Last day - Rome to Home

After breakfast at the convent, we took a quick stroll through the Campo dei Fiori, watched the open air markets being setup and had some delicious croissants. We took a taxi down to the airport, Carlynn and Michelle flew American Airlines and I went by British Airways. I had decided that it would be best to come home on Friday instead of Sunday night before having to work Monday morning. It cost $200 to change my plane ticket, but I saved 220 euro on hotel costs. The 1st leg of the flight to London was pretty uneventful. When I boarded the plane in London for the 10 hour flight to LAX however, I was pleasantly surprised to find that my seat had been bumped up to 1st class (no extra charge). SWEET!!!!! I had one of those pod-like chairs that could recline at any angle and even turn into a bed. The flight attendant greeted me with champagne and some warm moist towels to freshen up. I had a champagne cocktail before dinner (Kir Royale - champagne with creme de cassis) and a nice Shiraz with the meal. I arrived at LAX at 6:50 PM (10 minutes ahead of schedule).


Final Stroll around Campo dei Fiori

Rome - Day 3

Today was a long day. We disembarked from the ship then took a chartered bus back to Rome. The hotel I'm staying in tonight is attached to a convent and is run by nuns. I highly recommend this place to anyone who wants to stay in the heart of old Rome, the hotel is beautiful, well decorated, ideally located, has a nice rooftop garden, and the nuns are very hospitable and friendly (Casa di Santa Brigida). After we checked in, we headed over to the National Museum of Rome. My favorite sculptures there were the Boxer and the Discus Thrower. From the museum, we took a taxi down to the catacombs of San Sebastiano. We were concerned we wouldn't have time because we arrived 30 minutes before closing, but no worries, once we had tickets we were good to go since its a guided tour. This particular catacomb was the temporary resting place of the apostles Peter and Paul after they were executed by the Romans. The church of San Sebastiano was interesting also, and it contained an original Bernini (my favorite sculptor). Getting back from the catacombs was a trial but were eventually able to flag down a taxi while waiting for the #118 bus. It was the most interesting of the many taxi rides we've had on the entire trip. The driver expounded at length about the catacombs, then we brought up the subject of the artist Caravaggio. He gave us a very impassioned and well thought out 15 minute lecture on why Caravaggio was the greatest painter of all time... interspersed with occasional cussing in Italian at all the crazy drivers in Rome (i.e. all of them). We ended off the evening with a great dinner at a restaurant in the Campo dei Fiori and the best gelato I've ever tasted.


Planning last day in Rome










Exciting bus ride from the port back to Rome



















Rooftop terrace at hotel (Gloria would love this place)





























Gelato shop near the hotel










National Museum of Rome













Bernini sculptures in the church above the catacombs of San Sebastiano

Cruise - Day 12 - Naples (pizza pizza pizza)

Naples, the birthplace of pizza. Most of our tour group went to Pompei today. Having already visited Pompei previously, Roger and I did the Naples Archaeological Museum and Pizza Tasting excursion. After a brief tour of Naples by bus, we were guided through the museum which contained artifacts salvaged from the ruins of Pompei. Their collection of mosaics are the best and most intricate I've seen on this entire journey. After the museum, we had lunch at a pizza restaurant overlooking the bay of Naples and the twin peaks of Mount Vesuvius. Before Vesuvius blew up in 79AD, it was a single peak, 3 times the size of the present still active volcano. We got back to the ship around 1:30PM and I joined some of the returning Pompei group for some souvenir shopping and more pizza.

(Pedometer count 14185 / 6.49 miles / 1022 calories)


2000 year-old Pompei Mosaic at the Museum (the 1st recorded pizza delivery???)










Roger and Marcia with Pizza and Wine










Roger and Mount Vesuvius










Michelle with pomodoro pizza













Gloria with pizza Margarita

Cruise - Day 10 - Athens

Today's adventure began fairly early. We left the ship at about 8:30 am and headed out for a panoramic tour of Athens. At the end of the tour, we arrived at the Acropolis. After a short climb, we reached the top and met up with many of the other Christians from our group. Then, we left the Acropolis and met up with some Christians from the church in Athens, climbed to the top of the Areopagus (a big rock now), sang some songs, took some photos and Roger read from Acts 17:22-34. The Areopagus is where the apostle Paul addressed the Athenians. Then we headed over to the "Plaka" an older, tourist oriented part of Athens and had some really gud Greek food. After this, we took a short time to shop before taking the Metro back to the ship.

(Pedometer count 12181 / 5.57 miles / 878 calories)

The group at the Parthenon










Georgia (from the Athens church) and Gloria










Roger reading Acts 17 at the Areopagus










Michelle, Carlynn and Gloria at the train station, heading back to the ship

Cruise - Day 8 - Egypt

Today we visited Egypt. We took a bus from the port in Alexandria on a 2.5-3 hour trip down to Cairo. Our first stop was the Giza Plateau and the Great Pyramids. We walked around the center pyramid and got accosted by several vendors and a very pushy camel driver. Then we headed over to the Sphinx for 10 minute photo op. At this point it was about 2PM so we headed down to have lunch on a big Nile riverboat. After lunch we headed to the mosque of Mohamad Ali (not the boxer) where we received a lesson on the 5 tenets of Islam. Finally, our last stop was the Papyrus Institute and the jewelry shop next door. Everyone bought something there, either some papyrus art or jewelry with their names written as a hieroglyphic cartouche.

(Pedometer count 11538 / 5.28 miles / 823 calories)

Michelle and the Great Pyramid










Carlos, Michelle, Carlynn and the Great Pyramid










Carlynn and the Sphinx










Minh and the River Nile










Michelle with lunch on the Nile riverboat

Cruise - Day 7 - At Sea

Not much happened today. Just another lazy day at sea.

Gloria and Piano

Cruise - Day 6 - Cyprus

Today, all of the Christians in our group headed out on a bus to hook up with some other members of our church here in Cyprus. The day started off at about 8:30 when we took a bus out to Paphos, one of the many cities on the large island of Cyprus. Dylan, one of the Cyprus church members, guided us around the ruins showing us the various mosaics. We gathered briefly at the courtyard where Elymas, the sorcerer, was struck blind (Acts 13:9-12). The result of this miracle was the conversion of the Roman proconsul, Sergius Paulus. We were able to tour the ruins of his house as well. When we were gathered in the courtyard, we all sang some Christian songs - in English, an African dialect, and Chinese. From there we took a 10 minute walk to see "St. Paul's Pillar," a place that was rumored to be a place where Paul was beaten (Although the pillar was likely constructed a few hundred years after his death.) Then we walked to a small catacomb area that contained an ancient synogogue where Dylan believes Paul preached. Finally, we got on the bus and headed out to a cliffside picnic area near "Aphrodite's Rock," where the members of the Cyprus church prepared a lunch for us. The cliffs there remided me alot of the Torrey Pines Glider Port area in San Diego. After this, Jordan, the Cyprus church leader gave a brief charge. Then we headed back to the ship.

(Pedometer count 16219 / 7.42 miles / 1176 calories)

Courtyard in Paphos









Gloria and St. Paul's Pillar









Catacombs in Paphos









Michelle, Carlynn & Gloria on the cliffs overlooking Aphrodite's Rock









Jordan giving a charge

Cruise - Day 5 - Rhodes

Kind of a slow day today. It was raining so my little group hung out on the ship till noon. When it cleared up a bit, we went into the old city and toured the museum in the old Knight Hospitalers hospital. We walked around the shops and up to the castle but it was closed at the time.

(Pedometer count 15767, 7.21 miles, 1147 calories)

Michelle, Carlynn, Jessica and Gloria in the courtyard entrance of old city part of Rhodes









Michelle and tombstone in the museum












Michelle, Gloria and Jessica with statue in museum










Michelle and Jessica following the Knight's road up to the castle

Cruise - Day 4 - Ephesus

Well today was a long day, our first official Royal Carribean cruise excursion, Ephesus. This is my first time setting foot on the continent of Asia. We took an 8:15AM bus from the port to the upper entrance of the Ephesus ruins at the top of the hill. Our guide, Erjan, kept a fast pace as we tried to keep ahead of the impending hordes of tourists. Descending down the main road, we passed the gates of Hercules and entered the ancient market area. Each market stall had a unique mosaic floor that is still clearly visible after almost 2000 years. Then we entered a covered portion of the city where they are excavating and preserving seven former homes of wealthy Romans. The mosaics and wall frescoes are amazingly well preserved. After that we went down to the Library which is adjacent to the hall of Tyrannus where the apostle Paul reasoned daily with the Ephesians for two years (see Acts 19:9). From there we went to the main theater of Ephesus where Demetrius incited a riot among the Ephesian artisans who were upset that Paul was ruining their idol making business (Acts 19:21-41). After Ephesus we drove to a turkish carpet making village and we were served a delicious 1st century Roman lunch.

(Pedometer count 11652, 5.33 miles, 848 calories)

(Michelle's Account of the Day) - Today, Carlos and I had seperate excursions, although we did about 90% of the same things. Our excursion started off at the Virgin Mary's House where we walked through an old stone house and watched all of the Catholics light candles. Then, we attended a Catholic mass and watched everyone pray to the Virgin Mary. After that we went to a faucet that was considered to spout holy water. Then, we made it to Ephesus. It was really neat to see so much of an ancient city in tact. Amazingly, only about 15% of it has been excavated. After that, we headed to the ruins of St. John's Basilica, where John's tomb was rumored to have been at one time before being ransacked. Then, we headed to a carpet factory and had some food that we were told was probably eaten in the time of the Apostles. Finally, we headed back to the ship at about 4 pm.

The library at Ephesus










Carlos in the Ephesus Theater










Carpet making demonstration

Cruise - Day 3 - Mykonos, Greece

Today started again with another vigorous workout. After that I had some food and headed to a Class about Paul's missonary journeys. It was pretty cool learning about all the work the apostles did getting the gospel out to the pagan masses. Then after some lunch, we headed out to the small island city of Mykonos. There wasn't much to do here, but it was very scenic and I took lots of photos. Then our tour group met up at a Greek restaurant along the bay and I tried some Moussaka, a potato, lamb & eggplant dish. I also had some ouzo, a very strong licorice flavored drink (similar to Italian grapa). Finally, I had some tasty baklava (oh yessss). After that, we headed back to the ship and decided to hit the sack at a decent time to be ready for tomorrow's excursion to Ephesus.

(Pedometer count 13139 / 6 miles / 970 calories)

Gloria, Jessica, Michelle, and Carlynn in art store










Jessica, Gloria, Jane, Michelle, Carlynn in front of windmills










Gloria, Michelle, Jessica, Carlynn, and Jane at the church wall










Michelle with some gud Moussaka and Ouzo










Mykonos Sunset