TRAVEL BUM - travels with Genise

Kauai

2012-02-10T18:34:00.001-08:00

Today we also decided not to do a ship tour, instead we rented a car for the day with Dave and Brenda, who are a lovely couple that we also eat with at night at a table for 8. To digress for the moment we have a terrific chef on this cruise and have had many fabulous meals, which has caused me to work out when we are at sea for three hours in the morning. I start off with Zumba, then either go to the gym for the elliptical or do 4 miles around the promenade deck. I then meet my better half for dance classes, so far we have learned the waltz, the merengue, and line dancing. This allows me to eat lunch and dinner and have some wine everyday!
Anyway back to our day in Kauai. We travelled to the Waimea Canyon. It rained while we were up there and that socked in our view. It is Hawaii's answer to the Grand Canyon. Our next stop was Poipu Beach which is in the southern part of Kauai. We stopped at the blow hole, but it wasn't at its full glory that day. After stopping for a special Hawaiian treat "Shave Ice" we ended our day viewing the waterfalls at Wailui.

Kauai

2012-02-10T18:33:00.000-08:00

Honolulu

2012-02-10T18:23:00.000-08:00

Friday Feb. 3, 2012
Today the Pacific Princess arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii. Since we had been here many times before we decided to do our on thing. We went to the Iolani Palace which was the home of the king of Hawaii until 1891. It had a wonderful collection of jewelry which the King and Queen wore. The only thing that impressed me was the photographs from the 1890's and how sharp and well preserved they were. After the Palace we wandered over to Chinatown for a Dim Sum lunch at the Legends restaurant in the Chinese Cultural center. As we walked in to a full restaurant full of Chinese diners we realized we had hit pay dirt. The food was delicious. After lunch we walked all over Chinatown and returned to the boat to have a rest before our evening activity.
At 5 we headed out for an evening harbor cruise, with dinner and dancing culminating in a fireworks show which orginated from the Hilton Hawaian Village. it was a gorgeous evening and the view of Honolulu from the water was incredible.

Cruise on Pacific Princess

2012-02-10T17:34:00.000-08:00

Dear friends,
We left San Diego on Saturday Jan 28 on the Pacific Princess a lovely older midsized ship that has been well maintained. We are travelling to Sydney, Australia, but almost 300 passengers are making a 107 day world cruise which ends in Venice.Here are some picture of the ship, which include our stateroom, very spacious and wide.

Alexandria, Egypt

2009-11-25T20:13:00.000-08:00

Today we are going to meet Ted at the train station in Alexandria. We
took a taxi after some heavy bargaining, to the Greco Roman Ruins and
Roman Amphitheatre. It is quite close to the train station.

Athens, Greece

2009-11-25T20:07:00.001-08:00

Athens, is a charming friendly city. We are staying at the Royal
Olympic hotel which is very lovely and centrally located. We walked
everywhere. We covered alot of territory today. The new Acropolis
Museum which only opened a few weeks again is a beautiful museum, no
headphones yet. It has a large section on the Parthenon. The Greeks
are still angry with Lord Elgin for stealing a great deal of the
antiquities from it. We visited the Acropolis and the Parthenon. There
is a great deal of renovating going on there as they attempt to
restore it. We also visited Hadrian's gate and the Temple of Zeus.
The Plaka was our choice for tasting the gyros that Athens had to offer.

Saturday October 17 Start of cruise

2009-10-23T09:03:00.000-07:00

We had a late checkout today. The weather was bad outside. Went to the cruise terminal at 3:00
Our travel agent Barbara Stein surprised with a gift of a meal at the Pinnacle Grill. It was a wonderful meal. Thanks Barbara!

RE: Friday October 16 Athens

2009-10-23T08:59:00.000-07:00

It was rainy when we woke up this morning in Athens. After breakfast
we decided to take a local tram to Glyfada, which is a seaside resort
outside of Athens. For 1 euro each we travelled out to the beach.
The sun came out as we wandered around the town, and the rains came
pelting down again as we took the tram back to Athens.

When we arrived in Athens the sun had come out. We got off at
Syntagma square and watched the changing of the guard at he parliament
building. We then went for a long walk through Kolonaki an elegant
charming area of Athens, we walked to the foot of Lycabettus Hill.
Kolonaki is considered one of the poshest areas of Athens. Lycabettus
is the highest hill in the city. We took the cable car to the top.
On the top is the picturesque chapel of St. George dating from 1780.
The view of the city is spectacular.

After taking the cable car down, we walked back to Syntagma square and
continued on to Monastiraki, Alot of the locals hang out at the
coffee shops there. We had coffee and watched The Nigerians selling
knockoff watches and scattering when the police swept through the
streets.

Re: Athens, Greece

2009-10-15T12:20:00.000-07:00

Athens, is a charming friendly city. We are staying at the Royal
Olympic hotel which is very lovely and centrally located. We walked
everywhere.
We covered a lot of territory today. The new Acropolis Museum which
only opened a few weeks again is a beautiful museum, no headphones
yet. It has a large section on the Parthenon. The Greeks are still
angry with Lord Elgin for stealing a great deal of the antiquities
from it.
We visited the Acropolis and the Parthenon. There is a great deal of
renovating going on there as they attempt to restore it. We also
visited Hadrian's gate and the Temple of Zeus. The Plaka was our
choice for tasting the gyros that Athens had to offer. We also sampled
coffee where ever we went.

RE: Pre travel jitters

2009-10-12T19:29:00.001-07:00

Oct 12 Getting ready to travel has always caused me a huge amount of
anxiety.
Being a type A personality doesn't help. I feel tense, driven and
anyone who is around me during this time wishes they were somewhere
else.
As soon as I board the plane, and my adventure begins I begin to relax.
So far that hasn't happened.

Re: Testing my blog off line

2009-10-06T15:16:00.001-07:00

October 2009
This is a good chance to test my blog off line and see if it can work
so that I can type and not have to make notes on a pad.

Rosemead, Ca.

2009-10-01T14:18:00.000-07:00

Today is October 1. I am celebrating my birthday with friends. I am starting to get ready for my trip so now I am playing around with fonts and checking to see how they look I am such a Libra I will probably take a long time deciding.....

I'm at Mexican Sugar Skull headquarters. Not lightning here. Just testing....