Trip Update and Back Home

Naples & Home 7/20/07 11:42 AM

Above is the link for the slideshow for some of the photos we took in Naples, our last stop on the cruise.

The lousy intermet connection on board our ship was the talk of the town, or at least the talk of those who had shelled out 33 – 50 cents a minute to check email or post a message on their blogs. It took me 28 minutes to cut and paste an entry on this blog last week. Frustrating, at the least.

Anyway, what was more frustrating was learning on Saturday evening that our trip to Athens on Sunday would be marred due to a strike. The Acropolis was closed due to a strike by the guards and ticket takers at this historic site. Can you imagine coming all the way to Athens and not being able to see the Acropolis?!?!

We took the metro from the port town of Piraeus into Athens. Instead of stopping at the Acropolis station we stopped at the one closest to the ancient Agora. We walked through this amazing site and up the winding paths to the base of the Acropolis. We visited the Church of the Metamorphosis, which is next to the Theater of Dionysus. We continued through the neighborhood surrounding the base of the Acropolis and onto the Acropoli Metro stop, which contains some of the statues and other artifacts found at the Acropolis site. The metro stop is a small museum in and of itself. We headed back to the ship a lot earlier than we intended, but happy that we did get to see a few of the sights.

In addition to the disappointment of missing the Acropolis, I continued my ‘vacation injury’ tradition with not one, but two significant medical events. While visiting the Pyramids, I had the misfortune of tripping over one of the deteriorating concrete pathways/platforms. I smashed my 4th toe (the one next to the pinky toe) on my left foot. The amount of blood generated by this mishap was impressive, but nothing compared to lovely bluish black color said toe turned the next morning. There was no time to focus on the pain, however, because that same morning I awoke with the right side of my face swollen – from below my eye socket to my jaw line. It seems I chipped a tooth earlier in the week and had an abscess form. The pain was unbearable. The ships doctor was able to prescribe 500mg of amoxicillin three times a day and Tylenol 3 – also three times a day. I have sent out only one email during this cruise and it was to my dear friend, Marty, asking her to make me an emergency dentist appointment the day after our return. ‘Snaps’ for Marty for getting me an 11AM appointment on Friday morning.

All of this did not dampen my enthusiasm for our last port call in Naples. James took Leah & Maddie down to Pompeii via the local train. Josie and I toured the Castle in the harbour. I'm sorry that I don't have the exact names of the places and works of art - they are still tucked away in one of our suitcases.
Today's post...
The trip home was trying and not without its drama - but we all arrived in one piece - tired and happy to see our dogs and our own beds for the first time in 3 weeks. We did arrive a bit lighter - our biggest suitcase never made it out of Rome from what we can tell. Of course, it was the suitcase that contained most of our gifts. We are hoping it is located today. It was well marked with luggage tags, etc. So, we'll be hoping for a good outcome on that.

I have spent most of this morning getting laundry done and unpacking. I am also re-packing Leah's suitcase as she will return to Michigan tomorrow morning. I did get to see my dentist this morning too. Seems I have a cracked tooth that will require a root canal and crown. That joyous event is scheduled for Tuesday morning. Say a prayer for me - I hate pain and told my dentist that I donated the majority of my pain tolerance during childbirth. Make sure the drugs are strong or just knock me out... It's the recovery that is the most painful anyway, so who am I kidding? Next week is not going to be a good one.

We had a fabulous time and I'm so grateful for my husband's hard work that made it possible. We won't be taking any big vacations for another couple of years, so this one was really special.

I'm still working on uploading all the photos from our port calls, I should have that done in the next day or two so stop back to check them out!