did you vote?
well, here are the results...
my memory cards said i took about 1400 pictures.
BUT, i narrowed it down to about 800 for my web album (coming very soon!).
i will be attaching a link to my web albums. i am just working on the captions. there are two parts. part one should be ready by tomorrow and it is perfect, because it just goes up to the end of Pompeii!
Next, I will have to update my blog entries so I can then give you the visual with the second part of the photos!
Monday, June 23, 2008
the last bit about naples
just to finish up. must go in order and cover everything!
after the amalfi coast, we went to Pompeii.
wow. that was very cool. it was a beautiful city... in the looming shadow of a huge volcano!
it was so exciting to see it. it really was like getting a glimpse into the past. our guide showed us how to tell if we were looking a store or a home. the stores had a groove on the threshold that held a sliding door.
the volcano buried Pompeii under many meters of ash and pumice on August 24, 79 (that's right. the year 79!!), and it was lost for nearly 1700 years before its accidental rediscovery in 1748. It had been a thriving city and a great example of life in the height of the Roman Empire.
there were a lot of stray dogs in Pompeii. i wish i had taken pictures of them - at first i thought someone had just brought their dog with them or something. after seeing a bunch of them, i was curious! turns out it is kind of a thing. the dogs of pompeii. so, if you ever visit, you can bring them some food.
i really loved this port. all of it. i will be coming back to drive the amalfi coast again and will have to visit the ruins of Pompeii again, too!
after the amalfi coast, we went to Pompeii.
wow. that was very cool. it was a beautiful city... in the looming shadow of a huge volcano!
it was so exciting to see it. it really was like getting a glimpse into the past. our guide showed us how to tell if we were looking a store or a home. the stores had a groove on the threshold that held a sliding door.
the volcano buried Pompeii under many meters of ash and pumice on August 24, 79 (that's right. the year 79!!), and it was lost for nearly 1700 years before its accidental rediscovery in 1748. It had been a thriving city and a great example of life in the height of the Roman Empire.
there were a lot of stray dogs in Pompeii. i wish i had taken pictures of them - at first i thought someone had just brought their dog with them or something. after seeing a bunch of them, i was curious! turns out it is kind of a thing. the dogs of pompeii. so, if you ever visit, you can bring them some food.
i really loved this port. all of it. i will be coming back to drive the amalfi coast again and will have to visit the ruins of Pompeii again, too!
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
on to naples!
ok, i know we are back home now and everything, (sorry to ruin the ending of the story... and the jensen family all returned safely to wisconsin and lived happily ever after... after they got over their jet-lag!) but i still want to blog about all of the places we went!
so, naples. the coolest thing is when we woke up and went across the hall to mom and dad's room (we were on the inside of the ship but their room was on the outside!) and looked out over the balcony and saw...
Mt. Vesuvius!!!
very cool. big, black, ominous. active volcano!
so, our tour guide in naples was hands down the second best guide wendy and i have ever had. we had this really cool guide in the highlands of scotland who acted out battles for us and was dreamy.
anyway, manuela was the second best guide ever. she was amazing. she warned us right away in the morning that we were going to be on a tour bus with her all day and that she was going to talk the whole time. she was very funny. and we really were on the bus most of the day.
we drove along the amalfi coast (sorrento peninsula) in southern italy. about 4 towns built into the cliffs overlooking the med. crazy beautiful. the roads were very narrow and our bus driver was phenomenal (he was a local). we spent a lot of time stopped on the road, waiting for traffic from the other direction to clear so we could proceed. manuela let us get out and take pictures, though. and she even got out and started directing traffic once.
she was also super gossip-y. she told us all you could learn about people just by looking at their laundry... mostly you could tell if they were a good housekeeper or not by how they hung it.
okay, this is getting long. more later... i still have to tell you how cool pompeii was!
so, naples. the coolest thing is when we woke up and went across the hall to mom and dad's room (we were on the inside of the ship but their room was on the outside!) and looked out over the balcony and saw...
Mt. Vesuvius!!!
very cool. big, black, ominous. active volcano!
so, our tour guide in naples was hands down the second best guide wendy and i have ever had. we had this really cool guide in the highlands of scotland who acted out battles for us and was dreamy.
anyway, manuela was the second best guide ever. she was amazing. she warned us right away in the morning that we were going to be on a tour bus with her all day and that she was going to talk the whole time. she was very funny. and we really were on the bus most of the day.
we drove along the amalfi coast (sorrento peninsula) in southern italy. about 4 towns built into the cliffs overlooking the med. crazy beautiful. the roads were very narrow and our bus driver was phenomenal (he was a local). we spent a lot of time stopped on the road, waiting for traffic from the other direction to clear so we could proceed. manuela let us get out and take pictures, though. and she even got out and started directing traffic once.
she was also super gossip-y. she told us all you could learn about people just by looking at their laundry... mostly you could tell if they were a good housekeeper or not by how they hung it.
okay, this is getting long. more later... i still have to tell you how cool pompeii was!
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
florence and rome
i wish i had written down the names of all the places we saw in these two cities, because i am having trouble remembering right now.
the first thing we came upon was a loading dock door that was open when it should not have been. sounds pretty mysterious, right?
well, the Academia is closed on mondays, and we were there on a monday! we knew that in advance, so had resigned ourselves to the fact that we would not be able to see one very important statue that we all wanted to see so badly.
that open door gave us a quick glimpse into a gallery in the Academia. we were able to peek through the open door and see Michelangelo's David statue... just from the waist down!! even from a distance and only seeing part of it, it was pretty great! the staff inside noticed us crowding outside the door and quickly shut us out - wendy got a picture of just the door, but mom got the statue! i will attach the picture when i get home!
next we saw the duomo, the outside of the uffizi gallery (also closed!!), Santa Croce (Westminster abbey of Italy - lots of famous folks buried there), the ponte vecchio (the bridge lined with jewellery shops). then we had a great lunch and had some free time. we went back to the jewellery bridge and each got cameos (well, not dad... he just paid!!). then we went back to Santa Croce and saw the graves of Machiavelli, Michelangelo, Galileo, etc.
Rome was similarly impressive. we had beautifly weather and were able to see lots of stuff in Vatican City. St. Peter's Basillica was breath-taking, the Sistine Chapel was phenomenal! Next, we went to the Colloseum, which was also super cool to see!!
I can't fully describe how amazing it was to see these landmarks that i have learned about, seen pictures of, dreamed of seeing... my whole life!
of course, i have zillions of pictures and can't wait to get them all put into photo galleries on the web.
ok, i will end for now.
next up... naples (pompeii and the amalfi coast) and mykonos. sneak preview... they were both fantastic!
the first thing we came upon was a loading dock door that was open when it should not have been. sounds pretty mysterious, right?
well, the Academia is closed on mondays, and we were there on a monday! we knew that in advance, so had resigned ourselves to the fact that we would not be able to see one very important statue that we all wanted to see so badly.
that open door gave us a quick glimpse into a gallery in the Academia. we were able to peek through the open door and see Michelangelo's David statue... just from the waist down!! even from a distance and only seeing part of it, it was pretty great! the staff inside noticed us crowding outside the door and quickly shut us out - wendy got a picture of just the door, but mom got the statue! i will attach the picture when i get home!
next we saw the duomo, the outside of the uffizi gallery (also closed!!), Santa Croce (Westminster abbey of Italy - lots of famous folks buried there), the ponte vecchio (the bridge lined with jewellery shops). then we had a great lunch and had some free time. we went back to the jewellery bridge and each got cameos (well, not dad... he just paid!!). then we went back to Santa Croce and saw the graves of Machiavelli, Michelangelo, Galileo, etc.
Rome was similarly impressive. we had beautifly weather and were able to see lots of stuff in Vatican City. St. Peter's Basillica was breath-taking, the Sistine Chapel was phenomenal! Next, we went to the Colloseum, which was also super cool to see!!
I can't fully describe how amazing it was to see these landmarks that i have learned about, seen pictures of, dreamed of seeing... my whole life!
of course, i have zillions of pictures and can't wait to get them all put into photo galleries on the web.
ok, i will end for now.
next up... naples (pompeii and the amalfi coast) and mykonos. sneak preview... they were both fantastic!
poor marseille!
Marseille didn't stand a chance. first of all, we were all missing Barcelona dearly. second, it was a sunday so most things were closed... it was also mother's day there, so things were even more closed!! third, it was chilly and raining all day. we actually came back to the ship about an hour before we had to!! we didn't book an excursion through the ship (maybe it would have been better is we had?) so we just wandered around the streets.
it was not really bad, just not amazingly fantastic like the other places!!
we did find our way back into some old neighborhoods that were very cool. we also had some delicious pastry. and i got some herbs d'provence, that i am very excited to cook with!
it was not really bad, just not amazingly fantastic like the other places!!
we did find our way back into some old neighborhoods that were very cool. we also had some delicious pastry. and i got some herbs d'provence, that i am very excited to cook with!
Monday, June 2, 2008
whine, whine, whine
i know it has been too long since i have written. i am taking motion sickness medication that makes my vision is so blurry that i can't really read, see the screen on my camera to take pictures, and especially look at the computer. it is like when you get your eyes dilated, except for two weeks!!
at least my distance vision is still fine, so i have been able to take in lots of amazing sights and scenery... i just can't tell if the pictures i have taken are blurry or not. i can't wear my glasses. it is better to have no correction than to have the wrong correction! the real problem is with my prescription sunglasses... i had to buy some cheap ones in Turkey.
the motion sickness medication also has the unpleasant side effect of dry mouth. so, i have to drink enough water to wet my mouth, but not so much that i need to go to the bathroom... it is pretty hard to find public toilets in Europe!!
aside from that annoying stuff, i am having a great time. i can't even believe all the stuff we have seen. it blows my mind. and we still have one more day at sea (tomorrow) and two days in Venice (one afternoon of that will be in Verona). we all loved Turkey more that we had imagined. we especially loved the shopping... i even bargained. i was not very good at it, but i did it!
so, like i said, tomorrow is a day at sea, so i will try to do more updates on this blog.
hope you are all well!
at least my distance vision is still fine, so i have been able to take in lots of amazing sights and scenery... i just can't tell if the pictures i have taken are blurry or not. i can't wear my glasses. it is better to have no correction than to have the wrong correction! the real problem is with my prescription sunglasses... i had to buy some cheap ones in Turkey.
the motion sickness medication also has the unpleasant side effect of dry mouth. so, i have to drink enough water to wet my mouth, but not so much that i need to go to the bathroom... it is pretty hard to find public toilets in Europe!!
aside from that annoying stuff, i am having a great time. i can't even believe all the stuff we have seen. it blows my mind. and we still have one more day at sea (tomorrow) and two days in Venice (one afternoon of that will be in Verona). we all loved Turkey more that we had imagined. we especially loved the shopping... i even bargained. i was not very good at it, but i did it!
so, like i said, tomorrow is a day at sea, so i will try to do more updates on this blog.
hope you are all well!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
