The Ties That Bind Us, Too!

I am taking a short break from my Italy Report at this time.  Our next stop is Ravenna and apparently I was so busy enjoying the scenery, I did not take good notes.

 

 What was I thinking?

After all, what is more important?  An accurate and informative blog or actually enjoying our gazillion dollar vacation?

 

But anyway, I am going to take you back to our first trip to Italy.

For years people had been telling us we should go to Europe.  Now that I think about it, maybe they meant permanently?  But it really didn’t interest us.

 

 

 

It is pretty far from Near Seattle to Europe and airfare is expensive and traveling is expensive and the whole continent is full of Foreigners!

 

Well, maybe not that kind.

 

So, fast forward to 2007…I hear of a TransAtlantic cruise that starts in Miami and ends in Rome.  And it is with some great people.  And the rates are really good for a 2 week cruise….

 Sounds good to me, let’s run it by the Blog Fodder.

 No way, too expensive, too far…When is it?

 

April 26-May 8^th.

 

Oh, really no way, not over month end!

 

The Blog Fodder is the Head of the Household.  His Wish is My Command.  His Word is Law. If he says No, that Means NO!

So I booked the cruise.

 

Now, in my defense, it was only a refundable deposit, and there was only one of the very special aft-wrap cabins that he loves available.

 

After a great amount of soul searching, the Blog Fodder deemed that we could go, but only if there was an aft-wrap cabin available.  The B.F. loves his aft-wrap balconies!

Why, yes, there happens to be one left.

The cruise was great fun, it was 13 sunny, beautiful days and one rainy one.  It was 4 fun filled ports, followed by a week in Rome, Florence and Naples.

Since we were going to be traipsing around the Continent, we packed fairly light – for us at the time.  Apparently, I thought it was a good idea to take only 4 ponytail holders for my shoulder-length, thick hair.  That should be fine, right?  I mean, I never lose them.

 

You guessed it, I lost all four by the end of the cruise.  I really wanted more, but wasn’t up to asking the locals where I could buy more, so I suffered.

 

Dove è la coda del titolare cavallo?

The day we went to Naples dawned overcast and drizzly.  We had a great time at the museum and then went out to Pompeii.  It quickly turned quite hot, and I was really missing not having a ponytail holder.

Through a series of unfortunate events, that turned out fine, we entered Pompeii from the less used back gate.  We got to enjoy about half of the site with very few people.  As we strolled along the back lanes, I looked down and saw

 

Historical Recreation….or is that Hysterical Recreation?

 

Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!

An Ancient Ponytail Holder, that survived the 79 AD Eruption of Mt Vesuvius!  We must save this valuable artifact and treasure it forever!

And I am just too darn hot in the Southern Italy sun to not at least think about picking up a dirty used ponytail holder off the filthy ground!

Every single dire warning my mother ever gave me came to mind.

The Blog Fodder wisely stayed silent while I was suffering through this great internal debate.

But the threat of heat stroke won over the threat of ugly, maiming diseases, and I picked that sucker up!  I rinsed it off with my water bottle and I wore it proudly!

And so far, I’ve not suffered any dire consequences or ancient foreign curses!

Stay tuned as we bring you your regularly scheduled program!