No pictures, no talking

Day 3 of our cruise was a stop at Civitavecchia and a shore excursion to Rome.

St. Peter's Basilica

We had 6 1/2 hours, and started with seeing a small part of the Vatican museums (what we call the gallery of maps) and the Sistine Chapel, followed by a quick lunch in the Vatican cafeteria.

The ceilings looked three dimensional as if they had been carved, but we were assured the dimensional look was the adoit use of paint.

Picture of painted ceiling

Close up of ceiling panel

A glance at "carved" look of the painted ceiling

After lunch, we took a tourist open-top bus past the Colosseum and Circus Maximus

Colosseum

Display of historical military equipment at Circus Maximus 

Another shot of Circus Maximum

That left us with all of about 20 minutes left to see the inside  of St. Peter's Basilica and the Pieta.

The highlight of the day for me was the Sistine Chapel, which was ruined a bit by the man paid to stand

 there yelling non stop, "No talking!!  No pictures!!  No talking!!  No pictures!!"

Pieta behind thick plexiglass barrier

No extra charge

Our stateroom was on the Deck 9, above these life boats

All guests had to be on board by 4 pm, and before we set sail, there was a mandatory "guest assembly" drill at 4:30 pm.  We all learned where to report in an emergency and how to don a life vest.  Our muster station was W13.

The first few days, the seas were choppy with 3 to 5 foot swells.  Our captain alerted us there would be "some movement" in the ship, but reminded us that this was part of the cruising experience, and the rolling would be at no extra charge.  The rolling did make it difficult to walk a straight line, which was OK since I spent  most of the time trying to catch up on my sleep.  I felt like I was being rocked in a cradle.

Oh, you speak Spanish

Passion Facade, Basilica de la Sagrada Familia

Example of stained glass windows at Sagrada Familia

Another example of the stained glass windows

I'd better start recording information about the cruise I went on in November, before I forget the details completely.  In the wee hours of the morning on November 1st, a very good friend and I left home to catch a flight to Chicago, where we met my brother and sister-in-law for the flight to New York City, then the long overnight flight to Barcelona.  Completely bleary and sleep deprived, we headed to our hotel, were able to check in right away, took a short nap, then took the subway to the Basilica de la Sagrada Familia. Very impressive! 

The line to get in stretched around the block, there was even a line to get into the gift shop! After looking around the ground floor and taking pictures, we took the elevator, then walked up a tight spiral staircase to get to the top (reminiscent of the climb up the Statue of Liberty that I took as a child). 

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at the Hard Rock Cafe for late lunch/early supper, then to bed.

What did we learn?  That in Europe, the ground floor in buildings (what we would call the first floor in Amerca) is floor 0 (zero), and the first floor is up one flight.  And the basement is floor -1 (minus 1)

About noon on November 3rd we took a cab to our ship, the Brilliance of the Seas.  Our cab driver greeted us with , "ola," to which I responded, "hello....ola..... buenos dias."  He said laughingly, "Oh, you speak Spanish!"

Hawkeye Mania

Each fall, on the Friday before the first home football game at the University of Iowa, we have "Fry Fest" in town.  The celebration is in honor of beloved former football coach, Hayden Fry.  The activities occur in the neighborhood around my condo, so I have a bird's eye view.   Here are some photos from my balcony, of the Iowa Hawkeye Marching Band playing the Iowa Fight Song, and cheerleaders leading cheers.

Remember Iowa in Winter

Some neighbors are moving to Hawaii later this month, due to job demands. Must be tough to HAVE to move to Hawaii for one's job!!! Anyway, I wanted to give them something as a farewell gift, and found a cross-stitch and bead kit of birch trees, snowflakes and a cardinal. Don't want them to forget what winter in Iowa is like!

Fall Harvest

Well, it's not really fall yet, but my balcony garden has been productive.  We had a few weeks of really hot weather, which pretty quickly ended the salad greens, and meant I had to water daily.  My tomato plant produced quite a few tomatoes, but they were all pretty tiny (smaller than the size of roma tomatoes) so I'm not sure what the problem is.  Also have parsley and chives and green onions. 

Afternoon of Fun

On Sunday afternoon, July 31st, we went to see the UI School of Music present The Mikado.  I had figured I'd end up going by myself, but my friend Dennis wanted to come along (I was surprised!).  It was great fun.  I knew many of the songs (If you want to know who we are, we are gentlemen of Japan; Three little maids from school are we; Titwillow, etc.) but had never before seen the complete production.  And something I had not expected, the words to the songs appeared above the stage!  I guess you would call them supra-titles as opposed to sub-titles. 

The Director added a vaudevillian twist to the operetta, which made it quite funny.