Cruise Day 4: Tunisia (cont.)

....when last we left our fearless travelers, they were finishing up 
a morning of bread-baking, belly dancing and henna tattoos in an 
authentic traditional Berber village in Tunisia. So what's next for 
our adventurers?! LUNCH!!

That's right....after all the activities already provided by the 
village and the family who run it, they also served us lunch. Lunch 
was served at a long family style table inside one of the buildings 
in the village and was served by members of the family that run the 
village. There was, of course, berber bread (like the bread we baked 
in the stone oven outside----even though Jason is a man LOL) and then 
they served a really nice tomato soup that had an orzo type pasta in 
it. This was followed by an appetizer dish that I believe they 
called a "brick"----it was basically scrambled eggs (and I think 
spinach??) inside a deep fried shell. Then came the main course---- 
chicken served over cous cous with some vegetables (like sweet 
potatoes and, I believe, cabbage and carrots) in it and over which 
they poured one of two kinds of flavor sauce. One they called "hot 
sauce" and was clearly made with hot peppers----it had a pretty good 
kick. The second, a milder version, they referred to as "baby 
sauce" (because, apparently, if you needed to eat that one you must 
be a baby....LOL. Never being one to shy away from spicy foods, I 
opted for the hot sauce.

Cruise Day 4: Tunisia----PART 1

(Ok...so I'm at another little wifi spot for a brief time this afternoon....this time in Villefranche (near Monaco)...so I have time to post a little bit before running to get on the ship)

Well Day 4 of our Mediterranean Cruise took us to, arguably, our most exotic port of call: Tunis in Tunisia...a country in Northern Africa.  Jason was particularly proud of this day's magnet....and it ended up being very appropriate because we got to ride camels...AND, without even realizing the connection, our ties at dinner were Aladdin/Genie ties! LOL   But I'm jumping too far ahead....so....

Now, let me say this right of the gate---I know this port was a controversial one for many people.  Lots of people were excited about it because of how unique and exotic was....lots of people ended up not liking it because they had a bad experience (I have heard rumors that the area of Tunis to which Disney Cruise Line sent most guests was overcrowded and crazy and not as much fun as many had hoped)....and I know that there were more than a few people, both on the ship and back home, who had misgivings about visiting Tunisia because it is a primarily Muslim country and it was, ironically September 11th the day we arrived in Tunis. 

Cruise Day 3 (cont.): Malta (& Gozo)---Part 2

....OK...sorry for the interruption!  As lovely as Corsico is----I definitely didn't want to get stranded here, so I definitely needed to log off and get myself back on the boat...plus we have a character sketching class in just a bit with Robyn, our adventure guide, that I don't want to miss!!

So, for your viewing pleasure I've included a collage here of more shots that Jason and I took while we were visiting the Blue Window.  While the Blue Window itself is certainly the GRANDEST feature of that coastline...it's by no means the only beautiful thing to look at.  The rock formations and waves were really breathtaking...so we took LOTS of photos there!!  It really was awe-inspiring and the weather couldn't have been nicer.  We even bought a nice handmade ceramic magnet that features the Blue Window in a ceramics shop in the artisan village (for those who don't know, we collect magnets from all the places we visit on vacations and we display them on the walls into our basement/den which are painted with "magnetic paint."  On this journey we have really been adding to our magnet collection with all the ports and destinations....as I get closer to the end of the trip I'll try to post a picture of all the magnets we've collected so far.)

Anyhow, the Blue Window was amazing and we could easily have stayed there for a couple hours and enjoyed ourselves...but, alas, the tour must go on! 

Cruise Day 3: Malta (& Gozo)....Part 1

I'm BAAAAAACK!!!!   Actually, we are sitting in a park in Corsica, at the port of Ajaccio, and there is free wireless internet here....so I thought I would make a quick post myself of one of the blogs you've missed in teh past few days while I've been offline!!!   In the coming days, however, you WILL start seeing more activity here on the blog because my dear friend, Hadley, who lives in Germany has volunteered to spend her mornings while we are on our journey posting my musings and photos since I cannot (As many of you know, she started figuring out the workings of our blog earlier this week to get our pictures posted.)  Please bear with her as she continues to figure out the ins and outs of making posts here but also join Jason and I in extending a HUGE THANKS to her a  for her willingness to help!!  

So, without further adieu....here is a post about our Day in Malta....and in the next few days (with Hadley's help)  postings will start to appear about our adventures in Tunisia, Naples/Capri, Rome, Corsica...and then the rest of our journey as we finish our ports and cross the Atlantic....

Well, Day 3 of our fantastic voyage had come to an end....and boy were we tired once the day was over---what with the sun all day and getting up early (after being up probably later than was wise the night before) and a long day of activities!  Day 3 was our first official port ) during the Mediterranean portion of our cruise:  Malta (as you can see from our magnet of the day---featuring Disney's new princess, Princess Tiana----not because she has anything to do with Malto or the Mediterranean...but just because she's fabulous! LOL).  It was also our first day to truly experience what Adventures by Disney is all about.  Obviously we have had a few small events on the ship the last couple days and have spent some time getting to know Robyn & Tina, the adventure guides, and some of the other folks in our group....but we haven't actually done any touring yet.  So before the day even began, we were excited and ready!!

Words Are Worth 1,000 Pictures?!

OK..so you might be wondering what that odd subject line is all about, huh? LOL

Well, we've heard back from a couple of our dear friends (Sandi & Hadley---hey gals!!) who are following the blog that our attempt earlier this week to submit a blog entry by email (as opposed to logging onto the website, which is blocked) was somewhat successful.   We are still not only not able to access the page to edit it or add new posts...but we are also not able to even view it.  So we've heard now that the text we emailed appeared on the site OK....but that the pictures did not.   So....we are moving in the right direction!  Something is better than nothing, right?!  LOL (And I've also heard from them that many of our readers have commented on the blog that you'd rather read our stories without pictures than have nothing at all.....and it may come to that! 

Day 2: Day At Sea

(NOTE:  So I tried to log on tonight and while the internet is working, the blog website is not (it's being blocked by the DCL I.S.P. again....grrrr)....so we're doing an experiment here.  I actually DO have email  access and technically I can send emails to my blog that should post as blogs.  We aren't really sure how this will work in terms of images and formatting, but thought it was worth a try.....but be warned you may be looking at a post that doesn't work at all.  If that is the case, then when I finally can log on again, I will try to delete and/or fix it.  I am really hoping that this works because I'd hate to have to not post my daily blogs.  Even though writing these blogs does eat up some of our free time aboard the ship and makes for some late nights....I have to confess that I really enjoy writing them because:  1.)  it is a great way for Jason and I to recap together how we spent our day and really crystallize some of our memories, AND 2.) I know that so many folks out there are enjoying reading our posts!!)

Anyhow, Day 2 aboard the ship, a sea day, has come to an end----and it was a fabulous day.  You can see our magnet for the day in this post---we were particularly happy with this one because it has the ship out to sea and is cute because it has Dumbo in it (there were only so many characters we could put flying over the ship! LOL).  In the past we've had people ask us (especially when they hear about us doing the TransAtlantic cruises with so many days at sea), "Don't you get bored being on that ship and not being able to get off and go into a port?"  Jason and I always just shake our heads and think----the only people who can be "bored" on a Disney ship at sea during a day are people who have no idea how to have a good time!! LOL Today's sea day was great and we didn't have one "bored" moment all day.

We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties.....

Just wanted to log on and give a heads up post to all my readers....apparently for some reason we can't figure out, the internet service provider that Disney Cruise Line uses to offer us our internet here on the ship has intermittently decided to block blogspot.com/blogger.com----there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to how or when or why it happens...it works for a bit then is blocked...then is blocked for hours on end and magically re-appears a few hours later.  We have talked to the I.T. folks here on the ship, but it appears there is nothing they can do about it to create a permanent fix...and they also cannot explain how or why we're having the problem (but do recognize for some reason that their I.S.P. is actually blocking the blogger site).  *sigh*