My Best Holiday Ever    Part One

Sorry for the delay in sending pictures of our trip.  We needed several weeks to get back to normal and then I had to go through about 2,000 pictures to pick out the best of each area.  The above has to be one of my favorite postcards of all time!  It also has started a love affair with camels!!!

ROME

Our first full day in Rome was spent catching up on our sleep and exploring where we were staying.  We picked a bed and breakfast that was 3 long blocks from Termini Station.....it was pretty quiet and in a lovely neighbourhood with several good restaurants.  This is the view from our room:

The weather was unexpectedly quite hot (in the 80's) while we were there so it took a toll on our exploring. This is our third time to Rome, so we tried to see some of the sites that we missed on previous visits plus revisited some sites as well.

The Coliseum

The Forum

The area where Julius Caesar was assassinated

We said farewell to Rome, sadly, but at the same time were very excited to start our cruise!

Our ship, the Ocean Princess

It is such a pleasure to not have to worry about where to eat (the only problem is saying no to all the perfect offerings) or where to sleep (room is cleaned every day and chocolates left)!  We were very pleased with our accommodations on this trip........it was a smaller ship (only about 650 passengers and 350 staff) so that it could manoeuver the Suez Canal.  We ate dinner at the same table every night and were so lucky to have such lovely people at our table!!!  We looked forward to our dinner every night as much as we looked forward to each day's excursions!  On with the tour.......

SORRENTO,ITALY

Doug went to Sorrento while I stayed on the ship suntanning (funnily, this was the only day that I suntanned as the rest of the trip was either too busy with excursions or too hot for me........an average of 33C degrees to 38C degrees for the most part of the trip)

Sorrento is lovely and one of many beautiful spots along the Amalfi Coast......nearby is Pompeii, Naples, Capri:

Harbor of Sorrento

Beautiful villas 

Central Sorrento

Our second night at sea, we had quite rough seas.....I was swallowing motion sickness pills like mints and I am usually  not bothered by this.  It lasted all night and the following  morning.....all elevators were stopped so if you wanted to eat, you had to take the stairs.  Luckly, we were only a floor away from the main dining room!  That was the only night that we had any problem and from then on , everyday was sunny and very warm to hot!!

ATHENS

We arrived in Athens the day before they had a GENERAL STRIKE!!  We were very lucky to miss that.

View from our ship in Piraeus Harbour*

 (* denotes photos shot by one of our tablemates)


We started out early and missed the large crowds going to the Acropolis.  We had heard that there was a lift for disabled people but could not use it going up unless you had a wheelchair, which I did not  (you'll see it later). I decided to walk up anyway.  It is actually a very gradual climb.......about 88 steps made out of stone:

Some of the many stray dogs living here

 But it is worth the climb!!!

The Parthenon

No matter how many times that you see a photo of this, it still takes your breath away when you are actually there!

Temple of Erecthion

The porch of the maidens or Caryotids

We were told that the Acropolis site is only about 20% excavated.........there is evidence everywhere of
 many other structures:

The views are amazing as well:

It is amazing to see how often ancient ruins are in the middle of a modern day neighbourhood.

Upon leaving the Acropolis, we decided to check out the disabled lift.  Here it is:

.........and yes, we did take it down but it was still one third from the bottom, so we climbed down the rest.

There is a beautiful new museum that has just opened in 2009.  It is located at the bottom of the Acropolis and is constructed right over a large area of ruins.  The ruins, themselves, are visible with glass walls covering the base where the ruins are.   It is absolutely amazing...............see info on it :
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/06/19/arts/20090620-acropolis-slideshow_index.html

Well, that's it for today.............I will continue tomorrow



Hugs

A Trip for the Senses

We are leaving tomorrow for a holiday which starts with 5 days in Rome, Italy and then proceeds to a cruise for 28 days......................from Rome we go to Greece (Athens, Turkey (Ephesus), then travel through the Suez Canal and on to Egypt (Luxor), Jordan (Aqaba). Dubai, Oman (Muscat), India ( Mumbai and Cochin), Kuala Lumpur, and 3 days in Singapore.  On our return flight, we fly from Singapore and have a 7 hour layover in Shanghai, so will try and do a little tour while there.

This is a dream trip for both of us, so we are very excited............such exotic locations!!!  I only wish that my health was better but I know that when I am in all those wonderful places that I will forget how I feel and it also goes without saying that shopping is a great pain killer (except for the wallet, that is).

I will send photos when I return and also tidbits of the experiences. The only experience that I am not looking forward to is the 9 hour trip to London and 5 hours later to Rome!!  Wish us well!!!

Hugs,

Snow White, squirrels, and a lot of work!!!

When I was a little girl, I wanted to be 'Snow White' and live in the forest with all the birds and animals..........well, thirteen years ago, we moved to an acreage on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada and suddenly, we were living in a forest setting with all the birds and small animals that I could want.  Our property is 5 acres but only about half an acre is landscaped..........the rest is natural forest.  We have regular visits from deer, birds of all sorts including wild turkeys and eagles, small lizards and garter snakes...............there are even sitings in the winter of black bear and cougar!!

But the greatest entertainment for us as we sit on our deck are our squirrels!!!  They love to steal sunflower seeds from the birds but they all have an equal opportunity for filling up!!  Here is a  video that my husband took of one of our 'special squirrels.......she is very talented!!

My garden has been a labor of love and it is always a work in progress.....this year I was not able to do much work in the garden but hired some students to help weed and my dear husband did the watering this year.....this is amazing because we have a mixed marriage..........I love to garden and he doesn't!!

Anyway, here is a tour of our garden:

Some of my favorites:

Finally, it is wonderful to reap the benefits of a flower garden and orchard (we have cherries, apples, plums, pears, peaches, grapes, and figs)

But now, it is time to start putting all the yard to bed for winter.............before you know it, it will be spring soon again.

Finally, I'm back!

Sorry that I haven't posted for awhile but I have been under the weather.....in fact, unable to sit for any length of time so hard  to work on the computer!  I am slowly trying to catch up on all the blogs that I follow and emails.

Thought that I would show you some items that I purchased recently:

First, some very cute fashion logos to use on purses, etc. for the very fashion conscious milady.

These can be purchased at :
http://www.etsy.com/shop/viliaminiature?page=1

Lia is the contact for the shop and is very nice.

Second item was a little chair that I was able to win on eBay.........................

I plan to put this in milady's dressing room..................but I would love to have a few more pieces of this collection.  I would really appreciate it if anyone out there knows where I can get other pieces....this photo shows the maker of the chair.....

One of my favorite places in the world to visit is New York City and when one can see miniatures there as well....perfection!!!  I noticed this article on another blog, called "Architect Design"
http://architectdesign.blogspot.com/2011/09/ny-in-miniature.html
Enjoy!!



More, soon....................