Five straight days of walking and riding the water taxi up and down the Seine and we have barely touched the sights of Paris. The city is truly special. You could spend a day just looking at the bridges here. Every area of the old city offers churches, parks, museums, monuments, fountains, cafes, shops and other places to explore. And you never tire of it. Our feet are really sore, but if we had the chance we'd keep on walking. We visited the Louvre (two days), the Eiffel Tower, Champs-Élysées, Notre Dame, and many other historic areas within the 1st to 7th Arrondissements. We were very fortunate to be staying across the street from Jardin du Luxembourg and we would like to offer great thanks to our hosts Terry and Jacques. There is a whole different feel here. Like the Europe I remember from my childhood, you buy bread from the baker, meat from the butcher, and do it during the week because everything is closed on Sundays. Ahh....Paris in the springtime..... Remember to click on the pictures to see them bigger.

Although we are in France now, you won't see pictures of Paris yet, they will come later this week. This update is about what happened in the past 12 days or so. Our cruise of the Eastern Mediterranean took us to Savona in Italy, Olympia and Athens in Greece, the island of Rhodes, Izmir in Turkey, Limassol in Cyprus and Alexandria in Egypt. There truly is a unique look to the coastline of the Mediterranean and the Aegean Seas. It was like stepping back into ancient times. We followed our usual routine of seeing the historic sites, then mixing in with the locals to get a feel for the place. The Acropolis in Athens was amazing, more for it's unique location than anything else. You could imagine what it must have been like in it's heyday. The sea can get rough as we found on the two day "at sea" voyage from Alexandria back to Rome. Even the huge ship we were on was rolling and creaking like an old schooner. I talked to one of the stewards about it. "Did you vomit, Sir?" he asked. "A lot of the crew did". He said that in four months of sailing that route it was the first time he had experienced such rough water. Apparently there were earthquakes in the area at the time but I think we were between two weather fronts. By the way, no we didn't- vomit that is. See the sea by clicking here and remember to click on the pictures to see them bigger.

Rome in a day. What an accomplishment. We started at Vatican City at 10:00. We visited St. Peters Cathedral, and climbed the 550 steps to the cupola with it‘s breathtaking views. We then entered the Vatican Museum where we saw countless tapestries, paintings, frescos, sculpture and of course the Sistine Chapel. Our walk then took us across the Tevere to Piazza Navona, the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain. Rome is like a museum, where great monuments and works of art are found blended into the city itself. After a thirty minute lunch break at a sidewalk café, we continued our stroll around the Campidoglio and ruins of old Rome. We rounded the last corner to the Arc of Constantine and finally reached the Colosseo at twilight. By 20:00 we were soaking our feet back at our Hotel. I have learned that many Italians only pretend to be miserable when they really are having fun. The other day I was in a shop, packing my purchases into bags. The cashier started disciplining me - I think it was because I was using too many bags, but of course I don’t speak Italian so I’ll never know. Anyway, I emphatically replied with one of the few words I do know, MAMAMIA !!! …..and she cracked a huge smile.

What a beautiful city. After leaving Cairo, visiting Istanbul is like a breath of fresh air (literally). The people here are friendly and helpful. They love to practice their English and giggle at themselves when they do. The country of Turkey is bordered by Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Russia. Istanbul actually spans two continents, Europe and Asia and almost all of the people are Muslim. We knew about this cultural mix and did not really know what to expect on our arrival here. We were surprised how European it feels. Our visit was the whirlwind experience many of our visits seem to be, and staying longer would have been great. We visited Hagia Sophia, The Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace and took a river ride up the Bosphorus marveling at the architecture. I even found time to do some fishing for Mackerel from the Galata Bridge. Pulling up four fish on the same line was a lot of fun. I gave all of my fish to the fellow fishing beside me. He was happy. See the bridge that joins Europe to Asia by clicking here.

To see the places that we were in during the Month of January click here.