Current mood:

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Travel and very pretty places
Traveling is a very lovely thing to do. Husband and I, plus my dad and his friend have recently returned from a long-anticipated trip. In July 2007, we booked a transatlantic cruise for leaving late October 2008. The trip was nicer than I coulod imagine. After a long flight to Rome (which we did not get to see any of, regretfully), we boarded a new ship, the Carnival Splendor, for a 16 night cruise. We visited the ports of Barcelona, Palma di Mallorca, Malaga, Madeira, and St. Maartin in the Carribbean, finally docking in Fort Lauderdale. The European ports were beautiful beyond words. In Malaga, we saw a 14th century castle with an ancient roman ampitheatre at the base of it.  It makes you realize just how young our culture here in North America really is.

The ship was a bit glitzy in decor, but otherwise beautiful. It had a more mature crowd of passengers (i.e. a LOT of retirees) which meant some great entertainment. How does an opera singer one night and a violinist another night sound? Both good enough to knock your socks off. The food was good, I need to get back to watching the diet again, because I did NOT on the ship.

The only drawback to the trip was missing OVFF. I hope it was a great con for all those that went. Regretfully, I will be missing it next year as well, because we have booked passage on the Carnival Dream, which leaves late October from Rome to cross the Atlantic. She will be a brand new ship, and will be launched in late September 2009, and will hold a bit over 3000 passengers. Hopefully, my Dad will be joining us again. One of the nicest parts of the trip was to get to spend time with him, something I don't get to do near often enough. Shift work does have its drawbacks.

I'm happy to report that the birds behaved well at the boarder's place. They are now pleased to be home where they belong.  My house is noisy again, just as it should be.