silkworm cocoon- unchanged for over 3000 years.

Sandals and wind

Hi all, well you can see from the previous post that we returned to Athens, had a great lunch and saw many historical sights. All good! One of our favorite things is to people watch, I also keep my eye out for schools and you can imagine all the field trips we see the kids doing in such interesting and world-renowned places that we travel all over to see. Of course we have many right at home and nearby, such as the Grand Canyon and Mesa Verde, just to name two. However we like to make those unexpected connections that give lasting memories. We met Alex and Debra from Hong Kong, our table mates at dinner and new folks you just click with like Jackie and Glenn from Asheville, North Carolina. We also met the third generation poet sandal maker in Athens, Melissinos. Needless to say we could not resist and we each had a pair custom fit to our feet. No mail order, he only sells in person in his tiny shop near Monastiraki Square, come in and get them fitted. His picture is below. One of the great joys and unexpected moments of traveling.

Now about that wind, it was too windy, 40 knots+, to put in at Mykonos today so we are at sea; for us it will be a good rest day after five ports in a row...more adventures to come. Stay tuned for Ephesus tomorrow.

Return to Athens

We are back in Athens at our favorite restaurant. We are eating with Jackie and Glenn who are our new friends from the cruise.

Olympics

Visited the place where the first Olympics were held to honor Zeus,(my Marine call sign) so I have a small connection with the place. It is really too much to take in and really comprehend.

Corfu, Greece

Hi all, what a day to relax and enjoy a beautiful day in a pretty place. Seems like the Greek islands are all very beautiful and have an old world charm. Today we sat in the square and watched a foot race with all ages of kids. It was perfect people watching and we did manage to get in a little shopping. Came back to the ship and was able to get a little tan maintenance. I could get used to this pretty easy. Hope you are all well, tomorrow we are visiting Mt.Olympus!

Wall walking in Dubrovnik

We are now in Croatia, and spending the day walking the town walls, doing a little shopping and a lot of people watching. This is a proud little city, with fortified walls from the 15th century and shrapnel marks from the Serbo-Croatian war in 1992. The city has been rebuilt, so you have to know where to look for remaining damage but it is a reminder of how recently things were so much different in this city.

Detour

Yesterday afternoon (Tuesday) a small, unmarked inflatable life raft was spotted by the bridge about 1/3 mile from our ship. They examined it with high powered binoculars and determined that it was empty. The crew also contacted both the Greek and Italian Coast Guards and determined that no ships had reported the launching of any rafts.

About an hour later, the Captain reported that a passenger onboard our ship 'thought they had seen something' in the raft in a photo they had taken. Due to this report, we turned our ship around, returned to the raft, launched a rescue boat which went over to the raft looked inside, took photos from all angles, and indeed confirmed it was an empty, unmarked life raft.

As a result, our entry into Venice will be delayed by three hours

Venezia

We had an amazing sail into Venice, right past Piazza San Marco where we went meandering on foot this evening. Despite the delay from our non-rescue at sea, we sailed in before sunset and were able to view this unique city on the sea from both the night vaporetto and on foot this evening.

Greek Hospitality

We are ordered two dishes that showed up promptly and then these dishes also showed up. No charge on the house.

Athens!

Here we are in Athens having a wonderful lunch. It has been perfect day and we had a fabulous self-guided tour of the Acropolis and the Parthenon. The weather has been perfect Tom thinks everybody looks like Zorba, I think not so much.