We fly home tomorrow

In the bay near Sorrento as I post this.
Tomorrow Sorrento


And the day after that, we fly out of Rome back home. With luck that is because of the volcanic ash cloud which seems to be meandering over Europe and North Africa willy nilly.
Disembarkation Lecture
This is a review of the process and all the requirements for leaving the ship and getting to the airport safely. I think they do a magnificent job considering the logistics but it is not without it’s “challenges” as Ed’s problem with the luggage tags, and thus our time to leave, can attest. I’m putting a positive spin on it: it means we will have more buffer time to make the airport and thus our flight, comfortably.
Culinary Demonstration
He did Baklava. Wow! That’s a LOT of work. He also showed us how to do manicotti dishes and cannelloni. At the end, there was a tour of the galley which I passed on since we’ve seen it a few times. We got our certificates of completion attesting to our participation in these culinary classes (which we are told would cost us $5K in LA.
Trivia
I got there late but we did well as we won! It is also the time to redeem our tokens so we are having some choices to make. We have over 60 and the “prizes” are things such as Princess mugs (actually quite nice but too big and heavy for us to take), luggage tags, recycle bags, lanyards, passport cases, hats, and playing cards. In the afternoon we didn’t win but we were only 1 point from the winners. We gave Frankie an envelope with our tokens in it and a wish list. He sent a bag of our “order” to our room.
Whatever will we do with it?
Last world cruise, we were given a crystal globe a little larger than a golf ball. In our room today was a wall plaque for each of us engraved with our name and the dates of the cruise. It’s gorgeous but…
Lunch
Visited with some folks we have come to know on the cruise including an 80+ man from Slidell near New Orleans. This will be his last long cruise (he only does about 30 day cruises now) as he’s tired of the long flights. He’s sticking to the Caribbean in the future. Not a bad idea: these ships are pretty good assisted living facilities.
Packing: yuk!
This is never a good time for us. And today was no different. I tried to arrange things as Ed wanted them but without much success so I simply left him to do whatever with the packing. I no longer even attempt to pack as he has always undone it and redone it as he likes so I gave up long ago. But it does mean this cabin is waaaayyyy too small for us.
The Hero’s Journey: Timeless Tales from the Mediterranean
While Ed went to take a computer class I went to this lecture by the anthropologist. She discussed the commonalities in cultural terms, think Joseph Cambell’s mythological lectures, of the Odyssey, the Aeneid, and Dante’s Inferno. Since I missed these in my education, and you hear of them all the time, I was interested in the synopses and analyses of these three classics. Now I won’t guarantee you I can remember any of it long enough to explain it to others but I enjoyed the lecture.
Captain’s Cocktail Party
This was the last hurrah for everyone and the place is packed for free booze. It is also formal night so everyone’s gussied up—well most anyway. It’s fun to see people in their finery.
Dinner
David brought champagne so we toasted everyone’s health and a safe journey home. The other couples are both spending some time in Italy before returning home. Jo Ann’s ankle is better off and on. She has to elevate it frequently and keep ice on it. The Commendetore met us at the door to the dining room and we each got a parchment menu. Fancy dinner time. Food as always was scrumptious. In fact too much so. We’ve been celebrating so much I know I’ve gained a few pounds this last week. It’s back to Lean Cuisine when we’re home.
Tonite’s show
It’s the musical extravaganza they do on formal nights. This one was new and it’s title was Sounds of the city. As they always do, the singers and dancers were outstanding.
The Straits of Messina
The weather and the views have been spectacular today. After the show, it is still light since we are going so far north so it was twilight as we viewed Sicily on our port side and the coast of Italy on starboard. It was absolutely like something out of a movie.
Tomorrow is Sorrento and we’ll take the tender in and just walk around this fun hillside city between Naples and Capri. It is also the beginning of the Amalfi Coast which is noted for it’s small towns clutching the sheer cliffsides. Positano where the movie “The Postman” is set is one of the first as you go south. You need to leave the driving up to the Italians though as there’s no room for error on these roads around these cliffs. Packing will be done tomorrow evening with only our roll aboards left with us. We are taking the Princess transfer bus to the airport; this is so much easier and their prices became competitive closer to the voyage. Even though we get another hour tonite (YEAH) it still means a 5 am docking of the ship and we must be ready to leave the ship at 6:45 am. Ed has finally settled with that. I’m just as glad for the extra time.