Hotel Oasi Da Pina Messina

... is to match ones cloth napkin to one's clothing. I wear black pants with various tops each evening. So they give me a black napkin. Jim get's a white one as he wears khakis most of the time. Prevents lint. How clever.
The show last night was a Las Vegas revue. One couple did everything. She was an aerialist and hula hooper. He a comedian, magician, acrobat. They were great! Very entertaining and the house was full. A great day.
Tomorrow, Greece!

... someone would break a hip and have to cancel, to which I said, "One can only hope." Given the age of the passengers, it's very likely. I'm sleeping so great. Last night we must have gotten further out for the haul-ass to Rome, because we had some actual motion, though it's mild. I hope we have some more extreme days. I love the rocking of the boat. I did have to take a couple of Vicodin after the Santorini tour-all the climbing had my hips killing me. And I imagine Rome and ...

... an unnamed bottle of wine on the table that was delicious. Our pasta was OK. We've had better on our trip. Next we got to explore the volcanic craters where the lava flowed. It was so cool! I've never seen a volcano up close. It looked like a foreign planet. Then the day turned sour. We had such a beautiful day and then our money belt was stolen :( At the port in Messina we were told to take it off to put it though the metal detector ...

... when we cruised to Alaska. The staff appeared more easily frustrated and "just did their jobs" whereas the staff on the last cruise always went above and beyond to make sure you were the top banana and having a great experience every step of the way. We had a couple of hiccups that could have been easily solved, but became bigger problems because we had to ask for assistance more than once in order to get ...

... though Messina (lovely city - 90% destroyed in an earthquake in 1908, 10th strongest in history. Out onto the motorway and wind along the coast through tunnel after tunnel. Lots of people on the bus who shouldn't be on this trip - it was labelled very strenuous (I guess people don't read). Turns out to be ok for most people anyway and very easy ...

... next to D&G and Naomi Campbell. I was so close I could have rubbed Dolces bald head. It was cool. We finished our coffee and granite and headed to another part of the island to see the sunset. It was so amazing. The sun was an orange ball slowly falling between a foreground and a background. Once it finally disappeared you couldnt tell the ocean from the sky. It looked like a movie set. all for now, katie

We now are in transit and will wake up about 185 miles south off of Lipari. It is a small group of islands just north of Sicily, right next to the tip of the boot. I've never been there and franly have never heard of it. I'm excited!

... week in an attempt to capture the magnificience of peering out from our veranda. Here's my favorite: _______________________________________ ____ On Thursday, the day before, we did very little except hike, hike, hike up to the peak of Fosse delle Felci, the highest point on Salina and amongst the Aeolians. 962 meters high and consider that we started at the beach, so we did a full 962m hike. It was strenous ...

... highlight were the flying fish. Many little guys flew alongside our boat for 5-10 seconds at a time and later, a large flying fish managed to fly right into Jesse's shoulder. On Stromboli, we hiked to 400 meters heighth, which is the highest point you can presently ascend to due to the volcano's recent heightened activity. This allowed some views of the smoky crater, but no lava flows or flames disappointingly. It was really ...

... thing on a boat) and brisk. There is plenty of storage for towels etc. In the very front is a watertight bulkhead where the anchor chain and rope is stored. Aft of the head on the port (left) side is a cabin with a storage compartment and two single bunks. Below the bottom bunk and cabin floor is long-term storage. On the starboard (right) side is another cabin twinning the first except that it has a second storage compartment. These cabins are separated with ...