Disembarking and Touring Venice, Italy - Saturday, October 7, 2006

We had breakfast on the Grand Princess and took easy on disembarking.

When we got to the Piazza San Marco, the whole square was flooded. It is normal event for the locals; however, it took us quite a while to get to the hotel to meet Jenny’s niece and her husband. It was interesting to find out ways to the hotel via walking on the wood platform. We saw those wood platform yesterday and did not know the purpose of having those wood platform on the square. After we saw the flooding then we knew.

Jenny’s niece, her husband and their lovely daughter traveled from Milan to Venice for serving tour guide to us. They took us to see much more of the Venice and eventually took us to the Basilica St. Maria Della Salute. They also guided us to quite a few nice shops for shopping.

Finally they took us to the most famous restaurant 'Madonna' having some nice Venice seafood.

In the evening we went to the Piazza San Marco, sitting on the wood platform, and enjoyed different music groups playing classical music. They were sort of in competition among each other and to gain audience’s applauses. We had fun of listening the music.

Venice, Italy - Friday, October 6, 2006

This was the last stop of the cruise. Grand Princess arrived Venice at 1PM, Friday, October 6, we were able to tour Venice on Friday and went back to Grand Princess to stay for another night. It saved a lot of hotel and food expenses.

According to the suggestion from Jenny’s niece, we were supposed to visit 3 main attractions; Piazza San Marco, Basilica St. Maria Della Salute and Rialto Bridge.

Princess’s water shuttle took us to Piazza San Marco and we were supposed to take the Vaparetto (public water bus) to cross the Grand Canal to Basilica St. Maria Della Salute. When we got to Venice, there was a public service strike and the Vaparetto was not running and it did throw a monkey wrench on us.

We changed plan quickly and took a gondola ride. We had two gondolas and tour around the city via the canals. It was a typical tours thing. However, we did it.

We took some pictures at the Piazza San Marco and walked to Rialto Bridge and then we did lots of shopping around the rialto Bridge area.

A leisure walk and shopping then we took the water shuttle back to Grand Princess to spend our last nigh on the cruise ship.

At Sea – Thursday, October 5, 2006

It is another resting day. Around this time we really need a rest. After seeing all the ruins with climbing rocks and walking down steps, we were tired. It was a welcomed rest time.

We had another formal night. Good food and more picture taking.

Victor won the Karaoke Final spot and competed in the Final. As far as we concerned, he should get the 1st place, however, he was a close 2nd. We were all very proud of him.

Athens (Piraeus), Greece - Wednesday, October 4, 2006

We joined Princess’ Athens 'On your own' tour.

We visited the Temple of Olympian Zeus, Acropolis and The Ancient Agora.

Acropolis is the heart of classical Athens and it dominates the Athenian landscape. We walked up steep steps through the Propylea, we saw the Temple of Athena Nike, Propylea and Parthenon and Erectheion.

It is high on the top of a hill and visible to every corners of Athens. At the same token, you can view the whole Athens from the top of the Acropolis.

Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey - Tuesday, October 3, 2006

Most of the people come to Kusadasi to visit Ephesus, one of the most fascinating archeological sites available to the modern-day traveler. We joined the Princess tour to visit the Ephesus and the Virgin Mary Shrine.

Virgin Mary Shrine is recognized by Vatican that this small house in the Solmissos Mountains as the final resting place of the Virgin Mary. A small shrine dedicated to St. Mary was found when the ruins of the house were first discovered. Miracle event happen last year when there was a fire broken out sounding this small house, however, the wind changed the direction of the fire and the Virgin Mary Shrine was untouched.

Ephesus is the ruins of Roman provincial capital. We past the Odeum, the Celsus Library, the Temple of Hadrian, the Fountain of the Trajan and the Great Theater. We also saw the tomb of St. John.

There were interesting stories about the Celsus Library. Most of the gentlemen went to town with their wife and left their wife to go shopping. The gentlemen would wait for their wife in the library. However, it was well known that there were secret passages from the library to fun places for entertainment.

Some of our SMDC members could not pass the opportunity of doing a dance in the Great Theater. Jerry and Corrina did Tango there. It had seating for 25,000, which was the site where St. Paul preached to the Ephesians, and is used today for a local spring festival.

Istanbul, Turkey - Monday, October 2, 2006

Istanbul is the city cross both Europe and Asia. It was the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. The influence of Asia and Europe, the religion of Christians and Moslems, and the culture of Turks, Persians and Asians have all found their way into the daily life of this busting metropolis.

Due to some regulation change, the St. Sophia (Hagia Sophia) will only open to organized tour. Therefore we all agreed to join Princess’ tour in order to visit St. Sophia.

St. Sophia is the Church of Holy Wisdom and it is considered as the greatest work of Byzantine architecture. It took 10,000 men six years to complete it. It is one to the largest religious buildings in the world.

We also visited the Blue Mosque and Grand Bazaar. Blue Mosque is one of Istanbul’s most enduring landmarks, the grand and beautiful 17th-century mosque is renown for its domes and minarets. Its interior is decorated by more than 20,000 blue Iznik tiles, in 33 shades.

Grand Bazaar was built in the 1450s and it is the largest covered market in the world. It consists of a maze of 65 winding streets crammed with 4,000 shops, cafes and restaurants along with a mosque, a school, a post office, banks and a police station. It is shopper’s heaven. As usual, we got lots of souvenirs. Over there, we were able to practice our bargaining skills.

We also walked around in the Topkapi Palace. We did not go inside to visit the Palace, instead we sit outside the Palace and had our lunch packed from the Grand Princess.

During the dinner, we learned that it was Victor's Birthday. Jenny bought 2 bottles of wine to celebrate Victor's Birthday, Grand Princess provided a small cake, and we all had fun.

Mykonos, Greece - Sunday, October 1, 2006

Mykonos is a dazzling Greek Islands in the Aegean Sea. It is filled with whitewashed houses, blue-domed churches, and beautiful beaches set against an equally striking blue sky.

The main village of Mykonos is Hora. Hora is filled with a maze of tight-winding streets, perhaps, designed to confuse invaders or simply serve as a windbreak to deflect Aegean squalls.

We toured Little Venice, Paraportiani and the famous windmills.

Paraportiani is one of the most famous architectural structures in Greece, It positioned near the main harbor entrance. Paraportiani in reality is a group of five smaller churches which were constructed over a period of time and not completed until well into the 17th century. The two story structure was molded together utilizing four of it’s churches to form a base for the fifth church which when placed on top formed a central domed roof. It is one of the most photographic attractions on the island.

Then we took the city bus to visit the famous Paradise Beach. This beach was filmed on E Channel several times as one of the top beach in the world. Unfortunately, we were there in the morning and the actions do not start until sunset.

At Sea – Saturday, September 30, 2006

With a tight schedule visiting France and Italy, we were ready for a rest.

It was certainly a welcomed At Sea day.

Everyone was able to sleep a little longer, had a relaxed breakfast or brunch, lunch and dinner.

Some of us went to the Art Auction. Some of us played ping-pong. Some of us practiced the dance routing in the gym. Some of us went to hot tubs, steam room and sauna. Some of us just took a nap and rested.

The evening was a formal night. Everyone dressed up for the occasion and took some pictures. The dinner was nice and we had a wonderful time during the dinner.

After the dinner we went on to dance at various on-board clubs.

Naples/Pompeii/Capri, Italy - Friday, September 29, 2006

Prior to the trip, we were told that Naples is just like Detroit and we decided to skip the city of Naples and visited Pompeii and Capri.

Jenny’s niece arranged a shuttle and a tour guide for us to visit Pompeii.

Pompeii was completely buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 78 A.D., Pompeii is one for the world’s most magnificently preserved ancient cities. Built within curved walls, the excavations unearthed sumptuous private homes that featured colonnaded central courtyards with lavish fountains, and interior murals printed in vivid colors.

Afternoon, we took a boat ride to visit Capri Island. It is normally referred as the Isle of Capri. It is the most sought-after island in the Bay of Naples. Capri’s dramatic blue water and cliff bound scenery has drawn visitors throughout history, from Emperor Augustus to Napoleon, as well as D. H. Lawrence and George Bernard Shaw.

After we arrived Capri, we took another small boat ride around the islands and saw all the attraction spots. The Blue Grotto is the most famous attraction on the island. Unfortunately the waiting time for getting into the Blue Grotto was more than 2 hours and we simply ran out of time to get into it. Everyone is saying that it is a magical spot that no one shall miss it. However, the captain of the tour boat told us that the actual area in the Blue Grotto is very small (about 50 sq ft) and you will only spent about 2 minutes in the Blue Grotto.

Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy - Thursday, September 28, 2006

Again Jenny arranged a private shuttle to take us to Rome and dropped us at the Spanish Steps.

1st stop is the St. Peter Square. Witnessed the long line of the people waiting to get into the Vatican, we decided that we will skip the Vatican City and the Sistine Chapel and just visit the St. Peter Square.

It is by far the largest church in the world. It took more than 100 years to build and involved a sucession of important artists and architects. It is definitely huge and spectacular.

Then we walked to visit Pizza Navona and Pantheon. We were not impressed with Pizza Navona. However, Pantheon is worth to see inside. Pantheon was built in the 1st century. Once it was called a Temple to All the Gods. The magnificent dome is made of reinforced concrete, with no internal support needed. All light for the interior comes from the large central opening; drains in the floor take care of the rain. The painter Raphael is buried here, together with the 1st two kings of the united Italy.

Then we walked to see the Rome Forum. It was the hub of the city in Republican and Imperial times, it features ancient ruins and the rostrum where Marc Anthony made his impassioned speech over the body of Julius Caesar.

Then we walked to Colosseum, the grandest and most celebrated of all of Rome’s monuments completed in 80 A.D.

On the way from Colosseum to Trevi Fountain, we ran into a demonstration parade. It was for the improvement of private insurance. A lot of Italians on the street waving flags and laughing. Leading by Jerry (curious Jerry), we talked to the people in the parade and walked with them just like we were in the demonstration. Some of the Italian even tried to take pictures of us. Funny!

We visited the famous Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps. Trevi Fountain was highlighted in the movie 'Three Coins in the Fountain' and the Spanish Steps was highlighted in the movie 'Roman Holiday'.

As you can see, it was a long day with lots of walking. However, we were able to see the most interesting and representing parts of Rome.