Our Only Sea Day....

On Monday the 25th, we had our only sea day. We sailed from Santorini across the Ionian Sea and headerd toward Sicily. The captain told us we would be passing right by Mt. Etna at about 5:15AM on our way to the port of Catania. The cruise has been going very well thus far and the sea day was a welcome one because you actually need a rest from all the sightseeing every day. Going on a cruise through Europe has a much different meaning than going on a cruise to the Caribbean. Here it is all about the ports, the cultures, the history, and the people. The ship chose our sea day to be te second formal night of the cruise so Peg and I got dressed up and took some pictures around the ship. We have been doing what is called AnyTime Dining for dinner each night which basically means we go to the dining room whenever we want... and they sit us at a table with whomever they want. I refer to it as Dining Roulette. We have been pretty lucky actually as almost everyone seems normal (whatever that is). Most people seem to be from Canada (we haven't had a table yet where one of the guests wasn't from Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, etc.). Every night we sit down and everyone shares their war story of what it took to actually get to Venice. Last night we met an older couple on vacation with their son Peter who is an artist. His medium is black and white photography. He was travelling with mom and dad through Europe (they actually arrived 2 weeks before the cruise in Berlin, Germany and took a train to Venice). Peter was doing a piece he called the doors of Europe and was photographing every unusual door he saw. Since telling us about this I started noticing all the unusual doors we happened upon and I thought, what an original idea. I hope he writes a book about them one day and publishes all the pictures. Meeting Peter and seeing all the art shops throughout our tavel thus far made me think of Jamie and how she would so love taking a trip like this. The places we have been to thus far are just filled history.... and from the history has come so much in the way of art.