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Cutting Through FOG in FIORDS of Kotor, Montenegro…..Imprisoned in Venice…. Escape to Vienna!!

We had to cut through some thick morning fog as we approached the port of Kotor, Montenegro- and you can see the ‘hole’ in the fog that the boat left as it cut through.  Another picture showing how small the HUGE cruise ship looked with the HUMONGOUS mountains in the background (view is from the tender boat as we went to shore.)  On land in Kotor, there is a shot of Ilea on the cobblestones of an alleyway….  You wouldn’t know it from the picture, but Ilea is about to become imprisoned!  She had developed some ‘digestive problems’ .   We both decided on Friday, that she probably should just check with the ship’s doctor to see if they had any Immodium like products to have as backup- but just going to the NURSES STATION- without us ever seeing any doctor, or having any tests done- they started filling out a CDC (Center for Disease Control) form.  As soon as I saw that, I immediately attempted to extract ourselves from the office, claiming that Ilea felt much better suddenly.  They would not let us leave the office (SECURITY WAS CALLED, and an armed woman showed up.)  Sooo- here is the situation: do NOT EVER EVEN MENTION that you have any  digestive upset to the medical office on board a cruise ship!  Because- without even being examined, you will BE QUARANTINED TO YOUR ROOM and unable to go out of it to do ANYTHING!  No shore excursions, no formal dining – NOTHING!   So Ilea missed out on Venice…. THAT REALLY SUCKED!

The pictures of Venice include the incredibly packed St Marks Square… way too many people there; and in addition, a shot of one of the quiet EMPTY alleyways that only Bill got to walk through (while Ilea was stuck in the cabin…..)

We did finally break Ilea out of the cruise ship at the end of the trip (ALTHOUGH- as we left, and they scanned her sea-card, it set off all sorts of embarrassing alarms…. b/c she was not supposed to leave ship during the cruise…. BUT , DUH, they can not keep you on AFTER the cruise!)  So, off to Vienna, Austria by bus & train.  Pictures of Vienna show the famous St Stephan cathedral, along with a closeup of a couple of its scary gargoyles. Also there is an awesome CLOCK that has a parade of 12 different statues to indicate the different hours…  There is a sculpture of an apparent problem with a toilet paper shortage in ancient days: you can see the angel is clearly RATIONING toilet paper (AngelSoft brand?)…  In addition, there is a sign in a park warning NOT to feed the pigeons because if you do they’ll turn in to RATS!!!!! AND you will get fined 36 euros!!!!!    Then there is the issue of cleaning up after your dog- b/c if you don’t, you get fined 36 euros (~$50) .. that dog sign asks if “THIS YOUR SAUSAGE? (according to my translator…) then it warns you to take a bag, have the crap in hand, or get fined!  And they have cute miniature pineapples….. OH- and anytime you get coffee in Vienna, they will AUTOMATICALLY serve it with a glass of water to wash out the strong taste perhaps….

Santorini Greece, Ephesus Turkey & Athens Greece….

Had a terrific day in the Greek Isles…. Went out on a private boat with Panos, who took us to three awesome places to swim- one of which was a volcanic HOT SPRING where we were all alone.  Learned the interesting history behind Santorini, and enjoyed a seven course specially prepared greek lunch on the boat along with some local greek wine…. Probably the best meal we had in a couple of weeks.  Visited the Ephesus region in Turkey-  and saw the supposed last house where the Virgin Mary lived …. As well as the supposed place of the burial of Saint John the Baptist.  There were throngs of people in this extremely touristy area.  One of the pictures shows a highlight of that day, which was  a really cool cat which was nestled within the bottom area of one of the statues.  Kitty really enjoyed all the attention it was getting!   Spent a good solid day exploring  Athens- shown is a shot of us up on top of the Acropolis with the Parthenon in the background (That was the building that used to house the statue of the goddess Athenea.)  Yet another shot is one of the spectacular sunsets that was visible from our balcony.

Pompeii & Positano

Pompeii & Positano….Wowwwww!

Took a tour through the ruins of Pompeii today- was covered by 30 foot of ash about 2000 years ago, then ‘rediscovered’ and unearthed around 300 years ago….  Where the volcano was/potentially is can be seen in the photo background (Mt. Vesuvius) … One of the MANY many rooms uncovered in reasonable shape was the BROTHEL…. Apparently, because people came from far away and may not have spoken the language, patrons of the establishment simply had to point to a PICTURE on the wall to indicate the services that they were interested in (see photo below.)  Interestingly, chiseled out in the streets were not any compass headings to find your way, but instead- PENIS & TESTICLES correctly pointing in the direction of the brothel (see photo below).  We learned that the original GPS systems were Granite Penis Systems!  Pompeii itself was an enormous site to behold! The other part of the day included a stop at the amazing town of Positano- an Italian city precariously perched on a steep cliff.  It was incredibly scenic and the photos taken do no justice to its beauty…  Oh, and to add to the excitement of this day….. later the same evening, we sailed on past an ACTIVE volcano off the coast of Italy, where you could see the bright orange magma creeping down the volcano in the town of Strombli! 

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Included are some shots of Galileo’s telescopes, leaning tower of Pisa, a shot in Cataluna Plaza in Spain, the front of the Monte Carlo Casino located in the country of Monaco (second smallest country next to THE smallest which is the Vatican.)  This casino is where numerous James Bond 007 movies have been shot… A view of the port of Monaco; a few of the entrance to the city of Tuscany as well as our shadows walking through the area;  a view from our balcony overlooking harbor of Florence vicinity… and a look at the “special bus” for special people , which of course we got to ride in on one of our excursions…