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Venice, Italy: Water Taxi Ride
How to get ourselves (and our luggage) from our cruise ship to our hotel, in a city without streets? Our destination: The lovely Hotel Concordia, steps from San Marco Square in the heart of Venice. I had reserved a water taxi for six. We waited for our launch, concerned, as small boats zipped in and out in front of us and waves rocked the dock beneath our feet. The tiny launch that finally pulled up was a moving target, and I worried she might sink once six robust Americans with suitcases climbed aboard. Then we pulled out, and…… Ah, Venice. We instantly fell hard for this ancient, sinking city, as…
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Rome’s Colosseum: Bread, Circuses, and Christians (maybe)
We joke that Padre, standing in THAT place in Rome’s ancient Colosseum, would soon be toast, considering his chosen profession. Just a light snack for the snarling lions bearing down upon him, all while the raucous crowd cheers on his imminent demise. History supports some of that scenario, but not all. The picture we have of cowering Christians huddled in fear as prowling lions stalked them is more a Hollywood invention than Roman reality, although it may have happened; we just don’t know for sure. At times in Rome’s early history, Christians were persecuted, of course, but beheading, not shredding-by-lion, may have been a more likely fate (think: Apostle Paul).…
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Cruise Critic Guide: The Godfather, the Roll Call, and Us
It all started with Bill’s Valentine’s gift. Bill adores reruns of old Godfather films for some reason. Me, not so much. Bleeding dying bodies riddled with bullets give me nightmares. Bill’s my guy, though, so in the spirit of love I presented him with a homemade gift certificate for a cruise shore excursion. When our cruise ship docked in the port city of Catania, Sicily, we’d visit the iconic Godfather filming sites in person. Great gift, right? Only one problem: I didn’t actually book the tour in February: Lots of time before our September cruise, I thought. When I tried to book the tour in July, oops: Booked solid. Uh…
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Cruise vs. Independent Travel? Both!
Even though we’re experienced travelers, we’re rather new to cruising. We avoided cruises for years after I spent a miserable seasick night on a cruise ship in the 1990s. Wasn’t fond of the herd mentality thing either, on a 700-passenger Epirotiki cruise ship (how quaint, considering today’s monster cruise ships). I did appreciate how easy it was to get from one Greek island to the next, especially with 25 high school students along for the fun. Back then, we were still young enough to happily haul our bags, drive our own car, and survive near-travel disasters, such as almost missing the last night train out of Lucerne, Switzerland because we…
