kiss the world good-bye for now...hello Atlantic Ocean!

A lovely evening with Tony at a local eatery and now it's 2204. the lines are released and we are off from Cadiz an hour early and on our way home...we will be docked on American soil in 10 days...see many of you in 12 days!

I love you~
ro

Debbie and I in Cadiz, Spain

Hi there everyone~
I am back on board-had a day or two with on and off internet, so have not been able to jump on here to write about Cadiz...but checking now, it seems to be on, so I thought I better jump in!

Debbie and I were the only ones on duty in this port, so ended up spending a great deal of time together, which was fun! In many of the other ports, I was off on trips and did not have the chance to see her as much in ports, so it was nice to have leisurely days where we were on and off the ship together alot...

All is well in Cadiz, Spain...today is Sunday at 1453 and the sun is shining and the rains have left us...for the past 3 days, it has been mostly on again rain which makes getting around a little more challenging, especially when using one's legs for your main transportation...the ship cleared quickly in this port and folks were off as early as 9am. I found a free ticket for the city orientation at 1330, so a couple of us decided to go and have cappucino's at a local cafe first thing in the morning. This particular city tour was actually more a walking tour of the city-the funniest part was we got on the buses to only go across the street to the main square by 1335 and did not get back on the bus until 1635 and the tour ended at 1700! And because it was a small quaint town, there really was not much to see other than many more churches and one cathedral and lots of city walls and plazas...so here are some shots of them all~no names and places this time, just enjoy the pictures.

That night, Deb, Dwight and I decided to give Mags (the bartender up in the faculty, staff lounge) a chance to show us his wonderful sangria-no other restaurant so far has matched it yet, even here in Spain!

The next day, Debbie and I decided to take the train to Sevilla for the day-it left at 1105 and we were off to what I thought was only an hour train ride, but by the time we stopped in every city in between, 2 hours and 15 minutes later we were in Sevilla. We took the local bus to downtown where we WOULD see the largest cathedral in the world, according to the guiness world record!~more so the square footage-it seemed like conqueror after conqueror just added their fair share of more catedral, which originally was a mosque until the Spanish inquisition..actually has the supposed remains of Christopher Columbus buried there along with the largest pearl in a crown in the world(the body of the little angel)~pretty spectacular! We stopped before this and had a salad-was looking forward to what they called a warm spinach salad, which turned out to be a iceburg with slivers of spinach on top...I have been actually craving salads for some time now and looking forward to a big spinach salad when I get home! These days we are lucky to get even iceburg on the ship-tomatoes and cucumbers have been about the only fresh vegetables that I have had for 3-4 ports now-yikes! From there we actually ran into JB and Theresa and went with them to Alcazar, a fort built in 913 that was also added on over the centuries but today is more like a beautiful palace full of grounds including a maze which we almost got lost in! From there we went and had a snack and then left for the train station to head back on the 2000 train...we got back after 11pm and headed straight for bed!

Got up yesterday to rain and sleet on the streets, but still walked to a Picasso exhibit that was in town for a week~although it turned out to be a handful of charcoal drawings of his at a nice location near the fort on the water in the city. We then walked through town and I had to head back to the ship as the battery ran out on the emergency cell phone. Along the way, I just love the courtyards and doorways in this town...and many others-definitely going to see a myriad of pics of windows and doors that I fell in love with on this trip!
This gave me an excuse to be in my cabin, so I decided it was time to start packing...I pulled everything from out under the bed and before you know it, 2 suitcases were almost full without even beginning to put my clothes and toiletries in~gotta call mom in the morning and let her know that an extra suitcase WILL be needed...even though Steve already took one home for me!!!! I decided to stay home last night, even though some of the staff were going out to dinner to get tapas...the problem here is restaurants do not even open until 2030 and that is just too late for me to eat! It is amazing what one can accumulate in 100 days and I spent the remainder of the evening finishing packing the non-essentials! I had somewhat of a sleepless night last night so slept in until 845 this morning just in time for breakfast.

But today the sun is shining and surely a day to get outside into the small quaint city. We got up to see the crew getting their last bits of paint on the ship before the 10 day sail back home and the 4 of us got an early start and went walking along the Atlantic ocean side of the city. We are hoping that the seas home will be as calm as they have been on this unusually calm seas! Everyone else in the city was also out for a stroll, as it is Sunday here and none of the shops are open today...we stopped across the street from the ocean to have yet another cappucino, which definitely is a favorite pastime both here and in Turkey and Croatia...which I am getting a bit too fond of...just hanging around the watchin the world go by is pretty relaxing!

Theresa and I decided to see if we could find some shops open and wandered a bit in the city to no avail-we decided to head back to the ship! I have spent the afternoon finishing postcards and beginning to write my good-bye notes to folks I have grown close to...I know how quickly these last 10 days will go, especially in my role as the Assistant Dean. With bags packed, notes and reports completed, it will be a lot less stressful and alot easier to be present with those folks for the last time, until we end up meeting up again! As I mentioned several times before, many of these folks will become life long friends and again I feel blessed to think that I continue to make best of friends this late in life!!!

Well, off I go for now-I will try and load some photos so you can get a sense for Cadiz and will write more as we cross the Atlantic starting tomorrow night at 2300! (more pics later-the system is acting up again!)

Stay tuned~10 more days and counting!

Much love from the other side of the Atlantic!

love, ro

Thanksgiving and being grateful...

Gosh, getting started about reflections yesterday had me hybernating in my room last night in overwhelm of feeling sad and almost not wanting to go back home to my "real life", although waking up today and realizing that all of this is now part of my "real life" that I get to take with me going home again...but, this seasaw feeling is not an explainable phenomena, unless you have been out here and have experienced this crazy adventure! It is such an amazing opportunity on so many different levels and I feel that this time of reflection has me really laying out some things that I want to shift in my home life, to better reflect what has happened for me out here on the wide blue seas and lands!
So, first things first~
~I am in touch with my friends on a regular basis-calling them when I think of them and sending connections notes often
~I send birthday cards to all of my connections important to me.
~I make soup, salad and homemade bread every Sunday and invite others over to stay connected
~I am active everyday, whether on a walk, bicycle, golf or other physical activity that I enjoy and share with others in my life
~I meditate, read something spritually connecting or gather with friends and talk about our inspiring lives daily and weekly to keep connected with spirit in my life

I have more, and would be interested to hear if any of you have ones that you would like to take on for your own lives now and in this upcoming year?

I think it is always good to keep checking in with yourself to make sure that who you are is alligned with what you are doing and who you are being in the world! Thank God Jill has been sending me Jacob CD's in almost everyport to keep me thinking in this frame of mind! Thanks Jill!

And then what I am thankful for on this day of Thanksgiving~we are celebrating tonight with all the fixins':
~I am grateful for a loving and close family~I love you all and so blessed to have each of you as family members!
~I am grateful for so many wonderful friends~it becomes clear who your friends really are out here and I have really appreciated being connected with you while even being on the other side of the planet!
~I am grateful for my body and my health~again, it is not something I take for granted and am graciously grateful for it working and being a partner for me in this life
~I am grateful for being able to continually explore myself and the world through Semester At Sea...for Gosh sakes, who gets to keep doing this incredible journey over and over to keep ones soul in check? I do and am very grateful for Jill and Willie, my bosses, Maggie, my housemate, my parents for household logistics and support, Semester At Sea for continuing to give me this opportunity and trusting in my capabilities to do a good job and many others including my staff who allow me to be here and be present and not having to worry about anything at home!

so, there you have it for today...some random thoughts about this day of thanks giving and being so grateful for my incredible life!

I love you all~
Much love,
ro

At Sea to Spain and beginning of reflections

We are on day 3 on our way to Spain and have 2 more to go. The seas, until today have been almost like glass and the weather warmer and unseasonale, according to the Captain. But, today we woke up to to some pretty big swells, white caps and lots of wind...although again we have not experienced really any "serious" weather since the beginning of this voyage...of course minus the typhoons in Japan, monsoons in China and storms out of Egypt~but again minor compared to what was to be expected...
The sea is really beautiful though when you see and experience her power...I will include some pics that may not mean or seem like much just looking at it, but it really is something else to be out here in the middle of her power and beauty with no land in sight!

Last night was also the infamous Auction...here are some shots of the amazing committee in their room of goodies before the event...the final dollar tally is not out yet, but the figure is looking like somewhere around $25,000 raised for charities of the communities choice by selling of items like, raising the flag into Florida, steering the ship for 5 minutes to the navagational map with the Officer's signature to first off the ship in Florida! Many summer homes and cabins were also part of the auction-I think the biggest ticket item was $3700 for a stay in a condo in Bend Oregon for a week! The list of items were immense, but it also included silent auction items as well as raffle tickets, where many more folks could have a chance at winning...actually I think they sold $6,000 worth of raffle tickets alone! Anyway, the funniest part was that "being the voice and me" for the day raised $600! We almost got 2 people to give $600 each, but the second gal came to her senses and backed out...so this gal will follow me around for the day and be able to make annoucements, go to meetings (of course meeting the officers), and going to the bridge! I thought I might start a little side business here on the ship to pay for my expenses by allowing people to be the voice for the next 17 days and make some money...at least possibly asked for a higher stipend anyway! But, it always amazes me that these students are willing to pay so much money for some of these items...it really is an evening where the money they come from is VERY apparent and pretty amazing to watch! Thank God it goes to charity-otherwise, it would not feel as ok to me! The other great part was JB and a student doing the auctioneering-wait until you meet JB-he is just naturally hilarious...I think he is missing his calling in life...he must look into being a comedian~he does not even try and he is funny!

On another note, the alumni fund drive that I am heading up is also in full gear-we have raised about $10,000 so far with a goal of $30,000...but we have a couple of folks within the adult passenger group that are challenging each other on giving...we have one who has already given $5000, another just about to give another $5000 with a matching of $2500 from another couple and $5000 more from the balance of the adults...so we will be at 22,500 pretty quickly...and will just need to make up the balance of $7500 from the rest of the community to beat the all time record of $29,500!!! We are up for the challenge and I think we may make it! Stay tuned!

I am starting my end of the year report and some reflections have started flowing into my mind as I have had to evaluate how this voyage has gone...so in the next couple of days, I will do some of that here on my blog, alongside the evaluation I turn into SAS...so here are some thoughts...

some things I am going to miss from my 100 day journey...
...waking up to the swaying of the great blue and orange ship underneath your feet
...having Sunny carrying my tray every morning, and Ismael bringing me tea, orange juice & my english muffin perfectly cooked
...sitting with the Officers every morning at 0830 talking about all the great things that happened, are about to happen and plan to happen in the future to make this the best voyage it can be
...waking everyone up at 0917 to a bing bong wake up call and knowing that a smile is on their faces as their morning alarm for the day
...being up in the bridge everyday, talking to Jesus and Guiseppe about the weather, life and what's happening on board from the crew perspective...and being able to be in the bridge and looking out into the wide blue ocean from a birds eye view
...working with the work study students and the 2 of ours who I love and adore so much~Carmina who is at San Diego and Ryan!

...the many opportunities for social gatherings with some of my current favorite friends...here we are at the last sea social with students in the Faculty/Staff lounge

That is enough for today...I am actually getting a bit nostalgic and teary eyed right now...must go and get my workout in for the day...the alarm was not set this morning, as I stayed up and watched the Michigan State/Norte Dame game that Tim had received from his sister AFTER the Auction until abou 1230 this morning...long day

much love for now...and pictures to come...
ro

Croatia, the former Yugoslavia!

Just another beautiful country that I know I will come back and visit!We arrived here on Tuesday and are getting ready to leave tonight at 2200, minus one student who cracked her 12th vertebrae jumping into the sea off of some cliffs~we're up to 11 or 12 now...amazes me, being we did not lose 1 student on Fall 2000!

On a brighter note, Dubrovnik is charming and quaint and we hit Croatia on the best 5 days of this time of the year~raining right before we got here and is suppose to start up again tonight! There is no way to describe all of the great stories of our 4 day adventure in Croatia, so here are just a few highlights...
As soon as the ship cleared, Steve and I were off the ship, riding the local bus to downtown to catch Dubrovnik before all 600 others invaded it! We also spent some time tracking down a rental car, which we secured by days end...the city was absolutely stunning...the pictures just do not do it justice in terms of the clarity and natural beauty...we wandered on the city wall, which surrounds the entire old town~one side is the city and the other the ocean...I found the spot where I had met the little old lady sewing

her cross stitch 18 years ago and even the little hole in the wall where I have a picture of me from then (a pic of the spot is attached)...we had lunch at a local eatery in the town and then decided to walk back to the ship on the way home...
We packed the "extra" suitcase Steve took home for me and hung out and watched a movie, as we planned to be up and out early the next day to get a head start up the coast. There were also a couple sets of backgammon games, which I will not mention what the win/loss count was, but suffice to say that I let Steve win!

Sure enough, we got the car and were on the road by 0915 and heading up the most beautiful coastline I think I have ever experienced...Steve would say that it is more spectacular than the great California coast! We stopped along the way to try and capture it, but again, I think some of these sights will be pictures in our minds that we will hold forever! We made it up to the Medjugore cut off, and at that moment I decided to go with Steve, instead of being dropped off...part of the problem is that we are not allowed to go "out of the country" we are in and Medjugore is officially in Bosnia...but off we went, about 30 minutes into Bosnia with our rental car...this is a very spiritual place for Christians, as Mary has spoken to some visionaries here for the past 15 or so years and we were so close that it felt ok and safe to go...we had no problems, but I must say, I was happy to cross back over to Croatia on our way back.

We made it to Split by around 4pm, but decided after driving through the big city, to keep going to Trogir that Steve had read about~this is where we put our head down the first night-a very charming and quaint little island, right up the coast from Split. We stayed in a cute little hotel right on the water...we ended up running into the doctor and his wife Margaret there, which was odd as it literally was in the middle of no where. They suggested a great little 3 table restaurant that they fell upon the night before...we turned out to be their first "official " customers, as their opening night was that evening! I enjoyed an amazing grilled fish with greens while Steve had a great Steak with some interesting potatoes~never mix jicama with potatoes though-strange combination!

We awoke to a great sight across the water from town and had a great breakfast there in the hotel~many places in Croatia include breakfast with your stay. With our tummies full, we headed back up the coast. It was a long day of driving with a couple of stops for lunch and coffee! But the coastline was absolutley stunning-we would be driving along and come around a bend and boom this almost sureal town off in the distance that was perfect and beautiful would be in full sight...We then headed inland to these waterfalls that are very famous here in Croatia. Being off-season, it was amazing to be anywhere at this time of the year, with no other tourists in sight! We ended up at these falls and again, other than 2 other human beings, we had the hike to the falls all by ourselves and it was so peaceful and beautiful, it was breathtaking...imagine being up in Yosemite with only 2 others-honestly what it was like! We hiked back up all the way to the car and silly me left my wallet WITH YES my passport in that little pouch...luckily with no one else around, Steve was kind enough to run back down to the spot where we took pictures at the bottom of the falls and it was still there hanging on the pole...scared the bajegees out of me and fortunately for me, Steve was calm and collected and handled it with ease and grace! Such a great companion to have with me~phew!!!! But then the driving was a bit long and windy and there were a couple of times when the going got too tough for Steve and my crazying BMW driving in a little Fiat Punto...here is some of his reactions on film!

With that, our appetites were ready for lunch and we stopped along the road at the next little town...ended up having a great little lunch and kept on driving until we hit Zagreb. We found the hotel, which of course was right in the heart of downtown, within walking distance of the entire city plaza and we got our room and settled in.

We walked around town the next day, which happened to be Steve's birthday and had a nice dinner to celebrate his 48 years on this planet. We also spent, as many do in Croatia several times a day in cafe's having milk coffee and watching the world go by~one such cafe had my life motto that Steve saw that I got a kick out of~"carpe diem". The other amazing part was each town we stopped in had its own version of an open market-flowers, vegetables, fish and wares were to be had everyday~so charming and great to see the locals come into town to pick up their goods for the week. I had to leave last night to fly back to the ship around 8pm...I was able to hook up with an SAS tour that was in Zagreb and ended up on the same flight that they were on, which of course saved me lots of taxi fares and being in an airport all alone at 2300 in Croatia!

It was so fun to share at least 12 days of this journey with Steve and I know this will be a fond memory for us to talk about for years to come...he headed off to Vienna for a couple of days this morning from Zagreb and heading home in time for Thanksgiving with his family in Santa Barbara! We had some great laughs and good talks and got to share a little of the world together-I am surely greatful to have had him here with me! Here we are "sharing the world" in our shadow...
Today, I just spent the day hanging out again in the old town, had a second serving of this wonderful ice cream we had the first day here and then headed back to the ship and now here for the night. We leave in about 4 hours and head towards Spain in 4 days for 5 days and then homeward bound in 10 days across the Atlantic Ocean!

The trip is surely winding down now...people are starting to talk about Florida and how they are going to get everything home, papers and finals are around the corner and there is surely this feeling of good-byes and a bit of sadness in the air about the last 2 weeks or so of this amazing adventure! Having been in this place of the end of the journey twice before, it still is an amazing feeling to realize the friendships and bonds that have formed for life, the special relationships with the crew and officers I have been fortunate to develop and the amazing and wonderful memories I will take with me from this time that are special and lasting!

I hope that all is well in your neck of this beautiful world and times of gratitude and love are close by as you gather with family and friends for Thanksgiving...from my neck of the world to yours, lots of love for today!
ro

Beautiful Turkey!

Hi everyone~
Well I am back...as we pulled into Turkey, the internet went down and did not come back up until yesterday afternoon for a couple of hours and now this morning, it looks like we will have no more problems until the next time...

First things first...Steve arrived safe and sound the day before we arrived and got a bit of jet-lag out of his system. We actually arrived on-time at 0800 even though we were delayed a full day out of Egypt-amazing how quick this ship can be-once out of the rough waters, Captain cranked it up and we went flying to Turkey. I began to get a very bad cold and the night before we arrived, was down with a fever and cough, along with about 200 others on board...along with the cold came the cold weather...we arrived in Turkey to snow the on the ground the day before, a drop in temperature of over 20 degrees and shock to all of our systems, having been in warmto hot weather for the past 70 or so days!

Little less than an hour after we docked, Steve came aboard and I gave him the grand tour...of course by today, he has the lay of the land and we will be in Croatia tomorrow...still seeing if he might stay until Cadiz, Spain, but chances are he will leave from Croatia next Sunday.

So, Turkey-it is as amazing as I remember, although it has been 18 years since the last time I was here...so much rich history, where east meets west and more mosques than you can imagine! We took the "city tour" the first day to get our feet wet and see some of the major sights. This actually turned out to be a great thing with my cold still in tact...saw the blue mosque, Aya Sofia museum, which once was both a mosque and church but now a museum in restoration, sulleyman mosque, the Cisterns and even stopped at Steve's hotel from the night before and grabbed his bags for a free ride back to the ship. We met these children in front of the blue mosque who were practicing their English with tourists and of course I latched onto one who was just adorable. It had been a long plane flight for him and with my cold in prime, we headed back to the ship and stayed there for the night...Steve was able to get settled into the "suite" and an early evening gave us a chance to get up early the next day to a new day in Istanbul.

We really had a perfect leisurely 4 days in Istanbul and for the first time, I was able to enjoy the port city to the fullest...with so much to see in Istanbul, this was not hard to fill the days.

The 2nd day was a trip to the old bazaar-of course no stop is without shopping...of course Turkey is best known for its gold, carpets and knick knacks gallore! By this time in the voyage, I am clearer that collecting anymore chatski's is probably not a good idea, but did find quite a bit of silver jewelry that I know I am going to cherish...I met up with a dear friend of John Tymitz from SAS named Joseph who turned out to be such a joy and wonderful person-we went back twice to buy more from him, but also just to enjoy his company! We really did a sweep the first day to get a lay of the land and came back the 4th day to do the power shopping! We also went to the cistern, which we had missed the 1st day instead to pick up Steve's luggage and I must say, although there years ago, it was cool to see again! We had doner for lunch, which is either chicken or lamb and beef on a huge long skewer that is shaved off for a wonderful sandwich! We walked around quite a bit and also came upon this women making Turkish pancakes that we came back to the next day to have for lunch...of course LOVE the food here and took advantage as much as we could to enjoy the cuisine-especially some of the desserts like baklava, turkish delights and the like! During the day and the end of the day, coffee and tea breaks became a regular routine for us, but the great part was the spots we found walking up the street or just in time after a long day when we could not go another step...amazing little gems of places to stop and take in the sights-I will include 2 with the views~one during the day on top of the city and one overlooking the golden horn! We ended up coming back to the ship around 6 again and enjoying a relaxing evening on the ship.

The 3rd day consisted of heading to the Topkopi Palace, which was a 3 hour tour back in history to the 22 sultans that called this palatial estate home...Steve especially enjoyed the Harem section of the palace where we found out that the harem sometimes consisted of up to 400 women, with most of the Sultans favoring about 3-5 wives but about 25 favorites! From there, we headed down the hill to have lunch at the pancake place-I am going to see if I can find one of these big round grills in the states...we'll have turkish pancake parties when I get back! We walked all the way down the hill to the spice market, which of course was also fun to walk through and smell all of the variety of spices that Turkey and this region is known for...more saffron will be coming home as well!

Day 4 started and ended with a power shopping day back at the market...Steve did some damage as well as I and Debbie also joined us on this day. By the time we were done, we were all pretty crispy and came back once again to the ship. We rested a bit, but then decided to head out to Taxim, which was the hip part of town that we did not want to miss...walked around quite a bit, Steve had this wonderful turkish dessert (cream puffs with chocolate sauce poured over the top) at which time, we decided to walk down the hill to catch the tram home...needless to say, we got a little lost, but after circling the edge of the golden horn, found our way back to Karakoy, a familiar stop on the tram that then took us back home to the ship.

The final day was spent taking a ferry to the asia side by ferry and falling upon the town and walking around. It was actually quite modern, but the food vendors and people out and about was quite enjoyable to be among the locals...we were finally able to get together with my cousin, Sibel around 4pm for a drive up the coast and dinner at one of her favorite spots. It still amazes me to this day how cosmopolitan the city is and what an amazing amount of rich history there is here in this city! Here are some pics before I head to bed to get up to see us pull into Debrovnik, Croatia! We really had a wonderful time here in Istanbul and looking forward to Croatia tomorrow! There are so many more stories to tell but these were just some of the highlights!

The 2 days at sea were also very fun-Steve got to experience the Captain's dinner and the day to day runnings of the ship-and a massage today to boot for his birthday coming up this week-more later about these 2 days!

The downloading is taking forever and I need to go to bed-will try and add some more pics tomorrow!

Much love sent across the miles~
ro

Rough seas and calmer weather

WOW~
Last night was a pretty wild ride-this ship surely does not feel as "stable" as the old ship in rough seas-probably why the Captain waited for nicer weather...folks still got what they wanted-it was a pretty rough night...but we woke up this morning to calmer seas and the Captain has turned on the 3rd engine and sped up so it looks like even though we were a day behind, we will arrive on-time tomorrow morning at 0800!

The temperature outside has dropped at least 15 degrees and I think warm weather is gone forever more on this trip...of course I am freezing!

I also woke up with a cold, which of course is not a surprise, as my body is working extra hard to keep up with this pace...my first one though on the trip, so not complaining...the majority of the shipboard community is coughing and sick on board! Hopefully a quick one! Will try and keep it low key today and get some rest before port tomorrow!

love for now~
ro

Still in Alexandria...and we are finally off to Turkey

Well, well, well, it may take another day before we get to Istanbul... I did hear from my cousin in Istanbul that the weather has been terrible there with even the potential of snow today...and so it fits that the weather between Egypt and Turkey would be tumultuous at best...so the port in Alexandria was just officially closed and we will not be able to leave until tomorrow sometime...stay tuned!

lots of love from Egypt~
ro

1330 update on November 5th...we are still here and the decision to sail is in 2 hours increments...next update at 1400...seas are at 9-12 feet and on beaufort scale 6-8 knots gale winds...yeah, much rather be right here in the safe harbor...you can see the "sea" from here and it looks mighty scary out there! Stay tuned!

1800 update on November 5th...we are finally off and running to Istanbul...although I must say, the seas are going to have us rockin and rollin all the way there...oh my goodness, we just hit the bottom of a wave and if felt like the bottom was going to fall out...so here we go...more tomorrow on the rockin update...they have us in-house tonight with all decks off-limits for safety...I will see if I can get some shots of the waves on here tomorrow!

good night for now...love, ro

Alexandria, Egypt

Alexandria is actually a beautiful port city-much smaller and more quaint than crazy Cairo...and the largest port in Egypt...so lots of beaches and history here...
Yesterday, I decided to jump on the best of Alexandria tour and figured I would jump off when I was bored...
We first headed to the Catacombs of Shaeqafa, an extensive 3 level funerary complex dating back to the 2nd centuryCE. Unfortunately no pictures were allowed here, so you will have to check it out on discovery channel-some pics of findings inside on the outside here...then to the National Museum, which was housed in the old American embassy building as the actual museum is being renovated-amazing relics from this region, along with a mummy in the cool basement of the building...check it out...also went to the Montaza Gardens where the summer residence of ex king Farouk is situated-but again, we were not allowed in and only have exterior shots of most places we went today. But the beaches were beautiful inside these gates!
We had lunch right on the waters of the meditteranean in a greek restaurant and from there went to the famous Bibliotheca Alexandrina, built on the same site where the famour Library of Alexandria that was established by Ptolemy in 288 BCE but today is the most unique and unusual architectural structure in the world. It was 10 stories long in this unusual open structure! We stopped the Qait Bey Fort, build on the original site of the Pharos, Alexandria's ancient lighthouse which was one of the 7 wonders of the Ancient World. At this point I was done for the day and my stomach was starting to rattle from something I ate in Cairo, so headed back to the ship for some R& R...good thing as I finally was plagued with my first strain of Egypt belly...lots of students were now on board, experiencing similar strains, as we all headed to the clinic for some relief-I went for crackers, they for drugs...I figured I had enough drugs in me that I would take some pepto and call it a day for Alexandria. I was also on duty and kept getting calls all day, so much easier to be on the ship dealing with issues there...
Although I feel a little more stable today, I think I will only venture out for a couple of hours to see if I am "missing" anything else in Alexandria, but I think I am been there done Egypt...we only have 2 days until we are in Istanbul and I am looking forward to having Steve here now for the next 12 days! I hear from my relatives that it is snowing in Istanbul and lots of flooding in different regions-no more warm weather-pull out the coats and hats!

So with that I say salbolaguz...good bye in Tatarcha...
much love, ro