Welcome to our June 2023
Tales of the Traveling Totes.
Miss Madi K and I went all
the way to the Mediterranean
on a 12 day cruise.
This was our first trip back to
Europe since Covid hit and we
had a marvelous time.
We started with a three day
pre-cruise trip in Rome
where we stayed in the
Hotel Twenty-One. It was
so centrally located so we
could walk everywhere. We
lucked out and got a junior suite,
which had a luxurious round
bed and a soaking tub up
behind the bed. The flowers
in the lobby were the most
exquisite color of peonies. I
had to touch them, and sure
enough, they were real.
The first day we walked to the
Spanish Steps and they had the
most beautiful display of flowers
going down the full length of the
steps. Alas, when we came back
at the end of the cruise, they had
all been removed. It had been such
a glorious sight. We had been here
in 2019, also in May and I knew
they hadn't had flowers then either.
We did a tour of the Colosseum
during the day, but we got an
Uber and went back again at
night as our friends had never
seen it at night.
We were also able to visit St.
Peter's Basilica, which had
been closed in 2019, and
the Vatican Museums and
the Sistine Chapel. We hadn't
been there since the late 90's,
so that was amazing.
We also got to visit the
Rome Temple of
The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-Day Saints, the
church we belong to. Our
tour group was mostly
members of our church.
We had been here in 2019
with our kids, so I told our
friends to get off the bus and
quickly get pictures before
9 other buses arrived!!!
We sailed on the Odyssey
of the Seas, a
Royal Caribbean Ship.
You can see my hat box and
I watched videos before I
left that suggested magnetic
hooks for your wall, so my
hats were displayed on the wall.
Our big motivation for taking this trip was being on the cruise
with one of our favorite singing
groups, Gentri - the
Gentlemen Trio. They are
local guys that met while
singing in Les Miserables and
formed this amazing group.
You can find their music on
ITunes. We especially love
their Christmas albums.
The first day at sea we had a
private meet and greet with
them and a mini concert.
When I say private, there were
400 in our tour group! They
ended up doing two private
performances and two public
performances, to a packed theater.
The second night we had our
first formal night. We all loved
dressing up for the formal nights.
This wasn't a carry-on bag only
trip for us!
Miss Madi K's first outing was
in Cyprus, where we had booked
a catamaran tour.
After that we headed to Israel.
Unfortunately, there was bombing
taking place down by the Gaza Strip.
The ship bypassed Ashdod and went
up to Haifa because of the
bombings. We got off and went
through immigration, took this
photo which says "Israel
Vacation" and then were to
stay on the ship until everyone
had finished immigrations. They
stopped part way through the
process and announced that we
wouldn't be going to Israel!
Now hubby and I have been
multiple times to Israel, but
our friends had never been, and
along with Gentri, that had been
their big motivation. They had
tried twice during Covid and
hadn't been able to go, so that
was a huge disappointment.
Our tour had scheduled a
private moment in the
Garden Tomb and Gentri
were going to sing there.
So sad!!!
But the cruise line changed our
itinerary to now include Santorini!!
We had never been to Santorini. We
booked a professional photo shoot
there, and that was a lot of fun.
Hubby carried Miss Madi K along
so that we could have a change of
clothing.
We all agreed that
Santorini was a nice
consolation prize!
Our other consolation prize
was Crete. We had amazing food
there. I had the best gyro
sandwich I have ever had. It
was chicken and the pita was
so amazing. I wanted to stop
everyone and tell them to eat
there.
Next we went to Ephesus.
We said we didn't get to
walk where Jesus walked,
except for on and off the
boat, but we did get to
walk where Paul walked.
Ephesus is truly amazing.
Then we were off to Athens.
Where we got to visit Mar's
Hill and the Parthenon -
again - we got to walk where
Paul walked and talked.
My pictures in Ephesus and
Athens don't show the hoards
of crowds that were there.
If you were patient, you could
get a decent picture that looked
like you had it to yourselves!
In Santorini they said we were
the only cruise ship there, as
their season didn't start until
the next week, so the crowds
were very light.
From our trip in 2019 I fell in
love with Passion Fruit Gelato,
so I was on a search for it. We
finally found it in Athens and we
had it with a dark chocolate
orange gelato.
I have made both twice since
we got home.
The poppies were in glorious
bloom in Pompeii. Our guide
told us before we got back on
the ship we had to have pizza
in Naples and especially we
had to try their fried pizza.
The fried pizza was like a
fried calzone and it was
amazing. I don't think we
would have tried it without
her suggestion. The pizza
in Naples was by far our
favorite pizza.
We had been told there would
be three formal nights, but
we only had two.
So when we went to their
specialty restaurant
Wonderland, we
used our third set of
dressy clothes. It is a
take on Alice in
Wonderland and
was a pure delight.
We loved it so much
we went there twice.
We also tried their
Teppanyaki specialty
restaurant and had a
lot of fun there. We
had a singing chef and
he asked if anyone was
celebrating and we told
him it was our 44th
anniversary the next night,
so we presented us with
this rice "cake" with an
electric candle and he
pretended to blow it out.
Our final night of the cruise
happened to be our 44th
anniversary, and we ate at
Wonderland again and
Gentri gave their concert
to the whole ship. We got
seats on the third row - our
friend skipped dessert to
secure those seats. What an
anniversary!
This is what he missed -
a Chocolate Globe that
they pour hot caramel over.
Hubby wanted his own after
we had it the first time. the
bottom left is another dessert
and the bottom right is a
vegetable garden. This was
an experience!
After the concert we saw
another show with drones,
went out on the deck for
blue hour and of course
had to stop for pizza!
(It was our last night!")
We decided to leave our
tip for our cabin steward in
our own towel sculpture!
Even though we ate at
specialty restaurants three
out of twelve nights, the food
in the main dining room on
Royal Caribbean was outstanding!
I am so glad you were able
to vicariously travel with
us! There was some
disappointment, but we
had a marvelous time.
Now for the giveaway!
Visit lovely Sarah at
and leave a comment to enter.
Visit all of the other ladies
and their totes and see
where they have been off to!
