The Tour Begins

The nice, warm weather was a pleasant surprise as we entered the country of Montenegro. I guess that I packed for fall or winter. :) What a lovely day of wandering the cobblestone streets and peeking into the next narrow alley or street. We found a quaint little outdoor restaurant to order a wood fired pizza and a glass of wine before heading back to the ship.

Our next day was spent at sea which gave us ample time to explore the Legend of the Seas ship. We also took advantage of a little exercise and chose to support a cancer walk. Around the ship we walked and talked. We even chose to keep walking knowing how we would enjoy our dinner.

The island of Sicily was next with more beautiful sunshine! The town of Messina did not have much to offer, other than the famed church with it's large steeple that housed many statues and figurines. The crowds gathered as noon drew closer. As the clock struck noon, "Santa Maria" began to play and people started to point to the steeple. The lion began with it's roar, followed by birds flapping their wings, bells ringing, and the Apostles rotating around the path. Nancy and Ak hoped onto a bus as Rick and I walked. Our walk turned into miles as we got a bit confused with our curved path. But, we successfully found out way back to the ship.

Saturday was an excursion trip to Pompeii. We chose to follow our guide as we tried to imagine the life and living style of people so long ago. Many pictures were taken! John in the red hat seemed to have wandered from the group and got lost causing our tour to return a bit late.

Happy Birthday to Rick on Sunday! Yes, 59 years old :) Since Rome is a good hour away from where our ship docked, we chose to do another excursion trip. Our first leg was spent on a bus getting to a train which would take us to Rome. We entered the Vatican area, but were unable to tour as the Pope was preaching at noon. Rick suggested that we take a taxi four miles to the coliseum, and then walk back from there. Good idea, Rick!!!

Who said the economy is suffering? Who said that this was not tourist season? We stood in line for over an hour to get tickets to enter the Coliseum! Once inside, we wandered on our own as we took many pictures to help capture the ancient Roman history. The Roman Forum was a bit confusing, and we had trouble finding our way out! Once exited, we started our four mile hike back enjoying the streets of Rome.

Our last planned excursion was the next day to the town of Pisa, Italy where we ooohhhed and ahhhed over the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We walked the streets to find an ATM machine, and bought some pasta to take home. Our last treat of the trip was some more gelato! Yum! That pistachio flavor is marvelous. We hopped back onto the bus and headed back to our boat.