My granddaughter Melissa is a travel agent and she called and said she had a good cruise for us. So it went from there. It was the cruise ship “Norwegian Epic” and it was 10 days cruising the Mediterranean Sea and the Greek Islands. 

We would fly to Rome, Italy to board the cruise ship. So we said, since we are in Rome, lets go a few days early and see Rome. We left on May 4th 2024. Rome, oh my what an adventure. All the Old, and the modern it was really awesome. How did they build all those by hand, and the Sistine Chapel with all the paintings over the entire ceiling by Michaelangelo and all the walls also. The ceiling depicts the life of Christ and the walls are Adam and Eve and the Old Testament. We visited the Pantheon, Vatican Museums, St. Peter’s Basilica where Peter is buried and the catacombs. We wondered, “did we walk where Apostle Peter and Paul walked?”

We also went to the Rome Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and the visitors center. With the Christus Statue and the statues of the original 12 apostles. That was amazing also. When you realize some of these places go back not only hundreds of years, but thousands of years, it is kind of breathtaking. Our last night in Rome we decided to see Rome at night. We called a taxi and he took us to a park and said he would return in an hour and get us. It was raining a little, we had our jackets so we went to the bluff to look out over Rome. What a view. Then it started raining pretty hard, so we got pretty wet. But we just laughed and sang, “Singing in the Rain” and “Raindrops are falling on my head” and just enjoyed the time. The taxi came back and we arrived back at our Lodge safe and sound and wet. Our first “misadventure.” 

The next morning we boarded our cruise ship, our room all joined together and we had balconies so we could watch the sea, and the sunrise and sunset. They are lovely over the water. 

The Greek islands are beautiful and interesting, all the old, thousands of years old, BC old. All the houses and modern buildings are painted white. It is really beautiful. We also visited Athens, Greece. What an old city we hear about in history. We also visited Olympia where the Olympic games started thousands of years ago. Some ruins, but the statue of Athena is still there and used for the Olympic games. That is where they light the torch for the Olympic Games nowadays. 

In Naples we visited the Museum of Pompeii. We were not able to go to Pompeii. It is listed as “difficult” and some of us could not do that. We walked a lot and all the streets and walks are cobblestone. So hard walking all over Greece and Italy. 

Then back to Rome to leave our cruise ship. So we took a few more days and saw more of Italy. Florence to see the famous “Statue of David”, by Michaelangleo. That was really awesome also. Did you know he had a stone in one hand and his sling shot in the other. I had seen pictures but did not know he was ready for Goliath. Then we opened a rest day at a lovely mountain villa. We needed that. We took a train to “Venice”. No cars, fast boats and water everywhere. It was really different and getting from the wharf to water taxi was tricky.  

We visited a famous glass blowing place called “Murano” , so interesting to watch, and amazing. He blew a vase and then a rearing horse. I asked him how much the horse would cost and he said “probably 20 dollars”, so I said, “Can I buy that one?” He said, “It takes three days for it to cool, but I have one already made.” So I bought it for a keepsake. They had so many beautiful things. We really enjoyed being there. We missed our ride on a gondala under the 2 bridges and canals. We had been looking forward to that ride. But when we went to meet them for our ride it had started raining and the wind was blowing and they said sorry we don’t go out in this weather. Since that was our last night, oh well. Next morning we took a taxi to the airport and flew to Copenhagen, Denmark. We had the afternoon so we went to the Church where the original statue of Christis is. It was so beautiful and the statue of his twelve apostles along the sides of the chapel. It was such a feeling, it brought tears to my eyes. There was just a special feeling. 

Then our time was over and back to the airport and home to San Francisco, then Salt Lake, and then home to Malad, Idaho. Someone asked me what my favorite place was and I said, “Malad”. 

I never knew for sure what I was eating, except “Gelato”. Really yummy. We did find one place on the ship that did hamburgers and hotdogs. In Greece and Italy it was okay, just was not always sure what it was. I also waded in the Mediterranean Sea and the sand is black. What an awesome adventure, and so much more!