FromSea2ShiningSea

Valencia, Spain was one of the three ports we visited on the TA. Here is the City of Arts and Sciences. It is a cultural and architectural complex in the city where it is an important tourist destination. Valencia’s Central Market Walking in the neighborhoods

Thank you! I use my iPhone 14 Pro. This is where I sit to rest and people watch on Deck 4 Royal Esplanade. Get my Cappuccino from the Diamond Lounge and find me a seat near Starbucks and watch people shop for T-shirts, watches, etc. Somehow, I still call it the Royal Promenade though.

We just got back from a TA on Odyssey. Any questions, just ask away. We really like Odyssey. It seemed like a long ship but it was manageable, even for me. On Deck 5, from one end of the elevator in the back to the front where the Royal Theater and Diamond Lounge is really is not that long a walk. People say that this ship is narrower than the others and that’s why it rocks a little more with motion. The captain didn’t agree with that theory. DH did the FlowRider on the first day. There were so serious riders here. Always long lines. Then he tried the iFly. Free on the first day of the cruise. One of our favorite spots Another favorite spots Halloween cupcake decorations on boarding day10/31 in the Windjammer Sunset on 10/31

We’re back! I am about 70 pages behind and don’t think I’ll be able to catch up. It is so good to be home after being gone for 5 weeks. Still waiting for more pictures to be downloaded onto the iPad. I’ll just share a few photos for now. I’ll share more about the cruise and photos later.

Tonight is the last night of our impromptu Tuscan Holiday adventure. While we missed our Holy Land/Greece cruise, we really did enjoy these last 12 days of visiting the Tuscany areas. Everything happens for a reason and I don’t regret the sudden change in plans. It gave us the opportunity to do this land tour which we otherwise probably would not have done. We will get to the Holy Land another time. So, tomorrow we will take the train to Civitavecchia and try for Odyssey 2.0. We did the Abbott eMed test yesterday and both are negative so we should be good to go. We will see you onboard. Until then, here’s a few more pictures… Sunrise this morning… The swimming pool A view of the resort from the water Sunset tonight

Some food pictures from the last few nights Herb Cake Pappardella- Egg pasta with wild boar sauce Baked veal strip loin Dessert- Baba’ al limoncello

The sun goes down… And the moon comes up

Thank you, Dani! I guess tomorrow we can test to see if we board Odyssey Monday. Thank you, Graham! I’m feeling fine. No more symptoms. It seemed like the cold got better and now gone. DH is the adventurous one. He’s really taking advantage of the amenities here. He’s out there paddle boarding and kayaking again. If there were any waves, he’d try to surf. I came back inside because there’s too many mosquitoes for me. I get bit left and right. He’s rode the bike into town to explore yesterday. This morning he rode the bike to the golf course and played golf. He claims he played pretty good. He tested negative a few days ago so he’s making the best of everything. It’s been 10 days since I tested in Civitavecchia so I just did a test today to see where I stand. I am very pleased to let you all know that I tested Negative! I just hope it stays that way for the eMed test before we board the ship. I feel like I won the lottery.

The last stop of our Tuscan Holiday Adventure- Follonica, at the Sense Experience Resort. It is beautiful out here but in fact, it will actually close for the season November 1, right after we leave. DH kayaking… Paddle boarding… Oops… My spot for the day… It was less cloudy than the night before for a nice sunset.

Inside the City Wall of Lucca There is a ComicCon event in Lucca this weekend and they are prepping for a big crowd. It is the only ComicCon in Italy and only the second one in all of Europe. We will be returning this rental car so we can go onto our next destination. This has been a cute little fun car to drive for DH. It’s a Fiat 500. It is a stick shift and reminds him of his Mini Cooper which he misses a lot. We cross the Arno River to get to the airport car rental place.

My deepest sympathies, @h20skibum. I’m so sorry for this devastating news.

The sun is trying to break through the clouds… For a Tuscan sunrise… On the road again…on our way to Lucca Outside the City Wall of Lucca We are making Lemoncello out of lemons

Continuing on our drive along the hill side to Volterra. Then back at the ranch, we made a home cooked meal.

On Saturday, we drove around the hills of Tuscany. From Selvatelle to Terricciola then to Peccioli and then stopped in the hilltop town of San Gimignano. We got out and walked around San Gimignano. It is famous for its many skyline of towers that were built in the 12th and 13th centuries. There is a cathedral, many shops, gelato places and restaurants. As you can see on the map, we went in a big circle. After San Gimignano, we drove on to Volterra. Then back up to Selvatelle.

That sounds like an awesome plan, Debbie. I hope you can do it! Yes, if opportunity opens up with the right itinerary and timing, we would book again. Being in the places where we have read from the Bible all these years would bring life and bring so much meaning not to mention so much emotion for me. Thank you for asking. We are doing fine generally. Marty has a reactive airway condition so that makes him cough a little still. We have not tested again. I’m kind of afraid to find out but curious at the same time. We need to get more Covid tests from a pharmacy. We didn’t bring enough of the free ones from home. Didn’t think we’d need it. Tomorrow, we leave from here and head to Lucca for a 2 day stay in a B&B place. I will post more pictures from our little excursion yesterday if you all are not tired of my pictures yet.

Today, 10/23 is the day that the ship docks in Ashdod, Israel where we would have done the Jerusalem and Bethlehem Tour (that includes Mount of Olives; Garden of Gethsemane; Mount Zion; Room of the Last Supper; Jaffa Gate; Church of the Holy Sepulchre; Via Dolorosa; Western Wall; Arab Souk; and Christian and Jewish Quarters). So sorry that we missed visiting your country, @dani negreanu. Even though it would have been hard to meet in person, I would have felt like we were close enough where I could reach out and touch you. At least, I would’ve waved to you from afar. Next time! The ship overnights in Jerusalem. Tomorrow, 10/24, would’ve been visit to the Dead Sea and Masada. 10/25 is stop in Haifa with a tour to the Biblical Galilee (visit to the Church of theAnnunciation in Nazareth; Mount of Beatitudes; the ruins of Capernaum; Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee).

We stayed one night in Pisa very close to the Leaning Tower. Looking out from our room. A very short walk to the Tower This is where we’re staying for 4 nights at the Hilton Grand Vacation Pisa Sunrise been cloudy in the mornings

That day in Civitavecchia was beautiful. It was perfect weather. Lunch at the same restaurant we ate at six years ago. Sunset There she is the next morning. I can see our stateroom.

Exactly. What is the point. DH got his 2nd booster and flu shot at the same time on both arms a few weeks ago. Makes you wonder. I remember talking about that. We were sorry you had to cancel. Was looking forward to meeting you.

Now for Part 2 story of my trip. First of all, challenges never run in short supply for me. They do not seem to end. After we arrived in Civitavecchia, we checked into our hotel. We took out the Covid Test Kits and self tested. The results showed Positive for both DH and me. How could this be happening? For a couple days, I had a sore throat but I thought it was due to all the cigarette smoke from so many people smoking. I had a little runny nose but it felt like I had a very mild cold. That was all. DH had a cough but that was it. Now all these thoughts are running through my head. We can’t go. We’d have to cancel our cruise. We figured we had to go to the Pharmacy to get tested and get documentation for the results. We would need these for if we have to cancel and get full refund. Ugh. We went to the Pharmacy but it was closed but would open back up at 4:30PM. So we went back then and got tested. These were uncomfortable brain ticklers. Sure enough, after having avoided the plaque for almost 3 years, the Rona finally caught up with us. We informed our TA who was on this cruise also. We sent him the documentations and he started the process for the full refund for us. Meanwhile, we still have the Transatlantic to deal with. Because it’s a separate booking, we could not cancel that cruise without us testing Positive for it. So what do we do for 12 days? We have to hang around! But we have to isolate at the same time. We had to somehow make lemonade out of lemons and we decided to go to Pisa. We’d wear our masks. We stayed one night in Pisa. Then we found there is a Hilton Grand Vacation in Pisa, out in the country. Thankfully, they had 4 days available for just when we needed it. The last room available! So we booked it. Rented a car and drove to the Hilton. It is not the same Hilton Grand Vacations like in Las Vegas or Hawaii. Lol. Only condos with kitchenette. No free breakfast, no restaurants and no other amenities on property. Just your basic condo. That’s fine. We just want a place to isolate and relax and maybe just drive around the country side. We went to the local grocery store. Got some food to make for all our meals for the days we are here. We are now planning what to do after Hilton. I have no more symptoms- no sore throat, cough or runny nose. DH still has a little bit of cough. We won’t test again until 10/29. Hopefully we will test Negative by then. It was really tough to see our friends leaving to board Odyssey while we got left behind. It all just seemed so unreal.

Bob, thank you so much! It is all thanks to the new iPhone 14 Pro. It is quite a step up for me from the iPhone 6S. That was from 2015. LOL. Finally, it was time for me to upgrade. I really didn’t have a chance to take any pictures with it until after I got to Florence because I was in no condition to play around with it before that at home. I am pretty happy with it and still learning especially taking night time pictures. I probably need to sign up for some Genius classes so I can learn a thing or two about this phone.

In summary, we had a very nice time in Florence. We really enjoyed the rich history of this city. There was so much to see and take in. Everyday, I clocked in about 12K to 15K steps. It is no wonder why I was so tired and hurting by the end of the day. At this point, I was really looking forward to boarding the ship, unpack everything once and just relax. It is morning of 10/18, we checked out of our hotel and took the train to Rome so we could transfer to the regional train to Civitavecchia. The train was delayed and the platform to take the regional train was what seemed like a mile away. All the people that had to transfer literally had to run to catch this train. I had to hop to it, too. We made it to that train with literally 0 seconds to spare or we would’ve missed it. We made it to Civitavecchia!

Sunday morning before we went to the cathedral for mass, DH went to the Galleria Della Academia. I did not go because I did not feel like I could walk very much without much pain. He took pictures of the famous statue of David, some other statues and some paintings.

Thank you for your kind words, MJ. I’m glad you enjoy the pictures and they bring you back to simpler times with fond memories. I hope you’ll get to go back someday. We did not go to the Boboli Gardens. It would have been too much for me to walk it and I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy it. Thank you for your understanding of sciatica pain. It is very hard to deal with. Wish it was like a headache. Take a Tylenol and it goes away. 🙂