Sorrento to Pompeii to Rome. Step count: 9690

Another 6am wake up today. Although the girls and I were all awake by 5:30 am today. We packed up our luggage and left it inside the door in our room as we headed down to breakfast at 7:45 am. The porter came and gathered our luggage and took it to the bus for us. A very nice touch. We had a fantastic buffet breakfast again at the hotel and then headed out to meet the group for a quick transfer to our coach for the day. Today we drove from Sorrento to Pompeii for a guided tour. Pompeii was actually build in the 7th century AD and then was taken over by the Romans when they conquered it. In 79 AD, when Mount Vesuvius erupted, it created a 34km cloud of ash and poisonous gases. The town was covered in ash and the roofs of the homes could not support the weight so the roofs collapsed and crushed people under the weight. The other people who were killed here, died from breathing in the noxious gas. Many of the castings discovered have the their hands over their mouths as they were trying to keep from breathing in the poison. In 1748 a farmer was digging to look for rocks to build with and the beginning of the unearthing of Pompeii began. At first they were just looking for valuables and treasures and later archeologist searched for things from a more historical perspective.. Currently about 3/5 of the town has been discovered and 2/5 is still being excavated. We actually saw archeologist digging and sifting through a part of the site looking for new relics. Everything we saw was original. Nothing has been reproduced. Mount Vesuvius last erupted in 1944. It is said that it erupts about every 50 years, it has now been 80. The locals don’t like to talk about the volcano as it considered bad luck. Pompeii is one of the top three tourist attractions in Italy. By the time we left, there was a much larger number of people than when we had arrived. We had a few moments to grab our souvenir magnet and then meet the group to take the bus to lunch. We ate lunch at the Tiberius restaurant and had a great meal. We were then back on the bus for the approximately 3 hour drive from Pompeii to Rome. This was an opportunity for many to take a siesta. It was also the opportunity for me to finally get all caught up on my blog. The pace of the tour is definitely regimented. We have some free afternoons coming up and we look forward to venturing out on our own. I will also take a few minutes here to let you know I tore my plantar fascia tendon exactly one week before we left for this trip. I am currently in a walking cast and a, hobbling my way around Italy. It has definitely been an additional challenge I was not expecting, but I am keeping up and rallying through. We arrived at our hotel in Rome around. 4:30p. We are staying at the Hotel W a Marriot Bonvoy property. They were extremely efficient on getting us all checking into our rooms and getting us our luggage. Valerie opted to take a long shower and Megan and I went to enjoy about an hour at the rooftop pool. Then we popped back down to our room to get ready for our 6:45pm dinner reservation. We had to walk just a couple blocks to the Aurora resteraunt. This evening we were handed their dining menu and were told we could pick any three items off the menu. There were about 100 items to choose from, appetizers, pasta dishes, fish dishes, meat dishes, pizzas and dessert. We had quite a variety of dishes and we all got to sample from each others. We had the pleasure of enjoying the company of our new friends, the other two teenagers, their grandmother and our soon to be neighbor from Santa Cruz. It was a wonderful evening and we just got back to the hotel. It’s 9:30pm and we are winding down. We don’t have to meet the tour group until 8:45am tomorrow. Breakfast starts at 7:00am so we can sleep in a little. We are looking forward to it. Can’t wait to share tomorrows travels with you then.

This morning the alarm went off way too early at 6:00am. We were up and ready to head down to breakfast at 6:45am. The hotel has an amazing breakfast buffet. There was several different cakes, pastries, croissants, fresh baked bread, fruit, cheese and meats. There was also a make your own omelette station and pretty much anything else you could desire. Being a bit jet lagged we were most excited about the coffee. We met up with the tour group at 7:30am so we could get an early start as we had about an hour drive to Ravello on the Amalfi coast. Along the scenic drive we took a stop to take photos of Positano and had a lovely experience with the roadside fruit stand and its staff. We purchased some delicious Bruschetta mix and some peaches. The man at the fruit stand washed the fruit for us and provided us with napkins. In Italy it is not acceptable to touch the fruit you want to purchase, instead you point and they grab it for you. We passed many orchards of lemon trees and orange trees. We also saw many grooves of olive trees. Along the bottom of the trees there were nets rolled up ready for the harvest in the fall. They unroll the nets and shake the tress so the olives will drop. Our next stop was the beach town of Amalfi. We visited Saint Andrew’s church. We climbed the 63 steps from the center of the piazza to the top of the church where the original bronze doors are still standing. The remain’s of the apostle are interred here in the catacombs. There were many historical relics inside the church and it was beautifully presented. After the visit in the church, we had some free time to walk around the town of Amalfi. We visited some shops and picked up a couple of souvenirs. We also purchased some locally made limoncello. We mentally picked a few items we want to purchase and will have the opportunity to come back to Amalfi and our next stop of Ravello in a couple of weeks when we return here for my son’s wedding. When we arrived at Ravello we went to a family owed restaurant for lunch. Another multi course gastronomy adventure complete with wine. An older woman, probably the owner, who we fondly called Nonna, kept coming by to check on the four young ladies to make sure they had enough to eat and to offer to bring them more. It was reminiscent of my own grandmother. She brought them some cherries that she said were from her garden and then appeared again a few movements later with a bag of peaches and more cherries for them to take with us. By the time we left we were hugging and kissing each other on the cheek goodbye. We can’t wait to surprise her with a return visit later in the month. After lunch we had some free time and Megan and I ventured to the vista point of the sea. It was 90 steps each way and the view was breathtaking. Valerie waited for us on the church steps in the center of town. Lastly, we ventured up the hill further to see where we will be staying when we come back. It was a trek up another large number of stairs through cobbblestones streets. But the increased elevation also made for an even better view. I am looking forward to having time to sit on the veranda, drink a glass of wine and relax the day away. We returned back to the bus for the long drive back to Sorrento. We got back around 3:00pm and decided it was time to visit the rooftop pool at the hotel. We got a chance to relax, swim, and we all got in some reading. We were on our own for dinner tonight so we opted to visit the restaurant right next door. We enjoyed some fabulous homemade pastas and one of the best lasagnas I have ever had. As the girls are old enough to drink here, we all had the opportunity to share a bottle of wine. Very strange sharing a drink with my daughters. It was a really nice experience and I can’t imagine anywhere better to have had this first experience with them than in Italy, drinking Italian wine. When we got back to the room after dinner we got all packed up so we could have our luggage ready for the early morning pick up. We all fell asleep almost before our heads even hit the pillow. We knew tomorrow was going to be another 6:00am morning. I was awakened at about 10:45pm from a fireworks display going off across the street from the hotel. The girls slept through it. I thought it was gunshots at first but then got to enjoy the tail end of the display. A nice surprise ending to a most memorable day in Italy.

Today we are on a new Merson family adventure. We are off on our first Tauck tour to Italy. We will be doing a multi day, multi city land tour. We have been on a whirlwind of events the last couple weeks surrounding and leading up to Valerie’s high school graduation. We chose to shorten our drive to San Francisco international airport by spending last night at our Santa Cruz house. We flew non stop from San Francisco to Rome. We had a delay in departure due to a lot of traffic in SF, our crew got to our flight late and it delayed our departure about 1 hour. I stressed the whole flight to Rome as we had a connecting flight to Naples. We had to high tail it to through the international terminal and into the domestic terminal passing through customs. We had 20 minutes from the time we landed till the time we were supposed to board. As we arrived just in time at our next departure gate, they announced our flight was delayed. So we had plenty of time after all. We finally arrived in Naples and met our car transfer who took us to Sorrento. It was about an hour away and along the way she stoped so we could take some scenic photos. We arrived at the hotel La Favorita and it was absolutely beautiful. We arrived about 5:30 pm and had 30 minutes to freshen up and get ready for our initial meet and greet with the other 22 people we will be spending the next two weeks with. We met our tour guide Laura who is from Napa, Ca. There are lots of couple from all over the US. Michigan, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania just to name a few. There is one young lady from Santa Cruz, Ca and I look forward to getting to know her more throughout the trip. There is also a grandmother traveling with her two 16 year old nieces. One has much in common in Valerie and the other with Megan. They are very polite, mature and personable. It will be wonderful to have them on our tour. After our meet and greet we walked a short distance around the corner for our first meal. It was a delicious four course Italian meal. I had stuffed Zucchini blossoms, a pasta dish, lamb and tiramisu for dessert. By the time we finished dinner we had been awake about 29 hours, I didn’t get to sleep on the plane and it is already the end of Sunday. We have a very early morning tomorrow so we were fast to sleep after all taking quick showers to wash off the days worth of travel. So happy to be back in Italy, it’s been about 38 years since I was last here as a young teenager.

Megan and I didn’t sleep very well our last night on the ship. I regularly have travel anxiety.  Always afraid I am going to forget something, oversleep, get stuck in traffic…  We got up and went and met Gail and Marty for our last meal and goodbyes at the Pinnacle Grill.  We promise to continue to stay in touch and hope to see each other soon.  Then we went back to the cabin for one last sweep of everything and then headed off the ship.  We saw may friends and crew on our way out.  We had several offers to take our suitcases back on the ship for us so we didn’t have to leave.  The port was crazy chaotic.  The Queen Mary was off loading their passengers and all of ours were disembarking to go on excursions.  We went up to the second floor to relax and let the crowd down a bit and to grab a coffee.  We messaged our car service to see if they were available for an early pick up and they were.  He arrived about 10:00am.  We went straight to our hotel, the Park Royal Pickering and got checked in.  Luckily our room was ready and we were able to move in early.  The heat and humidity are stifling here.  We opted to put on our bathing suits and to go and spend some time at the pool.  I dozed off for a bit and we both read for a while.  After we decided we had enough sun we went back to the room to cool down and take showers.  When we arrived back to our hotel Megan’s dressed had been delivered to out room after it’s further alterations were made and it fits perfectly.  We decided to take a walk around Singapore tonight. We headed to a wood fire pizza place that Megan had found on line and the food was delicious.  I had a coffee beer and Megan had a great berry Kombucha. Then we decided to walk to the Marina Bay Resort to see all the sights.  There was a water show at 8:00pm similar to the World of Color at Disneyland.  It was lovely, what I wouldn’t have given for there to have been a splash zone.  Then we decided to try and B-line to the Gardens by the Bay for their light show at 8:45pm.  We ran into our friends from the ship, Kit and Tim, after a quick hug and goodbye again, we made our way to the Gardens.  Unfortunately, since today was Earth Day, the local community practiced an hour of little to no electricity tonight from 8:30pm to 9:30pm so they didn’t give the performance at the Garden.  We then took the 30 minute walk back to the hotel.  It was still really humid and 83 degrees on our way back and we were absolutely melting.  We stopped at a 7 eleven on the way to get some more water.  We got back to the hotel around 10:00pm and felt like we really had seen a great deal of the city.  This morning I woke up early and went to the gym for an hour and then came home and got Megan up.  We headed to the lobby restaurant for our included breakfast buffet. They had food from around the world, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, English, and American.  Along with tons of pastries, fresh fruit and hot beverages.  I had miso soup with vegetables, a couple of Bao Buns, and some fresh fruit.  Then we decided to take some more down time since it was still so warm out and we went to the pool again for a bit.  Around noon we headed back to the room to get dressed and we took a cab to the shops at the Marina Bay Resort.  Three levels of some really nice, high end shops, lots of food places, and fantastic air conditioning.  We picked this location because google said there was a Ferrari apparel store here, but it is no longer here.  We were told it closed around Covid times and never re-opened.  It’s o.k. we found plenty of other places to shop. We spent a few hours here and then decided to head back to the hotel.  We took a cab back to the Park Royal to rehydrate and make plans for the evening.  We decided to walk to the Lau Pa Sat food emporium.  This historical building houses Singapore cuisine and international food from all over the world.  There is even a Satay Street with several different stalls selling Satay.  We ate Bao Buns, seafood dumpling, noodles and of course satay (Chicken, Beef and squid).  They were all delicious.  It was an amazing food experience, and it was completely immersive.  In all the places we chose to eat tonight, what are the odds we run into two people we knew.  One was a guest of a crew member while we were on the ship and the second was the tailor lady Roxanne from the ship who got off and was waiting to go to the airport for a late night flight to head back to Hong Kong.  They both ended up at the Lau Pa Sat for dinner at the same time as us.  We ate so much and it was only fitting that we walked back too.  It was only about 15 minutes each way, but in the 80+ degree humidity it felt a bit longer.  We are happily now back in our hotel cooling off and rehydrating again.  We are hoping for a good nights sleep and then we have plans for tomorrow. I will tell you all about them tomorrow. Blessings!!

It’s our last day on the Ms Zuiderdam. And as the song goes….all our bags and I’m ready to go. Well my bags are ready to go but I am not. At the conclusion of last years WC, I was ready to go home and hug my loved ones and be back in my own space. 24 days was not enough for me to get to that place this year. We slept in a bit this morning as it was difficult getting up after setting of our clocks ahead an hour last night. We made it to project Linus and tuned in our second and final blanket. I had been working on one as well and I passed it back to Marty to finish to finish it, my Vietnam bus ride blanket. We stayed until close to 11:00am and then we went to the Main dining room for a farewell Mariner’s brunch. It was nice to see all the illustrious staff again and it wasn’t good bye yet, as there was a second event this afternoon. Then it was time to go home and do “the deed”. Packing time. We are 100% of the way done at the time of this writing. All our bags we do not wish to carry off tomorrow, must be put outside in the hallway by midnight tonight and they will be waiting for us in the terminal when we disembark tomorrow. We will each take off our carry ons with our last. minute toiletries, valuables and government issued documents along with our last couple of outfits. We are not heading straight to the airport, we are blessed to get to spend a few nights in Singapore so we don’t quite have to worry about the weight distribution for a few days. We spent the rest of the early afternoon cleaning, Megan read, and I researched all the places we want to visit while we are in Singapore. At 4:30pm we had a farewell reception in the Rolling Stone Lounge. They prepared a lovely photo montage from the beginning of the cruise till now as many of the passengers disembarking tomorrow have been on since January, a total of 80 days. We met two families in the last few days who had been on since September and October. That’s a really LONG time. I shed a few tears this afternoon, as you may well know, I absolutely HATE goodbyes, even if we try to say see you later, it is still a goodbye. I know there will be more water works in the next 24 hours, good thing I don’t wear mascara. We had our final dinner this evening with our dear friends Gail and Marty in the main dining room. Lots of hugs were given to crew members and we wished one another safe travels and hoped we would see each other again soon. We made plans to have breakfast in the Pinnacle with Gail and Marty at 7:30ish. My alarm is set for one last workout at 5:30am. Our luggage is in the hallway now and we are ready for bed. parting is always such sweet sorrow. But we have many loved ones at home that miss us terribly and whom we miss. They anxiously await our return. I hope to continue to blog during our time in Singapore. We hope to share with you all of the wonderful things we get to see while we are there as well. Good night from off the coast of Singapore. Hugs!!

Today was our last port of this journey for us. I guess technically we do have one more stop, but we get off there and then we are on our own for excursions, and food, and laundry…Yuck reality. But for today, it was an early morning. We met our excursion group at 7:00am this morning in the Main Stage. We were off for a tour today called A Taste of Vietnamese Cooking. We had a ninety minute bus ride from Phu My to Saigon. Saigon is also called Ho Chi Minh City. Our tour guide told us the Vietnamese prefer to call it Saigon so I will call it that out of respect for their wishes. Along the way he told us about Vietnamese history and about his family. He spent a great deal of time talking about how they eat dog and cat and how it is best to consume it, with rice wine, but it made me a little uncomfortable. In fact he had a very heavy accent and for the first 10 minutes of the conversation I thought he was talking about duck..but I was incorrect. I respect that they are from a different culture and you have to do what you need to, to survive. I also had the opportunity to get some crocheting done on our travels. When we arrive in Saigon we met our guides from the Saigon Culinary Art Center. She took us around the market and introduced us to local fruits, vegetables, meat, seafood, coffee, and spices. It was interesting to see how they barter for products everyday to feed their families and for their businesses. They don’t keep much day to day, they shop every day for what they need. After we toured the market we headed to the Culinary Center for cooking class. We prepared a pork chop with marinade, a fresh salad with home made dressing, spring rolls, and two dipping sauces. All the food prep was done for us, we only got to add the ingredients together and follow along with our instructor. Next, all the food we prepared was cooked and we got to eat what we made. Everything was delicious and Megan and I were excited to actually be cooking today. Even if it was with about 50 people. We love to cook and it was a lot of fun. Our crew member and friend Dali from the Shore Excursion Department was there with us and we got to catch up and spend some time with him. After we left the Center we had some free time and a passenger had requested our guide to stop at a local embroidery shop. The work these artisans create is phenomenal. the highlights and shadows creates by using different colors of embroidery floss was the most impressive I have ever seen. Huge pieces that hang on the wall all the way down to handkerchiefs with a small flower on them. Megan and I selected a framed Orchid piece that reminded us of Hawaii and it will be a wonderful souvenir for us to remember Vietnam by. I can’t wait to hang it when I get home. We then had a ninety minute bus ride back to the ship. Megan and I both had the opportunity to take a bit of a nap on the way back. There was some locals selling stuff at the pier when we returned that weren’t there when we left this morning. We picked up some Vietnamese coffee because we were excited to try it. Megan did a report on it for her agricultural class while doing her studies here on board. We heard it is pretty strong. I think we will wait to try it until we get home. We got back to our cabins and sent out our last bag of laundry, did some packing, showered and then Megan read and I wrote my blog. We are in the home stretch of our time on the Zuiderdam. Tonight we had dinner with our friends Brad and Dale from the 2020 world cruise. They live in Tahoe and Florida both and are huge Disney fans like we are. We went to the Canaletto for some Italian food tonight. We had only been there once this trip and it was fun to get to go a second time. We will have our last dinner with Gail and Marty tomorrow. We were so glad to have gotten to spend as much time with them as we did. Tonight we will set our clocks ahead one hour so we are on Singapore time. That will make my 5:30am wake up now 4:30am. I may need a nap tomorrow. We’re snuggled in for tonight and we hope for a fast night of amazing sleep. Hugs!!

After an especially long day yesterday it was most glorious to have a sea day today. I opted for the extra rest over the gym this morning. We slept in till 7:30am and then we started our day. We went to the Pinnacle Grill for breakfast and then headed to Project Linus. I stayed until about 10:15 and then at 10:00 Megan scooted off to play Mahjong. I have a special kitchen tour today that was similar to the one I had the other day, only this one concluded with bloody Mary’s and appetizers. I got to talk to Captain Friso for the first time and I look forward to seeing him and hopefully Chantal later this afternoon. Then I headed back to the cabin to start writing my thank you notes to all the crew who have touched our lives during this time on the ship. I like to leave them a little something and tell them personally how much I appreciate everything they do for us. Then we had our mandatory monthly muster drills and safety meetings. Even though we did it when we boarded, it was required we do it again with the rest of the guests that are staying on. Then it was time for arts and crafts. I met with Gail at the Lido and we made fabric pouches that will be a lovely gift. I made a couple of them as they had extra supplies and she did not wish to take them off the ship with her. Then it was time for a Mariner’s event for all the passengers that are disembarking in Singapore. We got to visit with some of our most favorite staff members on the ship and we finally got to give Chantal a big hug and welcome her on board. Awards and medallions were given to this who have earned them during their time here on board. I am two nights away from my next level and Megan is twelve. Next time! The tiers are based on nights you have spent on any Holland America Ship ranging from 100-700 nights. We received our bronze medals in 2020 and I am close to the next tier, silver, at 300 nights. Today we pulled out our suitcases and we started to pack a little. I don’t want to leave it all till the last Sea Day because, as you can tell from today, they can be extremely busy. I NEVER have a chance to get bored on the World Cruise. There are always places to be, things to do, things to see, and people to visit with. It is why I love cruising so much. This even we had the Tamarind pop up again in the Pinnacle Grill with Gail and Marty. We had a lovely meal and thoroughly enjoyed our time with our dear friends. We’re back home for the night and ready for our excursion tomorrow at our last port of our trip. Alarm is set for 6:00am and we meet our tour group at 7:00am. Can’t wait to tell you all about our adventures for tomorrow.

Good Morning Vietnam! O.K., that’s how our guide started our tour today, so I couldn’t resist. I was up early so I could go to the gym before our excursion today. Got back to the cabin to stir Megan so we could grab our quick breakfast at the Neptune Lounge and then we were off to meet our group. Today was our last tour with the amazing Cruise Specialists team. They put together some amazing tours for us and they are tried and true to always give up the best experiences. After some conversation about dress code for today because of some of the sights we were visiting, I opted to stay in shorts and tank top and bring along anything to cover up later as required. I traveled with a scarf to cover my head, a sarong to cover my knees and a light sweatshirt to cover my shoulders. I always want to respect the culture of other places we go and I rather be prepared above all else. Today was hot and humid and we consumed a lot of water to keep ourselves hydrated. We had a three hour bus ride to the Hue (pronounced Hway) the old capital of Vietnam. Along the way today there was a lot of information given about the history of Vietnam. The relationship between the U.S. and Vietnam. The rebuilding of Vietnam after the US military base was dismantled and about their relationship between north and south Vietnam. We had to cross the DMZ as we were in both areas today. We drove over an amazing bridge called the dragon bridge, drove through a 6 km tunnel, passed by many rice fields, saw wild water buffalo just wandering the roads, and rode on the same highway that has been the main road through Vietnam for many years and throughout much of Vietnam history. Our first stop was the Tu Duc Tomb. As we got closer to the tomb we saw many roadside stands selling incense that is taken to the temples and shrines to burn. I had never seen this type of colorful display of incense before. Tu Duc was the longest reigning emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty. His tomb is here, but they said his body was not actually in it. For fear of grave robbers, the place of his true remains stays hidden. The number of cicadas at this location were the loudest I have ever heard. I have heard them in New Jersey when I was growing up as a kid, but these were so loud! There are wooden guards guarding the gate there that are short, as they could not be taller then the emperor, and the they have vast details even down to the facial hair. From here we ventured to a lovely restaurant and had a delicious lunch. It was one of the best meals we had had off the ship. Everything was delicious, served with great hospitality and the restaurant had air conditioning!! After lunch we drove to the bank of the Perfume River and took a ride on a dragon boat up the river to the Thien Mu Pagoda. There were locals selling their good on the boat as we traveled. But Megan and I opted to stay seated on the front of the boat near the “captain” and love on his super cute and very “fluffy” chihuahua. It made for a sweet ride. The Pagoda is a revered Buddhist Shrine and it is also the tallest building in Hue measuring 70 feet high. It was built in 1601. Then we arrived at the Pagoda and our tour guide took us around the grounds and then gave us some free time to walk around. We were quite warm at this point of the day and we felt like we were melting. So Megan and I found shady place on the grass, I took off my shoes and socks and just enjoyed the feeling of the cool grass under my feet. We layed in the grass, looked up into the blue sky, breathed in the air and felt a peaceful presence. Maybe if was the fact it was Buddhist area, maybe it was the relaxation of being on vacation, maybe it was the respite from the sun in the shade, but it felt absolutely wonderful to just take a moment and be in that place at that exact moment in time. Love it when I have those moments. Our next stop was the Citadel and the inner area of the Citadel known as “The Purple Hidden City. Many of the Citadel walls still contain bullet holes from the Vietnam war. Only 10 of the 160 original building remain, but they are slowing restoring this sight back to it original grandeur little by little. We learned about the concubines and how the emperor was unsuccessful in having any heirs to pass on his rule to (despite his hundreds of concubines). Here it is still acceptable for men to have multiple wives, but women are only permitted to be faithful to one man. Not my belief system, so I am glad I don’t live in Vietnam. Our last stop was to the Dong Ba Market. A local market when people come to shop for everything you could imagine. Our guide told us the go out for street food every morning for breakfast and that the shop daily for the groceries. It was a huge maze in a large factory styled building. It reminded me of the markets in Morocco that go on for blocks and blocks. We saw so many new and amazing things. Smelled unique smells. Saw such beautiful colored produce and foods that are foreign to us. Then it was time to get back on the bus and head back to the ship. Lastly, it is hard not to talk about the number of scooters that are here in Vietnam. The most I saw was five people on one scooter. A whole family, mother, father, and three children. Children can drive their own scooters at 16 and cars at 18 here. You must be VERY careful when you step off a curb here. There are way more of them than there were of us. Some drive slow and some drive fast, but they are everywhere. It was a very long day. We were exhausted by the end of excursion. We got back to our room and instantly ordered room service, you can order food from the main dining room until 9:00pm and we had about 20 minutes to spare. My favorite entree, Peruvian Chicken was on the main dining room menu tonight, so we ordered it for delivery. We took heavenly showers to wash off the long day of sweat and dust and crawled into bed. I had a bit of a stuffy nose I believe due to the temperature changes from the hot outside and the very cool bus. It has happened to me before and that is why I always have a sweatshirt no matter how hot it is outside. The only thing we forgot today that I wish we had, was bug repellant. I got a couple of mosquito bites today and we will be sure to take it with us when we have our other port in Vietnam in a couple of days. Tomorrow is a sea day and we have a couple of activities on the calendar. But you will have to wait to hear about that until tomorrow. Good nigh to you all!!

Last night we said goodbye to China as we left the port in Hong Kong and are now making our way to Vietnam. We get to enjoy a sea day today as we make our way there. Since we got to set our clocks back an hour last night we were able to get some extra sleep. My alarm went off at 4:30am ship time and I rest it for an hour later and went back to sleep till my normal 5:30am. I was up and out the gym for my morning workout. Then I came home and stirred Megan so we could go to the Pinnacle Grill for breakfast this morning. We hadn’t been in a while so it was nice getting to say hi to everyone. After breakfast we headed to project Linus. We turned in our first completed blanket. We are almost done with a second one and will get it completed before we get off the ship. We each made two granny squares and we attached them together to make blanket. That way we could both be working on it at the same time. After Linus this morning we headed to the Atrium on deck 1 and met Shiv for a Laundry tour. This was a most fascinating tour today. There are 24 people who work in the laundry department and they working in 12 hours shifts, 24 hours a day. They meet the needs of every employee, dining room, pool, spa, and guest for the entire ship. We saw every step that they take to ensure everything is done efficiently and correctly. We met the tailor and his staff who meet all the sewing needs. Saw the inventory of all the uniforms and shoes for every employee on the ship. Saw the wash room where a 400 pound capacity washing machine runs constantly with sheets and towels. All the way down to smaller machine used for passenger laundry. And yes, they do sort our laundry into darks, whites and reds just like at home. The machine they use to press the sheets also dries them and folds them all in one machine. It was quite impressive. I am glad we took the tour. I feel like I have learned so much more about the workings of the ship this trip than cruises I’ve done in the past. After our tour Megan went to play Mahjong and I went to the pool to get a little more sun and to read my book. Then I headed back to the cabin to help and encourage Megan through some school work and I took some time to start this blog post for today. I finished my last crochet square and got our immigration paperwork ready for our visit tomorrow in Vietnam and started to think about packing. I’m not quite there yet, but the day after tomorrow we have another sea day and I will sadly pull the suitcases out from under the bed and start packing. We will not need any more of our winter clothes for the rest of time here in Asia. We are heading into 80 degree weather tomorrow and it will stay that way until we board our place to head home from Singapore. Our room stewards have stepped up our towel animal creatures they leave for us recently. We have had a different one every day the last few days. I love the tradition in it and it always makes me smile. We had dinner tonight with Gail and Marty in the Main Dining room again. I love spending time with them and our time with them is coming close to end. Tonight the server ask how we were related tonight. I said we weren’t, just very good friends. I realize that to new passengers they must automatically assume we are family since we spend so much time together. I’m o.k. with that. They practically are family to us and I am touched people think we are. We are back in the cabin for the night. We are getting ready for a long excursion in relatively warm weather tomorrow. Shorts and a tank top for me and a sweatshirt to keep me warm on the bus. They always keep them so cold. Marty was kind enough to give me some more yarn and blanket to work on, on our bus ride for tomorrow so I can keep busy while we travel. I don’t even have to finish it before I get off the ship. If I don’t get it done he will take it back and wrap it up for me. Yea!! Sweet dreams to you all from the middle of the South China Sea, and a good morning to you there in the USA.

Hello from Hong Kong Day 2. May I be one of the first to wish you a Happy St. Patrick’s Day. As you are reading this I will have had my celebrations in Hong Kong and yours are just beginning. After our Sushi and Saki last night we slept so hard. But sadly, we had to sleep very fast. Our excursion met at 7:45am this morning. So it was up and ready, coffee and a bowl of Raisin Bran and we were off to the Main Stage to meet our group. Today we started our tour of Hong Kong at a Taoist Temple in the heart of Hong Kong. Today was a lot of viewing the old and historical with the new and improved in the same photo. Many old and decrepit parts of the city have been removed in the last 20 years. Those space have been replaced with high rises. But the old temples, monasteries, and historical sights remain right in the middle of them all. You’ll see a lot of that in my photos from today. We saw a hug section of government housing near the Temple. The plan is to place people needing housing in these temporary housing areas for three years while more housing in being built. Our guide said the new housing won’t be ready for six years, so it is highly likely they will been in the temporary structures longer than the projected three years. I will add that near the cruise terminal there is a ton of empty, temporary housing that was built for those who were quarantined during COVID. The government built and provided housing to those who were ill and now those structures all sit empty. Just a suggestion to the people of Hong Kong, maybe house some people there for now as well. While at the Temple Megan and I got paparazzi’d big time today. First two woman asked for a photo, and then two others, and then four, and I finally said, “O.K. only 1 more photo”. We only had about 20 minutes to see the temple and we needed to get moving along. It was cute and they were kind, I even made them take a photo with my camera too so we had the memory. Then we got back on the bus and headed to Nan Lian Garden. There is a beautiful Nunnery here and historical shrines. They are unique in that there were built out of wood using no nails at all. It was built using dovetail, several types of lenon, and inverted V-shaped braces. It is definitely an architectural accomplishment. The gardens around it are meticulously manicured. We watched an employee sweeping up leaves as they were still falling from above her from the tree. She was patiently sweeping them up as they continued to fall. Next, we went to the Kowloon Walled City Park. Our guide described how this part of Kowloon used to be the slums of Kowloon. Filled with crime, gangs and prostitution. It was surrounded by a large wall and even police officers did not dare enter this part of Kowloon. The walls have been taken down and the original structures removed. It has been tuned into a park with some original pieces to remind the city of the past and how far they have come. Our last stop of the day was to see the flower wholesalers and bird park. The orchids I saw today make me wish I could take the all home to California. They thrive here in the warm and humid climate. The bird park is a place where people to their birds for “a walk”as a lot of people in Hong Kong live in government housing they are restricted to what pets they may own. He said he lives in a 400 square foot apartment with 6 people and there is no place for a dog anyway. So residents bring their birds here and they hang them on a tree in the cages and they “hang out”. There is also a huge shopping area for everything you could possibly image you would need as a bird owner. You can even buy a bird here. It felt a little strange seeing so many birds in cages, but it is the culture here. We were back on the ship by about 1:00pm today. Megan and I put on our swimsuits and went and enjoyed some sun in the back deck of the Zuiderdam. About 2:30 they started setting up for the sail away party that began at 3:30pm. We decided it got too loud and too crowded for our tastes so we heading home for another attire change. I headed to the gym and Megan went and took a run around deck three where the track is. Then home for showers and yet another outfit change. We are eternally grateful for unlimited complimentary laundry on days like today. We headed to join Gail and Marty in the Main Dining Room for dinner. Tonight it was Irish tradition overload. I had Potato soup, corned beef and cabbage with mashed potatoes and carrots, and Bailey Irish cream cheesecake for dessert. I am happy to say this is my third St. Patrick’s Day aboard a World Cruise and the food has gotten better every year. Our conversation lasted until 9:00pm and by the time we wrapped up dinner we decided we were ready for sleep. Two days of excursions and many steps through Hong Kong and we are exhausted. We get to set our clocks back an hour this evening so we will get an extra hours of sleep. That is fantastic. Happy Saint Patrick’s Day to all of my American readers. I hope you have a wonderful day of celebration. Have a green beer, enjoy some traditional fare. I send you this Irish proverb to close; “May the saddest day of your future be no worse than the happiest day of your past.”