Russia

The ship spent two days in St Petersburg. We took an organized tour the first day and hoped to do some individual sight seeing the second day. It's weird. Customs are extremely tight. They want to know everywhere you go. The language and signs are impossible. It was challenging and frustrating. We decided to stay on the ship instead. Don't need to go back there again.

Estonia

We visited an old medieval pub in Tallinn. It was 650 years old and was restored to it's original condition. The employees were dressed in attire from the 1400s. It was really cool. Had a very large beer and some schnapps. Yum. Internet is horrible and won't let me upload photos. Argh.

Copenhagen

Our plane to Copenhagen was cancelled and it took several hours to reschedule it. Finally got here at 11:30 pm. Things are expensive here. Breakfast at the hotel is $35 per person. Ouch. Looking forward to getting back on board and not having to pay for everything. More later.

Leaving Germany

We've been in Bavaria the last few days visiting some old friends. Had a great time. Heading to Copenhagen today and boarding the ship for another cruise, 9 days this time. Below are some pictures taken from Regensburg, Germany.). More to come. Aufwiedersehen

Naples, Italy

We arrived in Naples anticipating seeing Pompeii and the inner city. We hopped on the metro to the train station and boarded a train to Pompeii. About 2 stops in I realized that my wallet was stolen. Never felt a thing. So we got off the train and headed back to the station to report it to the police. While there they told me that they caught the guy (an African immigrant) and had my 100 euros and 3 credit cards. The wallet had already been tossed. So, the good news was no credit card stuff to deal with. The bad news, I lost all my IDs, military, drivers license, medicare, insurance cards. Argh 😖 So, the only thing we saw in Naples was the inside of the police station. Bummer. We just arrived at our hotel in Rome, Italy and are looking forward to taking in the sights. Will keep you posted. Ciao for now.

Today Sicily

I've had trouble accessing the internet the last few days. Athens was a very large and dirty city. Tons of graffiti everywhere. Santorini was good. Loved the white houses contrasted against the blue water. This pic is from the ship looking back towards the island. As you can see, they build their houses on the top of the hillsides. We saw a couple of cool old churches in Sicily.

That's it for now. Ciao

Athens, Greece

After visiting a couple of Italian places we're now in Athens. Malta had a great shoreline with million dollar views. What we're finding out is that most of the cities are the same. We've been riding hop on hop off buses in most of the cities. They're OK but frankly we're tired of the big cities. Here are a couple of pics from the last few days. The first one is from our balcony looking at the harbor I Malta. For some reason I can't load any more pics. Sorry. I'll catch up later. Ciao

cartagena

We left Barcelona. Big town and expensive. We're in cartagena now a lot more to our liking. Been having fun on the ship. Here's a couple pics from here. My Wi-Fi time is about to expire. 😬

Ready to leave Barcelona

Over the last few days we've walked about 8 miles. Today we rode a bus taking in sights all over the city. Boarding the ship tomorrow. Looking forward to it. Here's a couple pics from our travels.

. Notice the one with all the motorscooters. They are the preferred method of transportation here. They are everywhere. Until next time.

In Barcelona

We made it to Barcelona just fine. A little tired so we took a short nap before heading out to explore. We walked about a mile and a half. Saw an old cathedral and took a stroll along the dock area so we'd know where to board the cruise ship. . This is a building outside our hotel room. Until next time. In

Day 1 of the next adventure

Maggie and I left the house at 0300 hrs then drove to Sandy's house for our ride to the airport. Way too early :-( We arrived in Newark, NJ and are spending a few hours at the USO. We have almost a 7 hour layover. We hope to catch a cat nap before leaving for Barcelona. Will keep you as informed as I can. Much more to come.

Colorado Mtns

Well, we decided to change our plans a little and wanted to end this phase of our trip with some mountains. So, we went to Pagosa Springs, Colorado for a week. We spent our first day there riding the antique train in Durango. It was really pretty. Here are a couple of pics.

Here's a pic of Maggie and I standing on a bridge over the San Juan river at a place where the train stopped and we got off for lunch.

The scenery there is wonderful. Check out these mountain lakes. The second one is still frozen over.

While in Pagosa Springs we took advantage of the hot mineral spring baths there. One we sat in the river where a hot spring empties into. A couple of days later we went to a business that had indoor and outdoor baths. They had some on the roof overlooking the downtown area. It was really cool sitting in a hot tub in the cool weather. Most nights were in the mid 20s and daily highs ranged from 50s-60s. THE TIME HAS COME TO HEAD HOME SO WE DID. WE'RE HOME NOW. AT LEAST FOR A WHILE. STAY TUNED FOR OUR EUROPEAN ADVENTURE STARTING EARLY MAY; 5 WEEKS CRUISING THE MEDITERRANEAN AND GREEK ISLES FOLLOWED BY ANOTHER CRUISE IN THE BALTIC SEA. SEE YOU IN JUNE. :)

Monument Valley, UT

Well, we've been in Monument Valley, UT for almost a week now and it's time to move on. But, before we do, we want to share some of our favorite photos with you. First, we met two young men from Korea riding bicycles. Yes, bicycles. We had to ask them some questions since you don't see many people riding bikes way the heck out here in the middle of the desert. They are bicycle messengers and are delivering a message from the Korean people to american veterans from the Korean War. They landed in Los Angeles, CA and are riding to Washington D.C. to deliver a message of thanks to some diplomat at the Korean War Memorial. They said they're trying to ride 100 miles each day. Wow! Here's a photo of them in front of the campground where we are staying.

My buddy Dave and I are still climbing rocks / mountains. Here's a photo of him descending a mountain area. I'm still at the top looking down. He's the little green spot.

Here are several pics of monuments that are here in the valley.

We take our dog, Freddy with us on many of the hikes. Here's a pic of me, Maggie and Freddy on a rock ledge. I know we're hard to see because we're a long way away. Sorry.

You have to look real hard to see us but we're there. Here's another pic of Freddy. He and our friend's dog "Bumpus" are taking a break in a small spot of shade they found.

We also went to a place called Mexican Hat. Here's a photo of it.

It's pretty big. The photo was taken from a long way off. After that, we went to Goose neck State Park. It is a place where the San Juan river winds it's way through the desert. The river flows 6 miles in order to move 1 mile. So many twists and turns. Every depression / area of erosion you see in the photo is the river.

After that we went to an area known as the Valley of the Gods. It's a large valley with lots of interesting rock formations. It's fun to see what you can see in the shapes. Here are two I wanted to share. On the left it looks like Aunt Jemima watching TV. The one on the right looks like a train. You can see the engine, coal car and caboose.

After a long day of off-roading my truck was soo dirty you couldn't believe it. This red dirt/dust gets everywhere. This morning I had to clean it inside and out. Maggie and Dave helped me; thank goodness. Lastly, we took a short hike into the cliffs above our campground. Here's a pic of Maggie, me and our friend Carla standing under a large arch (Dave was taking the photo).

That's it from Monument Valley. Tomorrow morning we're headed to Colorado where it's still below freezing every night. Brrr!

Antelope Canyon, AZ

I'm just going to dump several pictures I took yesterday during a guided tour Maggie and I took outside of Page, AZ. Page is known for it's beautiful slot canyons; slight openings in the ground that hold wondrous beauty underground. Behold what we saw. It was absolutely amazing. The last photo is of Maggie emerging above the surface. You can see the small opening in the earth behind her. All that beauty was hidden beneath the surface of the desert. Hard to believe. We made it to Monument Valley, UT this afternoon so more pics to come. ;-)

Lake Powell; Page, AZ

The next stop was just outside Page, Arizona at Lake Powell. The Bureau of Reclamation dammed up the Colorado river in the mid 1960's and it provides electrical power to a large part of the southwest. Doing so also provided a great lake for people in the area to enjoy. We took a tour of the dam. Here's a couple of pics. Down stream from the dam the Colorado River winds through the desert cutting an erratic path. Here's a pic of a place called Horseshoe Bend.

This next shot is showing how erosion changes the view. You can see the hard rocks / boulders sitting on top of this mesa. As erosion takes place they gradually loosen and end up falling down the hillside and resting on the bottom.

Some rocks end up perched on top of narrow columns. I guess the dirt underneath them gradually washes away leaving what they call Balancing Rocks.

These next pics are near a place called Lee's Ferry. It was the only place to cross the Colorado River for 500 miles. Talk about supply and demand. Mr Lee had a monopoly until the government built a bridge across the river in the mid 50's, some 20 years later.

While there we saw several groups of people preparing for a 21 day trip down the river. Can you imagine living on a raft and floating down the Colorado River for 21 days???

We also saw California Condors flying in the area. They are really big birds. This next pic is from our campsite next to Lake Powell. We're camped at a place called Wahweap about 2.5 miles above the dam. Not a bad scene when you're sitting and eating a meal.

You can see the lake and mountain formations across the water. On Saturday, 11 Mar, we rented a 19 foot ski boat and spent 6 hours exploring the sights and narrow canyons. Some places were so narrow we just barely got the boat through. Check it out.

Yesterday my buddy Dave and I hiked 6.5 miles round trip to the Colorado River down a set of cliffs that dropped about 1200 to the river. We had to use ropes and cables to descend and ascend the cliffs. The surface was too steep and hard rock; not much to grab onto. Most of the time was taken up going down and back up the cliffs. It was a tough climb but the view and sense of accomplishment was terrific. We were both glad when we got back to the truck though. The first pic is of some tourists floating down the river on large rafts. The others show us in progress and the last is the view to the top.

Later today Maggie and I are hiking the antelope slot canyon. More pics to come.