The Lord is often more gracious than we deserve

If there was a theme to our vacation, that was it. You would think that since planning is pretty much what I do for a living, I would be better at it, but no. I try, but I am a procrastinator and it gets me every time. Throughout our trip I did stupid things that somehow always worked out in the end.

One of the dumbest things was to assume the French would speak English (after my trip to Italy, where I had little difficulty speaking to anyone, I thought all of Europe would be like Rome).

Upon arriving in Brest, we quickly learned that the French do not speak English, and getting around France might be little more difficult than we had anticipated (all of their signs are in French too).

It took us a while to find the car rental place because I did not bother to write down the address before I left (dumb mistake #2). I knew it was at the "gare" (railway station) and figured it would be easy to find. Once we found it (thanks to the assistance of a sweet young girl, who spoke some English), we waited for the one and only employee there to finish with the couple that had arrived before us. She was very slow and I was beginning to wonder if we were going to get the car in time to get back to the ship and get our luggage (that was all we needed was five days in France with no clothes!). Finally, she finished with them and turned to us... Well, while she was going through all the paperwork withthe first couple, I realized my driver's license was on the ship in one of my bags (dumbest mistake of all!). Now I had a real dilemma. If I went back to the ship to get my license, the Europecar would close while I was gone (everything in France shuts down from 12 to 3 - many places in Paris don't hold to that though), the shuttle bus service would stop, and we would have to drag all of our luggage from the ship to Europecar (a several mile walk uphill) and then wait for it to reopen at 3. I was FREAKING OUT! The Europecar lady did not speak much English at all, so it was interesting trying to explain the situation. I'm not sure why, but she accepted Puddle Duck's license instead. I'm pretty sure she was not supposed to do that, especially seeing as I was the only driver listed (anyone who knows Puddle Duck, knows there was no way on earth she was going to drive in a foreign country! She barely drives in her own hometown!). I was not about to question it though. I was just happy to get the car. I was going to ask for a map, but because of the language barrier, I didn't bother (mistake #4). We got in the car, started it up, and pulled out of the parking lot. However, it did not take long to realize something was very wrong. I knew the car was an automatic transmission (I had paid $100 extra for that), but I could not get it out of first gear. When we came to a red light, I looked down at the gear stick. It dawned on me that there were automatic cars that were not fully automatic (I had seen one when I was looking for my car). The light turned green, and I tested my theory. It worked. Yay! There was no clutch (thankfully), but I did have to do the gear shifting myself. The next hurdle was getting to the ship. As I already mentioned, we did not have a map. I am just so thankful that PD is a navigating wiz! She got us there no problem. After all that drama, we got our luggage and started on our way. Once again, the lack of map made things a little difficult. I am used to having a compass in the car, but out little Peugeot did not have one, and since it was just a little past noon, the sun wasn't much help either. Of course, even without a map and all the signs in French, PD came to the rescue! She got us to the main highway and we were soon seeing signs for Rennes (not our destination, but definitely in the right direction).

The drive was very nice. It took about 7 hours, total. The French countryside was beautiful; very country. There were open fields everywhere. The interesting thing about these fields is that most of them were bright yellow (as you can see in the picture above). Upon closer inspection, we found that these yellow fields were fields of flowers! Turns out it's Canola. We didn't know that at the time (I Googled it), so I was joking that only the French would cover half their country with flowers. =)

As we closed in on Paris, the first thing we saw was the Eiffel Tower. It's kind of amazing how you can see it from most places in the city. We drove along the river for a little bit, and then right up to the tower. We parked the car, got out and stretched, and checked out the Eiffel Tower (mistake #5). Before we knew it, the sun had set, it started to rain, and we still did not know where we would be spending the night. One of the few smart things I did was to print out a list of all the hostels in France. So, we found the closest one on the map (yes, we had a map of Paris - not a good one, but it was a map), and set out to find it. It took a lot to find the little hole-in-the-wall known as Friends Hostel. But finally, the flashing neon light came into view. I dropped PD off out front and circled the area, waiting to see if they had any open beds. just as I came around the block for the second time, a van pulled out of a parking spot directly in front of the hostel. I pulled in as PD was coming out with good news. We got a private room for the night! As usual, things were working out, despite my best efforts to mess it all up. ;-)

Sunset over the Atlantic

I have to admit, I am a little disappointed. I was hoping for some spectacular sunrises, but most mornings turned out to be rather gray and cold. Some of the sunsets were quite pretty though, so I am posting a few of those.


From this picture, you can almost tell a storm was coming (and did it ever!).


One of the more peaceful evenings. The waves were still pretty large, but the sky had cleared and the winds had lessened somewhat.


After a gray, rainy day, the sun decided to visit for a little while.


As we were leaving port, the sun seemed to beam down just on Miami. It kinda made me thing of the Celestial City in Pilgrim's Progress (you know, looking across the wide river, at a city shining on the other side). Of course, Miami is anything but celestial. It was a nice thought nonetheless.

The Açores

The Azores were not on our original list of ports to visit, but thanks to a storm in Bermuda (and I mean that sincerely - I am very thankful for that storm), we were not able to stop in Bermuda and the captain decided to make a stop at the Azores instead. For those of you unfamiliar with the Açores (Azores in English), they are a Portuguese archipelago, made up of 17 islands.

Approching the port of Ponta Delgada (it is also the capitol and largest city of the Azores) on the island of São Miguel.

There was a ship with a broken engine in the way when we arrived, so it was light out by the time we actually docked.

This is a church, but all of the buildings in the city looked very much like this (or maybe it was just that there were so many churches that it seemed all that way). =) Notice the streets. They were all mosaic stone.

We walked around the city for a little while and then began the trek up into the hills. This had to have been some of the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen in my life!

We made it to the hills! I could have walked around this area all day, but C made me stop (probably a good thing - I didn't realize how large the island really was).

After wandering through the hills, we decided to head the other direction, and walked along the water. There was no sand near the city - just rocks.

So, we decided to go rock climbing. =) We chose a goal (the large rock above, which was much farther away when we decided on it), and set out for an adventure.

A minature natural bridge.

The rock turned out to be more covered in seaweed and barnacles than we had anticipated, but at least we made it.

We had to take off our socks and shoes, and wade out to it, because it was surrounded by water on all sides (who knew?!).

There were some caves there too, but we were running out of time. We could not continue exploring and still make it back in time to catch the ship.


The wall of fame. Ships of some importance leave their mark on this wall while docked here. You will notice the white lettering of our ship toward the bottom of the wall. I'm telling you, the arrival of this ship in every port was a big deal. It was kinda cool though... almost like being a celebrity (actually, C probably made it on news stations all over France). =P

Have you ever met a stranger...

and felt an instant - I don't know, "connection" is not the word I'm looking for... more like "friendship at first sight" (except not exactly). Anyway, that is where I will begin the story of our day in Ireland. It was raining when we arrived at Blarney Castle. Many people had umbrellas, but we did not, so we were more than happy to enter the castle and get out of the rain for a little while. There was already a line formed for people waiting to kiss the Blarney Stone. Although Fortitude and I had no intent on kissing some stone that was covered in germs, we had to wait on the line too if we wanted to climb up to the parapet. It did not take long before the stairway became narrow and the ceiling very low. Fortitude, as claustrophobic as she is, was not very happy and had thoughts of turning back before it was too late. As we were discussing this, a man just behind me, put in his two cents, "don't worry. It's bigger up ahead," he said. I recognized him as the man who was sitting 2 seats ahead of us on the bus. "It's like the leaning tower of Pisa, except that it's not leaning, " he continued. This did not give us any sort of reference whatsoever. Neither of us had ever been to said building, and I was pretty sure Fortitude would not have like that one either. But he went on, comparing it to various buildings he had been up in, and just the diversion kept F's mind on something other than the confinement of the space we were in. Plus, we had not talked with anyone our own age in almost two weeks, so that was a nice change in and of itself!

There were also some windows along the way, which added some light to the cold, stone stairway. And the conversation with the man behind us continued. Once he ran out of buildings to discuss, he moved on to the kissing of the Blarney Stone, first joking about the diseases one could catch, then making up staements for the T-shirts they should sell (e.g. "I caught Herpes from kissing the Blarney Stone"), and finally trying to tease us into kissing the stone (it didn't work).

Before we knew it, we were at the top, looking down into what appeared to be a small courtyard (although, I think it may actually have been covered at one time).

The view from the top was absolutely breath-taking! I think even Fortitude thought the climb was worth the view. =)

As for our friend... well after climbing back down with us, he had to wait for the other three men he was travelling with. Fortitude and I went on to explore the extensive gardens surrounding the castle. We wandered around for a while, taking pictures whenever the rain let up. We were standing on a small foot bridge (I was taking a picture and F. was posing for me), when suddenly, we hear "it's the Blarney sisters!" (that was the nickname he gave us). W e were really surprised to run into them again, considering how expansive the grounds were, but it was a pleasant surprise. We walked with them to the Stone Tower, the Witch Stone, and the Wishing Steps. The last one was interesting... Legend has it that anyone who makes a wish while walking down the stairs and back up again, backwards, with their eyes closed, will have their wish granted. As clumsy as I am, I knew I'd never survive, so I just watched (and coached) while the others did it. The guys wanted to get back and catch the 12 noon bus, but F. and I still had more pictures to take, so we parted ways. We never asked their names and they never asked ours, actually, we do not even know where in the world they were from (though I think they live in the States based on their accent). So, that's the story. It was short-lived friendship that ended as quickly as it began, but is was fun while it lasted. =)

Ports of Call

Below is one picture from each of the places we pulled into port. Can you figure out where we went? Or, if you know where we went (actually you don't because a storm changed our itinerary), can you figure out which picture is from which port? =)

Where to begin?!

We were gone for 17 days, and did SO much, it is difficult to decide which parts to blog about. Together, we took 900 pictures, so I will not be posting them all, I can assure you! =)

I suppose I will start at the beginning... It was a race against time (mainly for Puddle Duck). She had a layover in Atlanta during the whole Nor'easter disaster. One by one the airports were closing and hers was next, but not until after her plane took off (YAY!). My own race was due to my procrastinating ways... =( I was trying to get my taxes finished before boarding the ship (we left on April 14th). I was not able to finish, so after boarding, I had to disembark to frantically search for a mailbox. In the end, a very nice lady who was at the ship to see off a friend, offered to mail it for me. =)

All our luggage made it to Miami (thankfully!). There were some people whose luggage did not make it and they were not able to get it until day 12 of the cruise (thanks to a storm at sea that prevented us from docking at Bermuda). Lufthansa did, however, manage to lose my luggage in Munich on the way back, so I am still without some very important items (e.g. european chocolate).

Before I left, I mentioned how we were leaving on the same date as the Titanic sunk, what I did not realize is that we would be visiting the last port the Titanic ever pulled into. Not only that, but we were the largest ship to ever pull into that port (we were practically celebrities! The locals came out in droves to take pictures and greet us as we docked, and wave farewell as we left). Below is a picture of the Titanic memorial, in the little town of Cobh (pronounced "cove"), which is part of the Port of Cork.

Another thing I did not realize was that this was the first trans-Atlantic trip for the Navigator of the Seas (not only for the ship, but also for most of the crew - not the captain).

Because of the storm, we had high winds and gray skies much of the time (probably a good thing since we did not have any sunblock other than my 15 SPF moisturizer). We also had 10-12 foot waves for several days. While this kept some people in their cabins and others scrambling to find those patches they stick behind their ears, it made ice skating and roller blading LOTS of fun for C. and me! We barely had to do anything to keep moving. It was like skating on hills, except, if you didn't want to work at going uphill, you could just turn around and go the other way. =) The first time we went, there was only one other person on the ice (an ice skating instructer from Huntington, LI - isn't that funny?), so we pretty much had the ice to ourselves.

Although there were 3,000 passengers on the ship, it never felt that crowded. The majority of the people were old (I'm not talking just retired old, I mean walker and wheelchair old - married 63 years old). Those who did not fall into that category were typically gay. So, we did not blend in to say the least. =) Not that we minded. =P Being the only young girls on a very large ship meant lots of attention from the wait-staff, etc (in a good way). One waiter always referred to us as Princess and Queen, while another would come by every few minutes to give us all the bread we wanted. Yeah, that was the life. *sigh*

Here are a couple of pictures of the ship:

The forward pool deck

The aft pool deck

The Promanade (inside on deck 5)

Sports deck

I LOVE the USA!

Of course, I like some of the states better than others (i.e. NY), but one thing I realize whenever I travel outside of the US is there is no place in the world that is better. I still love to travel, and have a long list of places I want to see, but I am very thankful that wherever I go, I always have the good ole US of A to come home to!

So, about my travels... Puddle Duck and I were gone for 17 days (we just returned on Monday). We started at the Port of Miami,



boarded the Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas,



and headed for the open seas of the Atlantic on Saturday, April 14th.

We were warmly welcomed by some beautiful watermelons, =)

and soon dug into the amazing amounts of food on board.

More to come soon.

Ce qui est un bateau... est liberté.

Je suis ainsi besoin de la liberté en ce moment elle ne a pas même drôle !

It is almost here! I can't even believe it. 48 hours from now I will be on a jet, headed for freedom. =) I have my passport and boarding pass, but beyond that, I am not exactly ready. There are still bags to pack, my apartment to set in order, and as always, books to take back to the library. =P Oh well, it will all get done, and if it doesn't, I just won't think about it. NOTHING is going to ruin this vacation! If you couldn't tell from all the French in this post, the part I am most looking forward to is our time in France. I am imagining already all of the pictures I will be able to take. If you thought I was bad last year... hehehe... just remember this trip is more than twice as long. =P

Je vous parlerai plus tard !

4 days and counting...

I don't know if it's just my family or if all families are like this... While I was home over the weekend, I got to hear about all the latest cruise ship disasters (especially the Sea Diamond), since Fortitude and I will be boarding one on Saturday. All of that got me thinking about the Titanic (my favorite sinking ship of all time - I'm sure that sounds messed up, but as I child, I was so fascinated with the story and all the honorable men, who heeded the cry of "women and children first," that I read every book I could find on the subject). Don't worry, I did not have any crazy fantasies of being Rose or anything (that movie did not come out until I was in my late teens, besides I was realistic enough to know I would have drowned down in the steerage compartment with all the third class passengers). At one time I did, however, wish I could've been on the Poseiden. I remember watching The Poseidon Adventure with my Dad when I was pretty little and thought it would be very cool to be on a ship that capsized! I have since changed my mind. I would rather just have a fun (instead of an overly-adventurous) cruise. Anyway... back to the Titanic. As I was thinking about it, it hit me that we would be leaving on the same date as the Titanic sank 95 years ago: April 14th. I am not superstitious and am not actually worried (especially seeing lifeboat regulations have changed since then and we will not be running into the problem Titanic's passengers faced). I'm sure our trans-atlantic crossing will be much less eventful. I just thought it was an interesting fact.
The ship I will be on is larger than the Titanic. It is 1020 feet long and has a passenger capacity of 3,114, as opposed to the Titanic's length of 882 feet, 9 inches. Yet, despite the increase in size and amenities, there is something lacking in the modern cruise ships. They don't have the elegance a ship like the Titanic had. I would still love to go back in time and travel across the ocean in one of those ship (preferably one that did not sink), even if it was in the steerage compartment.