‘Tapas & Togas’ - Ocean Village Mediterranean Cruise, Oct 20-27 2009 TRIP REPORT UPDATED 10/26 About This Page:

[Disneybine]

OMG, I just found this trip report and I can't wait to see your photos!!! I love St. Raphael (friends of my parents' own a vacation home there)

[Tinkerboo]

Day 2 (21/10) - At Sea

And so begins our first full day of cruising…as you’ll be aware from my earlier post, Tuesday night was not a great one for getting any sleep, due to an insane amount of banging and crashing going on somewhere above us. Looking back we probably should have complained about it at the time, but I think we were both so tired (having been up since 3.30am that morning remember) that we both just hoped it would stop soon. Anyway, as a result of this we were both pretty tired on Wednesday to say the least. Once we were up and as near fully-conscious as possible we headed to the Plantation 24 hour buffet for breakfast…unfortunately we’d missed the hot food but there were still meats, cheeses, fruit, cereals, breads etc available so we filled up on that (better for the waistline too!).

Then we took a proper walk around the ship, looking at the bits that we didn’t see on day 1, including the gym on the top deck at the very front (we have brought our gym stuff and plan on actually going there some time later in the week, oh yes!). There is a path going all the way around this deck, on which they have an organised ‘10 circuits of the path = 1 mile’ walk every morning…we have yet to see this in action as it’s held pretty early (by my standards!). So we walked along this path to the very front part that’s open to passengers - sadly you can’t do the ‘Jack ‘n’ Rose - flying with arms out’ thing, as the pointy front bit of the ship is where they keep all the ropes and stuff that tether it to the dock, and also where the mechanisms that drop and haul up the anchors are (they are HUGE chains!), so you‘re not allowed there. The bit we were on was above that and overlooking it, and as the ship was moving, this area was immensely windy - it literally could blow you off your feet if you weren’t careful! We managed to stand and look out to sea for about five minutes before it got too much and we continued round. It was one of those experiences that is so weird that you just can’t help giggling like a loon, and I have a couple of pictures to remind us of this…which hopefully I will be able to post (Flickr permitting).

When we got round back to the main part of the deck (where there was no wind whatsoever..?!) we found a barbeque in full swing, so joined the queue for that. It was quite nice, but although the barbeque itself was visible, it only seemed to ever have burgers on it, despite the fact there were pork chops, chicken and various other things on the serving station…where were they coming from? Was it in fact just food from the galley that had been cooked in BBQ sauce? We’ll never know…

The weather was pretty cloudy and dull still, and there was rain speckling the air, so we went back down to the main ‘Village Square’ where the reception, shops, cyber café and bars are. There was a perfume and jewellery sale being held in the main area so we took a quick look and I came away with a duo pack of Estee Lauder’s ‘Beyond Paradise’ (one of my favourite perfumes), for the a bargain price of £30.95 ($45?) and a cute silver shell pendant. We also called by the photo shop to see if our embarkation picture was up on the wall yet - they display all the photos that they take throughout the cruise and if you want to buy yours you just take it off the wall and to the desk to pay for it. It’s also fun to look at other people’s pictures and see how grumpy/crazy/insanely happy they are Ours had turned out to be quite a good picture so we decided to buy it, along with a mini album as there was an offer on.

It was about this point that I remembered I wanted to book a spa appointment so I headed all the way down to deck 2 - not as easy as it sounds, as you can only get there from the stairs/lifts in the middle of the ship, not the ones at the front or back. We (still) often find ourselves having to stop and think about where we currently are and where we’re trying to go and which way we need to go to get there…I guess that by the time we get it sorted in our minds it’ll be the last day!

We came back to the cabin in the hope that the sun would come out and we could enjoy the balcony to its full potential (it didn’t so we couldn‘t). Not wanting to feel down about it though, I engaged my British stiff upper lip and sat out there with a hoody on and a towel over my legs to stop the occasional raindrops getting on me and did some cross-stitching. Eventually though I was just too cold and by that time we were hungry again so put warmer clothes on and headed off for tea at Plantation (get used to hearing that name - as chezp will tell you from personal experience we are pretty unadventurous eaters so we like buffets because you can pick what you like and fill up on that!). Tonight’s theme was Chinese, which Andy likes but I’m not a great fan of, however I tried a coupla things and then ate bread rolls till full (ha ha!). I have pictures of some of it, which again I will try and post here later.

After a trip back to the cabin to pick up the netbook it was back down to the Village Square to link up to the wifi and try and upload photos. As you’ll know if you‘ve read all the way through so far, it didn’t want to work (grr) and I got pretty frustrated with it as it was eating up the 100 minutes connection time that I‘d bought. As we were near the cyber café/coffee bar we picked up a couple of Costa Coffee lattes to take back to the cabin and retired to bed, hoping that the mystery noise didn’t kick off again. Fortunately your pixies must have done the trick, as although there was a bit of footstep noise, it was nothing like the crashing of the night before…hurrah!

The weather today was cloudy all day and allegedly 23 degrees C, though it certainly didn’t feel that way to me and there were spots of rain in the air
The best thing today was finding a perfume bargain
The worst thing today was being absolutely cream-crackered because the noise going on all night had stopped us sleeping
The funniest thing today was the windy walk around the front of the ship and the uncontrollable giggling it provoked
Today we tried various Chinese dishes, including something called a ‘seafood moneybag’
And the result was it was quite nice…except for the seafood moneybag
The most magical moment today was the time we spent enjoying our Costa coffee in the ’lounge’ half of the suite with absolutely no noise coming from anywhere around…sometimes it’s the simple things that are the best

Next: Day 3...Tunis…hmm.

[Tinkerboo]

Day 3 (22/10) - Tunis, Tunisia

I should begin this part by explaining that all the OV itineraries stop at Tunis first. I don’t know why - it’s presumably to space out the stops and avoid the need to have two consecutive ‘at sea’ days, but I think it would be so much better to just sail for longer and miss it off altogether! We went on a ‘Best of Tunis’ excursion in 2005 and since then “wow, it’s like the best of Tunis” (delivered in a very flat, dead-pan tone) has been a euphemism for “this is a bit rubbish” in our house. We just didn’t like it - I’ve nothing against other cultures, races, religions etc, but I just felt uneasy the whole time - we were taken round various merchants and they would try and pressure us to buy stuff from them, and were then taken to the souk to enjoy some “free time and haggling”. I’m sure some people must enjoy this but it’s just not for us - the traders are really pushy and won’t take no for an answer, and the men there look at you like they’re sizing up how many goats they should offer in return for taking you as a wife (there were a lot of “hello pretty laaay-deee” calls going on - I might have been flattered had they not been right in my face with Andy standing right next to me while they were saying it). So this time we decided to save a bunch of ££ by not going on an excursion and staying on-board while many of the other passengers were off ‘enjoying’ Tunis.

After rising late (by Andy’s standards, not mine - to me it was still kinda early) we trundled off to Plantation for the usual buffet breakfast (again managing to miss the hot food, much to his disgust) and then walked around the ship a bit. On the dockside were three camels, which I presume had been brought there by a local camel-farmer in an unashamed attempt to get some money out of us tourists by charging for photos with them. Although I missed it, Andy saw one woman half sitting on/half straddling the poor creature in a most unladylike fashion. Did he get a picture? No. But I’m sure you can imagine it, just as I will have to. He did mime it for me and it looked pretty funny! After that I was not tempted to go down and meet the camels…though my cruise buddy Chris and her kids did. Turns out it was 5 Euros per person to sit on the camel and have your photo taken, and she did a sterling job of haggling him down from 15 to 12 (just to see if she could I presume!).

The end of our wandering brought us to the bow/front just as the ship was preparing to leave - you only get half a day in Tunis (another good reason not to bother getting off there) so we set sail just after 12.30. As on day 2, it was still incredibly - almost freakishly - windy at the front so after standing there for twenty minutes (so Andy could do some filming) I felt like my poor face had been sand-blasted or something. I was very much looking forward to that facial.

Determined to make the most of our paid-for balcony, we returned to the cabin and watched as Tunis slowly slid out of view. I must pause here to mention one of my Best Packing Ideas: my ‘Sea & Sand’ flavour Yankee Candle. We are avidly anti-smoking, however it is permitted on cabin balconies so I brought the candle to burn in case the passengers next door were smokers. Good job I did, as they are - and it works a treat! We put it into a plastic glass - ‘borrowed’ from Plantation - and it burns really well because the glass stops the wind blowing it out every five seconds. Putting it on our little balcony table, it pretty much cancels out the smell of smoke - woop woop!! And the added bonus (which I did also have in mind when I packed it) is that we’ll now always associate the smell of it with our holiday. Awww…

So we passed a couple of hours here not doing very much and then I headed off to the spa. Andy headed up to the La Luna café/restaurant as they do takeaway fish ‘n’ chips between 11.30 and 3.00...and we Brits do love our fish ‘n’ chips! After filling out the usual health assessment form at the Karma Spa, I met Chloe who took me through to the tiniest treatment room I’ve ever seen - though in fairness, I guess they don’t have much room to play with on a ship. She then proceeded to go through a twenty minute facial, a twenty minute Balinese scalp massage and a twenty minute back/neck/shoulder massage. The facial I would rate as a 6 out of 10 as facials go - she seemed to focus a lot on my chin and barely at all on the top half of my face (despite later telling me that the skin on my forehead was very dehydrated - maybe so much so that she was scared to touch it?). I know it was only a mini-facial, so was never going to be the full-on luxury experience, but I was just expecting a bit more. It was nowhere near as nice as the ones my good friend Nina (who might be reading this ) does…

Then onto the scalp massage. Now, I was expecting the sort of thing you get when they wash your hair at the hairdressers - fingers stuck into hair and moved around. Chloe had other ideas. Whether it’s the ‘Balinese’ aspect that makes it different I don’t know, but I swear she spent 18 of the 20 minutes not moving. It was kind of ‘I will place my fingers on your head and then lift them off and place them somewhere else’, which to me, is not a massage, it’s gently poking someone in the head. What’s worse is that it seemed to go on forever - at least twice as long as the facial!!

I pinned my hopes on the back/shoulder/neck massage and to be honest that was quite good, though there was very little (if any) attention paid to the ‘neck’ aspect. Oh, and I did come away from it with red ‘massage table face hole’ marks on my cheeks and forehead. Attractive! But the ‘best’ part was yet to come…Chloe disappeared to let me get dressed and reappeared with a jar of cream suitable for my horrifically dehydrated face. I had been expecting a bit of a sales pitch so wasn’t surprised, so felt that I should at least ask the price to go through the motions. £45. YES - £45!!! That’s about $75!! For a jar that was small enough to fit inside a box the size of my camera case!! Needless to say, I was not going to go for that, so I played the ‘poor little wife’ card and told her that I better not as hubby wouldn’t be very pleased if it showed up on his credit card when our onboard account gets settled at the end of the week. Then I made my escape…

As I was recounting the story to Andy in the cabin, the sun finally decided to break through the clouds so we rushed to the balcony in order to soak up as much as possible. The (smoking) couple next door had told us that the previous week it had been so cold that they’d been able to see their breath when they were docked in Italy, so we knew that every moment of sun would be precious. It was most pleasant to finally feel a bit of warmth on the skin.

Tonight was billed as The Big Night Out, where passengers were invited to glam up, meet the captain etc etc. We hadn’t bothered bringing any smart clothes, having done so in 2005 and never once taking them out of the drawer so we just hung around to watch what was going on. They had been taking nominations for someone to be the ship’s Godmother for this cruise, the lucky lady (and yes, it had to be a lady, which I’m sure must break some sort of gender equality law) got to be part of a ceremony and break a bottle over a mock up of the bow. She also wins a trip to see the bridge and a table at the Bistro restaurant (which is the only one that has to be paid for and isn’t included in your fare). I should mention here that the Disneyphile in me felt slightly uneasy every time I heard the word ‘Godmother’ without the word ‘Fairy’ in front of it…like something was just not quite right.

We got as un-scruffily dressed up as possible, given what clothes we’d brought, and went down to the Village Square to watch the Godmother ceremony and captain’s speech. After quite a wait, a song from one of the singers and an acrobatic display from a girl on a trapeze bar (yes, really!) Captain Ian Hutley and his senior officers appeared to rapturous applause - bounding down the spiral staircase with big cheesy grins like an act on a variety show or something. The large crowd that had gathered seemed to have made a real effort on the dressing up part, and we felt a bit out of place in comparison so we only hung around long enough to watch the Godmother thing and then scuttled off to find food…

As part of the Big Night Out there was a Celebration theme in the Plantation and Waterfront buffets, which - bizarrely - meant that roast beef and Yorkshire puddings (???) were on the menu. Not that we were complaining, as nothing beats a roast dinner, but this doesn’t seem particularly celebratory..? To be a bit different we thought we’d try the Waterfront instead of Plantation, but it turned out that everyone else had thought the same thing and it was packed! I have to say though that when we did get a space to sit down, it was really nice beef and Yorkshires (though not as nice as my mum’s of course..!). But the nicest part was the chocolate fountain afterwards - I tell you, I’m not really a chocoholic but this could seriously convert me! Those little cubes of sponge cake were just deeeelish when soaked in melty oozy milky chocolate. Just thinking about it is making me want them now!!

We took a quick diversion into the casino on the way back to bed - nothing serious as we don‘t really know how to play properly (!), just a somewhat unsuccessful go on the slot machines, where we lost £10 The casino overlooks the Marquee stage and an Abba tribute show was just starting, so being non-Abba folks we made good our escape and got our stuff ready in advance of the early start to Rome the next morning.

The weather today was cloudy with occasional RAIN (!) till about 4pm, then sunny at last! About 21 degrees C and this time it actually felt it.
The best thing today was the chocolate fountain…mmmmmmm
The worst thing today was sadly and surprisingly, the spa experience
The funniest thing today was the lady posing in a most unflattering way with the camels at the dockside
Today I tried a Balinese scalp massage
And the result was it was really disappointing
The most magical moment today was when the sun finally came out and we truly felt like we were on holiday and not just sailing around in the Irish Sea or something

Next: Day 4...when in Rome…

[Colexis Mom]

More great updates! Sorry about the spa excursion!

[lauriep]

Sounds like a great day, although the spa treatments not quite up to par. I can't wait to see the photos!

[chezp]

Great updates! Sorry about the spa experience, doesn't sound like what I'd expect either.

[Tinkerboo]

Day 4 (23/10) - Rome, Italy

I read Angels & Demons in August so was excited to get to Rome and see some of the places it featured. I purposefully hadn’t watched the film as I didn’t want the film scenes to be as my first point of reference - I wanted to see it with my own eyes and make my own memory of it first, if you see what I mean (?). The really ironic thing was that they showed it in the Movie Drome, but on Wednesday night - before we got anywhere near Rome - so it was right there, on a massive screen, for free, but I still couldn’t watch it because it was two days too early!

We grabbed the swiftest breakfast ever - hash brown, beans and egg for Andy and a banana for me - and ran over to the rendezvous point to pick up a sticker which would determine which coach we should get on. We were part of Team C4, as you will see from some of the photos when I get them up here. Upon looking out of the window and seeing rain when we got dressed, we’d grabbed our coats and were glad we had when we got to the gangway as it was so windy the rain was coming down sideways!! The coaches for all the tours were lined up and, typically, the C ones were among the furthest away so we huddled our coats up to our ears and ran as quickly as was safe.

Once everyone was on board the bus, our escort introduced herself as Paola and we set off. It’s about an hour and a half’s drive to Rome from the port of Civitavecchia, through countryside that probably would have been beautiful had it not been hidden behind all that rain. Approaching Rome itself was like driving into any major city - quite grimy and run-down in appearance on the outskirts and full of manic traffic. Our Italian driver scythed his way through in that expert way that only people native to the country can and soon we were in the heart of the city where fortunately it was not raining. We paused briefly to pick up the tour guide - Mariangele (Mary Angel) - who would be telling us about Rome (Paola was kind of a chaperone, there to deal with problems and make sure no-one got left behind) and continued on past various major buildings such as Castel Sant’Angelo (as featured in Angels & Demons), the Vatican and St Peter’s Basilica.

We pulled up and disembarked at the Colosseum, which is sort of just placed in the middle of everything - for some reason I was surprised at this, even though it’s obvious that it would be where it is! Mariangele gave us each a ‘Whisper’ radio device with an earpiece, so that we could wear them and she could talk straight into our ears instead of having to shout over the bustle and noise (I remember reading about these on someone else’s TR but can’t remember whose now..?). They’re a really good idea and we could have done with them in Barcelona, but I’m getting ahead of myself…

We headed into the Colosseum and zipped past the long line for tickets (ha ha - the beauty of a pre-booked excursion!). It’s quite a surreal building, obviously half of it is missing - having been looted over the years for the stone to build other buildings, according to Mariangele. There are two ‘layers’ - the outside which is the recognisable one with the columns and arched ‘windows’ and another similar layer inside with the stairways and whatnot. In the middle you can see underneath where the floor level would have been into the corridors where all the behind the scenes action went on, wild animals were kept etc - sort of like the utilidors I guess! The floor itself is long gone. Mariangele talked at length about the building of the structure, gladiators and such but I can’t remember all of it to recount to you here (you’ll be pleased to hear!). I did pick up a book from a vendor outside which contains acetate overlays so you can see how the various sights look now and how they would have looked originally (simple idea but really effective!). I’ve just started studying an Arts course with the Open University, with the intention of carrying on to do further Classical Studies in the future so all this stuff is really interesting to me!

After about 25 minutes in the Colosseum - or the Amphiteatrum Flavium to use its Latin name - we moved on and walked along to the Roman Forum. This was the hub of Roman politics in ancient times and another item high up on my Must-See list for its historical significance. Rain started falling as we went in so everyone scrambled for jackets and umbrellas…including me, so apologies if any of the photos I attach here are wonky - it’s hard to manhandle a camera and an umbrella! Again, Mariangele was a font of knowledge, so much so that it became a bit of an overload and I focused on taking pictures. A lot of the forum looks a bit like a building site as there is so little of it left, but there are some really beautiful parts too. Here used to be temples devoted to Saturn, to Emperor Vespasian, to Castor and Pollux, to Vesta (where the famous Vestal Virgins hung out), to Julius Caesar (while he was in his pre-assassinated ‘seen as a deity’ phase) and to Venus (where Caesar courted controversy by installing a statue of his lover Cleopatra - the first time an image of an actual person instead of a god had been installed in a temple). There are bits and pieces of these remaining - the odd set of columns here and there - but it’s hard to imagine it as it would have been. I think that if I had a time machine and could only go to one point it would probably be here when it was in its prime…or if not then to Alexandria in Egypt when it was the cultural capital of the ancient world (and had the biggest ever library!!).

Strangely, though the temples and buildings are mostly gone, there are some awesome arches still standing (maybe arches survive the ravages of time better because of their shape..?). There are three - one for each of Septimus Serverus (who was a successful high-ranking soldier I think), Emperor Titus and Emperor Constantine. Apparently the Romans liked to build arches such as these as symbols of success - hence the Arc d’Triomphe in Paris (and also the one in Barcelona, which I didn’t know existed till Monday!) were built when the Romans took those areas. Building them in the Forum was a kind of expression of achievement to show off to the people in Rome I guess. The carvings on them are amazingly detailed and the writing is still perfectly legible (though in Latin so I can’t tell you what it means!). I find it utterly mind-blowing that these objects that are right in front of you were carved so long ago by members of a culture so different to today, yet are still here for us to see…to me it is literally awe-some.

Also in this area is Mamertine Prison, where St Peter was allegedly held after being arrested for practicing Christianity (a big no-no at the time). I say ‘allegedly’ because it is Christian legend that this occurred and there are no actual Roman records or evidence for it being true. We didn’t go inside but my book shows a picture of the column to which he was supposedly chained before his crucifixion, and the legend says that he miraculously caused a spring to rise up in the cell.

The rain stopped as we left the Forum and it actually got quite warm (hurrah!). Mariangele took us walking through some of the narrow Roman streets (always talking! mostly about the architecture and the age of the various buildings.) until at last we reached the famous Trevi Fountain. It is huge! So much bigger than I was expecting, but at the same time squished into what felt like a really small square with cafes and shops around the edge. It dates back to 1751, so is not of the ‘Julius Caesar’ era, but is still pretty darned old. The main figure on it is Neptune - he seems to feature prominently in a lot of the fountains, presumably because of his status as god of the seas - and the others are sculptures by various artists depicting different characters such as ‘Agrippa Approving the Plans for the Aqueduct’ (ooh - exciting topic!) and ‘Virgin Showing the Soldiers the Way’ (hmm - you could read that in a variety of ways…).

Mariangele now gave us an hour of free time, so we took a bunch of pictures of the fountain and went to get some food. There were lots of cafes so we just picked one and shared a pizza al prosciutto (ham pizza - told you we weren’t very adventurous!). By the time we finished there was just time to buy a couple of souvenirs and postcards and wander up and down a couple of the little streets before we had to rendezvous back at the fountain.

Onwards then, and through more tiny winding streets until all of a sudden we came out into the Piazza della Rotonda and there right in front of us was the Pantheon - possibly the thing I was most looking forward to seeing. Again I was surprised by how it was so old yet just seemed to have been plonked down in a tiny square in the middle of this bustling city (obviously it was there first and the city has grown around it, but it’s hard to see it that way when you’re looking right at it!). In its current form (the original burnt down and it was rebuilt by Hadrian, of Hadrian’s Wall fame) it dates back to 128 AD - yes, it’s 1881 years old. And it’s right there for you to touch and walk in just as if you’d been alive back then. Once again, mind-blowing. The original was built in 27 BC by Marcus Agrippa, who was an advisor to Augustus (he who vied with Marc Antony to succeed Julius Caesar after his assassination).

Originally it was a temple to the Roman gods, but in 609 AD it was turned into a church and has remained so ever since. Inside the body of the artist Raphael is interred, along with those of the House of Savoy, which was the last reigning family of Italy. Mariangele took us inside - along with 20 million other people, or so it felt - and told us lots of things, but I was too busy trying to take photos to pay a huge amount of attention (I can find all that stuff out from books anyway!). The oculus is a huge hole in the ceiling, which - if you’ve read Angels & Demons - you’ll know is also colloquially known as a demon hole. Not to repeat myself, but again - it is huge (nine metres across)!

All too soon we were being marched out (booo) and towards our final stopping point, which was Piazza Navona. This square (though technically an oval) is home to Bernini’s famous Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers), which I do believe also featured in Angels & Demons (I can’t wait to see the film now!). Each figure on it represents a different river - the Danube, the Ganges, the Nile and the Rio de la Plata - and in the middle is a huge obelisk. I tried not to see it through the eyes of Robert Langdon as an Illuminati / anti-church conspiracy icon…

Again we had some free time and used it to browse the art seller stalls that were there and then to pick up some supplies (crisps called Cric Crocs!) and try a gelato (ice cream). Faced with a wide array of flavours we plumped for good old strawberry (‘fragola‘) and peach (‘pesca‘). It was nice, but it’s not as creamy as what we’re used to - I assume it must be made in a different way (?). We met up with the group and headed back to get on the bus, which was not too far away. Bidding Mariangele farewell, our fearless driver took on the Friday afternoon rush hour traffic to extract us from the city and eventually we were on the road back to Civitavecchia.

Here I’m afraid I must pause, as I’m typing this up on Monday evening and have run out of time - we have yet to have tea, see the final singing/acrobatics performance , use up my remaining Internet minutes and pack and get our cases outside by 10pm. I’ll update you on the rest of today when we get home - and I can add photos!

The weather today was windy and raining sideways at Civitavecchia, cool in Rome then brightening and warm in the afternoon (about 20-22 degrees C)
The best thing today was seeing all the ancient history right in front of us and walking where Caesar and co did hundreds of years ago
The worst thing today was the traffic in Rome
The funniest thing today was everyone running along the dockside - coats and bags flapping - to get on the coaches and then looking like drowned rats once they sat down
Today we tried authentic Italian gelato
And the result was it was nice, but not as nice as good old creamy Cornish/Devonshire ice cream
The most magical moment today was coming into the Piazza della Rotonda and seeing the Pantheon there in all its ancient and magnificent glory (I only wish there’d been fewer people and more time to look around inside it)

Next: Day 5...Genoa? Yeah, I know ‘er… (sorry - rubbish pun!)

[MickeyWatch]

Great Start on your first TR.

[Colexis Mom]

What a great day in Rome!

[lauriep]

Sounds like a great and very full day. Thanks for taking the time to write this up so we can come along with you!

[chezp]

Sounds like a wonderful time in Rome. You've brought back some great memories of the city with your descriptions. Can't wait to see the photos!

[MGW]

Thanks for the updates! I can't wait to see the pictures.

Living in America, the "oldness" of everything really gets to me too! To be able to see and touch such ancient structures would give me the chills.

Of course, we have the same feeling when visiting Scotland! When we first met our friends from Leven we were comparing our churches because we are Presbyterian and they are Church of Scotland, really the same denomination. Anyway, proudly we said "Our church just celebrated our 100th Anniversary!" Our friends replied, "Well the oldest part we still use is 800 years old" LOL! "OK, you win!"

Can't wait to read more!

[chezp]

Originally Posted by MGW

Thanks for the updates! I can't wait to see the pictures.

Living in America, the "oldness" of everything really gets to me too! To be able to see and touch such ancient structures would give me the chills.

Of course, we have the same feeling when visiting Scotland! When we first met our friends from Leven we were comparing our churches because we are Presbyterian and they are Church of Scotland, really the same denomination. Anyway, proudly we said "Our church just celebrated our 100th Anniversary!" Our friends replied, "Well the oldest part we still use is 800 years old" LOL! "OK, you win!"

Can't wait to read more!

We have been known to play that game with American friends...

[Tinkerboo]

Hurrah! So we're back home and I've finally been able to get some photos uploaded (though it has been a painfully slow process for some reason).

My next dumb techie question is: how do I amend the thread title to let people know that I've added new stuff? It lets me change the title of each individual post as I edit them, but I know you can change the "Tapas & Togas - Ocean Village Mediterranean Cruise, Oct 20-27 2009 PRE-TRIP REPORT' bit as well somehow, because I've seen it done on other people's reports, when they add a new update and put 'updated 30/10' or whatever in the thread title...

[Colexis Mom]

You need to send a PM to one of the forum guides (myself, chezp, or WDWfan) when you want an update!