Corsica

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Citroen

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Citroen

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Defender pick-up

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Renault

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French cafe

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Map of You are here

My map location on 08-25-2010.

http://maps.BlackBerry.com?lat=41.92861&lon=8.74072&z=9&label=You+are+here



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Magic

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Corsica

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La Spezia

Staying onboard today.



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Civitavecchia

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Kate and Tom Cruise were married in this Castle

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Caffeteria Medina

Jumped off the ship with an hour to go and ran tot he 1st cafe to get another handpressed espresso. It is the best here. Only problem is they are playing Lionel Richie music????



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Cycling onboard

Not your every day peddling view


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Sounds of Naples

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Relaxing at caffe Plebiscito

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Senior beach

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Residential Alley

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Small alley in Napoli

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Street cafe @ Piazza Trieste E Trento

Missing my family when I saw this place. We ate here in 2007.



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Galleria Umberto I

Sunday here so the streets and shops are quiet.



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Napoli

The team took a hydro to the island of Capri. I decided to pass. I need to get some exercise in at the gym so I am going to do a quick walkabout this morning around Naples and head back to ship.



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Website that tracks cruise ships

Until the 28th of August this website can be used to track my location. 

 

Sample picture

Camels and Falcons were present for the docking of the DIsney Magic in Tunisia

Guests were given the opportunity for photos with Camels and Falcons as they exited the ship.  I stayed my distance, but kids would go right up and pet their noses with no issues.

Local Rugs being sold

Local Tunisian weaving a rug

Cooling off at a cafe with a fruit drink

The heat was on, while it was just in the 90s it was really different type of heat. The sun was intense. Locals Muslims wear head to toe clothing. They must be born without sweat glands.  Cab had no air conditioning. For some reason this area is known for their fruit.If you look at a Satellite image everything seems like parched desert.  Our cab driver talked us into stopping at a cafe where we wrote out postcards and ordered a Strawberry/ Banana smoothie.  I also ordered bottle water as we were advised to not drink the local water. Our drinks had an ice cube. So far we are all fine. 

We got brave and ventured down a local street outside of Medina

We got brave and ventured down a street which looked full of shops.  This was definitely where the locals shopped.The spice shops emitted strong smells that quickly seared your senses.  There was everything from electronics, home appliances, clothes and food. Very little was in English and Arabic was unreadable by any of us.  This culture has a HEAVY French influence and many people speak French.  There were times when it felt like we were in a James Bond movie with shady characters eying us and you never knew what would happen around the next vehicle we had to walk around.  I will for the record say not once did we feel unsafe or were approached by anyone that might do us harm.  Our cab driver who waited for us was very nice and did his best to accommodate us even with a heavy language barrier.

Local shopping district outside of Medina

The end of the main shopping alley in Medina

Medina market

Leather goods, metal work, Arabian clothing, trinkets and novelties were all being sold in the market in Medina. Definitely  a tourist area. 

Entering the Medina shopping area

It was a intense hot day.  The crowds were shoulder to shoulder.  The onboard staff warned us that Tunisians are very vocal and they barter for their wares.  We only had time to go down the main corridor and did not do any side alleys.  To me the only interesting items were the antiquity shops but unless you plan on decorating in an Arabian theme there is not mush use for their stuff. There were not as many rug dealers as expected but there were fabric shops with bolts of cloth.  Great experience but not sure I would do it again.  

Tunisia

The medina is found at the centre of the city of Tunis: a dense agglomeration of alleys and covered passages, full of intense scents and colours, boisterous and active trade, a surfeit of goods on offer ranging from leather to plastic, tin to the finest filigree, tourist souvenirs to the works of tiny crafts shops. --stole from wikiP

Murphy's Irish stout @ Diversions

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The Port from ship in Malta

My phone camera was on medium resolution; this was an interesting sight. It is very evident the Sea has always placed an important role in the development of the city.  Many large structures are built on the water line.  The ships in this picture are some of the largest Tug Boats I have seen. They are exceptionally long so I would guess they are Ocean going and are not used to push ships around the port. 

Flower cart

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Malta

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Malta merchant st

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Malta

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Map of Where I Am

This is my current location at midnight on the 19th. Heading to Malta.
.Click on link, sorry it is not interactive.


http://maps.BlackBerry.com?lat=36.81935&lon=12.46436&z=11&label=Where+I+Am



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Roomservice for dinner

You will not find this kind of roomservice in the Caribbean.



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Treats for a job well done

Palo sent some treats for making their processes easier!



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Sugar from Savannah?

We noticed that sugar packets in BCN are huge. I made the comment that it probably is sugar from Savannah. Today we board the ship, order an espresso drink and the sugar packet is Dixie Crystal. This ship has been away from the states since May so it can't be leftovers. Small world.



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Pedometer

So here is the deal; I belong to a fantasy fit league at work. A team at DCL provide motivation to eat right, exercise and find a good work/life balance.  So we carry pedometers to track walking which is promoted as the single thing best to increase in your life.  A colleague and I walked to most of our Disney pre-stay hotels on Monday.  32992 steps which the pedometer says is equivalent to 13.6 miles.  My normal day at work is 3300 steps and that seems like an accomplishment. 

Sagrada Familia

Still working on it after 120 years and they think it will need at least a few more decades:)


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Product of Catalunya

Spanish Red Wine is so good




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Only on La Rambla

La Rambla like Bourbon street, crazy things happen here.

we are tourists

Looking for store called campers and the picture of the tiny alley of stores did not turn out. Oh well imagine!


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Arrive in BCN @ Pullman Skipper

Non eventful flight, 1/2 Ambien worked fine :)

The hotel seemed nice and was praised by our port staff. The Shoreside Travel Operations team  make most of the IT departments arrangements so we are the lemmings when it comes to travel and accommodations.  I prefer the St. Moritz, 1909 or AC Diplomat Hotels. My room faces a busy street which is a main thoroughfare for ambulances going to a nearby hospital.  A bus stop out front seems to generates noisy crowds.  I am told I have one of the smallest rooms but for a European hotel it is large. I would take a quite hostel over this room. 

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15-08-2010 Barcelona bound

My luck is running high. Last four International legs I have been seated alone. Since there is only one water I am assuming that once again I have hit the lottery.

This trip has three purposes. Support the Magic's BCN port call on 18th, upgrade the POS system on the 10 day cruise and then support the Port on the 28th. We do not expect to do this level of support next year so this might be my last Med trip.

Gregg


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Dawg tired

After shopping all day in NYC the sweet 16 birthday girl is ready to relax!

Start of my sunday bike ride

Maybe th hottest day I have ever felt.

We will see how far I get and then I will take a dip in the ocean.


You have received a map location.

http://maps.BlackBerry.com?lat=28.25219&lon=-80.60329&z=4&label=You+are+here



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Ride down the coast alone

Dropped off sally so now I am going on a ride down A1A.



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getyouhome.gov

While I no longer attend the Cruise Line International meetings I still get copied on their working group meetings. Below is from one of their summaries.

US citizens  can travel on closed loop cruises from a US port without a passport if you have proper documents to identify you as a US citizen.  But if something goes wrong and you have to fly back, it is much easier to get an airplane ticket and enter the country if you have a passport

b)      The cost of a passport is expected to rise significantly, so get one before the price goes up.

Any questions about US travel requirements please see:  WWW.Getyouhome.gov.  That site will always be kept updated.

If you have any inkling that you want to travel outside the US I highly suggest you get a passport.  A passport card will provide you travel around North America and the Caribbean but the savings are not enough IMO, just get a passport. You never know when you might be fronted with the opportunity to travel and how silly will you feel if you say I can't.

The bow is the end

From the Orlando Sentinel; the last block, the bow is being lowered into place.  For many this is an exciting milestone for some of us the reality of this point in time makes us realize we have a lot of work ahead of us.