This afternoon we attended an invitation only high tea. Very fancy. Very formal. Very delicious. Jerry actually drank tea while devouring mounds of tea sandwiches and pastries. My diet starts again tomorrow. It has been a lovely week and I hope to do it again soon.

Onboard Solstice

It is our last day of the cruise and it has been perfect so far. I don't feel like there are crowds although the ship is almost full. There are always places to sit. Nobody is rowdy; in fact, everyone is very well behaved. The weather has been spectacular even though we seem to be skirting around storms in the area. The seas are extremely calm.
The food is really good. There are plenty of activities, no loud announcements, very few children, varied entertainment and an extremely attentive staff. The captain is the best! He is funnier than the comedians and very passenger-friendly. This is the best ship so far for me. It will be hard to follow this act. Signing off from somewhere in the south Atlantic. Pictures will follow.

We spent yesterday wandering around San Juan in the rain but it was fun. Today we are in St. Thomas. Spent four hours at the beach this morning at Magens Bay. The ship is fantastic and we are very happy. No negatives. Tomorrow it's off to St. Maarten where we plan to spend our leftover Euros.

Sixth of September aboard the Celebrity Solstice. We are cruising at 21 knots toward San Juan Puerto Rico. The sea is calm and the wind is from the east at 20 knots. The ship is lovely with soft music playing, lovely décor and a fine staff. The captain informed us that tropical storm Gaston may reach hurricane force but we should not be concerned, as it is more than a thousand miles from us. At worst we would eisxperience high seas. That is fine with me. Right now we are relaxing in the adults only solarium to modern age music and pool water temperature of 84 degrees. It doesn't get much better than that. Tonight is the first of the two formal nights and I coerced Jerry into bringing a tuxedo. He didn't protest. It's nice to get dressed up sometimes. More to come.

On the road again

Tomorrow we board the Solstice for a short one week cruise. Not sure where we are going since there appears to be another tropical storm in the area.

Going Home

We awoke very early because we were sure we would miss the plane. Instead, we were up before anyone else with nowhere to go. Even McDonalds doesn't open till 10 am here much to Jerry's chagrin. He had to buy me a 3 Euro cup of coffee and I thought he would stop breathing. We are now waiting for the airport shuttle. We miss the grandchildren. This does not mean that we will not start planning the next trip the moment we get home.

Last Day in Spain

We took a long walk in downtown Andorra this morning. It was brisk and lovely and we window shopped and strolled. Then to a local cafe for the traditional breakfast of a bocadillo natural y cafe con leche...a little sandwich and coffee with milk. It was yummy but everyone was smoking and we were eating and coughing. Everyone in Andorra smokes. We think it is because there is no tax on cigarettes. There is a giant warning on every carton saying they will kill you but they all smoke anyway.

We went through a check at the Andorran border and they asked us if we liked their country and a whole bunch of other questions about where we were from and did we like their food, their stores, their hotels, etc. We
answered yes to everything and left the country only to be stopped by the Spanish authorities a few yards down the road where we had to go through a customs inspection and answer more questions. Once the guard found out we were from Miami, at least that is what we told him, he smiled and told us to go, which we did. Everyone here loves Miami. They think it is sinful and wonderful.

We bought bread, cheese, water and chocolate for the ride back to Barcelona and were very happy with our purchases.

We took a lazy ride back to Barcelona and when we reached the suburbs that is when the trouble began. We got lost trying to find our hotel and literally drove around for hours in giant circles trying to find it. Just by accident, we were passing a shopping center and I happened to look up and there it was. That ride was something out of the Amazing Race with us yelling at each other, laughing, eating bread, cheese and chocolate and going round and round in circles. They have tons of tunnels and roundabouts here and I think we went through every one of them. I think I shall puke if I hear the word rotunda again ( it is their word for roundabout).

I am now ensconced in my hotel room which is very nice. The hotel has a spa and is in the middle of a shopping center and across the street from a Chinese buffet. What else could I possibly ask for!

Except for the fact that everyone speaks Catalan which we have difficulty understanding, everything is great. Today I was in the equivalent of the biggest Walmart on the planet, Toys r Us and Ross. I am shopped out and I think we are ready to come home. We miss those grandchildren so much. However, we are talking about where to go next.

Carousel in Cannes, France

Windows of Ibiza

Patio in Ibiza

Overlooking downtown Dubrovnik

Jerry as Greek Warrior

Sponges for sale Corfu

Downtown Corfu

More Corfu beach

Beach in Corfu

Corfu Old Town Shopping Mecca

Cavtat harbor

Testing the waters in Cavtat

Downtown Cavtat

Jerry being seasick on boatride to Cavtat

Jerry and Mark and their dueling cameras

Dubrovnik side street

Inside walls Dubrovnik

Old Town Dubrovnik

Andorra

I am sitting in a hotel room in Andorra, a principality between France and Spain, high in the Pyrenees mountains. It is a banking and shopping haven and in the winter a skiing paradise. It is very small so there are only two McDonalds in town. We drove around for over an hour looking for our hotel and after asking about 50 people we finally stumbled upon it by accident. You may wonder why we are here. Well, we got off the ship and rented a car and decided to get out of Barcelona because there are too many tourists there. We saw five ships pull into port this morning. So we selected Andorra because we didn't think there were any tourits here and I think I am right. It's very remote and they speak Catalan so we can't even understand them. The mountains are all around the town and the scenery is beautiful. But since it is in the mountains it is very cold and I am freezing. We will look at the sites in the morning and head back to Barcelona in the afternoon because we can't possibly drive those winding mountain roads at night.

Last night we saw two very good shows, ate a delicious meal and attended a 70’s party. That was enough to end the day for me.
This morning we awoke to see the island of Sardinia off the starboard side and to taste chocolate pancakes with whipped cream. I think I am going to go into a food coma if I don’t get off this ship soon.
We took a private tour of the bridge with the captain, who explained everything about the running of the ship. I am now an expert on what they do with the water from the toilet on the Brilliance of the Seas!
Jerry is now up on Deck 13 taking a piano lesson. After that he is entered in a blackjack contest. That will give me a chance to go shopping although I really don’t think I will buy anything.
The wind is whipping up and the seas are getting a bit higher but it won’t effect us since the ship is so enormous. We shall continue along at 17 knots till we arrive in Barcelona tomorrow morning. We are renting a car and going into the Pyrenees mountains or up the coast. We are not sure yet. So this will be my last posting from the ship. I will post again from land and hopefully be able to put some more photos on so everyone can see some of the unique and beautiful places we have visited. So far, Dubrovnik is my favorite along with the little seaside town of Cavtat, also in Croatia. The Croatians definitely got the best of the deal after Yugoslavia broke up.
So it’s goodbye from the Brilliance of the Seas and hello again to Spain. It has been a wonderful cruise seeing interesting things and meeting very nice folks from all over the world. We made a good connection with our Aussie and Kiwi friends and plan to visit them when we go down under. They will visit us in Florida if there are any beaches left after the tragic oil disaster.
We will write tomorrow from somewhere in the heart of Spain.

The island of Corfu lies just off the Greek mainland and is not far from Albania. The water surrounding the island is filled with dolphins which follow the ship periodically. Corfu has an old town with the typical narrow streets and old buildings. There are lots of churches which are Greek Orthodox, naturally. There are many shops selling everything from natural sponges (they dive for them in the local waters) to knock off Prada purses. No, I did not buy any. We went to one of the local beaches in the morning. The beaches are full of rocks and the water wasn’t that nice. Our beaches are much nicer. After a few hours we came back to the old to stroll and shop. There were several other cruise ships in town so it was crowded but manageable. Corfu is definitely not one of the prettier Greek islands but the people were nice to us. The taxi rides were quite expensive as was the merchandise but we are still glad we visited. The Greek economy is going down the toilet and the residents seemed a bit desperate for business but I thought everything was overpriced so I didn’t buy anything to help them out. Other people were buying, so no guilt feelings here. Tonight we leave for the Med and Barcelona. We will go through the Straights of Messina and pass Mt. Etna.

Rialto Bridge, Venice

Venice Ghetto

Guess where

Venice

Burano. i am moving here.

Burano, Italy.

Glass blowing furnace in Murano, Italy