Cruise Wrap-up

 Here is the promised but delayed wrap-up for our last 2 days of cruising.

On Thursday, May 5th we were in Koper, Slovenia.  When we docked in Koper we were greeted by many jellyfish.  I'll just say here that you ain't seen nothing yet!

We toyed with doing some kind of excursion but eventually decided that it would be best to take it easy and just stay in town.  I would describe Koper that day as sleepy.  We walked into town and, yes, stopped for coffee.

We then continued to wander the town until it was time to sample the local pastry and wines - a good malvasia and rose.

That was about it for Koper until the aforementioned surprise dinner party for Linda's birthday.

On Linda's birthday we were in Trieste, Italy.  Check out the plethora of jellyfish that greeted us there.  I've never seen anything like it.

Trieste was more lively and interesting than Koper.  We set our sights on a few highlighted places such as a church with beautiful mosaics and the bakery that dated back to something like 1836.

We then continued to wander and came upon a restaurant that had great looking pizza that would be perfect for Linda's birthday lunch.  And, so, we eventually returned there.  When we did return, who should we find there eating a pizza?  Agnese, the server from Baristas who had recommended the good pizza restaurant in Naples.  We knew we were in the right place.  We had wine, lovely stuffed squash blossoms, a terrific bufalo mozzarella pizza, all topped off with dessert and fruit liqueurs.  All for the whopping price of 31 Euro.  Do I know how to treat a birthday girl!

After lunch we walked a bit more and came upon the large Italian market, Eataly.  They have these in many places and I believe we've been in the one in New York City.  It was fun to browse and made the perfect spot for our final coffee stop on this trip.

That wraps up the cruise, but I wanted to say a few things in conclusion.  Mainly, I can't praise Oceania enough for the way we get treated on board their ships.  It always amazes us.  It runs from the General Manager throughout the entire crew.  I'd like to give an example of this.  In Red Ginger, the Asian restaurant, we were usually served by a waitress named Khriza.  She was terrific and I loved the special hot sauce she made for me, her K-sauce. She disembarked a few days before the end of the cruise but before she did, she asked the chef to make us the special seafood dumplings that she knew we liked when we went there the day she had left.  What a doll!

But then it gets even better.  The next night when we ate in Red Ginger the special for the night was a beef dish - not for us!  Before we could order, the Red Ginger chef, Suguri, came to our table and said that he knew we did not eat beef so he wanted to make us a very special silk noodle seafood dish.  It was amazing, maybe the best dish I had on all of the cruise.

There are amazing people working for Oceania!  I have great respect for them.  Which brings me to today's Rule of Civility: Rule #1. Every action done in company ought to be with some sign of respect, to those that are present.

Til next time, peace and blessings,

Linda and Larry

Happy Birthday Linda!

 
Yesterday we were in Koper, Slovenia and today we are in Trieste, Italy celebrating Linda's birthday.  But the real celebration started last night.  I conspired with GM Thierry to have a surprise birthday dinner for Linda in Privee, the private dining room on board which Thierry graciously hosted.  We did it last night since it was not possible to do it on the last night of the cruise.  (Yes, we are heading home tomorrow). All involved managed to keep the secret and Linda was quite surprised and touched when the Restaurant Manager, Alen, led  us into Privee and she found Thierry, F&B Manager Freddy, CD Corey, ACD Leia, and Concierge Matthieu there to greet her.  The meal and company were fantastic and it was topped off with a very special birthday cake.

The celebration continued today in Trieste as we walked around and indulged in the usual coffee, pastry, wine, pizza and even after lunch Italian liqueurs. And the forecast rain provided the gift of holding off for the day.

I'll try to provide a more complete posting for our days in Koper and Trieste as we're killing time in airports on our way home tomorrow.

In the meantime, I'd like to wrap this posting up with my favorite Rule of Civility: Rule #110. Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.  Truly words to live by.

And another HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDA - my soulmate and love of my life!

Peace and blessings,

Linda and Larry

The Awesome Adriatic

 We've completed 2 awesome days in the Adriatic.  First up was Kotor, Montenegro.  This was at least the third time we've been there and I've climbed up to the ruins of the castle a couple of times before, but Linda had only made it up to the chapel that is about half way up.  This time she was determined to do it and she did!  In the photo, you can see the chapel and the flag indicating the top which is 260 meters above the city.

I should back up a step before I continue about the climb.  The sail into Kotor is one of the most picturesque.  The weather forecast for the day was not good with anticipated rain.  When we got up and looked out we saw that we were, in fact, once again blessed with good weather so we were able to watch the sail in from our veranda.

Now, for the climb.  You walk through the nice old town of Kotor to get to the path up to the castle.  Then the work begins as you encounter stones and rough steps which can be treacherous in the rain.  When we told GM Thierry that we planned to climb up he was quite concerned for our safety but we ensured him that we would be careful.  Fortunately, the rain held off all day.  The effort was slow going but reaching the top made it worth it. 

The walk down was almost as challenging as it taxed these old knees!  The reward was a coffee for Linda and a big beer for me.

Next up was Dubrovnik, Croatia.  We've been there many times and went back and forth about what we would do.  The walk around the walls surrounding the old town is great, but how many times do you have to do it?  There was a local tourist person on the ship, Linda asked her for suggestions and she said that if we like to walk, we should walk from the pier to the old town (the pier is about 3K from the Pile Gate of the old town) and that's what we did.  It was a good walk with nice water views.

When we got to the old town, we walked through, stopping for a coffee, of course, and made our way to the harbor on the other side.

The tourist rep also suggested a couple of restaurants for lunch and we picked one that overlooked the harbor.  It was excellent and another opportunity to have mussels.  We sampled some local wine and the Malvasia was really good.  We've now had three terrific Malvasias on this trip - in Lanzarote, in Mallorca, and now in Dubrovnik.  They also had some excellent local olive oil for dipping.  The waiter, who was also excellent, told us that the olive oil was produced on a small farm and that it was only available at the restaurant - not for sale anywhere.  Before we left, he slipped us a bottle to take home!  What a treat.  Since I know that Bob Stahl will be asking, the restaurant is Gradska Kavana Arsenal, Pred Dvorom 1 and the waiter's name is Marijo.

We're sailing out of Dubrovnik now and I'm about to lose a good signal, so I'll wrap up with today's Rule of Civility which is worth considering when soaking your bread in olive oil: Rule #94. If you soak bread in the sauce let it be no more than what you put in your mouth at a time and blow not your broth at table but stay till cools of it self.

Peace and blessings,

Linda and Larry