Greetings to all,
I cannot believe that I have fallen over a month behind in my postings... big mistake on my part as I have been to some fantastic ports since my last entry. I skipped writing about Tonga and Western Samoa as these are two ports I did not particularly get to see a lot of, but both of these places made me appreciate technology that much more as they are definitely far behind. More postings to come, I promise!
February 12, 2009
Auckland, New Zealand
After making a couple of visits to random islands in the Pacific, (Apia, W. Samoa on February 6, then Nuku'Alofa, Tonga on February 9... I didn't do much in either of these places), and losing a day (February 8) when the ship crossed the international date line, Queen Victoria pulled into Auckland, New Zealand just before 7:00am on February 12.
I once again chose to do a tour, but this one was a bit different than going off to see city sights or visit ancient ruins. This time, I signed up to sail on an authentic former America's Cup Yacht.
NZL 41, nearly 80 feet long, was a semi-finalist in the 1995 America's Cup and was like no yacht I'd ever seen. It was the first time I had ever been able to get up close and personal with a true racing yacht and it was beautiful on the outside and in. Apparently, the entire boat weighs 24 tons, but 20 of the tons rest inside a lead bulb at the bottom of the ship's centerboard.
There were four crewmembers on board and about twenty of the ship's guests (plus myself) along to help sail the yacht, so as soon as we got out of the marina and into open water, the motor went off, the sails went up, and everything got more quiet and peaceful. The crew asked for some of the guests to help out in turning the cranks which hoisted sails, tightened/loosened the sheets, and before I knew it, the ship was heeling close to forty five degrees and doing about 12 knots as we traveled away from the marina. We were able to travel past a couple of the racing yachts in town for the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series and sailed past one of Larry Ellison's personal yachts as well (he owns the American BMW Oracle racing team).
I spent most of my time relaxing and taking in the scenery around me, but also got a chance to try operating the cranks and even got to take the helm for a few minutes as we headed back towards the marina. It was fun using the Auckland Sky Tower, the tallest structure in the southern hemisphere, as a point to sail towards, and the view of the city skyline was breathtaking. The Sky Tower was the first tall structure of its kind that I had ever laid eyes on and I hope one day to go up one of them, possibly in Shanghai.
After we returned to the marina and debarked NZL 41, I went off for lunch at a cheap Mexican joint before commencing my afternoon. I started off with a short trip to the Auckland Maritime Museum to kill some time. I made my way through the small museum's three or four exhibit halls with a bit of haste since what was inside did not entirely interest me. There were boats large and small, some fancier than others. They had the boat that won Gold in the Munich Olympic Games, some old whaling boats, and other record setters, but for the most part, I was not entirely interested in what was inside. This could have partially been due to the fact that I was short on time and did not have enough of an opportunity to take everything in, or it could have been because I was about to go bungy jumping off the Auckland Harbor Bridge within the next hour or two.
At 2:30pm, a shuttle picked me up along with several of my friends and took us to the AJ Hackett Auckland Bungy headquarters, located at one of the ends of the Auckland Harbor Bridge. After a short wait and safety talk, we were harnessed up and began our bridge walk to the pod that for some stupid reason, we were all going to jump out of with a long elastic cord attached to our ankles. I was the penultimate person in my group to go, but enjoyed every minute of jumping off of the bridge from 40 meters up that I had to do it again. It was an amazing experience and quite an adrenaline rush, but after doing two bungy jumps and one skydive, I still prefer the latter (though I am unsure if I will every skydive again).
After the bungy jump, I proceeded back to the ship to change into some dry clothes (I opted to do a water touch in my first jump which turned into getting soaked up to my knees) before going out with some friends for a beer and then some AMAZING Thai food, and then headed back to Queen Victoria before she sailed at 8:00pm. Though I did not get to see much of Auckland or its surroundings up close, I had an amazing day and looked forward to seeing more of New Zealand.
February 14, 2009
Christchurch, New Zealand
Two days after stopping in Auckland, Queen Victoria docked in Lyttelton, New Zealand so guests could visit Christchurch, and I decided to go into the city myself. I had about 5 hours of free time and went in and walked around the city.
Christchurch was a totally different world in comparison to Auckland. It was much smaller, and once I got about six blocks from the shuttle drop-off point, I felt like I was in a totally different world. The nice shopping spot went away, and so did the happy atmosphere. Consequently, I opted to stay closer to the city center and walked for hours while doing some shopping (for some reason, it became t-shirt day for me... I bought 4) and ate some amazing souvlaki for lunch. In addition to a McDonald's, Burger King, and even a KFC, the city was littered with Chinese restaurants, Japanese/Sushi restaurants, Korean restaurants, and Souvlaki joints. The souvlaki was a good choice, and was a nice reminder that I will be returning to Greece before I know it.
After lunch, I made my way to St. Luke's in the City, the main church in the city square in Christchurch which was beautiful on the inside and out and then from there went to Victoria Park, which was still decorated for the Chinese Lantern Festival. Lanterns were shaped like people, animals, and beautiful objects and I enjoyed walking through them. I did not have a lot of time here, but was glad I had a chance to walk through the park. I headed back to the shuttle following the visit to the park and headed back to the ship before she set sail for Tasmania.
February 17, 2009
Hobart (Tasmania), Australia
FINALLY, after 25 years, 6 months, and 3 days, I made it to Australia. Tasmania is a separate island and all, but still, it counts! The people there sound Aussie, they say gidday occasionally, and the vibe is pretty Australian as well, so again, IT COUNTS! I chose to do a tour that took me to a variety of locations and it was my first full-day tour since December.
The first stop on the tour was the city of Richmond, where I was able to get a glimpse of Tassy culture outside of a touristy area. Richmond is an older city, and one of the oldest in the region, and it is there that I was able to see the first Catholic Church in all of Australia. It was quiet and grassy and I liked being in a more peaceful area than the busy cities of Auckland or Christchurch or the public areas on Queen Victoria. We only were able to get off the bus for around 10-15 minutes, but it was still enough time to relax.
From Richmond, we made our way to a nice vineyard not too far away for a brief wine tasting and a chance to walk around the garden there. The wine tasted good, and I wanted to buy a bottle but had to rush back to the tour bus before it left.
We made our way from the vineyard to the Salmon Ponds Trout Hatchery where we ended up spending more time than we spent anywhere else, mostly because it was a nice spot to have our picnic luncheon. There were some trout and even some salmon in some ponds, along with picnic benches and beautiful grassy areas to sit in or walk around, but they also had a museum set up like an old fisherman's house and a nice creek to walk along. The lunch was different than anything I'd had before: apparently it is traditional in Tasmania to have a piece of asparagus wrapped in a piece of rolled-up bread with some cream cheese inside... it tastes great.
After one more brief walk around the trout hatchery following my lunch, (or as the tour description called it, a "picnic-style luncheon", I boarded the tour bus for the journey to a national park.
About 30-45 minutes after departing the trout hatchery, I arrived at Mt. Field National Park, the sight of Russell Falls. The ten-minute walk to the falls was well worth it as I had the chance to walk through a beautiful forest and the falls themselves were amazing. In the immediate foreground was a short waterfall, and behind it was another set of falls that towered over its entire surroundings. It was like nothing I had ever seen, though I have not seen too many waterfalls in my lifetime. Sadly, my time at this stop was limited so I took about a minute to take in the surroundings before returning back to the bus and heading to the last stop on the tour: Something Wild.
Something Wild is a wildlife sanctuary for orphaned/injured animals that otherwise could not survive in their natural habitats, and my visit here was amazing. As I walked in, I passed some parrots on one side of me in a cage, and an emu or two were running around in a pen on my other side. Then, I passed a sleeping wombat and looked to my right and saw, in a small enclosed area, three baby Tasmanian devils. Everywhere I looked, there was an animal native to the Australia/Tasmania area that was being cared for. Next, on my left were three kangaroos in the distance all laying down, and another one was running around the rather large pen that had been set up for them. I kept walking and realized I had walked right into a large area where wallabies were roaming free. One ran past me and came within three or four feet, and I got some great close-up photos of it, but then I went on to get a closer look at the kangaroos and another wombat (this one was awake) before heading back up towards the main entrance of the zoo for its main attraction: the family of koalas.
I arrived at the koala cages and found what seemed to be three little animals sleeping (they tend to sleep about twenty hours a day, so this was more or less expected), but then one of the animal guides brought a 10-month old koala out for us all to pet and photograph. I jumped in and had my picture taken with Scuz, as the guide had aptly named him, and pet him a little bit before returning to the bus and heading back to the ship.
All in all, my day in Tasmania was exciting on all counts. I got to see waterfalls, a touch of older Tassy culture, trout, and some interesting animals. The scenery was not too bad either, so I am glad the ship visited Hobart.
February 19-20, 2009
Sydney, Australia
FINALLY, I MADE IT. At around 5:45am, I woke up on February 19 to go outside and watch as Queen Victoria sailed into the Sydney Harbor as the sun rose. I made it out with plenty of time to take in our sail-in towards the Opera House and Harbor Bridge, and it was remarkably awesome to see something I had waited my entire life to lay my eyes on. I had hoped that Queen Victoria would be docking relatively close to the Opera House, so I was ecstatic when I realized we would be docking right at Circular Quay, situated right between the Opera House and the Harbor Bridge. Anytime I looked out of a port-side window while on board, the Opera House was in plain view.
I decided to spend my first morning in Sydney on a tour so that I could get inside the Opera House and see the main venues while learning a bit about the history of one of the world’s most famous buildings and how it came to be designed and built. The tour also took me around the city and to Bondi Beach for some free time to relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery and atmosphere. The highlight of the morning was still seeing inside the Opera House and walking around from the other side of the beautiful exterior that is known of by the majority of the world’s population.
Driving through Sydney was also an amazing experience as I got to see a city I had always wanted to see. It was alive with personality but not nearly as congested as Manhattan.
After I returned from the tour, I spent a couple hours relaxing on the steps at the Opera House before I went for a brief walk around The Rocks, the first part of Sydney, and grabbed some dinner while there: a kangaroo burger. The meat tastes a lot like beef but is much lower in fat. I had to return to the ship after dinner and decided to stay in for the night as I had to get up early the next morning.
My second day in Sydney was devoted to obtaining a Chinese visa. I found out a few weeks prior to my arrival in Australia that in order to be granted entry into mainland China (for my purposes, Shanghai), I was going to need to get a special visa from the Chinese Consulate in Sydney, and that it was going to cost me $205 Australian (around $130-135 USD). In the end, I gave myself the option of either doing the Sydney Harbor Bridge Climb or getting the visa since they were about the same price, and I opted to see Shanghai instead.
My friend Greg picked me up from the pier at around 8:15am and we drove to Camperdown (a lower-class suburb of Sydney) to go to the Consulate so I could drop off my visa application. After dropping it off, I had a few hours to kill, so Greg took me over to Darling Harbor so I could see that and then across the Harbor Bridge for a quick sandwich and a walk through Luna Park, the amusement park set up by the city after the bridge was constructed. We then headed back to the Chinese Consulate to pick up the visa before I came back to the ship to give Greg a quick tour.
After showing Greg around, I stopped off at the MCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) for a quick browse before meeting up with two of my friends from Manhattan, Hal and Lidia, who were visiting Sydney on holiday for two weeks. I went for a cup of coffee with them and caught up on old times (I hadn’t seen either of them since last summer, so it was great to see them again) before saying goodbye to Sydney and returning back to the ship.
My first exposure to mainland Australia was a phenomenal experience. While I was only able to see a small portion of Sydney (and a much smaller portion of the entire country), I know that this is a place I will have to explore more of in the future. I cannot wait to return.
February 23, 2009
Yorkey’s Knob, Australia
Three days after departing Sydney, Queen Victoria dropped anchor just off the coast of Yorkey’s Knob, a gateway to the city of Cairns. While the majority of ship’s company and guests went into Cairns for the day, I, along with 270 guests and four other crewmembers, elected to go on a tour to the Great Barrier Reef.
A high-speed catamaran picked all of us up directly from the ship and took us out to a purpose-built pontoon located directly above the reef. They had snorkeling equipment to use, offered scuba dives, an underwater viewing chamber, and a semi-submersible boat that you could go for short rides in to view the reef if you were against getting wet. I opted to do a thirty-minute scuba dive with my friend Ollie, and it was amazing. The last time I went scuba diving was when I did my final open-water certification dive in 2003 at Coki Beach, St. Thomas, but everything came back real quickly and I had a blast seeing the reef up close. I swam past a shark and later on, a sting ray, and few fish seemed to be easily amused by following me around. It was a spectacular experience and worth every penny. I spent an hour or so in the afternoon snorkeling and found this experience almost equally as exciting as the morning dive I did. Somewhere in between I found the time to enjoy the buffet luncheon that was prepared on the pontoon for the guests, and relaxed for a bit as well. It was a great day and I felt so fortunate to see the reef for the first time.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Monday, February 2, 2009
Pearl Harbor and More
Forgive the absence of any posts of late. The last three weeks have been filled mostly with days spent cruising the high seas with no land in sight. Since my last entry, the ship has made seven calls to ports in North and Central America, and also spent a day (January 18) transiting the Panama Canal, so I did not feel the need to write any entries about spending time on the beach or walking around, which I did in Curacao and in Puerto Vallarta. On January 13, I met up with my mother and grandmother in Fort Lauderdale, went shopping, and ate Chinese food. On January 21, the ship docked in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala and I was able to get off for a little over an hour and spent time walking around the shops in the port and sitting on the grass. in Cabo San Lucas on January 25, I ended up getting off just long enough to eat the best fajitas I'd ever tasted, and on January 27, I met up with some friends and went flying on the trapeze at the Santa Monica Pier.
That pretty much summarizes the last three weeks aboard Queen Victoria, but yesterday, the ship docked in Honolulu, and that warrants a full entry.
February 1, 2009
Honolulu, Hawaii
For perhaps the first time since joining Queen Victoria last September, I was awake for a morning sail-in. I went up to the guest gym (located above the bridge) way before the sun came up and was able to watch the sun rise over Honolulu and the island of Oahu from the treadmill. It was one of the most beautiful sail-ins I am sure I could ever witness, (though I am sure Sydney will rival it), and it was a great start to what would be a great day.
I took a shower, ate breakfast, and headed off to go on a tour that would take me first to Pearl Harbor and then on a brief city tour of Honolulu. I always knew that Pearl Harbor was something that I was going to have to see in my life, and yet, I did not prepare myself mentally for the visit.
We arrived at the visitor's center for the USS Arizona memorial shortly after 9:00am, and though I anticipated a waiting time for over an hour, it was about thirty minutes before I had to be in a theatre to watch a short film that covered not only the attacks on December 7, 1941, but also events starting from as early as the a decade prior. As I left the theatre to board the motor launch that would take me out to the USS Arizona Memorial, everything more or less hit me at once. I realized where I was, and I realized what I was about to go and see, and I realized what had happened where I was standing nearly seventy years ago.
The boat ride out to the memorial was short, and I was silent for most of it. The memorial itself is unique in that it is situated in the middle of the harbor immediately above the sunken Arizona, where over 900 sailors are still entombed. Parts of the battleship peak above the surface and much of the hull is visible despite being under water.
I was dead silent at the memorial; I walked around, took some pictures, and did my very best to take everything in. Visiting this memorial took more of a toll on my emotions than anything else I had seen to date, and I doubt I could visit the memorial again. I paid my respects and reboarded a motor launch to take me back to the visitors' center before my tour group left to see some Honolulu city sights.
From Pearl harbor, we headed to a beautiful lookout point called the Loni Lookout; it is situated 1,200 feet above sea level and the exposures were ridiculous from there. From there, we made our way through to the "Punchbowl National Cemetary" which is one of five American national cemetaryies that are not located inside the Continental United States, and it was also beautiful. From there, we headed downtown and passed the Iolani palace: the only royal palace to be located on American soil, and then headed back to the ship.
I had some time to walk around the pier area and do some shopping after getting back to the ship, but I had a great morning in the lovely state of Hawaii, and look forward to going back at some point to explore the rest of it.
That pretty much summarizes the last three weeks aboard Queen Victoria, but yesterday, the ship docked in Honolulu, and that warrants a full entry.
February 1, 2009
Honolulu, Hawaii
For perhaps the first time since joining Queen Victoria last September, I was awake for a morning sail-in. I went up to the guest gym (located above the bridge) way before the sun came up and was able to watch the sun rise over Honolulu and the island of Oahu from the treadmill. It was one of the most beautiful sail-ins I am sure I could ever witness, (though I am sure Sydney will rival it), and it was a great start to what would be a great day.
I took a shower, ate breakfast, and headed off to go on a tour that would take me first to Pearl Harbor and then on a brief city tour of Honolulu. I always knew that Pearl Harbor was something that I was going to have to see in my life, and yet, I did not prepare myself mentally for the visit.
We arrived at the visitor's center for the USS Arizona memorial shortly after 9:00am, and though I anticipated a waiting time for over an hour, it was about thirty minutes before I had to be in a theatre to watch a short film that covered not only the attacks on December 7, 1941, but also events starting from as early as the a decade prior. As I left the theatre to board the motor launch that would take me out to the USS Arizona Memorial, everything more or less hit me at once. I realized where I was, and I realized what I was about to go and see, and I realized what had happened where I was standing nearly seventy years ago.
The boat ride out to the memorial was short, and I was silent for most of it. The memorial itself is unique in that it is situated in the middle of the harbor immediately above the sunken Arizona, where over 900 sailors are still entombed. Parts of the battleship peak above the surface and much of the hull is visible despite being under water.
I was dead silent at the memorial; I walked around, took some pictures, and did my very best to take everything in. Visiting this memorial took more of a toll on my emotions than anything else I had seen to date, and I doubt I could visit the memorial again. I paid my respects and reboarded a motor launch to take me back to the visitors' center before my tour group left to see some Honolulu city sights.
From Pearl harbor, we headed to a beautiful lookout point called the Loni Lookout; it is situated 1,200 feet above sea level and the exposures were ridiculous from there. From there, we made our way through to the "Punchbowl National Cemetary" which is one of five American national cemetaryies that are not located inside the Continental United States, and it was also beautiful. From there, we headed downtown and passed the Iolani palace: the only royal palace to be located on American soil, and then headed back to the ship.
I had some time to walk around the pier area and do some shopping after getting back to the ship, but I had a great morning in the lovely state of Hawaii, and look forward to going back at some point to explore the rest of it.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Home is where the heart is...
January 11, 2009
Another Greatly-Delayed Post
Greetings from somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. Queen Victoria is currently making her way from New York to Fort Lauderdale where she will be docked on January 13. This post is going to be about one of the least exotic places I have visited; nevertheless, I wanted to write something about my experiences yesterday.
The ship crossed under the Verrazano Bridge between Brooklyn and Staten Island somewhere between 5:30 and 6:30 in the morning, and by about 7:30, she was safely tied in alongside Pier 88 in Manhattan. Though many other crewmembers elected to either pull all-nighters or wake up extra early to see the city from the ship as we sailed in, I elected not to, but the first thing I did when I woke up was run up to the staff mess to catch my first glimpse of the Big Apple through a porthole. A feeling of elation quickly overtook me, for it was then that I knew that after spending 114 days exploring Europe, Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and the high seas, I was home.
After eating a small breakfast, I headed up to the ship’s spa to get a better view of the city since there is a crew-only open deck outside the fitness center, and the spa itself is located on Deck 9 (one deck above the bridge, and the tenth deck that is situated above the water). My first stop was actually the men’s changing room where the large exterior window provided me with a nice southern exposure. Though it took me a moment to register what I was seeing, I noticed that one of Manhattan’s mainstays, the USS Intrepid aircraft carrier, had returned from her 2006 trip to a dry dock and then a wet dock for extensive renovations. Despite the big electronic sign at the pier counting down the days until Intrepid would be making her triumphant return, I forgot that I would be getting the chance to dock right next to her one more time.
I then left the changing room and proceeded out onto the open deck to breath some New York air for the first time in nearly four months, and took a minute to take everything in. The next step at this point was to get off the ship and set foot on American soil once again. Sadly, I was going to have to wait a while.
Before crew shore leave could be granted, two things needed to happen, and unfortunately, neither task was a speedy one at all. First off, American immigration officials had to do a full crew immigration check, which essentially meant that one thousand crew members had to wait in lines to get passports and visas stamped. There were only two immigration officials stamping passports and visas, so this process took over three hours. Following the immigration check, the United States Coast Guard decided that they would be doing their inspection of the ship’s safety procedures in the event of an emergency. For me, the Coast Guard Inspection resulted in me having to stand around in one spot for around a half hour before going to another place and standing there for another half hour.
In the end, it was already 12:15pm before I was able to get off the ship, and as soon as they said crew shore leave was granted, I ran to my cabin, grabbed my things, and ran to the gangway. Fifteen minutes later, I exited a taxi in front of my apartment building in the Upper West Side, where my father and uncle greeted me. As soon as I finished saying my hellos, I placed a delivery order for some sushi and relaxed while everyone opened up Christmas gifts we had bought for each other. I went up to my apartment (my aunt and uncle live downstairs) shortly thereafter and began stocking up on warm clothing because the ship visits northern Europe quite a bit after the world cruise concludes and I do not want to freeze upon my arrival there. I also dropped off some things I knew I could do without between now and July, grabbed my essential mail, and headed out to run a couple of errands and see a friend before heading back to the ship.
It is a weird feeling to be able to take a ship all the way from England to your home city, get in a taxi cab, go home for four hours, and then get back on board to continue circumnavigating the globe. Upon arriving in my uncle’s apartment, it took me a little bit of time to hit me that I was in New York, and I was sad to go when the time came. Nonetheless, once I reminded myself what the future holds, I was convinced that everything would be just fine and I could once again look forward to returning to Manhattan in early July.
As far as my itinerary goes, I will only be visiting six more ports, and additionally will spend one day transiting the Panama Canal (not exactly a sea day). I will be in Fort Lauderdale on January 13 (where I will get a chance to see my mother and grandmother), Willemstad, Curaçao on January 16, Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala on January 21, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico on January 24, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico on January 25, and in Los Angeles, California on January 27. Plenty of sea days await, which is an interesting change after spending ten out of twelve days (sometimes eleven out of twelve) in port during October and November. Stay tuned for more updates, and Happy [Belated] New Year!
Another Greatly-Delayed Post
Greetings from somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. Queen Victoria is currently making her way from New York to Fort Lauderdale where she will be docked on January 13. This post is going to be about one of the least exotic places I have visited; nevertheless, I wanted to write something about my experiences yesterday.
The ship crossed under the Verrazano Bridge between Brooklyn and Staten Island somewhere between 5:30 and 6:30 in the morning, and by about 7:30, she was safely tied in alongside Pier 88 in Manhattan. Though many other crewmembers elected to either pull all-nighters or wake up extra early to see the city from the ship as we sailed in, I elected not to, but the first thing I did when I woke up was run up to the staff mess to catch my first glimpse of the Big Apple through a porthole. A feeling of elation quickly overtook me, for it was then that I knew that after spending 114 days exploring Europe, Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and the high seas, I was home.
After eating a small breakfast, I headed up to the ship’s spa to get a better view of the city since there is a crew-only open deck outside the fitness center, and the spa itself is located on Deck 9 (one deck above the bridge, and the tenth deck that is situated above the water). My first stop was actually the men’s changing room where the large exterior window provided me with a nice southern exposure. Though it took me a moment to register what I was seeing, I noticed that one of Manhattan’s mainstays, the USS Intrepid aircraft carrier, had returned from her 2006 trip to a dry dock and then a wet dock for extensive renovations. Despite the big electronic sign at the pier counting down the days until Intrepid would be making her triumphant return, I forgot that I would be getting the chance to dock right next to her one more time.
I then left the changing room and proceeded out onto the open deck to breath some New York air for the first time in nearly four months, and took a minute to take everything in. The next step at this point was to get off the ship and set foot on American soil once again. Sadly, I was going to have to wait a while.
Before crew shore leave could be granted, two things needed to happen, and unfortunately, neither task was a speedy one at all. First off, American immigration officials had to do a full crew immigration check, which essentially meant that one thousand crew members had to wait in lines to get passports and visas stamped. There were only two immigration officials stamping passports and visas, so this process took over three hours. Following the immigration check, the United States Coast Guard decided that they would be doing their inspection of the ship’s safety procedures in the event of an emergency. For me, the Coast Guard Inspection resulted in me having to stand around in one spot for around a half hour before going to another place and standing there for another half hour.
In the end, it was already 12:15pm before I was able to get off the ship, and as soon as they said crew shore leave was granted, I ran to my cabin, grabbed my things, and ran to the gangway. Fifteen minutes later, I exited a taxi in front of my apartment building in the Upper West Side, where my father and uncle greeted me. As soon as I finished saying my hellos, I placed a delivery order for some sushi and relaxed while everyone opened up Christmas gifts we had bought for each other. I went up to my apartment (my aunt and uncle live downstairs) shortly thereafter and began stocking up on warm clothing because the ship visits northern Europe quite a bit after the world cruise concludes and I do not want to freeze upon my arrival there. I also dropped off some things I knew I could do without between now and July, grabbed my essential mail, and headed out to run a couple of errands and see a friend before heading back to the ship.
It is a weird feeling to be able to take a ship all the way from England to your home city, get in a taxi cab, go home for four hours, and then get back on board to continue circumnavigating the globe. Upon arriving in my uncle’s apartment, it took me a little bit of time to hit me that I was in New York, and I was sad to go when the time came. Nonetheless, once I reminded myself what the future holds, I was convinced that everything would be just fine and I could once again look forward to returning to Manhattan in early July.
As far as my itinerary goes, I will only be visiting six more ports, and additionally will spend one day transiting the Panama Canal (not exactly a sea day). I will be in Fort Lauderdale on January 13 (where I will get a chance to see my mother and grandmother), Willemstad, Curaçao on January 16, Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala on January 21, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico on January 24, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico on January 25, and in Los Angeles, California on January 27. Plenty of sea days await, which is an interesting change after spending ten out of twelve days (sometimes eleven out of twelve) in port during October and November. Stay tuned for more updates, and Happy [Belated] New Year!
Friday, December 26, 2008
Once again, I am going to apologize for the delay in writing this posting. Things on the ship have been keeping me busy, and I have also been a bit under the weather, which is why I have fallen extremely far behind. The ship is currently on its way back from spending five days in the Caribbean, and I figured that it would be good to finish this posting up in the midst of five consecutive sea days.
November 29, 2008
Rome, Italy
For the last time in 2008, the Queen Victoria docked in Civitavecchia, Italy, so I decided to go into Rome with some other members of my orchestra and walk around. We arrived at Roma Termini (the city’s main train station) shortly before 11:00am and boarded the local subway system, and at around 11:05, we got out near the Piazza del Popolo. The massive square housed one of Rome’s many beautiful obelisks atop some fountains with lions and surprisingly, was not all that crowded. Despite being a cloudy day, I enjoyed our first stop as we headed for the Spanish Steps.
It was amazing how easy it was to walk from one sight to the next, and we arrived at the Spanish Steps less than ten minutes after leaving the Piazza del Popolo. What is interesting about Rome, and I discovered this more during this trip into the city, is that it is fun to just walk around and see things. The city itself is beautiful, and each landmark offers a different perspective on all that is Rome. The Spanish Steps are exactly what they sound like: they are a flight of stairs. It is more the area that surrounds them than just the steps themselves, as this is the hottest shopping destination in all of Rome. At the foot of the steps was a beautiful fountain that is a true work of art in itself. People can actually step onto a platform in the fountain to get their picture taken, but I skipped out on this so we could make our way to our next stop.
After a quick meal at the local McDonald’s (we were pressed for time), my friends and I headed for the Trevi Fountain, and surely enough, we arrived less than ten minutes after leaving the Spanish Steps. The Trevi Fountain was like nothing I had ever seen. It was amazingly large, and the water was a beautiful shade of blue. I tossed a coin in, as legend has it that if you toss a coin into the fountain then you will return to Rome again (Queen Victoria visits Civitavecchia on April 14 and 26, May 14, and June 17, 2009, so I doubt the coin toss was necessary; I did it anyways).
From the Trevi Fountain, we made our way through more of Rome’s narrow streets and found ourselves at the Pantheon shortly thereafter. I was amazed at how intact the structure was after over 1,800 years, as the only noticeable thing missing was the very top, which might have very well been open to begin with (since the opening was a perfect circle). We spent some time inside the Pantheon viewing the different sculptures on the walls and the beautifully decorated walls, and then headed out to see a bit more prior to heading back to Roma Termini.
We made our way from the Pantheon to Il Vittoriano, which is a large city building and it also houses Rome’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at its base. I did not spend a lot of time here, but had a few minutes to take in the massive structure that is Il Vittoriano, and then I headed back towards the nearest subway station, which happened to be at the Colosseum. I spent a few minutes walking past the place that seems to draw me towards it every time I go to Rome, and then shortly thereafter, I boarded the subway for Roma Termini and made my way back to the ship.
By the end of the day, I had seen lots more that Rome has to offer, and yet, there is still so much more to see. The next time I visit, I hope to see the Roman Catacombs in Trastevere, or perhaps I will explore the Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum a bit more closely. Nevertheless, I might not need to spend two weeks on vacation in the city to see everything.
December 6, 2008
La Goulette (Tunis), Tunisia
For the third time since I joined Queen Victoria, she paid a visit to the continent of Africa, as the ship docked in La Goulette, Tunisia on Saturday. I had never visited Tunisia, and did not know what to expect or where to go, so I signed up to escort a tour that would give me a great chance to see a bunch of Tunis and its surroundings.
What I did not know prior to joining the ship is that the ancient city of Carthage, a key piece of Roman history, was located in close proximity to Tunis and La Goulette, so upon seeing the opportunity to do a tour here, I jumped on it. The first stop on my tour was the Roman Baths at Carthage, or at least, what was left of them. The baths consisted of mostly one-story buildings, but there were a couple of tall pillars Unlike the ruins at Pompeii, Pergamum, or Ephesus, the Baths at Carthage were located right along the water, and this only added to the sheer beauty of the historical site.
[Side Note: Ephesus was originally located on the water but the harbor is now a big valley]
We made our way from the Roman Baths to the Bardo Museum, a museum located just outside of Tunis filled with Roman mosaics and statues from over 1,500 years ago. It was situated in a former mid-19th century Ottoman palace, and the interior was decorated beautifully. The palace’s former harem had the most intricately carved white stucco ceiling that had to take at least a year to complete. In truth, the ceilings and wall decorations were more interesting at times than the mosaics or statues themselves, but everything looked amazing in their own way.
From the museum, we headed to the Medina of Tunis, which is the old part of the city. We had some free time to explore the marketplace, which reminded me slightly of the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul in that it was a bunch of shops next to each other, and many of them had the same items inside. Some sold spices, some sold leather, and there was other interesting stuff for sale including shoes or traditional Tunisian clothing. I enjoyed walking around but did not enjoy being constantly bothered by the shopkeepers. One person even started following me around, and that was no fun and even a bit creepy.
We went from the Medina to lunch, and from lunch, we traveled to the nearby Moorish village known as Sidi Bou Said. The entire village is made up of whitewashed buildings with blue windows to reflect the color of the sea and the clouds. In truth, it turned out to be very touristy and street vendors selling everything from cats to coasters covered the main drag. I ended up purchasing a water pipe and a couple small souvenirs.
From Sidi Bou Said, we headed back to the ship, thus ending a wonderful day in a wonderful country. While the food is not anything to write home about, the scenery and history I encountered in Tunis and Carthage was enough to make the day a wonderful experience and I am glad to say that I was able to go there.
December 8, 2008
Malaga, Spain
On a sad and dreary December day, Queen Victoria docked in Malaga, Spain en route back to its maiden port of Southampton, England. Despite the lack of sun and the abundance of rain, I spent the morning taken aback by the natural beauty of the earth and was not affected by the weather. This was because I decided to do a tour that visited the caves in the nearby city of Nerja. Despite the fact that humans inhabited these caves over 300,000 years ago, they were only discovered in the late 1950s by some children playing on a hillside.
We entered the caves at around 10:00am and spent about an hour exploring only about a third of what had been discovered since the other two thirds require proper spelunking gear and guides. Nonetheless, I was in awe of how beautiful the caves were. The most-popular tour offered in Malaga is a trip that visits the Alhambra, but I wanted to see something that would be completely unique and like nothing I had ever seen in my entire life. The caves fit this description perfectly. We walked through these massive caverns filled with stalactites and stalagmites, some of which were over 200 feet long. Unfortunately, flash photography was not permitted inside the caves since it deteriorates the color of the rock and actually causes it to turn green, but I was able to get some decent photos by setting my camera on handrails and standing very still.
This was my second visit to Spain, and every time I go there, I find something new to love about the wonderful country. I am looking forward to returning to Barcelona and Malaga in 2009, and will be visiting Santiago de Compostela on December 31.
----
December 26, 2008
Merry [Belated] Christmas to All
Christmas on the ship was fun. I seem to be starting a tradition of getting sick right around the big day. Last year I had strep throat; this year I have the flu, so I was not able to partake in the festivities. The staff mess was decorated two weeks in advance for Christmas, but the Christmas dinner was quite nice. In the end, all there is left to say is: Merry Christmas to all from the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
I just wanted to tag something else on to the end of this entry since there is nothing recent to write about. My visit to Malaga and the caves at Nerja was over two weeks ago, so I thought I would fill in on what has been going on and what will be happening in the near future.
On December 11, the ship docked in Southampton, England and embarked on a 22-day voyage to the Caribbean. We stopped in Ponta Delgada, Azores en route and I did a short tour of the island. It took me to a beautiful panoramic viewpoint of the island’s Crater Lakes, and then we visited a pineapple plantation where I purchased some pineapple liqueur. The tour was nothing to write home about, so I will not say anything more.
On December 19, we arrived at our first stop in the Caribbean when we docked in Antigua (I spent the afternoon on the beach), and this was followed by visits to St. Kitt’s (I went golfing, and no, I am not a golfer), St. Lucia, (our Caribbean band on the ship is from St. Lucia so they organized a beach party for crewmembers), Grenada (I went river tubing and also got to pet a live monkey), and Barbados (another beach day, spent at the Boat Yard, one of the most popular crewmember hangouts in the Caribbean). Currently, the ship is on its third consecutive sea day and will be arriving in Funchal, Madeira on December 29 and then Vigo, Spain two days later before returning to Southampton on January 2.
January 2 marks day 1 of Queen Victoria’s 2009 world cruise which, needless to say, I am very excited about. Our first stops will be visits to the USA: New York on January 10 and Fort Lauderdale on January 13; I will get to see my family both of these days. You can see the complete itinerary on my previous posting from a few weeks ago. As for what I have planned thus far, all I am set on doing so far is:
-Bungee jumping in Auckland, New Zealand [possibly skydiving there as well]
-Visiting the Sydney Opera House
-Going to the Great Barrier Reef
-Visiting the peace park in Nagasaki, Japan
-Eating Thai food in Thailand
-Skiing in Dubai
Beyond that, everything else is up in the air. I have seen some interesting tours in the Asian region, namely Singapore, Vietnam, and China, but I have not narrowed it down to a first choice as of yet. There are plenty of things to do in the different places to visit and I am looking forward to the voyage. Sailing around the world is something I never thought I would get the opportunity to do, and I am grateful that I will be able to stick around. Stay tuned for more updates, as the next few months are going to be exciting.
November 29, 2008
Rome, Italy
For the last time in 2008, the Queen Victoria docked in Civitavecchia, Italy, so I decided to go into Rome with some other members of my orchestra and walk around. We arrived at Roma Termini (the city’s main train station) shortly before 11:00am and boarded the local subway system, and at around 11:05, we got out near the Piazza del Popolo. The massive square housed one of Rome’s many beautiful obelisks atop some fountains with lions and surprisingly, was not all that crowded. Despite being a cloudy day, I enjoyed our first stop as we headed for the Spanish Steps.
It was amazing how easy it was to walk from one sight to the next, and we arrived at the Spanish Steps less than ten minutes after leaving the Piazza del Popolo. What is interesting about Rome, and I discovered this more during this trip into the city, is that it is fun to just walk around and see things. The city itself is beautiful, and each landmark offers a different perspective on all that is Rome. The Spanish Steps are exactly what they sound like: they are a flight of stairs. It is more the area that surrounds them than just the steps themselves, as this is the hottest shopping destination in all of Rome. At the foot of the steps was a beautiful fountain that is a true work of art in itself. People can actually step onto a platform in the fountain to get their picture taken, but I skipped out on this so we could make our way to our next stop.
After a quick meal at the local McDonald’s (we were pressed for time), my friends and I headed for the Trevi Fountain, and surely enough, we arrived less than ten minutes after leaving the Spanish Steps. The Trevi Fountain was like nothing I had ever seen. It was amazingly large, and the water was a beautiful shade of blue. I tossed a coin in, as legend has it that if you toss a coin into the fountain then you will return to Rome again (Queen Victoria visits Civitavecchia on April 14 and 26, May 14, and June 17, 2009, so I doubt the coin toss was necessary; I did it anyways).
From the Trevi Fountain, we made our way through more of Rome’s narrow streets and found ourselves at the Pantheon shortly thereafter. I was amazed at how intact the structure was after over 1,800 years, as the only noticeable thing missing was the very top, which might have very well been open to begin with (since the opening was a perfect circle). We spent some time inside the Pantheon viewing the different sculptures on the walls and the beautifully decorated walls, and then headed out to see a bit more prior to heading back to Roma Termini.
We made our way from the Pantheon to Il Vittoriano, which is a large city building and it also houses Rome’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at its base. I did not spend a lot of time here, but had a few minutes to take in the massive structure that is Il Vittoriano, and then I headed back towards the nearest subway station, which happened to be at the Colosseum. I spent a few minutes walking past the place that seems to draw me towards it every time I go to Rome, and then shortly thereafter, I boarded the subway for Roma Termini and made my way back to the ship.
By the end of the day, I had seen lots more that Rome has to offer, and yet, there is still so much more to see. The next time I visit, I hope to see the Roman Catacombs in Trastevere, or perhaps I will explore the Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum a bit more closely. Nevertheless, I might not need to spend two weeks on vacation in the city to see everything.
December 6, 2008
La Goulette (Tunis), Tunisia
For the third time since I joined Queen Victoria, she paid a visit to the continent of Africa, as the ship docked in La Goulette, Tunisia on Saturday. I had never visited Tunisia, and did not know what to expect or where to go, so I signed up to escort a tour that would give me a great chance to see a bunch of Tunis and its surroundings.
What I did not know prior to joining the ship is that the ancient city of Carthage, a key piece of Roman history, was located in close proximity to Tunis and La Goulette, so upon seeing the opportunity to do a tour here, I jumped on it. The first stop on my tour was the Roman Baths at Carthage, or at least, what was left of them. The baths consisted of mostly one-story buildings, but there were a couple of tall pillars Unlike the ruins at Pompeii, Pergamum, or Ephesus, the Baths at Carthage were located right along the water, and this only added to the sheer beauty of the historical site.
[Side Note: Ephesus was originally located on the water but the harbor is now a big valley]
We made our way from the Roman Baths to the Bardo Museum, a museum located just outside of Tunis filled with Roman mosaics and statues from over 1,500 years ago. It was situated in a former mid-19th century Ottoman palace, and the interior was decorated beautifully. The palace’s former harem had the most intricately carved white stucco ceiling that had to take at least a year to complete. In truth, the ceilings and wall decorations were more interesting at times than the mosaics or statues themselves, but everything looked amazing in their own way.
From the museum, we headed to the Medina of Tunis, which is the old part of the city. We had some free time to explore the marketplace, which reminded me slightly of the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul in that it was a bunch of shops next to each other, and many of them had the same items inside. Some sold spices, some sold leather, and there was other interesting stuff for sale including shoes or traditional Tunisian clothing. I enjoyed walking around but did not enjoy being constantly bothered by the shopkeepers. One person even started following me around, and that was no fun and even a bit creepy.
We went from the Medina to lunch, and from lunch, we traveled to the nearby Moorish village known as Sidi Bou Said. The entire village is made up of whitewashed buildings with blue windows to reflect the color of the sea and the clouds. In truth, it turned out to be very touristy and street vendors selling everything from cats to coasters covered the main drag. I ended up purchasing a water pipe and a couple small souvenirs.
From Sidi Bou Said, we headed back to the ship, thus ending a wonderful day in a wonderful country. While the food is not anything to write home about, the scenery and history I encountered in Tunis and Carthage was enough to make the day a wonderful experience and I am glad to say that I was able to go there.
December 8, 2008
Malaga, Spain
On a sad and dreary December day, Queen Victoria docked in Malaga, Spain en route back to its maiden port of Southampton, England. Despite the lack of sun and the abundance of rain, I spent the morning taken aback by the natural beauty of the earth and was not affected by the weather. This was because I decided to do a tour that visited the caves in the nearby city of Nerja. Despite the fact that humans inhabited these caves over 300,000 years ago, they were only discovered in the late 1950s by some children playing on a hillside.
We entered the caves at around 10:00am and spent about an hour exploring only about a third of what had been discovered since the other two thirds require proper spelunking gear and guides. Nonetheless, I was in awe of how beautiful the caves were. The most-popular tour offered in Malaga is a trip that visits the Alhambra, but I wanted to see something that would be completely unique and like nothing I had ever seen in my entire life. The caves fit this description perfectly. We walked through these massive caverns filled with stalactites and stalagmites, some of which were over 200 feet long. Unfortunately, flash photography was not permitted inside the caves since it deteriorates the color of the rock and actually causes it to turn green, but I was able to get some decent photos by setting my camera on handrails and standing very still.
This was my second visit to Spain, and every time I go there, I find something new to love about the wonderful country. I am looking forward to returning to Barcelona and Malaga in 2009, and will be visiting Santiago de Compostela on December 31.
----
December 26, 2008
Merry [Belated] Christmas to All
Christmas on the ship was fun. I seem to be starting a tradition of getting sick right around the big day. Last year I had strep throat; this year I have the flu, so I was not able to partake in the festivities. The staff mess was decorated two weeks in advance for Christmas, but the Christmas dinner was quite nice. In the end, all there is left to say is: Merry Christmas to all from the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
I just wanted to tag something else on to the end of this entry since there is nothing recent to write about. My visit to Malaga and the caves at Nerja was over two weeks ago, so I thought I would fill in on what has been going on and what will be happening in the near future.
On December 11, the ship docked in Southampton, England and embarked on a 22-day voyage to the Caribbean. We stopped in Ponta Delgada, Azores en route and I did a short tour of the island. It took me to a beautiful panoramic viewpoint of the island’s Crater Lakes, and then we visited a pineapple plantation where I purchased some pineapple liqueur. The tour was nothing to write home about, so I will not say anything more.
On December 19, we arrived at our first stop in the Caribbean when we docked in Antigua (I spent the afternoon on the beach), and this was followed by visits to St. Kitt’s (I went golfing, and no, I am not a golfer), St. Lucia, (our Caribbean band on the ship is from St. Lucia so they organized a beach party for crewmembers), Grenada (I went river tubing and also got to pet a live monkey), and Barbados (another beach day, spent at the Boat Yard, one of the most popular crewmember hangouts in the Caribbean). Currently, the ship is on its third consecutive sea day and will be arriving in Funchal, Madeira on December 29 and then Vigo, Spain two days later before returning to Southampton on January 2.
January 2 marks day 1 of Queen Victoria’s 2009 world cruise which, needless to say, I am very excited about. Our first stops will be visits to the USA: New York on January 10 and Fort Lauderdale on January 13; I will get to see my family both of these days. You can see the complete itinerary on my previous posting from a few weeks ago. As for what I have planned thus far, all I am set on doing so far is:
-Bungee jumping in Auckland, New Zealand [possibly skydiving there as well]
-Visiting the Sydney Opera House
-Going to the Great Barrier Reef
-Visiting the peace park in Nagasaki, Japan
-Eating Thai food in Thailand
-Skiing in Dubai
Beyond that, everything else is up in the air. I have seen some interesting tours in the Asian region, namely Singapore, Vietnam, and China, but I have not narrowed it down to a first choice as of yet. There are plenty of things to do in the different places to visit and I am looking forward to the voyage. Sailing around the world is something I never thought I would get the opportunity to do, and I am grateful that I will be able to stick around. Stay tuned for more updates, as the next few months are going to be exciting.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Not Going Anywhere Anytime Soon
After well over a month and a half of waiting, I finally received word that I had been approved to extend my contract past its original end date. As it stands now, I will be remaining on the Queen Victoria through July 7, 2009, and will most likely return to the ship in early September, 2009 for an additional four-month contract. Below you will find my itinerary, which consists of the ship's 2009 World Cruise from January 2 - April 20, and then additional travel to northern and western Europe.
1/2/09 Southampton ENGLAND
1/10/09 New York UNITED STATES
1/13/09 Fort Lauderdale UNITED STATES
1/16/09 Willemstad CURAÇAO
1/21/09 Puerto Quetzal GUATEMALA
1/24/09 Puerto Vallarta MEXICO
1/25/09 Cabo San Lucas MEXICO
1/27/09 Los Angeles UNITED STATES
2/1/09 Honolulu UNITED STATES
2/6/09 Apia WESTERN SAMOA
2/9/09 Nuku'alofa TONGA
2/12/09 Auckland NEW ZEALAND
2/14/09 Lyttelton (for Christchurch) NEW ZEALAND
2/17/09 Hobart, Tasmania AUSTRALIA
2/19/09 Sydney AUSTRALIA
2/20/09 Sydney AUSTRALIA
2/13/09 Yorkeys (for Cairns) AUSTRALIA
2/26/09 Rabaul PAPUA NEW GUINEA
3/1/09 Saipan MARIANA ISLANDS
3/5/09 Nagasaki JAPAN
3/6/09 Pusan SOUTH KOREA
3/8/09 Shanghai CHINA
3/11/09 Hong Kong CHINA
3/13/09 Nha Trang VIETNAM
3/14/09 Vung Tau (for Ho Chi Minh City) VIETNAM
3/16/09 Laem Chabang (for Bangkok) THAILAND
3/19/09 Singapore SINGAPORE
3/21/09 Phuket THAILAND
3/25/09 Mormugao (for Goa) INDIA
3/26/09 Mumbai INDIA
3/29/09 Dubai UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
4/4/09 Aqaba JORDAN
4/7/09 Alexandria (for Cairo/Giza) EGYPT
4/9/09 Kusadasi (for Ephesus) TURKEY
4/10/09 Istanbul TURKEY
4/11/09 Mykonos GREECE
4/12/09 Athens GREECE
4/14/09 Civitavecchia (for Rome) ITALY
4/16/09 Barcelona SPAIN
4/20/09 Southampton ENGLAND
4/24/09 Barcelona SPAIN
4/25/09 Monte Carlo MONACO
4/26/09 Civitavecchia (for Rome) ITALY
4/27/09 Alghero SARDINIA
4/28/09 Palma MALLORCA
4/29/09 Gibraltar GIBRALTAR
5/2/09 Southampton ENGLAND
5/3/09 Normandy FRANCE
5/4/09 Rotterdam (for Amsterdam) THE NETHERLANDS
5/5/09 Zeebrugge (for Bruges or Brussels) BELGIUM
5/6/09 Southampton ENGLAND
5/8/09 Vigo (for Santiago de Compostela) SPAIN
5/9/09 Lisbon PORTUGAL
5/11/09 Palma MALLORCA
5/12/09 Barcelona SPAIN
5/13/09 Cannes FRANCE
5/14/09 Civitavecchia (for Rome) ITALY
5/15/09 Ajaccio CORSICA
5/17/09 Gibraltar GIBRALTAR
5/20/09 Southampton ENGLAND
5/22/09 Stavanger NORWAY
5/23/09 Hellesylt/Geiranger) NORWAY
5/24/09 Aalesund NORWAY
5/25/09 Bergen NORWAY
5/27/09 Southampton ENGLAND
5/28/09 Zeebrugge (for Bruges or Brussels) BELGIUM
5/29/09 Bremerhaven GERMANY
5/30/09 Kristiansand NORWAY
5/31/09 Copenhagen DENMARK
6/2/09 Stockholm SWEDEN
6/3/09 Helsinki FINLAND
6/4/09 St. Petersburg RUSSIA
6/5/09 St. Petersburg RUSSIA
6/6/09 Tallinn ESTONIA
6/8/09 Gothenburg SWEDEN
6/10/09 Southampton ENGLAND
6/14/09 Barcelona SPAIN
6/15/09 Cannes FRANCE
6/16/09 Livorno (for Florence/Pisa) ITALY
6/17/09 Civitavecchia (for Rome) ITALY
6/18/09 Alghero SARDINIA
6/19/09 Palma MALLORCA
6/20/09 Gibraltar GIBRALTAR
6/23/09 Southampton ENGLAND
6/25/09 Stavanger NORWAY
6/26/09 Hellesylt/Geiranger) NORWAY
6/28/09 Honningsvag (for North Cape) NORWAY
6/30/09 Ny Alesund SPITZBERGEN
7/2/09 Tromso NORWAY
7/4/09 Andalsnes NORWAY
7/5/09 Bergen NORWAY
7/7/09 Southampton ENGLAND
1/2/09 Southampton ENGLAND
1/10/09 New York UNITED STATES
1/13/09 Fort Lauderdale UNITED STATES
1/16/09 Willemstad CURAÇAO
1/21/09 Puerto Quetzal GUATEMALA
1/24/09 Puerto Vallarta MEXICO
1/25/09 Cabo San Lucas MEXICO
1/27/09 Los Angeles UNITED STATES
2/1/09 Honolulu UNITED STATES
2/6/09 Apia WESTERN SAMOA
2/9/09 Nuku'alofa TONGA
2/12/09 Auckland NEW ZEALAND
2/14/09 Lyttelton (for Christchurch) NEW ZEALAND
2/17/09 Hobart, Tasmania AUSTRALIA
2/19/09 Sydney AUSTRALIA
2/20/09 Sydney AUSTRALIA
2/13/09 Yorkeys (for Cairns) AUSTRALIA
2/26/09 Rabaul PAPUA NEW GUINEA
3/1/09 Saipan MARIANA ISLANDS
3/5/09 Nagasaki JAPAN
3/6/09 Pusan SOUTH KOREA
3/8/09 Shanghai CHINA
3/11/09 Hong Kong CHINA
3/13/09 Nha Trang VIETNAM
3/14/09 Vung Tau (for Ho Chi Minh City) VIETNAM
3/16/09 Laem Chabang (for Bangkok) THAILAND
3/19/09 Singapore SINGAPORE
3/21/09 Phuket THAILAND
3/25/09 Mormugao (for Goa) INDIA
3/26/09 Mumbai INDIA
3/29/09 Dubai UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
4/4/09 Aqaba JORDAN
4/7/09 Alexandria (for Cairo/Giza) EGYPT
4/9/09 Kusadasi (for Ephesus) TURKEY
4/10/09 Istanbul TURKEY
4/11/09 Mykonos GREECE
4/12/09 Athens GREECE
4/14/09 Civitavecchia (for Rome) ITALY
4/16/09 Barcelona SPAIN
4/20/09 Southampton ENGLAND
4/24/09 Barcelona SPAIN
4/25/09 Monte Carlo MONACO
4/26/09 Civitavecchia (for Rome) ITALY
4/27/09 Alghero SARDINIA
4/28/09 Palma MALLORCA
4/29/09 Gibraltar GIBRALTAR
5/2/09 Southampton ENGLAND
5/3/09 Normandy FRANCE
5/4/09 Rotterdam (for Amsterdam) THE NETHERLANDS
5/5/09 Zeebrugge (for Bruges or Brussels) BELGIUM
5/6/09 Southampton ENGLAND
5/8/09 Vigo (for Santiago de Compostela) SPAIN
5/9/09 Lisbon PORTUGAL
5/11/09 Palma MALLORCA
5/12/09 Barcelona SPAIN
5/13/09 Cannes FRANCE
5/14/09 Civitavecchia (for Rome) ITALY
5/15/09 Ajaccio CORSICA
5/17/09 Gibraltar GIBRALTAR
5/20/09 Southampton ENGLAND
5/22/09 Stavanger NORWAY
5/23/09 Hellesylt/Geiranger) NORWAY
5/24/09 Aalesund NORWAY
5/25/09 Bergen NORWAY
5/27/09 Southampton ENGLAND
5/28/09 Zeebrugge (for Bruges or Brussels) BELGIUM
5/29/09 Bremerhaven GERMANY
5/30/09 Kristiansand NORWAY
5/31/09 Copenhagen DENMARK
6/2/09 Stockholm SWEDEN
6/3/09 Helsinki FINLAND
6/4/09 St. Petersburg RUSSIA
6/5/09 St. Petersburg RUSSIA
6/6/09 Tallinn ESTONIA
6/8/09 Gothenburg SWEDEN
6/10/09 Southampton ENGLAND
6/14/09 Barcelona SPAIN
6/15/09 Cannes FRANCE
6/16/09 Livorno (for Florence/Pisa) ITALY
6/17/09 Civitavecchia (for Rome) ITALY
6/18/09 Alghero SARDINIA
6/19/09 Palma MALLORCA
6/20/09 Gibraltar GIBRALTAR
6/23/09 Southampton ENGLAND
6/25/09 Stavanger NORWAY
6/26/09 Hellesylt/Geiranger) NORWAY
6/28/09 Honningsvag (for North Cape) NORWAY
6/30/09 Ny Alesund SPITZBERGEN
7/2/09 Tromso NORWAY
7/4/09 Andalsnes NORWAY
7/5/09 Bergen NORWAY
7/7/09 Southampton ENGLAND
Sunday, November 16, 2008
A Belated Post for Cairo & Alexandria
Please accept my sincerest apologies for the delay in writing and posting this; things have been a bit busy on the ship as of late so I have not had time to write it all. Nevertheless, enjoy.
November 10, 2008
Alexandria, Egypt
We docked on Monday in Alexandria, Egypt for the first time since I signed on board. It was my first trip to Egypt, and my first visit to Africa since I spent three weeks in South Africa in 1997. As usual, I signed up for a tour and after getting off the ship, I realized that this was the best possible decision I could have made. I cannot imagine being able to do anything without the armed guard that came with us on our tour bus.
My tour, despite being only five hours long, had three destinations: the Roman Catacombs, Pompey’s Pillar, and the Alexandria National Museum. An added bonus was the chance to drive through a new place that was like nothing I had ever experienced. Traffic lights are quite scarce, and the streets are just riddled with large amounts of pedestrians and no crosswalks. As we made our way to the Catacombs, we passed countless men sitting alongside the road smoking tobacco through hookahs and others just sitting enjoying cups of tea. We also passed plenty of military personnel all over the city, which I would later find is a mainstay in all of Egypt.
We arrived at the Roman Catacombs, which were an underground three-tier family burial ground. Above the ground were various artifacts recovered, and also a burial chamber that had been moved to the catacombs from another sight. As I descended deeper and deeper into the 100+ foot underground burial chamber, I became more and more mesmerized by what I was walking through. It was like nothing I had ever seen, and that definitely says something since I have seen quite a bit in the last two months. I had the opportunity to walk around the middle of the three tiers (the bottom one had been heavily damaged by water and was not accessible) and I was fascinated by how they dug these catacombs out of rock. I walked through hallways with holes in the wall intended for bodies to be placed in, and there were even rooms to relax and have celebrations in. It was remarkable how the Egyptians were able to construct such an architectural masterpiece underground.
We left the Roman Catacombs and headed for Pompey’s Pillar, which was a single granite pillar over 2,000 years old. I was under the impression that I was going to visit a pillar, but it was in truth a full archaeological sight. It contained the remains of a couple temples, and also a library. I was able to go down and explore the remains of the library and there were beautiful artifacts laid out surrounding the ruins as well. We had some free time to explore before we headed to the Alexandria National Museum.
When we arrived at the museum, we were given plenty of free time to explore the different exhibits inside after a brief explanation from our tour guide. The museum contained some ancient artifacts, including coffins and a mummy, but the highlights for me were the statues of different Egyptian gods and symbols, including Anubis and the ankh symbol. It was a fun experience seeing a mummy in Egypt for the first time after seeing plenty of them stateside at museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. There were also examples of ancient Egyptian pottery and jewelry spread out through the entire museum, and it was an exciting experience to see all of these different artifacts. Everything was so well preserved and it was a taste of something different from what I had been seeing in Italy, Greece, and Turkey. Still, I knew that the real highlights would come on Tuesday, when I would be traveling to Cairo.
November 11, 2008
Cairo, Egypt
The ship docked on Tuesday in Port Said, Egypt, which sits at the very top of the Suez Canal, and in addition to being a large industrial port of Egypt, it serves as a gateway for cruise ships to reach Cairo, so I signed up to do a fantastic (albeit a very long) tour to Cairo. I boarded my tour bus at approximately 7:00am and was soon joined by the bus’s very own armed guard (this would be the first time in my life I would ever travel around sitting across the bus from a man carrying a sub-machine gun hidden under his jacket) and soon thereafter, our bus joined the other nine doing the same tour in our military-escorted convoy and began the nearly four-hour drive to Cairo.
The tour I signed up for packed the most into the amount of time we had: it started at the Pyramids of Giza, then made its way to the nearby Sphinx, and then after lunch we were going to visit the Museum of Antiquities, where one will find a large portion of the contents retrieved from the tomb of King Tutankhamen. This was the one place that I had no idea I was going to get to see before joining the Queen Victoria. In the case of other ports, the listed itinerary would say something along the lines of “Livorno (For Florence/Pisa)” or “Civitavecchia (for Rome)”, but for this port, it just said “Port Said, Egypt”. Needless to say, I was excited to make it to such a different place and see the only remaining ancient wonder of the world.
Driving around Cairo was an experience in itself. Even at large intersections, traffic lights were nowhere to be seen. Pickup trucks were a common sight on the streets but their contents were quite unpredictable. I saw everything from fruit to sheep to people being carried around in these trucks, and many of the other cars on the road were so very run down that it was depressing in itself just to look at them. The traffic probably added another 30-45 minutes to our trip before we finally reached our first stop: the Pyramids of Giza.
As we approached inner-city Cairo, the pyramids began making their presence through the distant fog, and I found myself wishing for clearer skies, but when we reached Giza, and the pyramids came into clear sight, I was overcome by the same feeling I experienced when first seeing the Colosseum or the Acropolis in Athens, except this time it was even more special since the journey to Giza was that much more of a trek.
We got off the bus and were given about thirty minutes to explore the three pyramids at our leisure. I was also given the opportunity to visit the burial chamber of “The Second Pyramid” and I jumped at the chance without hesitation. I walked downhill down a pathway that was probably one meter high and then up one as well, but this took me to a short cave-like passage that brought me to the pharoah’s burial chamber. It only hits me now that I was inside such a remarkable place, but inside, it was not all that exciting. It was just a big room with a stone sarcophagus where the coffins would have been. I turned around after getting there and then headed out to take more pictures of the pyramids before we left to go to a panorama.
From the panorama, we headed downhill and after passing by the pyramids one more time, we arrived at the Sphinx. While we could not get completely close to her, we were able to catch an amazing view with the pyramids providing the perfect background. I took some great photographs before walking around for a few minutes and then headed back to the bus.
We went from the Sphinx to a nearby hotel where we ate lunch, and after lunch, we spent close to an hour in the bus heading across town to Cairo’s Museum of Antiquities. It was here that a large portion of what was recovered from the tomb of Tutankhamen is on display, so I was excited to get to see so many wonderful artifacts. We were going to be at the museum for about an hour and a half, so I elected to spend most of that time exploring the contents of the museum on my own rather than listening to our tour guide. I went up the stairs and followed the signs to the artifacts recovered from Tut’s tomb, and was immediately taken aback by the sheer quantity of items that they could fit into the tomb. There were thrones, games, the ancient equivalent to a folding chair, small statues, even three chariots, but the real gems on display were in a separate room. It was in here that Tut’s gold mask was located, and additionally there were two of his coffins. The sheer beauty and detail exhibited by these artifacts was astounding. There were additional pieces of gold jewelry kept in this room but the mask and coffins were the highlights of the exhibit. I spent a few minutes staring at them and then went off in search for some souvenirs. I was able to walk through a few exhibits in my quest for the exit and enjoyed everything that I saw.
From the museum, we boarded our buses and made the long trek back to Port Said. We were stuck behind some accidents in Cairo and that, coupled with the fact that Cairo traffic is bad enough to begin with, added nearly an hour and a half to our drive time. I arrived back at the gangway at about 8:15pm, over 13 hours after I departed from it, making this the longest amount of time I had spent off of Queen Victoria since the start of my contract.
I was really excited to get a chance to see the pyramids, the Sphinx, and the items from the tomb of Tutankhamen, but I doubt if I will ever return to Cairo. I would only want to visit Luxor and the Valley of the Kings, but beyond that, returning even to Egypt does not interest me too much.
November 10, 2008
Alexandria, Egypt
We docked on Monday in Alexandria, Egypt for the first time since I signed on board. It was my first trip to Egypt, and my first visit to Africa since I spent three weeks in South Africa in 1997. As usual, I signed up for a tour and after getting off the ship, I realized that this was the best possible decision I could have made. I cannot imagine being able to do anything without the armed guard that came with us on our tour bus.
My tour, despite being only five hours long, had three destinations: the Roman Catacombs, Pompey’s Pillar, and the Alexandria National Museum. An added bonus was the chance to drive through a new place that was like nothing I had ever experienced. Traffic lights are quite scarce, and the streets are just riddled with large amounts of pedestrians and no crosswalks. As we made our way to the Catacombs, we passed countless men sitting alongside the road smoking tobacco through hookahs and others just sitting enjoying cups of tea. We also passed plenty of military personnel all over the city, which I would later find is a mainstay in all of Egypt.
We arrived at the Roman Catacombs, which were an underground three-tier family burial ground. Above the ground were various artifacts recovered, and also a burial chamber that had been moved to the catacombs from another sight. As I descended deeper and deeper into the 100+ foot underground burial chamber, I became more and more mesmerized by what I was walking through. It was like nothing I had ever seen, and that definitely says something since I have seen quite a bit in the last two months. I had the opportunity to walk around the middle of the three tiers (the bottom one had been heavily damaged by water and was not accessible) and I was fascinated by how they dug these catacombs out of rock. I walked through hallways with holes in the wall intended for bodies to be placed in, and there were even rooms to relax and have celebrations in. It was remarkable how the Egyptians were able to construct such an architectural masterpiece underground.
We left the Roman Catacombs and headed for Pompey’s Pillar, which was a single granite pillar over 2,000 years old. I was under the impression that I was going to visit a pillar, but it was in truth a full archaeological sight. It contained the remains of a couple temples, and also a library. I was able to go down and explore the remains of the library and there were beautiful artifacts laid out surrounding the ruins as well. We had some free time to explore before we headed to the Alexandria National Museum.
When we arrived at the museum, we were given plenty of free time to explore the different exhibits inside after a brief explanation from our tour guide. The museum contained some ancient artifacts, including coffins and a mummy, but the highlights for me were the statues of different Egyptian gods and symbols, including Anubis and the ankh symbol. It was a fun experience seeing a mummy in Egypt for the first time after seeing plenty of them stateside at museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. There were also examples of ancient Egyptian pottery and jewelry spread out through the entire museum, and it was an exciting experience to see all of these different artifacts. Everything was so well preserved and it was a taste of something different from what I had been seeing in Italy, Greece, and Turkey. Still, I knew that the real highlights would come on Tuesday, when I would be traveling to Cairo.
November 11, 2008
Cairo, Egypt
The ship docked on Tuesday in Port Said, Egypt, which sits at the very top of the Suez Canal, and in addition to being a large industrial port of Egypt, it serves as a gateway for cruise ships to reach Cairo, so I signed up to do a fantastic (albeit a very long) tour to Cairo. I boarded my tour bus at approximately 7:00am and was soon joined by the bus’s very own armed guard (this would be the first time in my life I would ever travel around sitting across the bus from a man carrying a sub-machine gun hidden under his jacket) and soon thereafter, our bus joined the other nine doing the same tour in our military-escorted convoy and began the nearly four-hour drive to Cairo.
The tour I signed up for packed the most into the amount of time we had: it started at the Pyramids of Giza, then made its way to the nearby Sphinx, and then after lunch we were going to visit the Museum of Antiquities, where one will find a large portion of the contents retrieved from the tomb of King Tutankhamen. This was the one place that I had no idea I was going to get to see before joining the Queen Victoria. In the case of other ports, the listed itinerary would say something along the lines of “Livorno (For Florence/Pisa)” or “Civitavecchia (for Rome)”, but for this port, it just said “Port Said, Egypt”. Needless to say, I was excited to make it to such a different place and see the only remaining ancient wonder of the world.
Driving around Cairo was an experience in itself. Even at large intersections, traffic lights were nowhere to be seen. Pickup trucks were a common sight on the streets but their contents were quite unpredictable. I saw everything from fruit to sheep to people being carried around in these trucks, and many of the other cars on the road were so very run down that it was depressing in itself just to look at them. The traffic probably added another 30-45 minutes to our trip before we finally reached our first stop: the Pyramids of Giza.
As we approached inner-city Cairo, the pyramids began making their presence through the distant fog, and I found myself wishing for clearer skies, but when we reached Giza, and the pyramids came into clear sight, I was overcome by the same feeling I experienced when first seeing the Colosseum or the Acropolis in Athens, except this time it was even more special since the journey to Giza was that much more of a trek.
We got off the bus and were given about thirty minutes to explore the three pyramids at our leisure. I was also given the opportunity to visit the burial chamber of “The Second Pyramid” and I jumped at the chance without hesitation. I walked downhill down a pathway that was probably one meter high and then up one as well, but this took me to a short cave-like passage that brought me to the pharoah’s burial chamber. It only hits me now that I was inside such a remarkable place, but inside, it was not all that exciting. It was just a big room with a stone sarcophagus where the coffins would have been. I turned around after getting there and then headed out to take more pictures of the pyramids before we left to go to a panorama.
From the panorama, we headed downhill and after passing by the pyramids one more time, we arrived at the Sphinx. While we could not get completely close to her, we were able to catch an amazing view with the pyramids providing the perfect background. I took some great photographs before walking around for a few minutes and then headed back to the bus.
We went from the Sphinx to a nearby hotel where we ate lunch, and after lunch, we spent close to an hour in the bus heading across town to Cairo’s Museum of Antiquities. It was here that a large portion of what was recovered from the tomb of Tutankhamen is on display, so I was excited to get to see so many wonderful artifacts. We were going to be at the museum for about an hour and a half, so I elected to spend most of that time exploring the contents of the museum on my own rather than listening to our tour guide. I went up the stairs and followed the signs to the artifacts recovered from Tut’s tomb, and was immediately taken aback by the sheer quantity of items that they could fit into the tomb. There were thrones, games, the ancient equivalent to a folding chair, small statues, even three chariots, but the real gems on display were in a separate room. It was in here that Tut’s gold mask was located, and additionally there were two of his coffins. The sheer beauty and detail exhibited by these artifacts was astounding. There were additional pieces of gold jewelry kept in this room but the mask and coffins were the highlights of the exhibit. I spent a few minutes staring at them and then went off in search for some souvenirs. I was able to walk through a few exhibits in my quest for the exit and enjoyed everything that I saw.
From the museum, we boarded our buses and made the long trek back to Port Said. We were stuck behind some accidents in Cairo and that, coupled with the fact that Cairo traffic is bad enough to begin with, added nearly an hour and a half to our drive time. I arrived back at the gangway at about 8:15pm, over 13 hours after I departed from it, making this the longest amount of time I had spent off of Queen Victoria since the start of my contract.
I was really excited to get a chance to see the pyramids, the Sphinx, and the items from the tomb of Tutankhamen, but I doubt if I will ever return to Cairo. I would only want to visit Luxor and the Valley of the Kings, but beyond that, returning even to Egypt does not interest me too much.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Hillsides and Volcanos
November 8, 2008
Messina, Sicily
The ship docked today in Messina, Sicily, but instead of its usual 7:00am – 1:00pm visit, we were there until 6:00pm. Big surprise here, I decided to do another passenger tour. This one would take me to the hillside village of Taormina in the morning, and then after lunch, to the slopes of Mount Etna, Europe’s tallest and most active volcano.
We boarded the bus at around 8:30am and proceeded to drive to the highway that would take us to Taormina. The great thing about Sicily is that no matter where you are, it is incredibly scenic. You could be driving through a landfill and it would still look good. The highway drive to Taormina was filled with mixed scenery, namely a nice variety of hills and mountains occasionally being exchanged for views of the Ionian Sea since we were still quite close to the coast. The weather also was quite varied as it sometimes would be sunny and ten minutes later the skies were overcast, but it was warm despite being November.
Upon arriving at the car park just outside the city of Taormina, we had to take an elevator up seven stories in order start our city walking tour. Immediately after stepping out of the elevator I was treated to an amazing panoramic view of the Sicilian coastline, complete with sandy beaches and blue water. After allowing a few minutes for people to use restrooms or take photographs of the view, our tour guide led us through one of the original gates of the city walls into Taormina where we had a brief walking tour. I was quite busy bringing up the rear in my tour group, and that coupled with a soft-spoken tour guide meant I was not able to hear much of her explanations about the city we were in. Nonetheless, I enjoyed walking around the city and seeing the wonderful buildings in addition to an old church dating back several centuries. Our walking tour ended at the ancient Greco-Roman amphitheatre, which while rather large and interesting, did not come close to rivaling the amphitheatre at Ephesus. It was different from Ephesus in that the seats did not go down all the way to the stage; instead, they came down until they were about ten feet above it. The views from outside the amphitheatre offered yet a different panorama from that of above the car park, but they were equally as breathtaking.
From Taormina, we headed back to the bus and rode to a delightful restaurant located on the lower slopes of Mount Etna, and then we proceeded to climb the mountain in the bus. After what seemed like well over a half hour of driving, we reached the Crateri Silvestri (Silvestri craters), which are located approximately 6,450 feet above sea level. Being from the northeast, this is the highest land altitude I have ever reached, and it was COLD! Despite the freezing cold, (it was probably around 40 degrees Fahrenheit, while it was closer to 65 degrees at sea level) seeing the craters was like nothing I had ever experienced. While we did not reach the summit, the craters we visited were massive enough in themselves, and they did not have anything flowing in them so we were able to walk inside them and not just around the outsides. The solidified lava was not consistent in color, as some was reddish and other rock was darker, and unlike areas closer to the foot of the mountain, there was no vegetation growing so high. I was standing atop the side of a crater when a cloud literally moved right in front of me and I was able to take a picture of a peak on the mountain before and after the cloud got in the way. Needless to say, the entire trip up the mountain was mesmerizing. We had about a half hour of free time to walk around before we boarded the bus to head down Mt. Etna and back to the ship. We seemed to leave in the nick of time as the fog waited to set in until after we already finished our time at the craters.
All in all, the day was amazing and visiting Mt. Etna was a special experience in itself. It will be followed shortly thereafter by an equally amazing (if not greater experience), as I will be visiting Egypt for the first time on Monday and Tuesday. Monday, I will be exploring Alexandria, and Tuesday, which I am really looking forward to, I will be visiting the Pyramids of Giza, the Sphinx, and the Museum of Antiquities in Cairo. Needless to say, I am enjoying myself!
Messina, Sicily
The ship docked today in Messina, Sicily, but instead of its usual 7:00am – 1:00pm visit, we were there until 6:00pm. Big surprise here, I decided to do another passenger tour. This one would take me to the hillside village of Taormina in the morning, and then after lunch, to the slopes of Mount Etna, Europe’s tallest and most active volcano.
We boarded the bus at around 8:30am and proceeded to drive to the highway that would take us to Taormina. The great thing about Sicily is that no matter where you are, it is incredibly scenic. You could be driving through a landfill and it would still look good. The highway drive to Taormina was filled with mixed scenery, namely a nice variety of hills and mountains occasionally being exchanged for views of the Ionian Sea since we were still quite close to the coast. The weather also was quite varied as it sometimes would be sunny and ten minutes later the skies were overcast, but it was warm despite being November.
Upon arriving at the car park just outside the city of Taormina, we had to take an elevator up seven stories in order start our city walking tour. Immediately after stepping out of the elevator I was treated to an amazing panoramic view of the Sicilian coastline, complete with sandy beaches and blue water. After allowing a few minutes for people to use restrooms or take photographs of the view, our tour guide led us through one of the original gates of the city walls into Taormina where we had a brief walking tour. I was quite busy bringing up the rear in my tour group, and that coupled with a soft-spoken tour guide meant I was not able to hear much of her explanations about the city we were in. Nonetheless, I enjoyed walking around the city and seeing the wonderful buildings in addition to an old church dating back several centuries. Our walking tour ended at the ancient Greco-Roman amphitheatre, which while rather large and interesting, did not come close to rivaling the amphitheatre at Ephesus. It was different from Ephesus in that the seats did not go down all the way to the stage; instead, they came down until they were about ten feet above it. The views from outside the amphitheatre offered yet a different panorama from that of above the car park, but they were equally as breathtaking.
From Taormina, we headed back to the bus and rode to a delightful restaurant located on the lower slopes of Mount Etna, and then we proceeded to climb the mountain in the bus. After what seemed like well over a half hour of driving, we reached the Crateri Silvestri (Silvestri craters), which are located approximately 6,450 feet above sea level. Being from the northeast, this is the highest land altitude I have ever reached, and it was COLD! Despite the freezing cold, (it was probably around 40 degrees Fahrenheit, while it was closer to 65 degrees at sea level) seeing the craters was like nothing I had ever experienced. While we did not reach the summit, the craters we visited were massive enough in themselves, and they did not have anything flowing in them so we were able to walk inside them and not just around the outsides. The solidified lava was not consistent in color, as some was reddish and other rock was darker, and unlike areas closer to the foot of the mountain, there was no vegetation growing so high. I was standing atop the side of a crater when a cloud literally moved right in front of me and I was able to take a picture of a peak on the mountain before and after the cloud got in the way. Needless to say, the entire trip up the mountain was mesmerizing. We had about a half hour of free time to walk around before we boarded the bus to head down Mt. Etna and back to the ship. We seemed to leave in the nick of time as the fog waited to set in until after we already finished our time at the craters.
All in all, the day was amazing and visiting Mt. Etna was a special experience in itself. It will be followed shortly thereafter by an equally amazing (if not greater experience), as I will be visiting Egypt for the first time on Monday and Tuesday. Monday, I will be exploring Alexandria, and Tuesday, which I am really looking forward to, I will be visiting the Pyramids of Giza, the Sphinx, and the Museum of Antiquities in Cairo. Needless to say, I am enjoying myself!
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