Circle Symphony, continued

The circle theme continues in the  Concerto Dining Room on Deck 6. As you enter the room, the first thing you see us a wall of gold and silver balls. They look like ornaments, but are sturdier. They

Are set in front of a mirror and reflect a rainbow of light. Nearby is this glass 

Ceiling decoration that looks like a controlled explosion of light.  The chandelier below is far more subdued, but still has the circle theme. 

By now you are saying...of course everything is round...you are only depicting chandeliers and few chandeliers are square. That's true, but take a look at this. Granted it's a chandelier, but it is placed over a circular staircase that leads into the casino. 

I'll post more circles later.

Weather Gods

We were supposed to stop at Kusadasi this afternoon, but the weather gods had another plan. The winds were gusting to 35 mph and apparently that's too windy. There was a bit of chop to the water too. We've cruised a lot, and this is the first time we've "blown off" a "regular" port (we had blown off tender ports before).

Our next stop is Athens. While it's fun to plan a cruise, you cannot plan the weather. 

Weather Gods

We were supposed to stop at Kusadasi this afternoon, but the weather gods had another plan. The winds were gusting to 35 mph and apparently that's too windy. There was a bit of chop to the water too. We've cruised a lot, and this is the first time we've "blown off" a "regular" port (we had blown off tender ports before).

Our next stop is Athens. While it's fun to plan a cruise, you cannot plan the weather. 

Istanbul

Here are a few pictures from the Cruiseport in Istanbul. 

One of 4 mosques you can see from the Cruiseport. If we were in a Christian nation there might be four churches in the same amount of space.

We had a gray, rainy-ish day here, not conducive to pretty pictures. 

Mykonos

We are in Greece! We will be in Turkey tomorrow and then we will rerun to Greece. Today we are on a rocky, semi-barren island. Folks seem to love thus stark speck in the ocean, but I don't get it. It's not pretty (in the traditional sense) but it does have a dramatic setting in the blue, blue water of the Ionian Sea.

The tiny boxy homes crawl up the dry hillsides. Every so often a bright blue or red dome shines through the identical whiteness of the houses. 

People love it or leave it. We are the latter persuasion. Nevertheless, you have to see it to believe it. 

PS--my favorite island in this area is Santorini. Alas we won't stop there this voyage. 

 

Formal Night

This evening we had our first of 5 formal nights on the cruise. I'm always surprised as how well the pax clean up. All day long we were in grubby clothes, but tonight, we had suits and sequins. It was cool.

It was also our first sea day. That means no land in sight for more than 24 hours. We are cruising from Naples to Mykonos, which is a long run. We are traveling pretty fast too...about 21 knots per hour. For a big ship, that's just about "flat out." Royal Princess is a big ship and she's very stable on the water even though we are sailing at that fast clip. I seldom feel like we are moving but when I step on our balcony, I see we are moving, just not rocking and rolling. Maybe there is something to having more weight to feel stable. 

Driving the Amalfi Coast

Today we took a private tour along the Amalfi Coast starting at Naples. We saw lots of pretty scenery. We traveled some wiggly roads. I took some good pictures. We had a grand lunch at a neat restaurant...I think we must have scored a home run!

Naples sits at the head of a big bay not too far from Mt. Vesuvius and the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Given the fact that Mt.V. last exploded in 1935, it's a wonder that anyone lives close to the volcano, but I guess that does not bother Neapolitans as they've been living next to the volcano for 2 or 3 millennia. 

This morning the volcano was shrouded in clouds, but Mt.V. Is still mighty big! 

We drove down the coast on a narrow, bumpy road. Our driver said that signals were only suggestions in this part if Italy. According to Nicolo, a green light means "go," a yellow light means "go a little faster," and a red light means "speed." As we entered small towns along the way those revised signal rules seemed to be followed. 

We went through Tory Annunziata and Castellammare on our way to Sorrento. 

(one of the beach hotels in the Bay of Naples at Castellammare.)

(The main "drag" in Sorrento)

At Sorrento we drove thru a long tunnel, under a mountain, and meandered along the Mediterranean coast heading to Positano and Amalfi. We stopped at Conca Azzule for lunch. 

The color of the water is amazing. The coast line along the Bay of Naples is rugged, but the Med coastline is far more dramatic! Tiny houses built into the living rock at perched high above the water. I believe the people living here are part mountain goat, as there's no easy way to drive to these locations. 

But once they get to their destination, their view is stunning. 

Houses and churches and gardens are set into terraces, that creep up the hillsides. The towns are ancient. The tourists flock to these quaint towns to soak up the sunshine as well as the ambiance. We just wanted to see the natural beauty. 

We switch-backed our way Positano, thinking we had seen the narrow road before. Our driver said it had been used in a lot of movies. We could not identify a specific movie scene, but we could relate to the wonder of the setting. 

Finally we arrived in Amalfi. It was stunning but filled with lots and lots of tourists. 

I took a few pictures and then we left. Here old hotels are nestled into the rocky cliffs, while holiday goers are shopping for local ceramics or playing in the water. There was a lot of activity everywhere we looked. It was also time to leave as we needed to drive back to the ship before it left port. 

We took a wiggly route over the mountain instead of the wiggly route along the coast. 

All along the way we enjoyed beautiful blue skies, drop-dead gorgeous scenery, and balmy temps. We ended back in Napoli and went to our ship. 

I need to take a picture of all of the Royal Princess, as she's bigger than this picture shows. I'll try to

do that when we land next, in Mykonos, Greece.

Lucca

Yesterday we visited the ancient walled town of Lucca in Tuscany. 

The walls have protected the town for over half a millennium! On a clear day, you can take a nice 2 1/2 mile walk along the walls and get a neat view of the inner city and the surrounding countryside. Alas, we did not have that clear day. About half way through the tour, the skies opened up and we were inundated with rain. Fortunately, we had umbrellas. 

Tuscany is known for her muted yellows, browns, and terra cotta colors. Lucca is not an exception. In the rain, her colors seemed a bit brighter. The roughly stuccoed buildings are a mixture of these colors punctuated with dark green shutters and windows. 

Then there are the beautiful doors and door knockers. They always catch my attention.

 

There are at least two old churches inside the town walls and both are from the medieval era. The huge façade  of St. Michele dominates one square in town. On the top is a statue of the Archangel Michael after he stayed Lucifer (the devil in the form of a dragon).

The other church is the Duomo or Cathedral. Both were finished before the Renaissance. They are of a Romanesque or Pisan design and have many characteristics of,the church and Baptistry found at the Field of Miracles where the Leaning Tower (in Pisa) is located. Since the two towns are not very far from each other this makes sense. On the way to Lucca you can see the Tower, Church and Baptistry in Pisa. 

You might wonder what the big deal is between medieval and renaissance era is...it has to do with using dimension and depth in design. The ancient Greeks and Romans knew how it make realistic 3 dimensional statues and figures in their art and sculpture. But somewhere along the way, those skills were lost. But then there was a "rebirth" and the skills were "found" again. Suddenly, art and sculpture looked far more realistic.

In Lucca you see a mixture of these two distinctive eras...it's right on the cusp of the Renaissance.   Florence, also a Tuscan town, is firmly "planted" in the Renaissance with beautiful architecture that is realistic and dimensional.  Pisa, another Tuscan town, is Medieval in design. As you go north in Tuscany, you see the gradual evolution of art, science and by extension philosophy from "dark" to "light." I find that fascinating. 

Lucca however has her roots in more ancient times too. The original town was founded around 180 BC! There are Roman ruins underground. But one is still visible above ground, albeit greatly modified. This is the amphitheater. 

You can see its curved shape. In fact it makes a perfect circle. It was originally used for "games" much like the larger Coliseum in Rome. This one only seated 10,000 folks, so it could not be called a colossus like its larger 50,000 seat "counterpart" in Rome. Somewhere through the ages, the amphitheater was reclaimed by houses and shops, and today it is a thriving community within the walls of Lucca. 

Lucca is still evolving, as she showcases works from Puccini (his birthplace) . ...

To sculpture from the 21st century.

 

Nowadays her narrow streets ...

and wide plazas still work. It's a microcosm of the past and present existing together in harmony. 

PhotoSendr

Don't use PhotoSendr. It is an example,of you get what you pay for. The directions say you can send six pictures at once in an email. It does not mention that the email gets stuck in your outbox and never gets sent, effectively blocking your email program from sending or receiving anything else. If you downloaded it, please get rid if it. I'm sorry. 

Free App Today

We are going on a cruise--maiden voyage of the Royal Princess--so I'm getting stuff ready. That means finding good apps and websites (along with packing). Today there is a free app called Photosendr that allows you to send 6 photos at a time. You can also prepare mailing lists to make sending photos even easier. 

Another good tip I learned today is all about port guides. There's a fellow named Tom who writes port guides for cruisers. They are colorful, look accurate, timely, and FREE. Go to www.TomsPortGuides.com. They can be downloaded on your iPad for instant use. We will be stopping at Livorno, Naples, Mykonos and Rome, (among other places) and he has guides for them and more. He has printed lots of helpful maps, directions and tips. This type of info is so valuable when traveling. Thanks Priscilla for the heads up!

In Barcelona

We are on the road again. Yesterday we flew in an Airbus 830. That's the biggest airplane out there with 2 decks of passengers. The plane is so big it cannot be accommodated at many international airports. We were on the top deck, which was very roomy. 

We had space to spread out. There were side carriers for extras, as well as overhead bins. The entertainment center had lots of good movies, both new and classic, that kept me amused during the 9 plus hour flight. The chair was comfy and it made into a bed. The food was good too! I did not feel like a zombie when we exited the plane in Frankfurt. 

If you look carefully, you will see two rows of windows. I was impressed with this new bird. 

After being spoiled, we flew to Barcelona on a "normal" plane. That 2 hour flight felt longer than the first flight, yet both were BizClass. Not all BizClass are created equal! 

Tomorrow we are going to embark on a new ship. The Royal Princess will be making her maiden Trans-Atlantic voyage. Watch this space as the story unfolds. 

iOS 7, Take 2

I've had another day with the new iOS 7 on iPad and iPhone. I think the iphone might work a bit better than before. At least the calls I've taken have not cut out, even in "iffy" areas. Maybe there's hope for these gadgets after all.

I've pretty much mastered the command center. It's now easy to access by swiping up from the bottom of the screen. The notification center tells you what is on your agenda for the next day. Swipe down from the top of the screen to see it. The one that's hard for me is "search." I still need a couple of tries before I get it right. It's a quick diagonal swipe from top to bottom.

Closing open apps is very easy. Double click on the home button, a smaller version of your open apps will show up on the screen. Just tap the open app and swipe up and it disappears. It's even fun to do, and lots faster than what was done in iOS 6.

It's now possible to block a phone number. I have been trying to block a telemarketer all summer but Verizon  told me they could not block toll free numbers. BUT with iOS 7, I can block any number from my contacts or recent list of callers. This is big!

Lastly, updating apps just became automatic. You can still opt to update them manually, but if you want to let someone else do the donkey work, go to Settings > iTunes & App Store > Automatic Downloads. You can choose to have music, apps, books and updates on automatic or not. 

I'm liking iOS 7 better today.  I'm becoming more familiar with the new look. This is good! For more info see the USA Today (9/20/13) article "7 tips and tricks for navigating iOS 7." 

IOS7

In case you were not aware of it, Apple updated the operating system on their iGadgets yesterday. Needless to say I downloaded the new OS as soon as I could. It took awhile, because most everyone in the Apple World was doing the same thing. 

The folks at Apple created a very different looking interface yet it does many of the same things. Some of the changes are good...some of them are not. Of course this is a personal opinion and you have to keep in mind that you cannot please everyone all the time. 

The new interface is sleek and clean looking. It has redesigned sans serif fonts that are easy to read. In fact the font makes the page seem bigger, but the font color was not designed for the over-60 crowd with dimmed vision. The new font color is a medium gray. It's subtle. On a white background it's so subtle it's almost invisible. I've been looking for a work-around to solve the problem and I've found something that works until something better comes along. The easy solution would be to change the print color. That would be too simple. Instead I went to Settings > general > accessibility. Then I turned on BOLD type. It's still not black, but it is darker. Darker helps a lot. I also increased the size of the font at the same location. Bigger, bolder fonts are better.

I will need to learn some new "swipes" to get to the search bar and the control center, but after I master the correct motion, that should be relatively easy to do. There are some new ring tones that are fun. 

The calendar and contacts have changed format. The new format for Contacts seems to work for me. The calendar format is OK but again, the font color is too light for me. The "bolding" does not seem to help it very much either

The new control center is nifty. The iPhone received a built-in flashlight app that is very easy to find. It's also easier to put in airplane mode, or to find a calculator. The camera app is also located in the control center. The camera has 4 modes: video, still, panorama or square. And, it's  easy to change from one mode to another. 

The iPad and iPhone have slightly different formats for photo albums. Both are good. I like to see photos on a black background and now the default background is white. However if you tap on the white background it will toggle to black. I believe the black frames the pictures better than the white. 

The phone (I guess that is the purpose of an iPhone) works the same. The new "dial" has round buttons instead of square ones. Phone quality seems to be the same, which has never excellent. A friend of mind says that smartphones are good for just about everything but hearing a person talk to you on the phone. That is probably still true. I've not used it enough since installing the new iOS to tell you it has changed.

In the next few days I'll be playing with the new iOS. As I fiddle with it and learn more, I'll write an update. 

Dry

We made our semi annual migration from the Rocky Mountains to the West Coast. What a change. In the mountains there is still some green. But as you drive west the green turns to gold and where it is really dry to the color of dun. One thing is certain, the west is dry. The big reservoirs  are down at least a hundred feet. The rivers look like streams and the creeks are dried up. It's no wonder that Yosemite and Mt.Diablo have been burning. 

Our little one acre pond has dwindled to the size of half a tennis court or smaller. The creek that feeds it is tapped out for the summer.

Here's another view of the dryness. 

In the fall CA is golden. 

Strap

I have been wanting a lanyard or strap for my iPhone. I discovered they 1) are hard to find 2) require a new case or 3) require you to take apart the iPhone to install a "bridge" for you to hook the lanyard.  I did not want to take apart the device nor did I want to buy another case as I really like my present case. What to do?  I had a very small hole drilled into my existing case then I threaded a lanyard I had from a camera through the hole. Voila! The perfect lanyard. 

Now I have a safety strap that I can put around my wrist when I take pictures. It's much more secure than without the strap. I'm a happy camper.

Yellow leaves

Here's the picture I promised -- the yellow leaves of fall. 

Good bye summer. 

Last Gasp

The first hint of fall came 3 days ago when a few leaves on the aspens changed to yellow. Sadly, I've been so busy I do not have a picture of them. Maybe tomorrow. 

In the interim I'm watching berries grow on the bushes around here. The deer like the berries almost as much as they like petunias. 

A few roses are blooming, but only domesticated ones. The wild roses are long gone. 

The daisies are fading fast too. 

It's still quite warm. The hillsides are dry. I've been looking for the mountain maple to turn red, but too soon. I think we will miss that gorgeous fall display this year. 

Seven More

As you know, I crochet blankets for Project Linus. This summer I've made 7 blankets to give to them. Four are a Ripple Pattern that I've become quite good at making. They are bright and colorful. I think a child would like to have one. 

The other 3 are different patterns. 

This one is called "Kitties in a Row." Can you see all the kittens? I need to thank Deborah for giving me this cute pattern. 

This is a basket weave stitch. There will probably not be many repeats of this pattern. It's not hard to do, it's just slow and repetitive and a wee bit boring. Given that, it's very pretty. 

The last blanket is called "Double Moscato." I have to wonder who comes up with pattern names because moscato is a type of wine. The pattern works out well, and I'll probably use it a few more times. 

My local chapter of Project Linus donated over 12,000 blankets to kids in need last year. I'm proud to be a member of this organization.